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Seriously Bad Taste Merchandise

Stormkhan said:
Quite apart from Star Wars tat ... er 'collectable merchandising' ;) ...
In my childhood, I collected real action figures, i.e. toys that you could get uniforms, guns etc. for and were intended to be played with. Yes, Action Man was my biggest interest.
I had two trunks with suits from the 70's onwards, including the 'astronaut' (with a jet-pack zip line), a "Colditz" set - prisoner get-up and German guard uniform (cardboard sentry box included). I had a "field radio" with completely shite changeable 'disks' of dialogue, a bazooka (spring-loaded plastic bullet firing), a grapnel launcher (ditto). I had a load of (plastic) stuff - all genuine 'line products'.
I recount this to show my hoarding instinct over such toys.
Now ...
At the same time, I collected other action toy figures. Yes, I had the Bionic Man but I couldn't afford the crappy accessories. But the 1980's seemed to be replete with non-TV tie-in figures. Many toy manufacturers wanted to start an action-figure craze, along with an accessory sales base. Somewhere I have an old photo of my small collection, posed in a "group" in my back garden.
Among these are a large (about the size of Bionic Man, which was huge in comparison to Action Man) "Cowboy" and "Indian", a Pirate (push button to 'operate' his arm swinging a cutlass, his wooden leg hollow with a hidden treasure map), a Spaceman (crap figure - solid limbs and rubber joints - but came with funky accessories, almost 'hard science') ...
And a transparent plastic figure with interchangeable arms and legs. Had a similar foe (of course) which I never got, these were only about 6" tall. Completely transparent plastic, with visible gold innards. His arms could be changed with a (spring-loaded) bolt thrower or 'grapnel', a water pistol ... er ... acid projector. I had a pair of 'motorised mobility legs', i.e. two caterpillar-tread rollerskate legs, but you could get an all-terrain 'extension' i.e. a motorised tracked vehicle he clipped into.
It was this last toy that 'Scargs post called to mind.
And, I emphasise, that this was before action figures were marketed as collectable and actually designed to play with. :)
As soon as I can, I'll dig out that old photo, muck about with it on Photoshop, and try to enlarge it enough for people to identify some of the more obscure toys. :)
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I used to buy those types of weird toys from jumble sales when I was a kid in the 80s, I had loads of unidentifiable characters and my mates had others. Because we were 80s kids/victims we assumed that all those toys had mysterious programmes to go with them somewhere in the dim and distant past....but maybe not.
 
gordonrutter said:
I had cyborg and android.
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These last few posts should be in 'When I was a Kid'.
I had one of these, Bullet Man. I hated it. He had a zipwire you could fly him on but I couldn't be bothered to set it up. But what a costume, eh?
It's hilarious. Camel toes away.

DSC02859.jpg
 
Stormkhan said:
Quite apart from Star Wars tat ... er 'collectable merchandising' ;) ...
In my childhood, I collected real action figures, i.e. toys that you could get uniforms, guns etc. for and were intended to be played with. Yes, Action Man was my biggest interest.
I had two trunks with suits from the 70's onwards, including the 'astronaut' (with a jet-pack zip line), a "Colditz" set - prisoner get-up and German guard uniform (cardboard sentry box included). I had a "field radio" with completely shite changeable 'disks' of dialogue, a bazooka (spring-loaded plastic bullet firing), a grapnel launcher (ditto). I had a load of (plastic) stuff - all genuine 'line products'.
I recount this to show my hoarding instinct over such toys.
Now ...
At the same time, I collected other action toy figures. Yes, I had the Bionic Man but I couldn't afford the crappy accessories. But the 1980's seemed to be replete with non-TV tie-in figures. Many toy manufacturers wanted to start an action-figure craze, along with an accessory sales base. Somewhere I have an old photo of my small collection, posed in a "group" in my back garden.
Among these are a large (about the size of Bionic Man, which was huge in comparison to Action Man) "Cowboy" and "Indian", a Pirate (push button to 'operate' his arm swinging a cutlass, his wooden leg hollow with a hidden treasure map), a Spaceman (crap figure - solid limbs and rubber joints - but came with funky accessories, almost 'hard science') ...
And a transparent plastic figure with interchangeable arms and legs. Had a similar foe (of course) which I never got, these were only about 6" tall. Completely transparent plastic, with visible gold innards. His arms could be changed with a (spring-loaded) bolt thrower or 'grapnel', a water pistol ... er ... acid projector. I had a pair of 'motorised mobility legs', i.e. two caterpillar-tread rollerskate legs, but you could get an all-terrain 'extension' i.e. a motorised tracked vehicle he clipped into.
It was this last toy that 'Scargs post called to mind.
And, I emphasise, that this was before action figures were marketed as collectable and actually designed to play with. :)
As soon as I can, I'll dig out that old photo, muck about with it on Photoshop, and try to enlarge it enough for people to identify some of the more obscure toys. :)
Click to expand...
What about Evel Knievel? I had loads of hand me downs from my cousin, standard bike, rocket bike (you put lighter flints in to make sparks, the camper van etc
Screenshot_20210126-180458.jpg
 
I remember once seeing an LCD game where you were trying to fly an airplane into the World Trade Center. I think it also had a picture of Bin Laden on it.
 
Nah. I dunno why but Evel Knievel left me uninterested. I think it was the feel that it was merchandising rather than fun. I'd watch him on tv, sure, but my toys were different.
I did have a motorbike (similar in mechanics but far cheaper) 'from' The Planet of The Apes'. Same mechanics but had a flexi-plastic ape on it. It could wheelie, run in straight lines ... and, well, that was about it. Thinking back on it, a genuine link to the old TV series was that the figure carried an M3 "Grease gun".
 
dejanmikic said:
There is one word that just keeps holding on.... "WHY????"
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A complete lack of empathy? No sense of solemnity? Excessive sense of self-importance? An absence of care for the feeling of others? There's so many to chose from that might fit the bill, though I'd not credit a lack of awareness or education.
For many people these days, historic horrific events have lost their impact over time and are just words in a textbook. They don't feel relevant to the here and now. Unless actual, personal experience is shared - and believed - some horrors are literally unbelievable.
In a lighter example, try explaining to the current 20-something generation that in the past, few homes had their own telephone and you had to use a call box, or even visit the local post office, to make a call. The lack of access is the 'unbelievable' thing, not the lack of technology.
 
Naughty_Felid said:
I had all three - My family was cheap. Jonathan Ross collects these figures and they are worth a bit now.
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I only had the Cyborg.
He had a gaping 'head wound' from the time I experimented with the thought "I wonder what would happen if ..." and interfaced the alien technology with my hamster. Unimpressed by the otherworldly appearance of the interloper, the hamster gave his head a nibble.
 
escargot said:
My sister went there about 10 years ago and was rather put out by some visitors' lack of respect. Duckface photos, leg-showing poses with v-signs and so on, in front of the more grisly locations.
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I lived in Poland from 2007-2012 and was astonished about the way they remember WWII - learned a lot from that time....
 
dejanmikic said:
I lived in Poland from 2007-2012 and was astonished about the way they remember WWII - learned a lot from that time....
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My family for many decades has had friends in Germany whose parents were murdered in the death camps; I studied German history at university under Richard J Evans, now Prof Sir RJE; I have been to Belsen, which is an experience that haunts me to the day. On this day (Holocaust Memorial Day) among all others it should be a time to reflect. I sometimes lose hope for the future of humanity.
 
cycleboy2 said:
My family for many decades has had friends in Germany whose parents were murdered in the death camps; I studied German history at university under Richard J Evans, now Prof Sir RJE; I have been to Belsen, which is an experience that haunts me to the day. On this day (Holocaust Memorial Day) among all others it should be a time to reflect. I sometimes lose hope for the future of humanity.
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My grandad was in one of the regiments that liberated Belsen. He'd never talk about it. Ever. To anyone.

He'd talk quite happily about the trenches of WW1 (also managed to be there), and about being in that cinema in Belgium when the bomb dropped on it - he was one of the few survivors - but never spoke, even to my dad who had also been a soldier in WW2 - about Belsen.

I only really got an idea of what he might have experienced when I saw a letter written by someone who had been in the same battalion, who described what they found when they got there - and I still find it impossible to believe someone I knew walked in there one morning. He was a sergeant, tough as old nails, and I'd like to think he was one of those who forced the remaining guards to start digging the graves. He will have given them hell.

We are indeed doomed to repeat history so long as shallow idiots like that fool in the picture are around.
 
Stormkhan said:
A complete lack of empathy? No sense of solemnity? Excessive sense of self-importance? An absence of care for the feeling of others? There's so many to chose from that might fit the bill, though I'd not credit a lack of awareness or education.
For many people these days, historic horrific events have lost their impact over time and are just words in a textbook. They don't feel relevant to the here and now. Unless actual, personal experience is shared - and believed - some horrors are literally unbelievable.
In a lighter example, try explaining to the current 20-something generation that in the past, few homes had their own telephone and you had to use a call box, or even visit the local post office, to make a call. The lack of access is the 'unbelievable' thing, not the lack of technology.
Click to expand...
I often meet or sometime work alongside people who weren't born yet when The World Trade Centre was hit and that still feels like not that long ago to me. I'm glad they can't remember that particular social baggage to be honest, they've got new future horrors of their own to deal with that will be more immediately relevant to them .. I mean, stop and think about it ... now would be the 'perfect' time to chuck the cat amongst the pigeons if you were an ISIS suicide bomber .. kick 'em while they're down! .. but they aren't attacking us at the moment (mostly)? .. I'm very glad they aren't but why aren't they? .. have the run out of money or are they also overwhelmed by this virus or have the just calmed down at bit at last or what? ..

Has Skargy told them about redtube to chill them out? ..
 
Stormkhan said:
For many people these days, historic horrific events have lost their impact over time and are just words in a textbook. They don't feel relevant to the here and now. Unless actual, personal experience is shared - and believed - some horrors are literally unbelievable.
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I very much agree.

Also, just because all this information is readily available (to those of us in 'first world' economies at least) it doesn't necessarily mean we are able to fully understand it.
 
pandacracker said:
I very much agree.

Also, just because all this information is readily available (to those of us in 'first world' economies at least) it doesn't necessarily mean we are able to fully understand it.
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Did occur to me that that lad might be mortified by that picture ten years from now and the nature of the beast now is, that picture will be online, somewhere, forever. It will haunt him, even if the things he saw when he was there didn't register because it's just too far in the past/too theoretical. Which in itself is "punishment" enough. Imagine going through your whole life being "Oh that's the bloke who..." for something moronic you did when you were 19.

My 20 year old - who is otherwise apparently intelligent - won't even stay in the room if a black and white film is on telly.
 
cycleboy2 said:
My family for many decades has had friends in Germany whose parents were murdered in the death camps; I studied German history at university under Richard J Evans, now Prof Sir RJE; I have been to Belsen, which is an experience that haunts me to the day. On this day (Holocaust Memorial Day) among all others it should be a time to reflect. I sometimes lose hope for the future of humanity.
Click to expand...

My review of Evans' book The Hitler Conspiracies: https://forums.forteana.org/index.php?threads/suggestions-for-a-good-read.13479/page-61#post-2029991
 
Swifty said:
I often meet or sometime work alongside people who weren't born yet when The World Trade Centre was hit and that still feels like not that long ago to me. I'm glad they can't remember that particular social baggage to be honest, they've got new future horrors of their own to deal with that will be more immediately relevant to them .. I mean, stop and think about it ... now would be the 'perfect' time to chuck the cat amongst the pigeons if you were an ISIS suicide bomber .. kick 'em while they're down! .. but they aren't attacking us at the moment (mostly)? .. I'm very glad they aren't but why aren't they? .. have the run out of money or are they also overwhelmed by this virus or have the just calmed down at bit at last or what? ..

Has Skargy told them about redtube to chill them out? ..
Click to expand...

Not many crowds about at the moment.
 
pandacracker said:
I very much agree.

Also, just because all this information is readily available (to those of us in 'first world' economies at least) it doesn't necessarily mean we are able to fully understand it.
Click to expand...

Why worry about the holocaust or its potential repeat when you can get a dopamine rush sharing cat memes or by getting angry over things your newsfeed is telling you or by saving 87p on something you purchase online?
 
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