Mailbox Invaders - Hellcat

You may remember almost exactly a month ago I posted about some very cool vinyl figures I got from Dead Bear Studios aka @motorbot on Twitter. Ever since I received Pumpkin and Batty they just weren't as happy as I thought they would be. They've been moping around the play room while all the other toys were playing well together. And then the psychic messages started.

It took me awhile to figure out I wasn't going crazy (or crazier, your choice) and figure out just where these messages were coming from. After donning the Psychic Divination Helmet (tin foil) I was lead back to Dead Bear Studios and the source of psychic mewling: Hellcat. Turns out she was missing her friends Pumpkin and Batty and her psychic sadness was altering their moods as well.

I sent my own psychic message inviting her to come rejoin her friends and she asked if she could bring her pet goober along. (Dead Bear had a special Twitter sale offering a free random figure with any purchase.) Not wanting to keep this trio apart any longer, I quickly agreed and they hopped in the first box they could find.

Hellcat and her goober

Together again!

Be sure to tune in on Monday for a new contest

and have a Happy New Year!!

Happy Horrordays

Click to enlarge

From our crazy, creepy family to yours, have a fang-tastic holiday season!

Toys of Christmas Past - Rom the Space Knight

 

ROM and I go way back so I'll be referring to him by first name only and not by his full title: ROM, the Space Knight.

When I started to pile together subjects for these Toys of Christmas posts, I never intended to focus on such a small time frame (very late 70s/early 80s) or electronic toys only. I took a leisurely stroll down memory lane and captured the most memorable things. It just so happens they all fall in that magic time of the Dawn of Electronic Toys.

ROM was game company Parker Brothers first and only foray into the realm of action figures, electronic or otherwise. This is somewhat ironic as PB is now owned by Hasbro (formerly Kenner) who have been on the defining edge of action figures for decades. PB smartly sold the character rights to Marvel Comics and as ROM quickly faded into toy nostalgia-ville, the comic went on for a seven year run.

The toy was my first introduction to ROM. I wouldn't see him in comic form until a few years later when he got mixed up in Secret Wars 2. The beauty of this is that without being based on pre-existing media, ROM was totally new to me. There were no preconceived notions in my little head about how I could play with him or for that matter, what he was exactly. Was he a robot or a guy in space armor? What exactly did it mean that his Neutralizer could banish creatures into the Shadow Zone?

While not very articulated, ROM had LED lights, multiple sounds and three different accessories you could plug into him. Don't know why they decided to give him glowing red eyes and a creepy breathing sound, though. I imagine at least one lad somewhere used it to scare a sibling in the dark. The site ROM Spaceknight Revisited has digitized all his sounds and is also a great resource for all things ROM (2021 update - the site no longer exists). How sweet would ROM's translator be as a ring tone?

If you want to get to know ROM a lot better, check out this 10 minute video.