Big Clive is awesome through and through. He doesn’t normally get outright flummoxed by unusual stuff, but this is one of the few products where he does, so the video is definitely one for the shortlist from his channel.
It’s pretty weird as a joke because… it’s not exactly funny. I mean, it could be funny, with timing and set-up (and/or a doll that explodes messily), but there’s none of that. Although I get the feeling there’s a social media-specific definition of “joke” that’s basically a lie that’s just outrageous enough to act as clickbait/go viral.
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That skit aired in 1977. Who was this General “Tron”? Was this a Vietnam reference?
From being familiar with Big Clive’s videos, and with that specific type and age of British gay nerd, it never even occurred to me to doubt that he made this doll himself.
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Barbie death camp seems so quaint now.
Best story title this year.
My brother and I had GI Joes (I had the astronaut and Mercury space capsule!!) but my favorite toy was a rather hefty tin plate robot (Japanese-made, I believe) that had a breastplate ‘screen’ made from red cellophane behind which could be seen a firestorm of friction sparks. Such a cheap-ass effect, but effective.
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But those weird and wacky/inscrutable Japanese Amirite?
(note for sarcasm impaired, I am of Japanese heritage)
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Found on ebay, but this can only be something you could carry a doll in.
Yikes.
The one I saw on a cake last week? Basically a mini Roman candle, like the OP video.
It’s short the lyrics to ‘creep’ to really sell that $buyer cred. Maybe office birthdays applications? NDAs? (Yes we’d like to never speak of this again. Check.) 100% to prevent overattentive servers (overattentive removal by chef may interrupt festivities.)
Yeah, they not only get the “Look at this outrageous, dangerous wacky Japanese toy!” but then they get the outraged media coverage of the video, too: “Oh, these dangerous foreign toys invading our innocent Poundland stores…”
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Send in Nunzilla to punish the creators of this thing!
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i also had the astronaut and mercury capsule, it was my prized possession.
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The video description says:
I have to confess that the product in the video was actually made from a few different items all sourced from Poundland. […]
A “Dress to impress” doll,
Birthday cake “ice fountains” to insert up the dolls (widened) botty,
A barbecue style gas lighter to light it with,
A pack of 6" by 4" photo paper to make a new label and glossy instruction guide.
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You know, I’ve no idea. The closest I can come up with is Biotron, a toy in the Micronauts line, was released around this time (1976, 1977).
He’s a toy, has “tron” in the name, and I had one, so I’m sticking with that.
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I used to do splashdowns with the capsule in the bathtub, but the stickered-on graphic for the capsule control panel eventually faded and wore off. Damn water.
That could easily be our 5th grade teacher, Sr. Amata. She was not very nice, and we used to call her Sister Spanish Armada, given her well demonstrated belligerency.
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