Wednesday, August 12, 2009

I would have killed for the Spidercopter

As a young Maxo, I was lucky enough to own this:

Click to radioactive spider-size

If you're thinking to yourself, "Wow! That is radically awesome!" you're absolutely right. Of course, being young I was also stupid and abused the hell out of this toy, and I'm not lucky enough to still own Energized Spider-Man today.

I do have fond memories, though. Energized Spidey ran on a big ol' C battery, heavy enough that Charles Bronson could have put it in a sock and cleaned up the neighborhood, no problem. As a result, the toy was heavy. Wait, I need more type styles to properly convey the weight: It was heavy. And, as you might guess by looking at it, articulation was not a big selling point. The arms went up and down (or not — that could be just wishful thinking), and the legs were rigidly frozen in place. And the whole thing was made of a hard, shiny plastic.

That motorized "Pull! Lift! Climb!" bit, by the way? It did work, in the way a string attached to a slowly grinding miniature motor works, glacially dragging an action figure across the floor or laboriously moving Spider-Man himself from floor to door knob.

As you might've guessed, batteries didn't last long.

But, oh, man, did I love this toy. It was a giant among puny Han Solos and Ben Kenobis, and it actually did something. The only thing missing was the highly coveted Green Goblin toy, which I would have put on the bookshelf right next to his heroic nemesis, where he, too, could have pitched forward into battle at the slightest bump thanks to that top-heavy battery.

2 comments:

Nik said...

I remember having this thing too, and it was a cool toy, but I swear that NONE of the arms or legs moved so it was like a Spidey statue -- I remember being annoyed that Spidey had his arm stuck up all the time as if he were perpetually hailing a cab or something. My memory might be wrong, though.

Maxo said...

You might be right — Spidey also apparently took a C battery and not Ds, so my childhood memories are apparently hazy. And that would also explain the weirdo high-five web-shooting he's doing in the ad!

Thanks for the comment, Nik!