When the only people that existed were living in the 80's
Mall Rats, Metal Heads, Geeks, Yuppies...
Alright, but really though...
It was spring of 1986. I was in 6th grade just starting a new middle school in a newly consolidated district.
I was still into the trio of toy juggernauts. I am talking about G.I. Joe, Transformers, and Masters of the Universe. Although I would bounce between the three from time to time, at that time in my life. I was heavy into G.I. Joe. I wasn't supposed to bring them to school though. Not that my teacher forbid it. But almost everyone in my class was pretending to have premarital sex, (WHO ARE YOU KIDDING!? YOU ARE 12! YOU VAPID, UNREALISTIC, MORONS!!!) and acting like they were 18. I got made fun of, bullied and picked on, for bringing toys to school, so I would bring them in my backpack inside little tupperware container and the other two kids in my class that were still playing with toys, would stealthly talk about the toys, the cartoons or trade them.
One day, I was looking through the weekly reader and came across an article about a kid who won a "Create a figure contest". And then I remembered back a year ago when it all started. I almost felt like I was the one who had won!
A year earlier a kid in my 5th grade class came up to me with an article about creating your own hero for Mattel's Masters of the universe. I tried my hand at a villainous creature called Lynk-man, which I'd rather not talk about, thank you very much! I ended up missing the deadline for it. Later I saw this in a magazine of some sort. I can't remember where. I saw the list of characters that made it to being a toy and I knew exactly who I hoped would win. I mean come on...Netta? Compatctor? Eye-man? Brainwave? Granted, they all were better than Lynk-man...except Netta!
The ad said, "Please ask your parents' permission first. Each call costs .50cents. Calls will be accepted through Friday, December 13, 1985" I was so excited to see who would win! (We all knew it would be camera head!)
It also said what the prizes would be if you won.
Great Prizes!
The creator of the winning character will win:
An actual Masters of the Universe toy made from his/her idea!
A $100,000 college scholarship fund!
The right to be Honorary President of Mattel Toys for a day!
The other four finalists will win a $50,000 college scholarship fund
So me and a friend used his phone without his mom's permission and we both voted for Fearless Photog! The cyborg with a camera for a head that could steal your powers. I was one of those kids that preferred a transformer with a faceplate over a face, and a joe or cobra character with a mask on or something to hide his face, it's something that I never really figured out. So Photog, not having a human face was more than okay in my book.
We both felt like we chose correctly and felt that we had done the universe a favor in voting for him.
I kept an eye on the paper after that. Comic books, Weekly Reader, Starlog and the news, but I didn't hear anything else about it. So then, after some rocky family turbulence and me going to a brand new school with lots of kids that got uprooted from their hometown schools and put there. I kind of forgot about Nathan and his Fearless Photog.
So you are pretty caught up now. So I was 12, looking at some kid's Masters Of The Universe magazine in the Spring of 1986 and on page 24 there he was.
I was finally able to put a face to the name. He looked like an average kid, and didn't have a weird gleam in his eye or was seemingly sporting some seriously hyper-evolved intelligence, judging from the picture. He probably hated brussel sprouts and his mother would nag him about his daily soda intake. His picture made me feel like I was worthy of doing something like this as well and that thought made me feel good about myself.
I was so happy for Nathan! I kind of felt like I had a hand in helping him win, like I boosted him up from obscurity. I was excited that Nathan, who looked like someone I would have been friends with, won this amazing contest.
This figure breathed new life into my love for MOTU. I couldn't wait to see him in the toy aisle in my local toy store, Toys By Roy. I watched for the figure diligently, but never saw him on the shelves anywhere. And like all kids who enter into puberty, We discover that time span is equal to your mass and that older and bigger you get, the more time speeds up on by you, and the eternity of those three summer months between school grades, goes by in the blink of an eye and I forgot about Photog and his creator. (I found out later that Mattel
It wasn't until around 2004, when I was working at the Public Library that I ran across him again on the internet, and got to read a little bit more about him. And later still, I found out that Mattel was putting out MOTU figures again but with better sculpting and articulation, and Fearless Photog too!
I felt like I was living vicariously through Nathan's eyes yet again. I could imagine him looking at the new figure and feeling a sense of completion and closure, knowing that his creation finally became real.
I was with you every step of the way, Mr. Bitner, and I am proud to see everything fall into place!
No comments:
Post a Comment