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BIG Toys Week: Earthquake Tower by Remco

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    Museum Robot
    • May 9, 2007
    • 5788

    BIG Toys Week: Earthquake Tower by Remco

    I think this is one of the more infamous toys we’ve ever discussed on PlaidStallions. Remco sought to cash in on the Irwin Allen disaster movie craze (but not pay for it) by creating this playset that emulates a massive earthquake hitting a tower.



    Earthquakes are real events, unlike King Kong or Godzilla attacks, the Remco Earthquake tower is well, one of the more morbid toys ever conceived (with this being a close contender for #2).




    Remco sold it as a sort of rescue game, your goal was to save as many civilians as you could using your copter and fire truck but as a former 7 year old boy, I'll tell you right now, those people are toast.


    It’s also, as the theme week would anticipate, really, really big. It's five feet tall, which means bigger than most kids.



    Remco even included a floppy vinyl record of explosions, sirens, and perilous music to help you simulate this environment; it is, however, tastefully bereft of screams. Give it a listen if you like, I put it on Youtube.

    ?

    If the embed code is showing up on your browser, here is a link to it on Youtube.


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  • Earth 2 Chris
    Verbose Member
    • Mar 7, 2004
    • 32498

    #2
    Wow, that's kind of...tacky. But that was also in the time when natural disasters were just blips on the evening news for a few nights and then they went away from our minds. They weren't in our face 24 hours a day like they are now. We could distance ourselves from the horrors of it more.

    Chris
    sigpic

    Comment

    • LordMudd
      Persistent Member
      • Aug 22, 2011
      • 1331

      #3
      Natural disasters may have been a blip on the radar, but disaster movies like The Towering Inferno were a big hit. Only problem would be associating a cardboard toy with a movie about a burning building, and you can see where that would end up.


      CCC.

      Comment

      • LordMudd
        Persistent Member
        • Aug 22, 2011
        • 1331

        #4
        That record sounds like it would be from the old Superman cartoon.


        CCC.

        Comment

        • EmergencyIan
          Museum Paramedic
          • Aug 31, 2005
          • 5470

          #5
          I think it’s the first time I’ve seen this. It’s neat!

          - Ian
          Rampart, this is Squad 51. How do you read?

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          • LordMudd
            Persistent Member
            • Aug 22, 2011
            • 1331

            #6
            I have seen pics, never in person. If it was 1/18 scale, I would have one by now.


            CCC.

            Comment

            • palitoy
              live. laugh. lisa needs braces
              • Jun 16, 2001
              • 59204

              #7
              Originally posted by Earth 2 Chris
              Wow, that's kind of...tacky. But that was also in the time when natural disasters were just blips on the evening news for a few nights and then they went away from our minds. They weren't in our face 24 hours a day like they are now. We could distance ourselves from the horrors of it more.
              Oh yeah, I admit this is done in today's sensibilities although I bet the concept turned off some folks then.

              Nowadays, this toy would be pushed through the 24 news cycle for a good week before Remco's offices were burned to the ground!
              Places to find PlaidStallions online: https://linktr.ee/Plaidstallions

              Buy Toy-Ventures Magazine here:
              http://www.plaidstallions.com/reboot/shop

              Comment

              • Mikey
                Verbose Member
                • Aug 9, 2001
                • 47243

                #8
                Well, at least it's a rescue toy where YOU are the good guy --- unlike Don't Break The Ice where YOU are the murderer

                Comment

                • cjefferys
                  Duke of Gloat
                  • Apr 23, 2006
                  • 10180

                  #9
                  I would have loved playing with this thing as a kid, I still kind of want it. But yeah, in this day and age it would have never been made.

                  Comment

                  • Mr.Marion
                    Permanent Member
                    • Sep 15, 2014
                    • 2733

                    #10
                    I could see that recording getting old quick. If it didn't have wacky music it could be cool.

                    Comment

                    • Brue
                      User without title
                      • Sep 29, 2005
                      • 4241

                      #11
                      Originally posted by Mikey
                      Well, at least it's a rescue toy where YOU are the good guy --- unlike Don't Break The Ice where YOU are the murderer
                      Yeah! I love "Break the Ice" game. Never thought bout it like murder... until now. Thanks a lot.

                      Comment

                      • Allie Fox
                        Veteran Member
                        • Jun 1, 2009
                        • 297

                        #12
                        Originally posted by palitoy
                        Oh yeah, I admit this is done in today's sensibilities although I bet the concept turned off some folks then.

                        Nowadays, this toy would be pushed through the 24 news cycle for a good week before Remco's offices were burned to the ground!
                        That's almost what happened at Kenner when in 1987, slow sales of the Easy Bake Oven prompted the development team to consider retooling the oven into a boys toy called "Chernobyl Reactor Playset" with little wax figures that melt when the "reactor core" goes CRITICAL!
                        If I had only spent a tenth of the time studying Physics that I spent learning Star Wars and Baseball trivia, I would have won the Nobel Prize.

                        Comment

                        • LordMudd
                          Persistent Member
                          • Aug 22, 2011
                          • 1331

                          #13
                          Originally posted by Allie Fox
                          That's almost what happened at Kenner when in 1987, slow sales of the Easy Bake Oven prompted the development team to consider retooling the oven into a boys toy called "Chernobyl Reactor Playset" with little wax figures that melt when the "reactor core" goes CRITICAL!
                          Not a bad idea if you tweak it a bit. I remember the touring caravan of giant dinosaurs sponsored by Sinclair Oil. They had vending machines that made small wax versions of the dinos. I had the T-rex in red wax. If you use the oven to melt the wax, then pour it into molds, then melt it again, etc... make a wax figure then watch it slowly melt so you can make another. Especially Wizard of Oz. "I'm melting, I'm melting...."


                          CCC.

                          Comment

                          • palitoy
                            live. laugh. lisa needs braces
                            • Jun 16, 2001
                            • 59204

                            #14
                            Originally posted by Allie Fox
                            That's almost what happened at Kenner when in 1987, slow sales of the Easy Bake Oven prompted the development team to consider retooling the oven into a boys toy called "Chernobyl Reactor Playset" with little wax figures that melt when the "reactor core" goes CRITICAL!
                            That's absolutely abhorant. Glad they weren't dumb enough to think putting people into an oven was good play time.
                            Places to find PlaidStallions online: https://linktr.ee/Plaidstallions

                            Buy Toy-Ventures Magazine here:
                            http://www.plaidstallions.com/reboot/shop

                            Comment

                            • Godzilla
                              Permanent Member
                              • Nov 3, 2002
                              • 3008

                              #15
                              My grandparents bought my sister and I each a tower for christmas one year. I don't remember asking for it, but it was a cool toy.
                              Mortui Vivos Docent
                              The Dead Teach the Living

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