KONG!

[cjefferys]

I was taking some pics in my toy room and thought I'd show the progress so far on my 1976 King Kong collection. I recently picked up three of the four glasses released by Coca-Cola, and here they are pictured alongside the 24" and 15" stuffed Mego Kongs, the Mego Kong bop bag, the 6" vinyl released by Onda in Japan (sublicensed by Mego), the original Japanese film program, and a huge 7' 4" x 2' 10" poster released by Homedecor (I wish I had room to hang it up somewhere!). Now I'm on the lookout for additions to the collection like the awesome Mego King Kong Against the World game, the other vinyl figure released in Japan by Bullmark (impossible to find, I've been looking for years!) and a couple other Japanese odds and ends like the diecast Kong by Ark.



I wasn't sure if this should go here, in Mego Talk, Toy Room central or the monster movie section, so I just threw it here!

[Fitski]

Very cool collection! I've never seen the Kong bop bag that's an awesome piece!

[mazinz]

Super nice!!!!

[Evel KMego]

Love the Large plush and the Bop Bag! I will keep an eye out for the 4th glass for you. It's the pic of Kong standing on top of the towers. These Kong glasses are really common in Southern Indiana flea markets, antique shops, etc. because they were released by Burger Chef, which was centered in this area. It seemed like everyone around here had them when I was a kid!!

[EmergencyIan]

Great Kong collection! Love the plushes.

I had almost forgot about Burger Chef until it was a big deal on Mad Med last season. I remember the one on First Ave. in Evansville, Evel. (I had also forgotten about the Burger Chef murders in Indianapolis. Google that...wow.)

Again, great King Kong collection! Too bad that you don't have two of the bop bags...with one out and full of air! That would be awesome!

- Ian

[apes3978]

Cool collection you have going... Hope you're able to find the rest of your wants...

[MIB41]

Always up for some Kong '76 love. Looking great!

[El Hombre Nuclear]

That boxed bop bag (alliteration!) is sweet indeed. The only bop bag I ever had as a child (the 1975 Weebles model, which is probably the most logical bop bag ever released, if you think about it) lasted all of about a week, so I'm guessing that fully intact examples of these things must be quite tough to find.

Regarding the Japanese items, I've always found it hilarious that the Arklon Kong was released as a fully licensed product over there since, you know, it's a robot with giant switchblades coming out of its nipples and stuff. Maybe De Laurentiis should have put that in the script... As for the Bullmark vinyl, I seem to remember reading that it may have been the very last thing they produced before going under, hence its scarcity. Of course, Bullmark vinyl has always been synonymous with bat guano cray-cray prices regardless. Hope you find it someday!

By the way, have you seen the Shouchan keshigomu that were released back then? They're kind of amusing:

[palitoy]

Epic stuff! I'm not the biggest fan of the film but it's merchandise has a really strong nostalgic effect on me. Kong mania was huge in '76.

[rche]

I love that pic on the program. Brings back all sors of 70s Kong mojo for me.

[cjefferys]

Thanks folks, it's something that I've slowly been working on over the years. I forgot about some other stuff I should probably get someday too, like the puzzles, trading cards and view master sets.

Too bad that you don't have two of the bop bags...with one out and full of air! That would be awesome!

Yeah, I would love to have an inflated bop bag on display too. The one I have is sealed, never used, so that one is going to stay as is, and unfortunately it's a pretty scarce item, so I don't know how much luck I'd have finding a used one.

Regarding the Japanese items, I've always found it hilarious that the Arklon Kong was released as a fully licensed product over there since, you know, it's a robot with giant switchblades coming out of its nipples and stuff. Maybe De Laurentiis should have put that in the script...

Yeah, it's funny how that turned out. The back of the box has the painting from the movie poster and everything. The interesting thing is that when Ark packaged these for (limited) US distribution, the Kong box was stripped of all the copyrighted stuff, it was renamed "Mech Gorilla" and the movie poster was removed from the back of the box. That's why I would only be interested in the Japanese packaged version of the toy.

As for the Bullmark vinyl, I seem to remember reading that it may have been the very last thing they produced before going under, hence its scarcity. Of course, Bullmark vinyl has always been synonymous with bat guano cray-cray prices regardless. Hope you find it someday!

I never thought of that. Bullmark did go under in '76 I believe, so that would explain the rarity of this item. That doesn't give me much hope!

By the way, have you seen the Shouchan keshigomu that were released back then? They're kind of amusing:

I've never seen these packaged, ok, this is on my list now too! Thanks for the heads up.

Epic stuff! I'm not the biggest fan of the film but it's merchandise has a really strong nostalgic effect on me. Kong mania was huge in '76.

That's how it hits me, I was never a huge fan of the film, but it's imagery has always stuck with me, I love it. I had the theatrical poster tacked on my wall for years when I was a kid, and I had the huge puzzle that incorporated all the promotional paintings done for the film, I was constantly playing with that puzzle. I guess that's why this stuff is so nostalgic for me.

[LadyZod]

I keep meaning to pick up the plushes for my husband (he's the big 76 Kong collector in the house.) But something always gets in the way.

Love seeing the collection you've got going.

[Werewolf]

Very nice collection.

[Mongoose1983]

What a fantastic collection!

[Brave Ulysses]

Excellent collection,I have the stuffed 15 inch Kong as well.The Coke glasses are incredible.