The infamous Battlestar Galactica missle story...

[MightyMegs]

http://2warpstoneptune.wordpress.com...le-toy-recall/

[Remco Monster]

Stupid kids

And what the hell with the penis bit?

[cjefferys]

That part can't be legit, what lawsuit would include a line like this?: "The toy is shaped in a fashion to be very similar to a penis which almost beckons small children to put the toy in their mouth..." What the hell?

I've heard the story about the four year old boy shooting a missile in his mouth and choking to death on it. That's very sad. Never heard about the older kid that had an operation to remove a missile.

I remember my mother telling me about this story in 1979, and that if I sent in the missiles from my Cylon Raider and Stellar Probe I'd get a Hot Wheels car. I thought "Screw that!", I don't even care about Hot Wheels, I liked my Galactica ships to have shooting missiles, what a rip off Mattel was trying to pull!

The lawsuit changed everything though. Some of Mattel's Shogun Warriors diecast figures originally came with missiles similar to the Galactica ones, but they were later changed to big, really dumb looking "safety" missiles.

[Bruce Banner]

I got a missile firing Colonial Viper and Cylon Raider in 1978, and I've had them ever since.
At no point as a kid did I ever think it would be a cool idea to shoot the missiles into my mouth.

And as for that penis mention... W-T-F??????????
Never during the last 34 years have I ever looked at those missiles and thought they looked phallic.
Utterly ridiculous.

[PNGwynne]

I can't process that legal statement either--weird '70s Freudian child-psychology?

[Gorn Captain]

I tried to put the Cylon Raider in my mouth.
Put a big smile on my face...

[J.B.]

What nonsense. Every kid knew that those missiles weren't meant to be put in your mouth; they were meant to be shot in your friend's eye.

[Megotu]

Well OBVIOUSLY, the lawyer looked at the Viper ship and thought to himself...That looks like a penis...Kids love to put penises in their mouths...

[Ranger 3]

What. The. Frack??

[Gorn Captain]

So did they also ban all projectile firing toys, like dart guns, as well?
Because they, too, can be something you can choke on.

Thankfully, they didn't ban penises. That would have been hard...

[Iron Mego]

Glad I got my Cylon Raider prior to the change. Although I think I promptly lost the missiles so it wouldn't have mattered anyway.

[starsky]

the whole thing is ludicruos. look at the japanese toy company- popy, their vehicles shot out missiles all the time.

[cjefferys]

Yes, but the Japanese aren't anywhere remotely as litigious as Americans are.

I wouldn't be surprised if a Japanese kid was injured or worse by a Jumbo Machinder or Chogokin missile back in the 70's, but if so, I guarantee a lawsuit never resulted from such an event.

[Gorn Captain]

There was a Japanese C-3PO toy that had missiles that fired from his chest. That droid sure kicked butt!
I think that one was way more dangerous. But less phallic, of course. Even though C-3PO was a bit of a d**k...

[MightyMegs]

As a kid, my Cylon Raider had the locked-in missiles (and missing the !@#$ pilot figure). I took the toy apart, clipped off the tabs they added to the side of the missiles with fingernail clippers... and had a missile firing Raider! With no pilot!

PS I tried to contact Mattel customer service for the missing Cylon pilot (if I remember correctly, it wasn't even an '800' number... it was a long-distance charge on my parent phone bill). They basically said they could care less. THEN when I ordered 2 gold Cylon Commander figures from their mail-away promotion... they sent me some Barbie make-up crap by mistake. I have despised Mattel ever since.