Monday, August 24, 2015

Nostalgia and Serendipity

While back at home, my older son (now 7) had a great time raiding my and my brother's old toy boxes for good stuff to bring back to Korea. I'd promised him he could have my old LEGOs, and he decided that just wasn't enough.

So he has some vintage TMNT toys (all 4 turtles, Beebob and Rocksteady, and a frog whose name I'm too lazy to Google), some of my old D&D figures (Strongheart and Kellek, some non-articulated orcs, etc.), lots of old Hot Wheels and Matchbox cars, etc.

Along with them, one set of toys that really fascinated him were the Battle Beasts. Remember these guys?
Originally produced in Japan as a tie-in to Transformers and sold in the U.S. in the late 80's/early 90's, they're anthropomorphized cybernetic animal figures with a variety of odd melee weapons.

Actually, of the two dozen or so he brought back, only 4 were actually mine. Apologies to my brother may be needed in the future when his son next visits grandma and grandpa's and finds them gone.

Anyway, seeing them again made me realize that they're perfect minis to use in a Gamma World type game. Use little green army men (or cowboys, or knights, or pirates) for pure strain humans. Throw in some MUSCLE  Wrestlers (more great 80's toys, and I already have my collection here in Korea) for the altered humans.
Then just figure out what to do for the mutant plants (a quick bit of garden pruning, maybe?) and you're all set. 

Now if I only had time to run GamMarvel World as a face to face game...

3 comments:

  1. Weird how the brain works. There is much school work, day to day tasks etc. that my brain refuses to remember, yet when you say "Battle Beasts" I can regal you with the commercial jingle.

    "Battle Beasts! Collect every one of these incredible creatures who battle for fun!"

    I had a bunch of them. I had a bunch of M.U.S.C.L.E.S. as well, even the cool wrestling ring you could use to stage fights. My brain does not remember what M.U.S.C.L.E. is an acronym for.

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  2. My younger brother had some of those pink, muscle toys when he was a kid. I swiped 'em a few years back to use for an all-ogre Blood Bowl team.
    : )

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  3. Man! I used to have so many of these things. There were some really cool sculpts. Didn't they do a second season where there were little "gems" instead of the decals? Wasn't there also a TV show?

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