Right smack dab in the middle of the Eighties one of the greatest movies of my childhood was released: Godzilla 1985!
And with a new movie coming out in theaters that meant that toys were soon available at my local Kay Bee Toys! Crammed in between the discounted Clash of the Titans action figures and the Dragonriders of the Styx were a big old pile of Toho licensed playthings produced by infamous toy makers Imperial!
Imperial Toys produced a lot of dinosaur and dragon figures that fit in size wise with He-Man toys and were great for smashing together to reenact my vision of what violence would occur during the Mesozoic Era. They typically had no points of articulation and apparently had quite a bit of lead in the paint that was used on them. Maybe that’s why the weird two headed dragon I had smelled like Smurf Berry Crunch.
Now, Imperial did make some pretty fancy Godzilla toys for the time. With 5 points of articulation (arms, legs, and tail) and actual dorsal spines that resembled the ones from the movies these were the most authentic looking Godzilla toys available at that time. And the 12 inch Godzilla was perfect for fighting Hot Wheels sized tanks and other military vehicles.
Imperial made a few other types of toys: bubble blowers, bop bags, sparky things, etc. But for a kid like me, the end all be all was to own something BIG and the biggest Godzilla toy was 6 feet tall and inflatable!
And on Christmas of 1985 I received this amazing giant and had tons of plans on how I was going to use this beast to terrorize all my other toys!
As awesome as this toy was I immediately ran into issues. First it was too big to actually play with other toys. My random boxes and building blocks didn’t stack up to this giant brute, my army men disappeared under a single foot and I didn’t have anything that could possibly compete size wise with the King of the Monsters. Yeah, I had some Transformers that kinda fit to scale but Omega Supreme really was better suited tussling with the 12″ Godzilla. Also with its size it was very hard to store anywhere without deflating it which leads us to the second problem… INFLATION!
As a young child I had asthma and allergies so blowing up something like a pool float could be difficult for me. I grew out of it so if you need something inflated just come by. Anywho, back in the mid ’80s it took a lot of effort for me to get the Big G up to his full size so he could threaten my parents’ coffee table. And like anything a 9 year old boy gets his hands on Godzilla got smashed into many a piece of furniture and that lead to holes. I think my mom patched him up for me like three times and then the final battle occurred…
Godzilla met the ceiling fan. Right in the noggin. He didn’t even make it to Easter. I folded him up, put him in a box and at some point that box got tossed out. Probably before the 1990s began. 12″ Godzilla took the reins and Micro Machines were thoroughly stomped on. And I learned my lesson: Be careful how big your toys.
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