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Exploration Ship
Want a good deal on a great toy? How about
free? Spin
through the Jack in the Box drive thru, and six kids' meals later
(or six bucks), you'd have yourself an Exploration Ship. You could be
forgiven for passing up the offer. How exciting does an Exploration
Ship sound? And it's free-- how good could it be? But look at all it
does. The six components in the second picture combine to make the ship
in the first picture, but they each do something too. From left to
right, top row: Strata 6; Argus 4; Nexus 5; left to right, front row:
Manta 2; Sentry 1; Triad 3.
Pull
back and release Strata 6, and it runs forward while the drill spins.
Push the button on Argus 4, and the scanner dish pops up and rotates as
you push it along the floor. Push Nexus 5 forward and sparks shoot up
under its clear dome. Push a button on Manta 2 to eject the space
glider. Press the button on Sentry 1 and its dual laser LEDs light up.
Give Triad 3 a shove and it rolls across the floor.
Put
these all together into the ungainly looking ship in picture one, and
how much still works? Push the button and the space glider still
ejects. Push the button on Sentry 1 and now its lasers shine through
engine ports in Manta 2. Surprisingly, pull the whole ship backwards
and let it go and it races across the floor a lot better than Strata 6
did by itself. So three components, Strata 6, Sentry 1, and Manta
2 still operate. Arguably, Argus 4 and Nexus 5 don't do anything in the
transformed ship, unless they help stabilize it (and it would look odd
without side engines). Triad 3 looks the oddest, riding piggy back at
the rear, but it does provide a second dome. Jack in the Box brought
back space-themed giveaways in a big way with this 2003 follow-up to
its Create-a-Bot line of robots with interchangeable parts. You're
alright, Jack!
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Bobby's
World
Howie Mandel's
alter- ego and cartoon son pedalled his trike into Wendy's one day, and
brought Bobby's World to their kids' meals. Below left: Bobby as a
robot made robot noises when you pushed a button. Here he's shown with
keychain B-9 in Colorforms Dexter's Laboratory. The robot, here is
speaking English while Bobby's speaking robot.
Below
right: Bobby in the big chair dreaming of space flight. Flip the lever
and he transforms into astronaut mode. Flip again to empty the chair.
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Below
left: Bobby transforms into an astronaut, and blasts off into
space.
Below
right. Landing on the moon, he transforms back. Look who's there to
greet him. It's astronaut Mickey, breaking ground for Lunar
Tomorrowland.
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Iz
and the Zizzles from Zizzle
Iz
by Zizzle made a big splash in 2006, and even got its own TV cartoon
show, Iz and the Zizzles. Its sudden disappearance made it an instant
collector's item. But it likely returned home to ready a new assault,
because in 2007, mini Izeses had infiltrated McDonald's kids meals.
Each Iz inherited a trait from the mom or dad Iz, and either lit up or
made noise when you variously turned its ear or touched its tummy (see
Iz page).
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