By '81 I had moved on from the wholesome (and awesome) Fisher Price Adventure People line but it was such a happy memory that I can honestly remember pouring over the new sets in every wish book.
I especially recall being kind of miffed about the submarine complete with octopus "Oh sure, now they come out with that!".
Like our Facebook Page
Check out our Instagram
how about that i used to have those two space ships at the top of the catalog. loved em back in the day the Alpha Probe had some cool sound effects.
ReplyDeleteI had #12, the Aero-Marine Search Team. Lots of fun with that set. I still remember the button on the side of the copter to make the blades turn.
ReplyDeleteI don't see the 2 sets I had;the Safari set and the Forest Ranger set.My cousin had the boat, but his came with a dolphin instead of the shark.
ReplyDeleteThere's a lot of great 70s childhood memories all on this one page. I had the parachutist in [13] as a stand-alone set. Same figure sculpt as the adventurer in the yellow shirt but the one I had went for all-white coveralls. Same red helmet, though. The Alpha Probe was an incredible set. Didn't have it, but I was still impressed by the two guys I knew who did.
ReplyDeleteAfter Star Wars came out the the ship looked a little too civilian and didn't exactly fit with in with the rest of the neighborhood's fleet of snappy X-Wings, much less the gun-metal grey TIE-fighters or Millenium Falcons. One kid's dad had an elegant solution. He left the all-white and came up with a stylish set of red and yellow stripes based on the X-Wing.
http://imperialholocron.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/X-Wing.jpg
He was an auto-detailer and when he was done, his son's Alpha Probe looked like a studio model. It was "battle worn" in the right places, there was heat-discoloration around metallic-looking engine exhausts, and them crowning touch. The wing stickers were removed and Rebel logos were air-brushed in. The sled got the same treatment. Nobody, I mean nobody, laughed at his Alpha Probe set after that.
Even stock, it was a very nice looking ship up close.
https://2warpstoneptune.files.wordpress.com/2014/07/fp-ap-1980.jpg?w=1400
Then Empire Strikes Back came out and the other kid whose Alpha Probe was still all-white said it had "Hoth camo", which made sense in a weird way.
I had #12 and #14. When G.I. Joe action figures came out in 1982, I incorporated these into my play universe!
ReplyDeleteI had set 13, and I, too, incorporated it with my 3 3/4" Joes and it served them well. The bike was Snake-Eyes and Flint was the man with the Kayak. The Parachute was used to paratroop my Cobra Soldier into battle. The Van was like a mobile headquarters.
ReplyDelete