Inspirations: Matt Mason

Space toys.  Growing up, I wanted to be an astronaut.
I remember all the rocket launches from the late 60’s and early 70’s, and watching as man took his first steps on the moon.

Major Matt Mason
Don’t bend those joints too much!

Major Matt Mason was the must have space toy back in those days.  Remember, this was waaay before Star Wars made space toys common place.

Made of a flexible rubber, he had a wire skeleton that suffered from metal fatigue once the joints were bent too much.
That meant that if you bent his arms or legs alot, you soon had a Matt Mason that was missing some limbs!
He did have a cool space station and accessories, like jetpacks, space sleds and more cool stuff.

I remember having the space crawler and that rascal could rampage over just about any obstacle.

Major Matt Mason
Space Crawler laughs at your obstacles!

You can still get these guys on ebay, and for a while, I had a home business that would refurbish the broken ones and sell them.
Back in 2001, I was contacted by a guy who wanted to “lease” a Matt Mason from me to use as a prop in a play.

I sent him one and a few months later I got a package from London.  Inside was an autographed program from the play This Is Our Youth, starring Matt Damon, Casey Affleck, and Summer Phoenix.

They also included a photo of the cast holding the Matt Mason.

 

What were some of the toys you remember growing up with?  Leave a comment and let me know!

1 Comment


  1. I had one of these and it may still be in the attic

    Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *