Toy Story - Larry Turoski

This is a LM we built for our Matts in 1971 (see below)

Original MMM LISTSERV submission from around 2001

Gang: Okay, here's my story...

I'm 41 and got into Matt a little later in life than most of the group, when a friend gave me a Matt for my birthday in 1969. My birthday was the day Apollo 11 was launched. My friend and I were just ga-ga over the space program, just loved it, and our basic beef about Matt was that none or almost none of his accessories reflected the contemporary space program.

We needed Apollo gear. We at first used the GI Joe space capsule as an Apollo command module, then just started making Apollo hardware out of whatever we could find. We initially started playing "2001" with the Matts but this quickly evolved into our own Apollo program. Each figure we aqcuired was named after a real astronaut. We would plan and fly realistic lunar missions, i.e., put together a crew, "train" for the mission for months on end, then "fly" the mission as part of the family vacation to the Sierra or to Death Valley. Our training and flights were very realistic and followed Apollo closely.

We had about six missions as I recall, all flown during the same period of the real Apollos 11-17. About the end of this period a local departments store had a blowout on Space Mission Team packages, so by the end of the Apollo program my friend and I each had about 35 figures.

Sadly, when I became an arrogant teenager who had outgrown anything as childish as the Major, most of them became targets for my .22. About ten figures survived the next three decades; then when I got my first internet service in 1996 I typed in "Major Matt Mason" and discovered Don Thompson's website and this group. I have since rebuilt my collection.

I didn't own very many of Matt's accessories, just a few Space Sleds, Cat Tracs, a Talking Command Console, an Astro Trac, a Portable Space Shelter, and a Star Seeker. Now I own no accesories, just figures, and am still making Apollo stuff for them and having the time of my life. I just rebuilt one of my old LMs, a high fidelity model made from cardboard which stands about 24 inches high, just about right for Matt.

Long live the Major!

Later, Larry 

Larry's LEM above

The ascent stage, in case you are wondering, was a grocery store Kool-Aid display box, the rocket engines were Minute-Maid orange juice cans, and the descent stage was an Astro-Trac box.

Larry is a member of the Major Matt Mason Facebook group and regularly contributes to discussions about toys. He may be e-mailed here. 

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