Original MMM LISTSERV submission from around 2001
I am starting to feel out of the loop, not having received the threads concerning MMM toys we would like to see or "what if Matt were real". Anyway, I guess it is time for more bio about myself and MMM memories. My emailings have been generally to other list participants rather than to the entire list, and as I don't want to be an unknown quantity, here goes:
I am 38, consecutive or otherwise, unknown, born on Sputnik Day. Currently, I work in retail sales and study computer networking at a community college. I enjoy SciFi, fitness, drawing, computers, current events and history, science, the arts, cars, clothes, languages, a whole bunch of music, healthy living, and a bunch of other stuff.
My first memory of MMM is from my 6th birthday, when my parents bought me the space station and space crawler kit. I remember when it was being set up. I was too small to do it myself, so my Mom basically did the whole thing. She even got the flying back pack with the cord working properly. I remember sitting in the darkened living room with them watching the purple light of the station beacon blink on and off.
Later, I got the space cannon with Captain Lazer and Sgt. Storm. This was for a birthday present. My dad surprised me by taking my to Great Eastern Mills and buying me that gigantic SciFi treasure box after I thought I had gotten all my presents already. It was the custom in my family for the aunts, uncles and cousins to visit each others homes on a cousin's birthday. On this specific occasion, all were forced to sit in the dark while I demonstrated the Captain's Lazer weapon before they got their dinner and cake. I never played much with the out-of-scale Capt. Lazer. In my play scenarios, he would usually do what in show business they call a "walk-on"; that is to say, he would enter the play area, sort of say hello, and then do sentry-type duty on a crater rim, such as a nearby bookshelf or the end of the bed. I remember also pointing the laser weapon at the dog, who was not only a sarcastic ingrate but a lousy foreigner as well. He came from a kennel in Ireland. The effect was to make him tiptoe out of the room with a cowed indignation.
My three recurrent play scenarios were suspended animation, time travel, and weird outer space diseases.
In the matter of suspended animation, missions began in my own private Huntsville, AL (where I believe NASA has a research area). By this I mean my bedroom. I would plan deep space journeys there that would by necessity have to begin in the kitchen. This plan demanded a certain guile. In order to do this, I would have to transmit dominating alpha waves into the kitchen where my mother was undoubtedly doing the same thing to someone else. When I sensed that the alpha field was holding, I would enter the kitchen and announce: "The astronauts are going into space. I need aluminum foil, ice trays, and water". The major and his crew were very neatly wrapped in the foil, placed into liquid water in the ice trays, and the trays were then placed into the freezer. When I had decided that they had reached their destination, the astronauts were defrosted. Major Matt Mason's reach had been extended farther into space than before. Into the kitchen.
Concerning time travel, I employed the space bubble as a time travel device rather than as a transport. An Astronaut would sit in the bubble (actually an exquisitely designed and manufactured toy), whirl around at high speeds, and travel into the future or the past. On a trip to the past, the major met his own grandfather, who was actually a Colorform based on the character of Dr. Doolittle as portrayed by Rex Harrison in the film of the same name. He was the exact same size as MMM, and wore Victorian style clothing. When the astronauts traveled into the future, they would often find that the Command Center and Space Station were destroyed and abandoned. Torn up cotton balls and shredded tissues were used to create a cobweb like effect and to demonstrate the passage of time. Also, it gave me the opportunity to wreck the playset in a narrative context. I could then explain to my parents why I wasn't playing nicely with my expensive toys. The astronauts would then have to travel back in time to avert this disaster. I ripped off every Irwin Allen tv plot there was in my MMM play. Behind the gods there are other gods, and I am a consort to Titans. Titans made me.
Finally, there is the matter of weird outer space diseases. At times, this occupational hazard would befall a member of the team who was off somewhere setting up a weather station or exploring a cave. The symptoms consisted of bits of colored play-dough placed at very inconveniencing places. The outlook was grim for the sufferer. However, these diseases were always cured, of course, by Dr. DoLittle.
Here is the extent of my MMM, Colorforms, et. al. collection: 1 MMM figure stamped 1966 with black bellows and intact helmet in near mint condition, half a dozen Colorforms aliens almost mint, Commander Comet with Wings!, a whole bunch of die-cast cars from the Captain Scarlet Show, as well as some Thunderbirds rockets, 3 Hot Birds in decent shape, two mint comics from "The Invaders" that I bought at a Creations Convention, a whole bunch of old comics including one of my favorites, "Adam Strange"; most others are old DC, I never really liked Marvel. Also, what is left of Dr. Doolittle has made it through serial time. However, he appears to have expired suddenly and to have been rather hastily buried.
What is the half-life of latex?
Thomas Farrell
Thomas 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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