Toy Story - Tom Wentland Jr

Original MMM LISTSERV submission from around 2001

I'm 35 years old and got into the tail end of Matt Mason in 1970-71. I had a station, the figures, a glider, Starseeker, and the power paks. I now have just about everything but a glider and Starseeker.

Since 1982 I had been looking for MM but didn't find it until I came across an ad in a toy magazine 4 years ago. What amazed me were the vehicles. Since Matt was discontinued when I was just starting to play with him, I had never seen Scorpio, the Astrotrac, and others. I managed to get a lot of the stuff on trade by swapping all of my Uncles (he's 39) GI Joe toys, which he gave to me.

I also have been working on MM repairs for those 4 years, after Rich Inthar and Christian told me that there was a big demand about how to fix broken wires. Christian and Rich were kind enough to send me almost 2 dozen junk figures and parts I could work on to master the repair process. Recently my big find was discovering the original paint that Mattel used on the figures.

Matt was my favorite toy when I was a kid. I also had Zeroids, a few Colorforms Aliens, and then I got into GI Joe AT (because Matt was no longer available). My dad loved the entire space program -my grandmother owned a trailer park a few miles from the Cape and my father took me to KSC numerous times when we were on vacation.

I count myself fortunate to have seen 2 Saturn V launches from close up (we got passes from friends who were engineers) Once, in 1975, I was in FL on vacation and found at the toy store in Merritt Square Mall a Space Power Suit for .99 cents. Someone had discovered it in the back stockroom.

I'm not a purist when it comes to Matt- all of my figures are rewired but with original paint. Most of my vehicles are broken, I like repairing and customizing the items with original NASA stickers, etc. I have a few original boxes. I also don't like clutter and only have a Matt on sled and DD in talking pack sitting on my desk next to the computer. When we have more room maybe I'll put out a crawler. My boss at my part time job has a crawler and Matt on his shelf that I got for him.

The best part of the collecting has been just finding my first item, and the friends I've made. My wife really likes this stuff. I also found last week a GI Joe Masterpiece Astronaut. I've been able to spend a minimum, as I've sold repair videos, and got in when the Matt craze was just starting, and cheap.

For me Matt is everything that this country could be if we had the foresight and commitment. When I was 10 the world wasn't flat. Sadly, it seems that it is for most of the kids I know now.

Tom Wentland


Tom is one of the charter members of the MMM e-mail list. His insights on MMM collecting, and his knowledge developed in learing how to re-wire/re-paint figures has benifited us all.

Tom 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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