For the longest time, I always thought that non-missile-firing toys were the worst. At some point during my childhood suddenly all the missile launchers wouldn't fire their missiles; you could still shoot the missile, the launcher just wouldn't release it.
Some dumb kid was probably to blame. Recently I stumbled across a
vintage toy site from Italy looking for some
Lego Scala jewelry. As shipping was gonna cost a bit anyway, I added a few extra items to my order. One of which is this super-cool Kit Robot called Rampax by an Italian company called Grisoni. I think the packaging alone is worth it.
I have a feeling this toy may be haunted. I used my trusty
X-ACTO Gripster knife to cut the parts off the tree. It's been quite awhile since I've cut myself, but then, slice, off comes a tiny piece of a knuckle off the middle finger of my left hand.
Rampax's abuse didn't stop there though. It has two missile-firing arms: the right uses a simple hook mechanism; and the left arm uses a more complex swivel motion to fire. After I put it together, as I am oft to do when displaying toys, I put its arms in the air, forgetting about the left arm's harpoon like missile's firing mechansim. It hit only about 1/8" below my right eye. I've since removed the springs.
Just look at this face on its chest. Rampax is angry. It wants to take your eyes.
work/life_002 made its debut on February 15th, 2009 at Lark Pien's art show, I Love You A Little, at STUDIO Gallery located on Polk Street in San Francisco. As you can see, this issue features Lark Pien. You may want to pick up this first edition, as a forthcoming (hopefully in time for APE 2009) second completely reformatted edition will have all the embarrassing bits taken out!
