That One Toy

[USMC Kato]

 My brothers and I always wanted laser tag or photon (almost the same thing) back in the late 80's.

[ATB]

I had two sets of laser tag gear...but it never got as much use around the neighborhood as I had hoped it would.

Several of us also had gotcha guns (marketed by Jim McMahon!) and again, they never got that much use.

[Ralph-Wiggum]

wow.... A literal blast from the past!!!

and the blast part deux!!!!

Wow - that's almost like an SNL commercial, especially the first one. I see now why later all toy guns had to have a coloring that distinguished them from real guns.

As for Laser Tag, I think it was the most fun toy I had. We had one set of guns and markers while another neighbor had a second set. It was great running around at night in teams when sometimes all you could see of the enemy was that little red dot on the base. Fun stuff. 

[ATB]

wow.... A literal blast from the past!!!

and the blast part deux!!!!

I think I was in 6th grade when those came out.  They were HEY OOGELY popular.

[Knightshade Dragon]

I'm reminded of "Captain Power".  You remember that show?  You'd watch the show but you could shoot the guys in their bright reflective vests.  Yea, it was lame, but it was the first attempt at 'interactive' TV.

[wonderpug]

Yea, it was lame awesome, but it was the first attempt at 'interactive' TV.

Forum must've messed up your post, very strange.  It was a TV show that could make your Captain Power action figure eject out of his ship!  How can you beat that?  You can't!  It's unbeatable!

[Knightshade Dragon]

Yea, it was lame awesome, but it was the first attempt at 'interactive' TV.

Forum must've messed up your post, very strange.  It was a TV show that could make your Captain Power action figure eject out of his ship!  How can you beat that?  You can't!  It's unbeatable!

I'll see if I can patch the forum.  I completely forgot about the dude popping out of the ship.  My mistake - we'll raise the awesomeness.

[ATB]

I'm reminded of "Captain Power".  You remember that show?  You'd watch the show but you could shoot the guys in their bright reflective vests.  Yea, it was lame, but it was the first attempt at 'interactive' TV.

Now that you mention it I do remember it vaguely....wouldn't have had you not brought it up.  Never got into it.

How did they do that thing with the ejecting the guy? Was it special radio waves? 

[wonderpug]

I'm reminded of "Captain Power".  You remember that show?  You'd watch the show but you could shoot the guys in their bright reflective vests.  Yea, it was lame, but it was the first attempt at 'interactive' TV.

Now that you mention it I do remember it vaguely....wouldn't have had you not brought it up.  Never got into it.

How did they do that thing with the ejecting the guy? Was it special radio waves? 

The ship was essentially a light gun.  The rear of the bad guy ships on the TV show would flash a bright red--if you shot at that color you'd get a point, and I think you needed 20 points to "win" the show.  When the bad guy ships would shoot it would flash like a bright yellow or something; you had to "dodge" your ship away from those lights or the light sensor would register a damage hit, and you'd lose a life.  I think you could get hit 5 times before you lost the game, and your guy would be ejected out of the cockpit.

[CeeKay]

I remember reading about the Photon arenas they had set up and really wanting to go but the closest one was out of state.  After I moved to Columbus in the mid 90's I got a chance to play a knock off version of it.  It was pretty unimpressive though.

[ATB]

I'm reminded of "Captain Power".  You remember that show?  You'd watch the show but you could shoot the guys in their bright reflective vests.  Yea, it was lame, but it was the first attempt at 'interactive' TV.

Now that you mention it I do remember it vaguely....wouldn't have had you not brought it up.  Never got into it.

How did they do that thing with the ejecting the guy? Was it special radio waves? 

The ship was essentially a light gun.  The rear of the bad guy ships on the TV show would flash a bright red--if you shot at that color you'd get a point, and I think you needed 20 points to "win" the show.  When the bad guy ships would shoot it would flash like a bright yellow or something; you had to "dodge" your ship away from those lights or the light sensor would register a damage hit, and you'd lose a life.  I think you could get hit 5 times before you lost the game, and your guy would be ejected out of the cockpit.

I think that's entirely wrong.  The correct answer is: Black Magicks.

[wonderpug]

I'm reminded of "Captain Power".  You remember that show?  You'd watch the show but you could shoot the guys in their bright reflective vests.  Yea, it was lame, but it was the first attempt at 'interactive' TV.

Now that you mention it I do remember it vaguely....wouldn't have had you not brought it up.  Never got into it.

How did they do that thing with the ejecting the guy? Was it special radio waves? 

The ship was essentially a light gun.  The rear of the bad guy ships on the TV show would flash a bright red--if you shot at that color you'd get a point, and I think you needed 20 points to "win" the show.  When the bad guy ships would shoot it would flash like a bright yellow or something; you had to "dodge" your ship away from those lights or the light sensor would register a damage hit, and you'd lose a life.  I think you could get hit 5 times before you lost the game, and your guy would be ejected out of the cockpit.

I think that's entirely wrong.  The correct answer is: Black Magicks.

Well, if you go off of the old commercials you can find on youtube, the VHS tape would make bad special effectz lazerz slowly emerge from of your TV screen, which you had to block with your horrible 80s style mullet.

[CeeKay]

I'm reminded of "Captain Power".  You remember that show?  You'd watch the show but you could shoot the guys in their bright reflective vests.  Yea, it was lame, but it was the first attempt at 'interactive' TV.

Now that you mention it I do remember it vaguely....wouldn't have had you not brought it up.  Never got into it.

How did they do that thing with the ejecting the guy? Was it special radio waves? 

The ship was essentially a light gun.  The rear of the bad guy ships on the TV show would flash a bright red--if you shot at that color you'd get a point, and I think you needed 20 points to "win" the show.  When the bad guy ships would shoot it would flash like a bright yellow or something; you had to "dodge" your ship away from those lights or the light sensor would register a damage hit, and you'd lose a life.  I think you could get hit 5 times before you lost the game, and your guy would be ejected out of the cockpit.

I think that's entirely wrong.  The correct answer is: Black Magicks.

Well, if you go off of the old commercials you can find on youtube, the VHS tape would make bad special effectz lazerz slowly emerge from of your TV screen, which you had to block with your horrible 80s style mullet.

it probably gave everyone that played it brain cancer.

[Purge]

the show itself made people dumber, I don't see how it COULDN'T be carcinogenic.

[ATB]

I'm reminded of "Captain Power".  You remember that show?  You'd watch the show but you could shoot the guys in their bright reflective vests.  Yea, it was lame, but it was the first attempt at 'interactive' TV.

Now that you mention it I do remember it vaguely....wouldn't have had you not brought it up.  Never got into it.

How did they do that thing with the ejecting the guy? Was it special radio waves? 

The ship was essentially a light gun.  The rear of the bad guy ships on the TV show would flash a bright red--if you shot at that color you'd get a point, and I think you needed 20 points to "win" the show.  When the bad guy ships would shoot it would flash like a bright yellow or something; you had to "dodge" your ship away from those lights or the light sensor would register a damage hit, and you'd lose a life.  I think you could get hit 5 times before you lost the game, and your guy would be ejected out of the cockpit.

I think that's entirely wrong.  The correct answer is: Black Magicks.

Well, if you go off of the old commercials you can find on youtube, the VHS tape would make bad special effectz lazerz slowly emerge from of your TV screen, which you had to block with your horrible 80s style mullet.

I actually remember this commercial.  Wow.

I can see how it would be pretty effective at getting kids excited about the premise- however, I don't remember Captain Power being much of a hit...