Growing up, there was a distinctly 80s phenomenon of companies spinning-off a lot of awesome toys from entertainment properties that weren’t kid-friendly. In fact, there were quite a few R-rated films that had products readily available for purchase at your local Circus World, KB Toys, Child World, or Toys “R” Us. ALIENS, A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET, ROBOCOP… those all come to mind. And then there was RAMBO, marketed by Coleco for “Ages 5 and Up.”
If such tactics were to happen in 2013, a public outcry would take place as media pundits and bloggers would raise their virtual fists and start blaming the toymakers for real-life ills. I’d call B.S. on it, as I grew up on all kinds of “violent” toys (I still have one of the banned “Entertech” Water Hawk’s stashed away somewhere – should do a blog about that) and I’m doing just fine. But now we have toys for “The Adult Collector.”
Indeed, the tale of JOHN S. RAMBO that begun with the 1982 film FIRST BLOOD was primed for the kiddie market upon the 1985 release of RAMBO: FIRST BLOOD PART II. Reworked and tamed for a “family” audience, a cartoon that largely aped G.I. JOE hit the streets as RAMBO: THE FORCE OF FREEDOM, and along with it came the previously-mentioned line of toys (which looked terrible). Even Entertech got in on the action, with re-branded versions of their popular waterguns cashing in on the RAMBO craze.
While it’s been awhile since RAMBO has been in the action figure aisle (there was another kid-aimed line in the mid-1990s), the folks at NECA are hitting “The Adult Collector” market with a new series of RAMBO action figures, starting with the May release of JOHN S. RAMBO himself – modeled after Sylvester Stallone in his FIRST BLOOD glory. The packaging for this one is clearly-labeled “AGES 17 & UP.” Just like the movie. As noted by NECA on twitter, if this figure does well, the next will hit in Aug/September, with a figure from FIRST BLOOD PART II to follow.
JOHN S. RAMBO is available for pre-order now at Entertainment Earth.
Here’s a preview of the packaging:
Will you be snagging RAMBO to play with while the kids are in bed? Can you think of any other “adult” movies or TV shows that spawned toys aimed at kids? Share your thoughts below…
