CHRISTMAS COUNTDOWN 2013: TOYS: THE TOYS AND GAMES OF HOME ALONE

ARTICLE BY KRISTIAN RODRIGUEZ

For me Home Alone is the ultimate Christmas movie. Its a movie that brings back very fond memories of my childhood and the festive season it self. You can watch Home Alone in the Summer, but it feels a bit weird, and it's not really the done thing. This is a movie about Christmas that should only be watched at Christmas. Kinda like Die Hard and Miracle on 34th Street.

With the success of the movie going through the roof in the early 1990's it was no surprise when toys and video games of the movie started to emerge. Today we take a look back at these classic but forgotten items from the ultimate Christmas blockbuster.

THE SCREAMING 8" KEVIN DOLL FROM T-HQ

The screaming Kevin doll is something I have talked about on the site before and he even makes an appearance in the Bootleg Super Street Wars from this summer (click here to read).

This was one of my Christmas presents that was high up in my Christmas list in 1992 and I was over joyed when I got him. The only problem with this doll is the fact he was bigger than any other action figure that was released around that time.

The Screaming Kevin doll looked ridiculous among other action figures with the way he was a young child who dwarfed everyone. Another draw back with this toy was the fact he had no enemies to battle against. He was just the giant child toy that didn't fit in anywhere.

The figure it self is still pretty cool and has an electronic button at the back which activates a screaming sound. The screaming sound does not sound like Kevin one bit and sounds more like a woman being murdered. It's quite freaky. Sometimes my one malfunctions and screams on its own accord which is fucking scary.

The Home Alone toys were made by T-HQ who are now the famous video game company which brings us games such as the Saints Row Series and up until recently the WWE franchised games.

T-HQ stands for the Toy Head Quarters. Just a little fact there, not a very interesting one but a fact none the less. You can now feel free to tell other people this fact but I'm sure they wont care that much.

THE GIANT KEVIN SOFT TOY

A giant version of the toy was released, which was a soft toy with a rubber head. This toy has the same apparel as the screaming Kevin doll and also has a horrific screaming sound effect and also says a few phrases. This toy has a good likeness and has a different head mold which isn't of Kevin screaming.

THE HOME ALONE TALK BOY TAPE RECORDER

The Deluxe Talkboy tape recorder was a pretty snazzy gadget back in the Christmas of 1992. Don't you remember the Talkboy from the movie?

In Home Alone 2, Kevin causes all kinds of mischief and chaos with this special audio recording device. With this device he manages to play some pranks on adults in the shower and commit credit card fraud in a swanky New York hotel.

As an 8 year old child putting one of these down on your Christmas list, you had pretty high hopes. Prank phone calls, credit card fraud and managing to record an adult confess to something they shouldn't without them knowing. The problem with this is the fact adults don't like being recorded much.. especially at Christmas.. when they are drunk. Most Talkboys were confiscated by Boxing day and adults would never buy you replacement batteries for such an intrusive and annoying device. Great in the movie but no good in real life.

Saying that I did keep mine and use it as a Walkman up until 1996 until it died.

A Talkboy digital watch was also released which was a much more stealthier gadget which was much more convenient when trying to get a decent scoop on an adults conversation.

The only problem is, most adults stop their conversations when children enter the room. The children are normally told to go play in the other room or to "fuck off" depending who's house you're round! The watches were made by TIGER, that horrible company which made all them god awful hand held, LCD games back in the day. There was a Home Alone TIGER game made as well but I burped a bit vomit thinking about it.

THE HOME ALONE BOARD GAME

Licensed board games were still surviving (barely) in 1992 so the fact they released a Home Alone board game wasn't much of a big surprise.

The game involved going round the board setting traps on the burglars. The burglars had to steal house items in order to score points against Kevin. Its not a bad concept but I cant see Hungry Hippos or Scrabble losing any sleep over it.

HOME ALONE VIDEO GAMES

T-HQ went on to make video games of both the movies on all the consoles at the time. Each game was a complete pile of dogshit and barely playable. T-HQ also made the god awful Waynes World video game which is one of the most confusing and rubbish video games ever made. Playing that for 10 minutes is my idea of hell. 

Each game was pretty much the same- set traps and stop the wet bandits from getting you and burgling your house. The games did not work well at all with bad sound effects, rubbish structure and hellish controls. Home Alone, like many other great movies flopped hard in the world of cartridges and controllers.

After Home Alone 2 it all went quiet until they made other Home Alone movies with another child actor some years later which were really bad. Home Alone and Home Alone 2 will always be up there as the greatest Christmas movies of all time.The toys were cool, the games sucked and that's all I have to say on that one.

CHRISTMAS 2012 COUNTDOWN: TOYS: K-ROD'S CHRISTMAS GIFTS 1992

1992 was another cool year for me. I was still into wrestling and playing video games. Home Alone 2 and the Muppets Christmas Carol where going head to head at the box office during this holiday period also.

1992 was also another great year in the Christmas gifts department for me as yet again I got all the shit I wanted. So the other week I listed my favorite presents from 1991, so today I am going to be following up with the gifts I received a year later. I was only 8 years old during the Christmas of 92 so toys were still on the menu in regards to Christmas gifts.

So here are my top 5 gifts from the Christmas day of 1992.

5. KEVIN FROM HOME ALONE DOLL

THQ released a line of Home Alone action figures and dolls. THQ are now known for making video games these days but back then THQ was more known for making toys (hence why THQ stands for Toy Head Quarters) and as well as making these toys they made some terrible Home Alone video games to boot. The Kevin doll is something which I still have on display in the shop and it is something I treasure very much. The only problem with the Kevin doll is the fact he is pretty huge standing at 7 inches tall so it dwarfed any action figures I had so he wasn't very compatible with my other figures in that department. When you pressed a button on the figures back it would scream. Pretty cool but a very big figure.

4. TERMINATOR 2 ACTION FIGURES

Kenner released an ultra cool set of Terminator 2 action figures which well... just blew my fucking world to pieces. I was (and still am) the biggest fan of both the first and second movie so when these were released my mother got a massive ear bashing to buy these for me. A great line of action figures that all did something cool and came with great accessories also.

3. THE TERMINATOR 2 BIO REGENERATOR 

The Bio Flesh Regenerator was so fucking awesome and was a great surprise when I opened it. This toy could make little Terminator figures by molding putty around an exo skeleton by using a press device. It was so cool being able to make little Terminators and was a great prop for sending cyborgs back in time to fuck shit up. This toy ended up being rendered out of use do to well, overuse!

2. ATMOSFEAR

Atmosfear was a board game which became a best seller due to its uniqueness and shock appeal. The game was very ground breaking at the time due to it being a family board game which was played against an evil video tape starring the Gate Keeper. The idea of the game is to get six keys and get to the center and reveal a nightmare. If you pick up your own nightmare card you will lose but if it some one elses card you win the game. The game has a 60 minutes time limit which is displayed on the screen. I will review this game in its own article sometime soon as it is great enough to deserve one.

1. SEGA GAME GEAR WITH SONIC THE HEDGEHOG 2

So Sonic 2 on the Genesis was what was dominating the Christmas market in 1992 and it was well deserved. Sonic 2 is my favorite Sonic game of all time and I still play it to this day. However at the time in 1992 I did not own a Sega Megadrive to play it so imagine the overwhelming feeling of joy I had when I opened up my main present and it was the Sega Game Gear along with Sonic the Hedgehog 2. The Game Gear was (in my opinion) the most superior hand held console released in the 90's. It was in color and the games were awesome. However the Sonic the Hedgehog 2 game on the Game Gear was a huge let down as it was insanely difficult to play but it wasn't the only game I got for it so it wasn't that much of a problem.

LOST ENTERTAINMENT CHRISTMAS 2012 COUNTDOWN

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MY CHRISTMAS PRESENTS FROM 1991