Rambo Water Hawk by Ljn & Entertech (1985)

As you know, this blog is all about my attempt at tracking down all of the toys of my childhood as a kid who grew up in the 80's, the absolute best decade for toys. But this one is a bit different. I never actually had this gun, but rather one of my best friends did, a few actually, and I remember playing with them often and just thinking how amazingly real they looked for water guns. And I mean, just the fact that they were a Rambo toyline made them automatically awesome, and these bring back a flood of memories of a time when kids actually had to play outside.

Rambo Water Hawk Water Gun by Ljn & Entertech Back Side 1985

When I decided to begin tracking any of these Rambo guns down, I soon realized that it wasn't going to be easy. These have become exceedingly scarce and highly sought after in the collectors market. Much more so than the Rambo figures or toys from Coleco. So I had quite a task ahead of me. The thing with these toys by Ljn and Entertech is that they're so rare that they almost never pop up, and when or if they do, the prices are outrageous. For example, that M-60 machine gun or even the rocket launcher (not pictured) will demand anywhere from $300-$1000 each. Yea, no thanks. I want them, but not "that" bad.

Rambo Water Hawk Side View 1985

More often than not, the go-to for collectors are the online sites, which I frequent on a daily basis.
But then I came across a group on FB, one of many, that caters to older guys like myself and who are in it for the collecting aspect and not the flipping. While I've done some selling in this group myself, I've never actually purchased anything from anyone else. Then one day someone posted a few images of some items they were selling at their local toy show, and of all the things that were pictured, this caught my eye. I immediately contacted them and inquired about the price and condition. They were honest and upfront about the condition. As you can see in the photos, the box is a bit beat up, but it's not a deal breaker for me because for the most part, it's still in tact and in decent shape. However, the gun is still in it's original tray and has never been used, played with or taken out of it's enclosure tray. The price was extremely fair, when you consider that the average going rate for this sucker is anywhere from $100-$150 typically. Let's just say I got it for far below that, and now this is in my hands once again.

While I have yet to ever come across the Bow & Arrow Set, Military Set or Action Playset, and I'm not entirely sure if they were ever actually produced, the one that actually does pop up is the Water Hawk surprisingly. But again, never for a decent price. There are quite a few Rambo toys from various companies and toylines to sift through, and I'm discovering that there are quite a few gems I seriously missed out on back in the day. But it's been a fun journey and I hope that you stick around for the rest of it.

Mad Scientist Dissect-An-Alien By Mattel (1987)

Back in 1987 Mattel released a very short-lived toyline by the name of Mad Scientist. These creative toys were somewhat chemistry based, but with more of a monster/horror theme to them, which made them way more awesome. A good majority of them involved slime in some form, in a time when slime was being introduced more and more frequently into major toylines, until parents and kids began to see just how tedious, messy and unweildly they would became. While the line would ultimately introduce quite a few toys and sets, I personally only had 2 of them as an 11 year old kid. One being the bendable Mad Scientist figure, and the other one being this crazy beast of a toy known as Dissect-An-Alien, easily the grossest of the bunch and probably the reason why I was so attracted to it in the first place.

This guy was crazy. He was made of molded plastic, and you would open up his chest cavity to reveal 12 separate organs you would need to take out and put back in in a very strict and particular order so they would all fit properly. Believe me, it was much harder than it looked. The best thing about it though was the fact that it included slime/goop, which you would mix in with the organs to give it a truly disgusting feeling while doing the dissecting, which made it all the more fun and gross, making it easily the goriest of the bunch in this line.

Back of box

You know how even though you're an adult, you still remember very specific toys from your childhood? This is one of those toys for me. Even though I was into so many different toys like Transformers, He-Man, GoBots and Star Wars, this was one of those toys that always stuck with me, probably because it was just so unique. Many of my memories consisted of me playing with it endlessly, for hours and hours, even after the slime would eventually dry up and I was left with just plastic parts. I would constantly take him apart and put him back together over and over again. I just loved it and I never forgot about it in all the years that followed 1987. I think some of that also has to do with the whole marketing behind this and how inventive and somewhat genius it was as a child's toy. I still remember the commercials (see below) and can still picture the toys sitting in toy aisles at my local department stores, even though that was 30 years ago.

But it wasn't until just a few years ago that somehow this toy and the memories it provided just came flooding back to me. I don't know why, but it did and I soon set out on tracking one of these bad boys down again. Until I realized just how pricey and collectible they'd become in those 3 decades since it's original release, and in the last couple of years I've been randomly looking, they don't seem to be changing. Currently, a sealed or complete one in box will run anywhere from $100-$150 typically. Of course you can find the alien by itself (sometimes with his organs, sometimes without) for relatively cheap, but you won't find the slime, scalpel or play mat, which rarely ever pop up in the collectors market alone. Now, I won't die if I never get this toy in my hands again, but I sure as hell wasn't going to pay those prices for this thing, so I waited, hoping to come across one some day that would be decently priced, preferably in it's original box, and preferably still sealed. Well, that day finally came when someone who had purchased a large collection of toys from a storage locker and listed them all on eBay, for astronomically cheaper prices than what they were usually going for. I put my bid in, expecting to go higher if I had to, but still not exceeding my cap that I put on myself for such things, and hoped for the best. And as luck would have it, nobody else on planet Earth decided to look for one of these sealed boxes at the same time I was and I ultimately won it for a quarter of what the normal going rate is. Patience is a virtue! And I couldn't be happier.

I found a clear box protector that would normally be used for a vintage game system box and it actually fit just perfectly. So this guy will be further protected from dust and handling from now on as it sits on my shelf, a prized possession of my collection.