Rocks & Bugs & Things was a bunch of toys I’d completely forgotten about until a few weeks ago and I was wandering around a car boot sale and I saw one. It immediately bought a flashback!
The toys were fairly big in 1985 and were released by “Ideal”. The idea, (which really captured my imagination) was that harmless rocks and bugs could suddenly and without warning, transform into scary monsters. Be warned! They could ambush passers by or “Mordels” in the vicinity and gobble them up!
When you bought one of these rock or bug monsters they all came with a little two-legged “Mordel”. Brilliantly graphic and scary these toys were – just the thing for a boy of my age at the time. They were well made of hard plastic as well so you could throw and bash them around, drop them to the bottom of a pond to do battle with the other monsters in there!
What an idea though – that common everyday objects in nature – like rocks – were actually alive and going to come and eat you!
The toys had moving parts too and were in lots of shapes and colours. There were ten unique monsters in 5 coluors: red, blue, purple, yellow, and orange.
I remember keeping the box they they came in because it was so well made as well – I really liked the drawings on it. There was a really exciting painting of each rock or bug devouring a screaming victim! And there was also an individual cartoon about the adventures of that particular rock or bug monster on each package. I loved it. It made me interested in comic books for the first time.
In some ways the Rocks and Bugs and Things toys were like MUSCLE men, and I think a bit cheaper (which is probably why I had those over MUSCLES!)
Do You Remember Rocks and Bugs and Things?
Do You Remember Rocks and Bugs and Things?