A gorilla.
People like gorillas, right?
No? Too scary?
Well, I like this gorilla. He just called to me. He looks more like a man in a suit than a true gorilla.
This big, black, angry primate is by Imperial Toy. I’m not sure what year this toy was released. Probably the 70s or 80s from the looks of him.
I have a feeling it’s supposed to be reminiscent of King Kong. See the resemblance?
(Actually, this shot of King Kong reminds me of Danny Glover.)
I don’t see any marking giving rights to a movie studio or anything, so this is probably just a generic giant gorilla. I’ll call him “Kong King.” He’s supposed to fight some of those dinosaur toys Imperial made in the 80s.
You remember those dinosaurs? I actually had this dinosaur as a kid.
Dinosaur image courtesy of Cretaceous Central. Thanks!
I remember dropping those little green army men into his mouth, filling its hollow plastic torso with unlucky soldiers. (It was always hell to get the dinosaur to regurgitate them though.) I would even squeeze his mouth shut repeatedly to make the act of eating that much more convincing.
Kong King is plasticy, goofy-looking, has minimal paint applications and has very obvious construction seams. He has two points of articulation at the shoulders. The rest of him is just a hunk of hollow, flexible plastic.
Notice his smooth, polished bare ass…
… and what’s with coconut bra?
(See. I told you’d I’d post another York Show toy this week. I’ll try to do another.)
i actually JUST bought that same exact dino for 75 cents at a peddler’s mall in kentucky
Wow. Good find.
I hadn’t even thought about that dinosaur until I started writing this blog entry.
I have a very similar Gorilla figure except it has two red led lights for eyes and a button on his chest. When you push the button he kind of makes a weird snoring/growling/moaning noise and his eyes flash on and off for a few seconds. It’s made of hard plastic too. but the sculpt looks to be the same.
Man, your toy sounds so much cooler. I wish I’d found a roaring, laser-eyed gorilla toy instead.
I got that same Kong last year. It is an officially licensed King Kong, and I think it was released in ’85 or thereabouts.
Check out my post: http://toyriffic.blogspot.com/2008/06/da-da-da-daaaaimperial.html
Thanks for the tip Bubba Shelby.
The car in Kong’s hand was a nice touch. Too bad I don’t have any small cars lying around.
Hey Justin!
I just have to say WOW! All you’ve done on this site is so AWESOME!
best,
Simon
I had a gorilla like that when I was a kid.
I totally had one of those dinosaurs when I was a kid, back in the eighties. I would attack the Star Wars figures with it for some reason, and the simulated chewing mouth movement was a must for me too.
Amazingly, in Asia KING KONG is called KONG KING. Kong actually means King in Korean whereas King has no meaning.
The more you know!
Wow, thanks for the insight AsianFan. Good to know. That’s pretty funny and coincidental. (I’m taking your word for it by the way.)
@ Simon – Thanks for the support, Glad you like the site.
@ Fae Cthulu – Funny that we both did the mouth chewing thing. A modern dinosaur toy would growl, animate and have a chewing action all activated by the press of a button. Also, it wouldn’t be hollow, because it’d be filled with electronics.
OH! I still have this very same dinosaur–I got him at McCrory’s when I was a kid, and I remember him seeming so HUGE in my little hands. Even the display box he was in advertised them all as GIANT DINOSAURS.
His name is Thor, and for a while he sat on my desk at work…when I had a job.:(
I had one of those as a kid. I always thought it was creepy, but I didn’t expect to find it here.
The king kong figure was part of a Sears catalog collection “Classic movie monsters”. Others in the set included Frankenstein, Dracula, Werewolf and possibly one other that escapes me.
Fyi this is for sure a figure of King Kong, it had a tag when it was sold. I got mine in the mid-80s (probably released to cash in on the King Kong Lives movie.)
I have this Toy too. It is a king Kong Toy that I got in the 90’s.
I’m not sure when it was released, but I can say for sure that I bought mine new at a Toys R Us in the early 90’s, probably ’92. I also bought this with a Godzilla toy that was in the same bin and made in a similar fashion…I still have both!