Friday Flashback: Knight Rider toys

The new Knight Rider TV series premiered on Wednesday night. Did you see it? I was gonna watch it but I really needed to organize my sock drawer. Reviews are as bad as the initial ratings, so don't expect it to last long enough for a new toy line. One review called it "somewhere between atrocious and awful" while another said it's "not the worst show ever made, but surely in the Top 10".
Of course, like many of you, I used to watch the old, 1980's version when I was a wee boy. I think at some point in our lives we all wished we had a Trans-Am that would talk to us and had rocket boosters. And David Hasselhoff was actually cool back then. Toymakers made a large assortment of Knight Rider toys, including a Michael Knight action figure from Kenner. But KITT was the star of the toy line, appearing in many different versions.
The most popular version of KITT was probably the "Knight Rider 2000 Voice Car" (also from Kenner). It came with the action figure, and actually talked to you like KITT in the series; when you pressed it's license plate, it said one of 6 phrases:
"Engaging the infrared tracking scope"
"Scanners indicate danger ahead"
"I shall activate the turbo boost"
"Call me KITT for short"
"Your reflexes are slow"
"What is our next mission?"

All those seem pretty routine except for the "Your reflexes are slow" line -- what the hell is up with that?
Anyways, get your Knight Rider fix now. It probably won't ever be back.

Friday Flashback: Robostrux

First released in 1985, Robostrux were the second incarnation of the Zoids toy line from toymaker Tomy. These giant dinosaur robots were battery operated, and not very durable -- they fell apart alot, but that added to their charm. Watch the commercial for a look back at these forgotten toys.