 
Virtual Toy Chest's Stretch Armstrong Archive | |
Stretch Armstrong was first produced by Kenner in 1976. As his name suggests he was a muscle bound figure that could be stretched to more than three times his original size. He was made from latex and was filled with a viscous corn syrup like liquid. Kenner went on to produce various other stretch figures including Stretch Ollie the Octopus, Stretch Olivia, Stretch X-Ray, and the very rare Stretch Monster, and Stretch Serpent. Several other companies copied Kenner's idea. Mego produced Elastic Super Heroes. Sadly all of the stretching fun came to an end because the lawyers were afraid that the companies would get sued as kids were getting hurt tying the figures around themselves. (We weren't so smart as kids.) In 1987 LJN produced Stretch Wrestlers. These included Hulk Hogan, Rowdy Roddy Piper in trunks, Rowdy Roddy Piper in Kilt, Machoman Randy Savage, Ricky the Dragon Steamboat, George the Animal Steel, Junk Yard Dog, and King Kong Bundy. In 1992 Stretch Armstrong was rereleased by CAP toys. This time around they produced a dog named Fetch. Over the next few years they released various enemies including Vac-Man. CAP checklist
Again the concept was copied. This time by Justtoys who created Stretchems. Playmates also released Stretch TMNT figures. Kenner released a stretch MASK figures. There were also super stretch WWF wrestlers. More recently there have been Stretch Monsters, stretch genie from Alladin, a super stretch Mr. Fantastic, and a stretch Homer Simpson. |