Little Plastic Playthings

A long time ago in a toy shop far, far away... okay maybe just in Austin. These ships are from a while back though, sometime around the early 2000's I had made a stop at my favorite toy store, Toy Joy. I cannot help but love this shop, if you have read this blog through I have mentioned it only a couple of times. I can honestly say that every time I have stopped there I have never, NEVER been disappointed.



On this trip these little plastic space ships caught my eye, they were in the little "cheap" (or I should say inexpensive) toy bins. I quickly sorted through the space ship bin and found that they were four styles to choose from. I think it's always good practice to scope out your choices before making your final selection. I grabbed up one of each, which was strange at the time cause I was into buying multiples of stuff, and proceeded with my other purchases to check out.



There is not a lot of info on these toys, but the feel of the plastic is sort of an upgrade from the gum ball machine toys, somewhat flexible, not too much as I did manage to snap off a radar dish from the rover, but enough that they are not overly brittle. They also are marked as made in GERMANY. That's it, I have no other clue as to what they are from, if any license, or if they are simple generic ships. I realize now I should have inquired as to where and what they were from when I bought them. I do know they are super sweet and have a few moving parts. For instance the rover's wheels can swing back under its carriage and become a monster truck rover and a couple of the ships have some sliding parts that allow cockpits to rotate or radars dishes to slide.



For scale I threw a Sharpie in the picture. These things are a little smaller than a Hotwheels car, but just as awesome, they really remind me of some of the little playthings you get from the gum ball machines of our youth. They are also fun to have kicking around on the desk ready to explore the unknown. How sweet would it be if these were left over from some of those Kinder Surprise eggs? Mmmmmmnnnnn, chocolate and space ships...

Close Encounters of the Burger Kind!

So this past weekend I drove my wife and son to a family reunion on my wife's side near Dallas. We always take an exit at the "Biggest little town in Texas!" Italy, Texas. One because we can avoid construction on the highway, two it's a straight shot through to the little town of my wife's family, and three the scenery is much better than said highway. So what's with the Starship Pegasus here? I have no clue. It just appeared over the years and just as fast went out of business, leaving the shell of the former business sprawled out in the Texas country side like some sort of Roswell crash landing. It's funny we remember the exit because of a Dairy Queen and not this. Like I said it appeared one trip and the next it was out of business, we never got to stop and see what it was about. Now we make this trip maybe once a year, and the one where we first saw this we didn't have time to stop. But from the looks of it it was a little amusement area with a small miniature golf course and maybe an arcade. At least that's what I gather from the signage.




This time I decided when we made the trip back we would stop and get pictures of the remains of this out of this world building. My wife and son waited patently as I trekked around the structure snapping different angles. The inside is bare and what I could see through the doors it's been stripped down. The rectangle, or engineering section, could of housed a kitchen, which got my wife and I to thinking it might be fun to renovate and start a little galactic burger joint. Pretty much by the time we got home we had half the menu planned out, the interior re designed, and were joking about selling the house to go into the short order cook business. If anything I'm going to take this on as a side art project just to keep the imagination sharp.




Surprisingly the ships engines are still intact, and with a little work probably could make quite a light show in the Texas night. We would definitely want to add a laser light show and maybe some smoke f/x. the inside looks like it might only accommodate a few patrons, so we decided a patio area with UFO covered tables would be in order. I think at the center of the structure we would make a little control center with seating all around, and what the hell a little gift shop near the door. Now I also would like to add a Robbie the Robot at the door to great guests, and maybe the B-9 to warn of the upcoming laser show. See what I mean, we've put some thought into the theme. Not that the Starship Pegasus is not a good name, but we were thinking maybe Galactic Burger, or Off World Diner. We also thought that it would be good to just make it a family diner, the Dairy Queen looked like it was going down, but the area was starting to see the build up of a few shops, a huge rest stop type gas station, and the largest car wash I had ever seen, well it was an eighteen wheeler wash.




If anything it's fun to just think of things that could be. So back to walking around. The front of the ship sports three large bubble windows and what I can only guess is a UFO photo op at the front. It really didn't look much like a sand box, way too deep, and it didn't have any accompanying play elements. Besides the three bubble windows there were two sets of glass doors, and that was it for natural lighting. Now I'm not sure, but if the structure would allow, I would make the painted windows actual windows to make it less dingy and maybe more friendly. As I walked around the only signs of graffiti was in the back of the ship. Apparently aliens tag spaceships they visit as was evident by several alien drawings. Make me wonder do they bring their own spray paint, or do they stop at a True Value in the area. I thought the graffiti was pretty funny, maybe not too original, but funny non the less.



There is only one way to get in and out of the parking lot, that would have to be solved, plus I think I would take down the miniature golf area and make a playscape with those rocket shaped slides and space themed play elements. It would be great to make the surface like a moon scape with that soft recycled rubber play ground flooring. I also think it might be funny to add a couple of storage units in the back that look like those old airstream trailers, because lets face it UFO's only visit trailer parks right?



So if you happen to be heading towards Dallas and there is a UFO lighting up the night sky around Italy, you know I decided to quit the toy business and start serving up "the Best Burgers in the Galaxy!", so stop in an say hi! In the very least you might check back here from time to time as I get a chance to do some restaurant designs, that might be a little less expensive, doesn't cost much to dream.