Get Rid of that Crap! Part 3: 8A2KY! (8 Arms to Kill Ye!)

The two combatants in this piece were made by MPC (Multiple Plastics Corporation), manufacturer of plastic toys & model kits in the 1960s. Their toy figures were generally ghoulish in appearance, with gaunt faces and elongated limbs, and were sold on blister cards (colorfully illustrated cards that have a plastic bubble, or blister, where the toy is contained. This type of packaging is still used today). Their figures were also offered via boxes of breakfast cereal and were the general object of a child's desire to obtain these boxes, no matter how crappy the cereal inside tasted. The octopus shown here was offered two ways that I know of: 1. It was blister-carded as part of a twelve piece "Sea Monsters" set and 2. one came free in a box of Nabisco's Rice Honeys cereal and was available in 1968. I got both of these toys in a plastic bag with another pirate, six other sea monsters, and a couple of jungle natives at a snooty antiques show in Cold Spring Harbor in 1998. They're battling atop a Weebles Pirate Island base (yes, I said Weebles Pirate Island) because the color worked so well with the octopus & pirate. This photo was taken at Teddy Roosevelt beach in Oyster Bay, N.Y.. The title was inspired by the phrase, "Eight arms to hold you" which was the original title for The Beatles' second film, Help!.