And now for all the fine print.....
Virtual VIKKI is ©1993,1994,1995,1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001 and now 2002 ! by Richard Hallock.
Hey... I invented the practice of Digi-this and Digi-that! I shoud get royalties! And for that matter I also coined the term Yiffariffic!

This page was completely created on Apple Macintosh computers. If you try one you will understand why the rest of the computing world is doing flips and twists to cram a Mac-like GUI interface into thier machines the same way that overweight women attempt to squirm into jeans that are several sizes too small!
Software used includes Color-It (a fantastic alternative to Photoshop), Simple Text, and many more!

Virtual VIKKI's Treehouse is ©1994, 1995,1996, a997,1998,1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003 and 2004 by Richard Hallock

All the 3-D rendered art was created in Ray Dream Studio/ Bryce 4/ Poser 4, except for the following: Virtual Vikki was created with Hash's Animation Master, The army men were created with Fractal Design's Poser and Poser 2, The Major Matt Mason figures were also created with Fractal Design's Poser. A variety of the pictures were also created using KPT Bryce and Bryce 2 (Now there is a good reason to run out and buy a Mac!) other programs used include Poser 3 and 4 as well as Bryce 3-D and Bryce 4.
All the television shows/toys are copyrighted by their respective creators/production companies. No copyright infringement is intended. If you or your company currently holds the copyright to any show or toy listed on htese pages and are offended in any way, changes can be made to accomidate. If requested to do so material will be removed within 30 days of recipt of notification by any legitimate copyright holder.
This page does not intend to step on anyone intellectual property. People work hard to create things, I just find it a shame to have them vanish off the face of the earth. Most of the pages I have are for products or media long since passed into obscurity, but I wish they had not.

The Strange Change Machine,The Thing-Maker, Creepy Crawlers,Major Matt Mason etc were at one time owned my Mattel. This web page intends no copyright violation or infringement of any kind it is simply my attempt to share my love of specific toys and television series long dead with others who also enjoy them.

(Woah this was years ago now)

Recently I walked into a local model shop and was thrilled to discover that the Flying Sub model from Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea had been re-issued! Get one while you still can. Monagram also re-released the Invaders Flying Saucer again! This is a very cool model with a top that comes off and full interior drtail including a crew of invaders in thise 'scary' jumpsuits.
Unfortunatley none of the other 'classic' models form this sereis of great ships have been re-issues along with it. I would just love to have a Land of the Giants 'Spindrift' model. Who could forget the Pan-Am Clipper form 2001. All these models and more were re-issues in the late 1970's. Makes me wish I hadn't blown so many of them up making 8mm movies!

Special thanx to Matthew Pak for solving the mystery of the Tog'l men shown here. Scooby Doo would be proud!

The two figures you're trying to identify are TOG'LMEN. These were part of Mattel's Tog'l building block system from 1968-1970. The series featured snap together cubes with hinges that opened and closed. The Tog'l Men were introduced as part of the series in 1969, I believe. The first one was blue and came with a yellow hardhat, wrench, and stand. He was supposed to be an engineer. The ones you have pictured came the following year. The green one is a firefighter (came with fire helmet and axe), and the red one is a racer. He came with a white helmet and a black steering wheel. I have a Tog'l Truck mint in a nice window box that includes a Tog'l Man. The three Tog'l Men were sold separately, in a three-pack, and in a building set called (I believe) Circus Fun (or Circus something).
"...and if it wern't for you meadling kids I would have gotten away with it too!"

And if you like that check out http://idt.net/~kevant19/toglhome.html for the TOG'L Appreciation Site! Way cool stuff!!

If you have any other information please e-mail me at virtvikki@attbi.com . Have you noticed yet that I seem to be attracted to Mattel toys? I wonder why?

The Mutant Produce Section

This winter rendered a large crop of great tasting lemons and this wierd mutant lemon. I got out the trusty camcorder and did a few frame grabs of this unique oddity. Has anyone else has any experience with strangely formed lemmons or other fruit? I would just love to see or hear about it. Please e-mail me virtvikki@attbi.com stories and or pictures of your mutant produce.

I got a message from Kenneth Poland the other day it read... "I once found a doubled banana! It was two bananas that grew parallel to each other and the line where they merged together was about a quarter of an inch thick. Both bananas were almost perfectly separated and intact except for the little ridge from where they were separated.
Your lemon is about as odd as they get though!"

Recently I recieved a package full of pictures of mutant lemons from Jason Thomas the best of which are displayed below. "My lemon tree at my house is a cross between a grapefruit and lemon and boy do we get some strange results"

The Cool Toy Site Of The Week Award

I was thrilled and pleases as punch to receive the Cool Toy Site Of The Week for April 21-28, 1996 for the toyshelf section . I was even more thrilled to read the review contianed on the page.

This Week's Cool Toy Site
Virtual Vikki's Treehouse - The Toy Shelf

Its a blast from the past! And its like 3 toy pages in one! The Toy Shelf at Virtual Vikki's Treehouse features great info and pictures of three very influential toy lines. First, there is the Thingmaker. This is a toy that lets you make lots of cool things by cookin' up some goop! There is even a transcript of a MST3K skit about the goop. You can't get much cooler than that, can you? Next, check out the Strange Change Machine. Spooky ain't it? You put one thing in and get something completely different out? How did that work? It *had* to be magic! And the crowning jewel of this site is the Major Matt Mason Page. Believe it or not, there is very little info on the web about this incredibly popular toy line. Fortunately, the info and pictures provided here are top quality. This is really a site that begged for creation. And I can't say enough about how well it was executed. All around high marks for websmanship! This entire site is a delight for the web surfer. Nice original graphics design and easy navigation. And in the midst of all the pages scalping the newest action figures, this page makes for a delightful change of pace. I don't care if you remember these toys or not. After you finish looking over this site, you are bound to be wishing that you had at least one!

Notes from Visitors

Sun, 21 Jan 1996
Thank you fow the wonderful trip back to my childhood! I had a TON of Major Matt Mason way back when. Sigh, it's all long gone now You have a spot in my bookmarks, for whenever I want to turn back into that 8 year old boy who explored the moon along with the astronauts.
From: Kevin Kozoriz

Date: Wed, 27 Mar 1996
Hi Rick!
Yes at of all the people I would need to find if I got thingmakers, you would be the easiest! My husband and I love your web page!! It's one of the best we've ever seen. Fess up how did you do it? At any rate I swear, If I come across any other mini dragons, I'll let you know. Kari

Date: Fri, 10 May 1996
I'm a fellow toy collector and computer artist and I have to say that your web pages are the BEST toy pages I have seen on the net, bar none. I publish a newsletter called IT FIGURES COLLECTORS GUIDE and cover action figures and cartoon series, mostly G.I. Joe...

Again, kudos on your web page!
Matthew Pak

Date: Fri, 05 Apr 1996
Nice page! I was just browsing the Web to see if there was anything about one of my favorite childhood toys, and lo! -- there's a whole page devoted to it! I haven't seen that box in almost thirty years -- boy, does that bring back memories! I think the Christmas I got this as a gift was the most excited I've ever been over a present.

- David P. Mikkelson