January 19, 2023 – Stretch Armstrong

Happy throwback Thursday! Today we’re spotlighting the year 1976, the year that Stretch Armstrong first went on sale! Stretch is made of latex rubber and filled with gelled corn syrup, allowing him to stretch from 15″ all the way to 5′, and then shrink back down to his normal size again. The doll originally sold for $11, and made Kenner toys upwards of $50 million. An estimated 67 different versions were sold worldwide from 1976 through the 90s. In 1994, Walt Disney Studios wanted to take advantage of the toy’s popularity and bought the film rights to the character. They had a few scripts in development, including a family comedy starring Tim Allen, but nothing ever worked out and Disney wound up selling the movie right to Hasbro. Hasbro eventually made a deal with Netflix, where a 26-episode animated series called Stretch Armstrong and the Flex Fighters was released in 2017. Learn more here.