Collectible of the Week: Stretch Armstrong (1976; Kenner)

“Grab hold and pull! You can stretch 13” STRETCH ARMSTRONG up to four feet. Squish him, scrunch him, stretch him out.  He always returns to his original shape, ready for any wild position kids can think of!”

--Ad copy describing the capacity and capabilities of the unique action figure, Stretch Armstrong.

One of the most popular (and no doubt strangest…) toys of 1976 was Stretch Armstrong, from Kenner.

Essentially, Stretch is a muscle-bound, blond-haired “hunk” (garbed only in briefs…) who -- because he came filled with dark-colored “gelled corn syrup” -- could be stretched, pulled and tied into the aforementioned “wild positions.”   Stretch Armstrong’s toy box implored kids to “stretch him long…watch him return to shape again!”  Sometimes, this advice was followed too closely…

Stretch Armstrong -- soon to be the subject of a major motion picture, apparently -- became so popular in the late 1970s that other “stretch” creations were added to his universe in the years 1978 and 1979.  These included the ultra-cool Stretch Monster, described as having “green scaly skin, devil’s eyes, and a half-man, half-lizard look,” Stretch X-Ray, and for the little ones, Stretch Octopus.

Today, it is exceedingly difficult to find an original Stretch Armstrong who hasn’t been bled out or otherwise mishandled.  I had a Stretch Armstrong as a kid…for about five minutes, but always really wanted the Stretch Monster, who seemed very menacing and cool, and who would have been a perfect villain to combat Steve Austin or Jaime Sommers in Kenner’s Bionic line..

Below, some commercials for Stretch and his adversaries.