Back when I did those robot posts (Volume I and Volume II, respectively), My Pal 2 was the one robot on my mind but for the life of me I could not remember his name. I searched tons of toy robots sites hoping a picture or name would point me in the right direction, but I came up empty handed. Not that it would have mattered, because My Pal 2 is an early ’90s too, but still it was a toy robot that I’ve always remembered. By chance, I came across this commercial and now I’m sharing it on the blog.
He looks exactly as how I remembered him and I remember this commercial as well. I can’t remember if I actually asked for a My Pal 2. I’m thinking he came out in 1992 and by that point it was getting to be a little embarrassing to play with so many toys. Especially a very kiddie-oriented robot. Nevertheless, once I got the toy for Christmas, I had fun with him. Despite all of the hype in the commercial of the multitude of tasks he could perform with you and for you, if you did it once, you did it a thousand times. Not a whole lot of replay value here (though the ball throwing was pretty cool and so was tickling). Perhaps if he was designed more like a giant robot action figure, keeping all the other electronic features, I would’ve gotten more use out of him.
By the way, has anyone ever heard of the original My Pal? I’m assuming there was an original. While we’re on the subject, there were a lot of ’80s toy robots that got the “II” or “2” distinction where I never even knew of the supposed originals!
Cool shot man!