Doll-A-Day 2017 #15: The Janitor, AKA 21st century Toys Mad Bomber

Today's doll has a double identity, at least in our house.

  I found this 12" tall guy at a thrift store when the kids were little. He had an interesting cranky face, and he was very different from all the other dolls we had,so I bought him.

We had no idea who he was. When the kids and I were playing doll school, which we did occasionally,and here I have to say, quite UNLIKE 'normal' school,I brought this guy out as the grouchy janitor.

Huh?

What's that noise?!

What's that?

What are those darn kids up to now?

I have to explain that I play weirdly. My kids played a little weirdly. It's just what we do. Everything has to be funny. When we played doll school there was always one kid who acted up and made smart remarks. Usually that kid was my doll, Tammy World. That's where her personality was formed. When The Janitor came to school, he wasn't a normal guy either. That's how I am. Fortunately my kids liked it. They LOVED the very disgruntled Janitor,especially Fuzzy.

All right! What's this mess?!

The Janitor was usually carrying a bucket, having just cleaned the floor.

Dag nab it! Look at this mess?! Who did this?!

"No scuffing the floor!"

As I said, he was grouchy...

Now I'm going to have to clean this up!

"No spitting on the floor!"

Especially about his floor.

"No throwing trash on the floor!"

Sometimes he would get really geared up and go on a tirade, using his whole arsenal of 'floor nos':
"No spitting on the floor,no puking on the floor,no scuffing on the floor,no dancing on the floor,no walking on the floor..."

It became a challenge to think of things he wouldn't let them do on a floor that were completely unreasonable, like walking on the floor, or sitting on the floor. Sometimes he complained about other things, like the sinks:"No washing your hands in the sink...

  When he got something cleaned he liked it to stay that way. Now that I think of it, I think somewhere in the back of my mind,there was something of my dad in The Janitor. My dad always made me dry the bathtub out when I took a shower,and the sink when I washed my hands. He used to use a lot of furniture polish on the coffee table,which had a laminated top and couldn't absorb it. Then he'd get mad if anybody touched it because it would get smeary fingerprints. He yelled at me all the time, but at least he'd wait until company left before he pulled out the dust cloth and started griping and wiping the table off. After he retired he worked as a custodian for a while and used to have a fit if anybody scuffed up his highly polished floors.
  The Janitor was one of those characters that were lovable even though they were grouchy, because he was so nutty. We still didn't know who he was originally, but it didn't matter.No matter who he had been, he would now forever be The Janitor. We saw him once at a toy show. He was loose, but he had a name on his tag,so we saw who he really was, although I had forgotten over the years. All I remembered was that he had some detailed accessories that looked very realistic. Pretty cool stuff. I remembered some disguises or something. When I decided to use him as today's doll, I had to find out who he was again. Imagine how surprised I was when he showed up in a picture online as The Mad Bomber by 21st Century Toys!

This guy had been a serious villain! Now, keep in mind he was an action figure meant for adults, and not a toy for kids.He had dynamite,a dynamite vest,(and by that I don't mean it looked really cool.) a case of C4 (with a working timer! Pretty disgusting, but a cool accessory!When the timer runs out there's an explosion sound.), a tool box that opens,a gun, a newspaper with a headline about him,and three masks, including a scary clown, a monkey, and one of those creepy clear masks.(I think those creep me out more than anything.) The little I remembered from the toy show was of somebody with disguises and so somehow I had remembered him as some kind of spy or secret agent.
   Apparently this guy didn't sell well. He was planned long before, but released right after 9/11, so the buying public wasn't too fond of him. He went on to be an on line only release, and pretty limited. But he still doesn't sell for much.So if you're in need of a mad bomber or a grouchy janitor with a really good tool box...

Darn kids!

  Join us tomorrow for another doll.