South Bend Simpsons Bart & Blinky Combo

This is from a rare series of products that I created for Maurice Sporting Goods back around 2002. Other items included a Homer Simpson Nuclear Fission Combo (fission - get it?), a tackle box, a tent and a sleeping bag.The Homer combo had a clear dome on the reel with a figure of Homer inside who is wearing a radiation suit and a fishing cap and carrying a tackle box. Homer spins in circles as you turn the crank. One feature that we had to drop due to price was a replaceable chemical glow stick in the handle. It added to much to the cost so we used glow in the dark plastic.Homer was not as popular as Bart so it was not a big seller. I created the Bart combo with Bart riding on the back of Blinky the three eyed fish. As Blinky was the product of nuclear waste, I included a Blinky practice plug in the Homer combo as well as the Bart combo.The price of the Bar combo in this listing is very high, but considering its age and condition (apparently still unopened) the price if reasonable for a collector.Serious collectors should look for my GI Joe Real Gear line. There was a huge range of products - telescoping backpack combo with tackle and tackle box, tent, sleeping bag, hat, fishing vest, a more basic fishing combo, and camp chair. This line failed because the brand was dead and Walmart was only interested in two items. I wanted to do Spiderman (this was just before the first Toby McGuire movie) but the president liked GI Joe when he was a kid and would' listen. Shakespeare grabbed the Spidey option and made a killing. We lost our tails on GI Joe and destroyed thousands of units when the license ran out.This makes GI Joe Real gear a very rare collectible in this genre. If you can find the matching September 2003 McDonalds GI Joe Real Gear Happy meal, you will be the total king of collectors.Epilogue: Shakespeare made around $8 mill off Spidey (I would have included a miniature Spidey as a practice plug…to bad…Shakespeare's only not to Spidey was red and blue plastics, a paper sticker and a picture of Spidey on the blister card.) We lost our tail feathers on GI Joe and there were a lot of layoffs with the WalMart deal killer. I won a marketing award for the company for the tremendous effort I made (although I knew it would tank) and Hasbro awarded me a 12 pound etched crystal trophy for the most original product. And I was fired for the Gi Joe fiasco. (The president, who killed the Spiderman combo and insisted on GI Joe - despite my department's urgings to the contrary, is still there.) Such are the whims of family-operated companies.