Let's Go Fishin'

Talk about yet another toy I sadly never owned but somehow played with a ton, Let's Go Fishin' is yet again another example of how much fun fishing is when it isn't done in real life.You notice that? Fishing in video games is relaxing, toy fishing is always fun, but for some reason real fishing? Boring as hell. Maybe it's the fact that I like fish and don't want to hurt them, but even beyond that I just don't see the appeal. This is also another example of a toy that has just a billion copycats of it on the market, because really, it isn't that original of a concept. It isn't something that can protected through copyright like Mr. Potato Head or something, this is a very vague idea that virtually anyone could come up with, and that means its up for grabs.

But boy howdy did I play the heck out of this thing when I was able to. I have an innate soft spot for mechanical toys or animatronics of any kind, so stuff like this really hits a sweet spot for me. It isn't a very complicated toy, honestly, it's extremely basic. Players use their mini fishing poles to try to catch the most fish inside a rotating pond with hungry fish that open and close their mouths, all powered by 2 triple A batteries. It's said that the original is created by Pressman Toys, and I have no real reason to doubt those claims, so I'm going to assume it's true. I mean, why would anyone lie about that sort of thing? What would they have to gain from it?

I'm also a big fan of mechanical toys in general. Anything that has some sort of mechanism in it, or moves while you play with it has always been on my short list of favorites, like those robotic pets that I eventually intend to cover someday.

But Let's Go Fishin' is a fun toy because you can play with others, but you can also play by yourself, and as someone who was a completely introverted little girl growing up, I loved playing by myself. I could easily sit for hours and fish out these little multicolored plastic bastards to my hearts content. It's like playing Tetris; it's one singular concept that can be done ad nauseum to your hearts content. And I know this because I used to play with toys exactly like this by myself for hours on end. There isn't a whole lot of information out there about this toy, or even the company, so I don't really have any kind of history or funny anecdotes to spit here, but needless to say I still love this toy regardless of its bland legacy.

I see miniature versions of these in the Dollar Store all the time, and I can't imagine they work well, given who's selling them, but it's nice to see them still out and about in the wild and know that some kid is potentially enjoying them for a few brief moments before they break.

And even though the fish have the horrifying dead eye look of someone who's walked in on their grandparents having sex, the overall design of the toy is cute. Each pole is one of two colors, and every fish is one of four colors. The design of the "pond" itself? Goofy as hell. But hey, what're you gonna do. There's only so many ways to design plastic water, am I right?

Again, sorry I don't have a whole lot to say. There just isn't much to discuss in regards to this toy. It isn't what I'd consider "iconic" or a "classic", despite my love for it, so there's no real history or funny stories to plop in here, so all we've really got is my dorky admiration for a mechanical game about catching multicolored muppet faced fish.

Boy boy do I love it.