Childhood Nostalgia 6: Kinos Toy Box

 Time  Toy capsules from the 80s
Even though this is Part 6 of the "Childhood Nostalgia" series on my blog, the previous one, Part 5 was posted three years ago, in July 2012 - I had to check through the list of posting myself to find out the exact numbering. ^^ It's definitely not something I talk about very often, and as a matter of fact, if not for a chance encounter yesterday evening, I would never thought of reviving the series as well. ^^


Tora, Ding Dang and JoJo snacks from Kinos. ^^ I saw them on the shelves of a supermarket I visited yesterday evening, and couldn't quite believe they were still making them. XD When I stopped going back in time reminiscing about seeing the TV commercials for these snack boxes on TV two decades ago, I knew I just had to buy a few to see what/how they are today. ^^

If you're a kid growing up in Malaysia in the late 80s and early 90s, it would be difficult to miss TV commercials promoting Tora, Ding Dang and JoJo snack boxes as they were prominently shown before, during and after cartoon shows. ^^

I can never forget the exact same first line of, "Tora datang lagi dengan ... (Tora comes again with ... some new toys that is)" ^^


Tora TV commercial.
Video clip is from Youtube. Follow this link to the website if you can't see anything.

Even as a kid, I was always fascinated by those TV commercials, as they never ceased to amuse me with their promotion of the simplest toys you can perhaps make in primary school art class as being the coolest things on Earth, with kids acting as if what they got from those toy boxes are indeed the coolest things on Earth. XD

And when you watched them repeatedly after finishing your favorite cartoon show, some of those simple toys you can perhaps make in art class were slowly becoming the coolest things on Earth, which you want to own. XD Those were the old days for me, and TV was a huge part of my entertainment back then. For that matter, I realize that not only were the actual cartoons I was watching entertainment to me, those over-the-top TV commercials aimed at kids can be considered sideshows that entertained me during that time as well. ^^

When I was a kid, I lived far away from the city and my parents were very strict on getting toys for me, so I didn't get any of the three snack boxes (Tora, Ding Dang and JoJo) when I was growing up. ^^; When I did grow up and attended secondary school in the city, these snack boxes were no longer something I cared about anymore, so I never bothered about getting them when they were still very popular in the mid 90s. Market competition compelled more and more flashier snacks and toys to be released in the Malaysian market, many with even cooler TV commercials. Without much innovation to the series, I thought Tora, Ding Dang and JoJo were phased out before I knew it, but as I found out yesterday evening, they are still around. ^^

If not for the bewilderment at how the packaging design is maintained straight out of the 80s, I would have probably shed my tears of nostalgia when I saw these snack boxes on the supermarket shelves. XD

A look at what these snack boxes have to offer: ^^


Ding Dang is the smallest box of the three.


Oh no, that's not at all designed after Doraemon, and no, Ding Dang sounds nothing like the Mandarin name of Doraemon as well. ^^


Content: two pieces of candy.
... ...
骗人的!!

Where's my toy? ^^; Oh that's right, back in the old days, many snacks featured some sort of "lucky draw"-style inclusion for their toys - not only do you not know what you're getting, sometimes you may not get anything at all. ^^;


I forgot to do the shake-shake when I was getting the snack boxes yesterday. It was my mistake then. ^^;
Then again, I got myself a second box, which I was prepared to give to a friend who's of the same age as me. Since I'm not getting anything from the first box, I'll just forget about the gift part and open the second box myself. XD


Besides the same two pieces of candy, these's indeed some kind of toy included with this box. ^^


"Nail Art Decal"?
What is this suppose to do? ^^;
骗人的!!


Tora ^^


Besides the fifth and sixth candy of the night, looks like something that is much better than "Nail Art Decal" came out of the box. ^^


A simple steel ball maze. ^^
A very nostalgic toy in its own rights. ^^


Tora's TV commercial that features this maze toy. ^^
Video clip is from Youtube. Follow this link to the website if you can't see anything.


JoJo has the biggest box, and is obviously the mos expensive one among the three as well.


Content: four tiny cups of pudding and a set of toys.


Very ordinary-looking, ordinary-tasting puddings.



Angry Bird spring launched race car toy.


JoJo's TV commercial that features this race car toy. ^^
Video clip is from Youtube. Follow this link to the website if you can't see anything.


Playing with the race car toy. ^^
Video clip is from Youtube. Follow this link to the website if you can't see anything.

The toys are too simple even by standards ten years ago I think. ^^; They are almost the exact same kind of toys I would expect from this series of snack boxes more than two decades ago, so it's a surprise to me that the franchise is still up and running until today with virtually nothing done to change its offerings. ^^ It's definitely a good thing for folks wearing thick rose-tinted glasses as they get to relive their childhood nostalgia with these snack boxes very "accurately". On that thought, I wonder if a certain percentage of the franchise's continuation is actually from folks like me, folks who are getting these snack boxes purely out of the nostalgia factor. ^^