Here are some letters and info provided by TOG'L fans.

Do you know, I've spent so much time trying to explain these wonderful blocks to my wife, who swore up and down I'd imagined the whole thing. Thanks so much for dedicating a site to these things--I have many happy memories of tons o' starships with those wonderful hinges! What comes immediately to mind was the moon landing in 1969--I had my own "TOG'L" space craft "landing" on the moon and some of my little green toy soldiers copying Armstrong and Aldrin. I made a ton of drag racers, robots and (especially) space ships out of those things. Alas, for some reason the dog found them to be an excellent chew toy, and we lost a lot by attrition.

- J.M.

See M.T.'s story at the bottom of the page, he may want to talk to your dog...

I love your TOG'L appreciation site, and I plan to tell people I know about it. I've been carrying around 2 beaten up yellow TOG'Ls since I left home...the only 2 that survived...one with a beaten up marble inside (we used marbles as people to ride inside the space ship or whatever else we built). The funny thing is that my mother had a habit of getting rid of the boxes things were originally in so that we couldn't tell what our Christmas presents were, so I never saw the name in print until last week... I thought they were called Tago blocks for the last 30 years!

-J.F.

Who would have guessed that Mom threw away the most expensive part?

My 45 year old brother is severely retarded. Every year at Christmas we ask Steve what he wants. Every year it is the same answer. He motions Tog'l. Every year Mom says "They don't make 'em anymore." This year she is in for a surprise. I wish I had thought of this years ago. But for the first time in 31 years he is getting what he wishes for.

If it weren't for your web page I would not have known that Tog'l was still out there somewhere. You can bet that for as long as I can Steve will be getting Tog'l for Christmas.

Yes, Steve there really is a Santa Claus.

-K.B.K.

Wow. Anyone have anything to donate?

This toy was one that whiled away a bazillion hours when I was a kid. How wonderful to see the thing again. How incredible to find a site DEVOTED to it.

Ahh, Tog'ls...
1969, I remember that Christmas well. I had gotten a 100 set for Christmas in '68 and loved it. I asked for the 500 set the next year. I also asked for a mini reel-to-reel tape recorder too (no cassettes yet--secret agent style <G>)... I wanted both badly. As Christmas day approached I checked under the tree every day for boxes that were the appropriate sizes. Each day I moved this big ole box out of the way to see if anything was tucked further under... I THOUGHT my sister's name was on that big box. Imagine my excitement when that box was handed out to me on Christmas morning. I KNEW IT WAS TOG'Ls!!! AND IT WAS!!! I also got that tape recorder too!!! What a great age to have a surprise filled Christmas morning. I was nine. I used both toys almost daily for that whole year at least.

I remember making very creative things with this toy, pushing it to the limit of what it could do. Each creation was brought out to my mom for her praise--and she always lavished praise for my cleverness. Many of my ideas where later seen in a series of toys called Transformers!

-C.M

My 500 set was a Christmas present that year, too. I always suspected that Transformers were designed by a 9 year old.

I'm C.M.'s brother. We BOTH played with this toy an awful lot as kids. ("Hey, ****I**** was gonna use that piece!")
Did you ever make that robot, with the wind up motor in one of his feet? We did. It really worked! The motor would roll the leg forward until it had flexed as far as it could, then the other one would scoot forward in response, which created the walking effect. Really cool.

For some reason, I also remember making what surely was the true precursor to 'transformers' with these things.

And now that you mention it, C.M., I DO remember your preoccupation with making mother ships and weeny rides that could be detached from them.

-M.M.

Sweet memories of brotherly love...

I remember making Tog'l sandals with them. The only problem was they pinched my feet something terrible!! I also remember my Mother screaming at us kids everytime she stepped on one barefooted! "Ouch"!!!

-C.

Maybe you should have made the sandals for your mom.

My parents (my Dad in particular, I suspect) were always on the lookout for those "creative" toys for myself and my 2 younger brothers. Somewhere around 1969, to add to our troves of Erector Set, Tinkertoy, Lincoln Logs, Lego, Gear Bricks and American Bricks, we were introduced to Tog'l. The motion that was possible was the best draw, and I seem to recall working the best a 7-year-old could with those bellows pairs. The photos on this site took me the rest of the way back. I had
forgotten all about the motor they had in some of the kits, as well as the gear parts. Somewhere I might still have a crayon-drawing I did in the 2nd grade about "favorite toys"--in it was a rendering of one of those Tog'l set trays. What do kids have today? Pokémon and Game Boy. Sigh. Now that Dad is sixty-four, I am reminded that "I'll be older, too".

- R.B.

Perhaps we can create virtual TOG'L for the Gamboy!

I have been searching for Tog'ls for years! It was great seeing your web site. I remember that I always made cameras with them (yellow with a red flash bulb :-). The camera was just a 4x6 yellow rectangle (2 rows deep) with maybe 1 stuck to the front for the lens and a red one on the top left that was the flashcube. Do you remember the cameras with the spinning flashcube? It was supposed to be like that. I also made one of the doors open on the back (supposedly the place for the film). I'd be happy if I could make a camera again.

I didn't even remember the name of the toy...I thought they were Toggles until I asked a co-worker yesterday if he remembered them and he said yes, and it was spelled Tog'l !!! We immediately went to the web and found your page.

Thanks again for the great web site.

-G. A.

You're welcome.

Enjoyed your site, and you are one of the only people I know that remember this great toy. Here are some other fun facts that you may or may not know of.

First, there were at least two sets, which came in square cube boxes, that were more or less starter sets. One came with one Tog'lman, and the other was a slightly larger set, which came with 3 Tog'lmen! Each of these cubed boxes had lids, which, when inverted, had holes in them to serve as a base for a windmill, building, etc.

The other set I had, which I got in the early 70s right when they were discontinuing the line, was the set 350. This was not in the catalog that I had, just like your set 380 was not. The 350 had the smiling heads and hands, four bellows, plus one elasti- motor. It was a great set.

The funny thing about all this, is it seems like some of the best toys, don't stay around. I always thought that Tog'l was infinitely better than Lego, which is still around today and expensive.

-K. P.

I agree with you! TOG'L was great! Thanks for the info on the 350 set. Anyone have one? (FLASH! Now see the the elusive 350 set on the sets page!)

I'm glad to have finally found your Tog'l Blocks site! I knew I'd find one if I kept looking...

I think it was Christmas of my 1st grade year when all I could eat, drink and sleep was the vision of what I would build with the Tog'l Block set #500 when I got it! (See the film, "A Christmas Story" and you'll see a toned-down depiction of my Tog'l mania...)

With three little brothers, I'm sorry to say that not many of my toys survived much longer than the early 80's... I barely remember the things that they said you could do with the 500 set, I just remember having a long intense affair with it (well, as intense as any 8-year old could have with a toy...). I mostly built houses and dragsters with it.

Bless you. (sniff)

-G. L.

My mom was just grateful that you couldn't put someone's eye out with them!

I suspect that my misconception of the spelling has kept me from your site for far too long. Months of searching finally corrected that error and, boom, there I was. I had forgotten how much more a younger kid could do with these compared to other, more complex building sets. Your site pays this toy proper homage. Thanks for a great, nostalgic site!

-T.M.

My spell check keeps trying to change "Tog'l" to "Toga".

Oh my goodness, does this bring back memories! I should go back to my parents' house and dig these treasures up.

I especially liked the pictures of the bendy figures that came with the sets, and the walking giraffe model. I *loved* those bendy figures (we had one blue and one green), and in truth I don't think I even knew that these men came from the TOG'L sets! That giraffe was a model that I've built more than a couple times. *sigh* What memories! This is such a nostalgia-rush!!

-R. F.

My kids love playing with the TOG'Ls I have left. Good toys are never obsolete.

Unfortunately, none of my sets have survived to the present day. Since the situation was that one week I had lots of Tog'l and the next week I had almost zilch, I was left to assume that most of my Tog'l was stolen --- I never knew for sure by whom, since I was always having kids over to visit. The meager few pieces I had left -- a few beams, two dozen odd blocks, and a couple of flat panels -- were ultimately thrown out by my parents several years later since the amount that I played with them had slowly dwindled to zero (due entirely to the fact that too many pieces were missing to do much useful rather than actually outgrowing the toy). Anyways, my sob story aside, thank you very much for the pictures. They brought back a whole flood of memories that are almost 20 years old.

-M. T.

Maybe the dog ate them.