Spark-E-Godzilla (Imperial Toys, 1985)

Imperial produced a smattering of Godzilla items, both during the time of GODZILLA 1985, as well as through the 1990's.  The "Spark-E-Godzilla" was a toy that did just what it said:  you revved it up, like a toy car with a "friction motor," and sparks shot out of his mouth.  Sparking toys were not uncommon in the mid-1980's and the prior decades--I recall having a toy gun from the circus that was in the shape of a cannon.  When you revved it up, copious amounts of long sparks shot forth from the opening.  Even as a child, I wondered why this was okay.

At some point, parents and watchdog groups became nervous about children's toys that could potentially destroy any home with a gas leak, and items like this slowly disappeared, at least from toy aisles that were geared toward small children.  (A quick search of Amazon yields only two sparking toys; one is a party favor, and the other, a sparking "Futurama" gun.  A similar search at ToysRUs yielded nothing, but their site was acting wonky.)

I always wondered if Imperial somehow licensed the sparking Godzilla toy that Takara has made for years (along with sparking Gigan, Ghidorah, and other Godzilla foes, which are often bootlegged), because they look so much alike.  There's no clue on the package concerning this, but my eyes tell me differently: