Godzilla TelTel Pet (Bandai, 1989)

 

Wouldn't it be cool if you had a cute and chubby plush Godzilla that would let you know when you got a telephone call, because you're always wearing headphones and drinking wine? It would, wouldn't it? Well, Japan to the rescue, once again!

This is exactly the kind of help that Bandai provided to us (well, not us, people living in Japan, I guess) in 1989, with their "TelTel Pets" series.  

If you recall, landline telephones in 1989 weren't too different than phones in previous years.  Touch tones had come in to stay, answering machines were rapidly becoming affordable, and things like Call Waiting and Caller ID (look them up) were on the horizon.  Long distance was a big deal.  Bandai needed a way to accessorize your telephone in a new way, which they did.

This device included a splitter which plugged into the wall jack, allowing your normal telephone to connect, but also providing an 1/8" headphone-type jack for Godzilla to connect to.  When you received an incoming call, Godzilla would roar, getting your attention, somehow, away from all of the distractions of modern life, as you can see on the box below:

Also available were TelTel puppy, kitty, bird (I get it, the "pet" theme), and...hey! That's Ultraman! I wonder if he SHUWATCHed when a call came in?

It's pretty clear from the box that having Godzilla connected means that it stops your actual phone from ringing, because having him try to roar and compete with a ringing phone would be dumb, and who would buy that.  

Also, the length of the cord provided with Godzilla meant that he could be around the corner from the actual phone, in case for some reason you couldn't hear your telephone when it rang, due to your Super Sentai shows being turned up so loud.

This Godzilla is not only adorable, but very unique, and I'm glad I worked out a deal with the seller, because I've never seen one of these come up for sale, and how do you even begin to value him? 

The downside (besides the fact that he takes two D batteries) is that I really can't try him out.  I was one of the last stragglers to divest myself of a landline telephone, so I can't even find out if he still works.  I like to imagine he does. Oh well!