Vac-Man is an action figure

Action figure

An action figure is a posable character figurine, made of plastic or other materials, and often based upon characters from a film, comic book, video game, or television program. These action figures are usually marketed towards boys and male collectors...

 created as the nemesis

Archenemy

An archenemy, archfoe, archvillain or archnemesis is the principal enemy of a character in a work of fiction, often described as the hero's worst enemy .- Etymology :The word archenemy or arch-enemy originated...

 of Stretch Armstrong

Stretch Armstrong

Stretch Armstrong was a large, gel-filled action figure first introduced in 1976 by Kenner.-History:Stretch Armstrong was in the shape of a well-muscled blonde man wearing a pair of swimming trunks. Its most notable feature was that the doll could be stretched from its original size to four or...

. Vac-Man is suggested to be from a faraway galaxy. Unlike the Stretch dolls which contained a syrup-like liquid inside a rubber sheath, Vac-Man (and associated models like the Vac-Pac which were the heroic enemies of Vac-Man) contained a grainy solid, produced from ground-up corn cobs. By attaching the provided pump to a socket on Vac-Man's head, air could be sucked out until the body became rigid. It could then be stretched, but unlike Stretch Armstrong, it would retain its stretched shape until air was let back in.

Vac-Man was made by Cap Toys (later purchased by Hasbro

Hasbro

Hasbro is a multinational toy and boardgame company from the United States of America. It is one of the largest toy makers in the world. The corporate headquarters is located in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, United States...

) starting in 1994.

External links

• Vac Man at io9
• Chemistry in the Toy Store, David A. Katz.