Captain Lazer towers over the astronauts.

He wears a metallic blue-and-silver suit and a space helmet. Snowshoe-type attachments cling to his silver boots allowing him to cross the gravity and terrain of any planetary surface.

His right hand grips a lazer gun. A multi-colored disc fills his chest, mesmerizing enemies. A power pack on his back energizes the gun and disc. He shoots beams from his eyes.

Captain Lazer is unstoppable.

Unless he faces the fury of a child wanting a Tootsie Roll.

Captain Lazer was really about a foot tall. His space helmet and space shoes were detachable but his “clothes” were his body.

His lazer eyes, gun and disc were powered by two AA batteries inserted in the power pack. The “lazers” lit up by pressing plastic buttons on the power pack.

Captain Lazer was part of a series of Mattel space toys based on the astronaut program of the 1960s. Major Matt Mason was the overarching character of the series. Major Matt Mason was a rubber on metal-wire toy about half the size of Captain Lazer.

Major Matt Mason and his astronaut pals and astronaut gear were fun but Captain Lazer was a prize toy for a 6-year-old boy way back when the 1960s were becoming the 1970s. A prized birthday present from the boy’s parents.

Captain Lazer loomed large in the stories of the boy’s imagination. Not just towering over the astronauts of Major Matt Mason but encountering other “giants” in the form of G.I. Joes.

His lazers blasted enemies and protected friends. He was at times a good guy then Captain Lazer switched allegiances and became a bad guy.

Captain Lazer was triumphant.

For two days.

While showing off Captain Lazer to friends in the back yard, the boy asked his Mom for a Tootsie Roll. She said no. The boy demanded a Tootsie Roll. She adamantly said no.

The boy threw Captain Lazer to the ground.

The captain’s power pack shattered on the walkway. Wiring protruded from his lazer-gun hand.

No Tootsie Roll. No more lazers from the Captain’s eyes, gun or chest. Sent to his room. More trouble from Dad when he got home from work.

One shattered little boy.

Mom tried getting his wiring to work again but no luck.

Captain Lazer was an expensive present. He would not be replaced because the boy threw a temper tantrum. The boy played with the broken Captain Lazer for years but the toy was never the same.

A moment of anger. A major childhood loss. A lesson for a lifetime … a lesson sadly not always heeded or recalled.

The boy grew into a man who suffered other Captain Lazer moments.

But he also tried tempering those moments by recalling the lesson of destroying the prized Captain Lazer for being denied the momentary pleasure of a Tootsie Roll.

All with varying results. As those closest to him know as those closest to any of us, sadly, know best.

Sometimes, when anger threatens to boil up and over, he thinks to himself, “Don’t have a Captain Lazer moment.” Other times, anger rushes full force and Captain Lazer is not recalled at all – a broken toy from a broken story from the dim past of childhood.

But he’s more than a memory now.

On my 50th birthday, several years ago now, my sister gave me a gift. More than 40 years later, I opened another birthday box containing Captain Lazer.

Receiving the lost toy intact was a funny moment but an admittedly thrilling one, too.

Now, Captain Lazer reminds me like a stoic sentinel from a book shelf in my house. He reminds me that I am an adult and I can have a Tootsie Roll whenever I want.

But … he also reminds me to watch my temper … with varying results.

Captain Lazer moments can break more than a toy.

Words said in anger can damage lives and relationships.

Anger can be more destructive than lazer beams.

Dean Poling is an editor with The Valdosta Daily Times and editor of The Tifton Gazette.