Electroman VS Zogg

I found this great ad for Ideal ElectroMan in the back of a give away comic (more on that later) and thought it would be fun to showcase here. I find Electroman a pretty dorky looking figure, his whole concept is like ROM mixed with a really primitive version of laser tag. That headpiece would give a guy neck problems for sure.

Getting back to the ad, the question is asked regarding Zogg, "Will Electroman's Powers of Light and Sound Be enough?"

The answer is a resounding yes, Zogg appears to be have put on this earth solely to fall down and even a slight breeze can fell him. Electroman must have had a real false sense of superiority...

1978 Ideal Catalog featuring Electroman and Zogg

Oh and be sure to check out Topless Robot today for a goofy piece I wrote called The 9 Most Illogical Pieces of Star Trek Merchandise. It'll be worth it, I promise.

Space: 1999 Contest Winners

I forgot to mention the winners to our Space:1999 toy contest, for those who didn't get it the answer to the question: "Who Created Space:1999"? was Gerry and Sylvia Anderson, I also accepted simply Gerry Anderson.

The 3 runners up who get a set of PS trading cards (that's 1 through 8 plus a slmie sticker) are:

Chuck Soileau

John T Hilliard

Joe Stanley

And the grand prize winner of the two CTVT figures is:

Steve Shelley

If you didn't include your address please send it to me otherwise, I'll ship these out. Look for more contests in the very near future.

The Dacron Boys

The Dacron boys laugh at danger! Ha Ha! Life is just one big McDonald's birthday party to this group.

Evel Knievel Stunt World

This is something I've never seen before but it makes a tremendous amount of sense. A play case complete with diecast vehicles, allowing you to reenact some of Evel's more famous stunts. The world could use more playcases now.

What's on DVD:

Space Angel- I spent hours watching this cartoon on City TV back in the day, it wasn't the story or the wonderful Alex Toth design, I was fascinated (and creeped out) by the "Synchro Vox" process. Meaning, real human lips were superimposed on all the characters. The animation is super limited but I'm glad to see this getting a DVD release.

Dark Shadows Volume 5- I've never been able to get into this gothic soap opera but I've always admired it. Since it was a daily show, being a fan means a huge investment in DVDs, perhaps it's for the best....

Worthy of the Bard

The shirt up top is called "The Romeo" (no fooling) and the add suggests you add a "Swank" necklace , nothing says romance like that shirt and cheap necklace with the same name as a third rate skin rag.

Of all of them, I'd say the boat shirt was favourite but the guy with the woods on his tummy is a close second.

Darth Vader Signs at B-Dalton

Jason sent in these awesome additions to the Superhero Mall Appearance Gallery. This was at the B Dalton's in the Maplewood Mall, in St. Paul, MN, November of 1977. This is pretty early for a Star Wars appearance.

I love the Sign in the background and look at the crowd!

Jason proudly displays his signed Star Wars calendar and mentions he bragged to his friends that he shook Vader's hand and how strong his grip was.

You may recognize Jason's company Bif Bang Pow! nowadays, they make some of the coolest collector toys out there, including one license I've been waiting 27 years for, Flash Gordon. If you're at San Diego Comic Con this weekend, you might want to check out this incredible Exclusive Flash Gordon Figure.

Brian WANT!

Anyway, got a mall appearance shot you'd like to share? Send it in and I'll send you a set of Plaidstallions trading cards.

Two More Trading Cards

Card #6 should come as no shock to anyone, seeing as how much space I have devoted to Evel Knievel on the site. It almost felt like obligation to make it, so I did it early rather than later. It is arguably the most famous 70's toy I've done thus far.

Number 7 is probably a surprise, Hugo isn't something I've only featured in passing but he's a pretty iconic character. This card was devised mostly because of Hugo's biggest fan, Rob Chatlin asked me to do it. Rob has been a gigantic help to PS from day one, providing many scans I wouldn't have otherwise. He planted the bug in my ear and I'm really happy with the results, thanks Rob!

I have one more card to reveal but the thunderstorm outside has shut me down 3 times and I'm a little fed up right now.....

Exterminate!

Going across the ocean today and back 31 years to look at the marvelous talking toys produced by Palitoy Bradgate. While we're all spoiled by voice chips now, a talking toy was a complicated thing back in the day, involving a tiny record. Palitoy made a variety of these items including the Daleks, Batmobile, heck even Kojak!

These things have special meaning to me as the red Palitoy Talking Dalek was the first vintage toy I ever bought via mail order, right from the classifieds in Starlog magazine back in 1984. I sold it in college lamentably.....

As an extra bonus, I dug up the original commercial!

Check out the 1977 Palitoy Talking Toys Catalog Here

And speaking of Palitoy, let's have a contest.

I'm giving away a pair of Space:1999 action figures mint on card which are reproductions of the original Palitoy Bradgate series. These are Alan Carter and Paul Morrow and they're in the mego style.

All you have to do is answer this skill testing question:

Who created Space:1999?

Email me your answer and I'll draw a winner next week. 3 runners up will recieve a set of PS cards.

Caveman Game Consoles

I remember the day my dad brought home a telestar, he went up several points in popularity. a few years later with the onset of Atari and several (sleazy) arcades opening up in town, it made the ol' telestar look down right Paleolithic.

I imagine if you were to make one now, it would be the size of a quarter.

Open For Business

This is one piece I would gladly welcome into my casa, something is so appealing about having your own mini tavern. It's like the grown up version of those minature kitchens and grocery stores you give little kids. I want to play bartender......

Bring Back the Jumpsuit!

As a form of protest, these ladies will stand on one leg until the Jumpsuit is brought back as a fashion "do" item.

New on DVD this Week:

First and Foremost, I have to rave about Spaced, a late nineties UK series about a group twenty somethings. You'll recognize much of the cast from Shaun of the Dead and with good reason, this series inspired the movie.

If you've ever lived with roommates, had a crappy job and been somewhat comic and Star Wars obsessed than Spaced will sing to you, I promise.

Also out is Robert Smigel's parody series TV Funhouse which was a painfully funny satire of low rent kids shows and Sesame Street. Heed my words though, it ain't for kids.

Robot Chicken Star Wars is from the hit Cartoon Network series and uses Mego dolls to parody the classic series , does anyone else see the irony in that?

Dreams of Glory

Ok, I would so totally use a set of these on my bed today. This picture also features one of my favourite things, the use of toys in the child's bedroom set. For some reason, I really like that extra detail, I probably need to get out more. That's the Dinky Toys Enterprise by the way, one of the cooler 70's Star Trek Toys IMO.

Nothing says "1976" more than the Six Million Dollar Man and Evel Knievel, the matching curtains are just too cool. That's an Ideal Evel crash car on the nightstand BTW. I slept in a hammy down bed which you couldn't get kids sheets for, so I had to settle for pillow cases, if you had these, I envy you.

Dimestore Flashback

Please bear with me, for this entry I'll be going a little, as they say in radio, "local". Growing up in 70's Ontario, most summer vacations were spent up north camping or in a rented cottage. Along the way, we'd usually stop in a small town which usually had a "Stedman's" department store. Stedman's was one of those stores that smelled like inflatable vinyl pool toys and had a toy department full of King Kong jigglers and rubber alligators. If you're in the US, liken it to a Ben Franklin. I used to be able to spend the $5 my grandmother gave me rather quickly.

Flash forward to now and the Wal-Mart culture has all but killed the smaller department store. On the way to a campground, my wife mentioned we'd forgotten our daughter's bathing suit, I sarcastically commented "We'll just get one at the Stedmans" and we laughed.

So it was a complete and total shock to turn a corner two hours into our drive and find this!

I can't imagine there are too many of these left. Needless to say we stopped, I half expected to find 70's toys in there but no such luck, we did pick up a few classic rack toy items still around.

The store was out of army men so we had to settle for Cowboys and Indians (which are still being made by Imperial )I also grabbed the George Hamilton Evel Knievel film for $3. It's nowhere near as cheeseas "Viva Knievel" but it's close.

There is no better an afternoon than watching Cowboys and Indians fight mutant bugs. There were many losses on both sides, next month it's Army
men Vs Dinosaurs....

Blah! A New Trading Card!

I managed to squeak out a few new Plaidstallions Trading cards this month and while they are not in my hands yet (soon!) I thought I'd share the first one now.

The AHI Monsters were an easy choice for card #5, I've grown rather smitten with them since I started covering rack toys for the site (one of the drawbacks of cataloging things is you want to own them). This image from the 1973 Alden's catalog was graciously scanned for me by Benjamin Holcomb, author of the Mego book "World's Greatest Toys".

You might notice that the cards have changed templates, after some contemplation, I decided to abandon the original "Star Warsy" look and go with something more like the site itself. My good pal Steve Leach helped me out and created this awesome new look.

I've got more card reveals coming this month and then some (easy) contests to give them away so stay tuned...

The Coolest Batman Toys of the 1970's

With the release of "the Dark Knight" this weekend (which I can't see until next week, grrrr!) it seemed apt to pay homage to the multitude of merchandising that has been created in the Caped Crusader's name, particularly during the 1970's.

How did Bruce Wayne make his millions? Merchandising!

No Superhero is a bigger pimp in the toy aisle than Batman, his complusion for gimmicks means everything with his face on it makes some sort of sense.

The Seventies were the second round of "Bat-Mania" for children, all hopped up on syndicated runs of the 1966 Television series and the added gut punch of Batman being on two separate Saturday Morning series at the same time.

This made for a dumpster full of "Batchandise" (it's a word, I swear...) and here are the ten best pieces from that decade:

The Top Ten Coolest 70's Batman Toys

Did we miss your favorite? Leave us some feedback and tell us what it is!

Master of the Mystic Nap

When you look at vintage pajama shots, you see a lot of staples, Superman, Batman, Spider-Man and Hulk are the biggies. Rarely do you see a B-List hero in the lot (please no hate mail) such as Doctor Stephen Strange.

Doc never got much respect in the way of merch as a kid, as far as I can tell he only got a Halloween Costume and a jiggler. As a comic loving kid, I was aware of the character but never read a comic of his until my teens.

JJ and OJ

Two celebrity dolls, two very different professions. The guy on the bottom is J.J Armes by Ideal, a real life detective who lost his hands as a child and uses prosthetics. I saw the commercial for this as a kid but for a long time thought I dreamt it.

The other doll by Shindana had a real spike in value in the mid ninties, for reasons I don't want to remember.

Suicide is Painless...

I was surprised when doing my Metal Men feature last week to discover that Zee Toys also made a line of M*A*S*H items. M*A*S*H was one of my favorite shows growing up but I never had much desire to play it, probably because it was much of a drama/comedy than it was really about war. Still, the approach Zee took was a good one, centering around the base itself and not the characters, a neat concept.

It's Tuesday and here's what cool on DVD today:

It's a tad dry on the DVD front this week in terms of films or TV from the 70's, the one bright light I found was the release of Filmation's Lone Ranger and Zorro Volume 2.

I'm pretty much a sucker for anything Filmation (although I need never see "Sport Billy" again thank you) and I still hold out hope for a legitimate Tarzan release someday.

An odd bit of trivia, in this series, the Lone Ranger was voiced by none other than the late William "Cannon" Conrad.

Speaking of military toys: A piece I did for Topless Robot with editor Rob Bricken entitled The 10 lamest additions to G.I. Joe is up for your reading pleasure.

Duhnuhnuhhnuh Batman Blue Ray Winners

The results are in from our first DVD contest, my kids picked the winners this morning, because I had to be fair, there are now four prize lots. First the answers:

1) Who was the better Riddler, Frank Gorshin or John Astin? There was no wrong answer in this although I was curious if anybody preferred Astin in the role. Hey, I cried when they stopped making new coke, so it's not impossible. For the record, nobody picked Astin, who is a wonderful actor, just not the Riddler.


2) What does Batman have toruble getting rid of in the film? Well it's a bomb but I also would have accepted a shark, seeing as it's technically true.

And now Ze Winners:

1st Prize: (Batman Blue Ray and set of PS cards) Phillip Lozano

2nd Prize: (the Same as 1st) Bill McFarland

3rd Prize: (a Copy of 70's Toy Explosion and some PS cards) Chris Flagg

4th Prize: (a copy of 70's Toy Explosion and PS cards) Dave Bellmont

Congrats to all the winners, I'll be in touch this evening to gather your address info. Hopefully I'll have more fun giveaways soon

Be sure to check out this fun little Batman Boxing Game based on the Movie as well.

Sears Puts it All Together

The Evidence, she does not lie

TV Comix: Bionic Woman

Another US series done in UK fromat from the pages of "Look In" weekly. I think Charlton had the rights to Bionic Woman stateside and I'll blog about that sometime in the future. One of the things about Look In is that you get an idea of what was the hit feature in the book by their use of colour. In the issue I have now, much of it is regulated to Black and White (such as the Man from Atlantis) but the Bionic strips are both in colour.

Jamie goes to a creepy mansion to see a reading of a will, this pretty much reads like an actual episode of the series. The art is excellent but suffers from that one thing I notice in a lot of these, the likeness of the lead character is usually only rendered for a close up and then it's obviously copied from a still. The rest of the time, you're treated to the back of the characters head, this is rampant in TV comics.

I'd say tune in next week but I don't have that issue, check out the Look in links below for that.

For more on Bionic Woman, check out the 1976 Bionic Toys Selection and then you can move on to the 1977 catalog.

For more on Look In, check out these two fantastic and exhaustive sites The Look In Picture Strip Archive and John's Look Out both give you a glimpse of some very cool British 70's pop culture.

They Still Stand

Props to Myspace pal "The Comatose Boy" for these amazing pictures from Grand Junction Colorado where the remanants of an old school rocket park can be found. THe top of the rocket is now closed to the public, but tell me that isn't cool.

An old school Saucer too, man finding this is gold!

Click here to see the vintage playground catalog.

The Metal Men

The Metal Men were a cool series of 3 3/4" diecast action figures with no back story. Heavily influenced by the Japanese, many of the characters had THX 1138 look to them.

I used to get them at the local hobby shop and like Matchbox MAC used to have make up everything as I played with them. I often wondered who they were, turns out they were anything I wanted them to be.

Check out the 1978 Zee Toys Metal Man Catalog.

Empire Hot Cycles!

I love this ad from Empire, I especially like the little girl's Hulk costume but would the Hulk's cycle have frills?

Link of Interest: 1979 Empire Toys Catalog

Out of Sight, Out of Mind

Here's a storage solution that is hardly ever utilized these days, hide all your unwanted junk behind the most discordant image imaginable. That way, when you get the urge to throw something out, the pattern will overload your senses, you'll likely wet yourself and forget your first name.

It's the Batman Blu-Ray Giveaway Contest!

To Celebrate the release of the classic 1966 Batman movie on Blu-Ray and thanks to the good folks at Fox Marketing, I have my first (but hopefully not last) contest! I now have two shiny new copies of this classic film to give to you!

To enter, simply answer these (really hard) skill testing questions:

1) Who was a better Riddler, Frank Gorshin or John Astin?

2) What does Batman have trouble getting rid of in the film?

Send your answers to this email address and I'll pick the winners on Monday. 3rd runner up will win some Plaidstallions trading cards.

The 1966 Caped-Crusading Classic Starring Adam West Dashes Onto Blu-Ray Disc July 1 From Fox Home Entertainment

Dynamic Disc Features New, Exclusive High Definition Extras, Plus A BD Industry First,
Nelson Riddle’s Cool Jazz Score Presented As An Isolated Music Track In Lossless Audio

CENTURY CITY, Calif. – Citizens of Gotham City shall fear not when the heroic Caped Crusader and his crime-fighting chum, Boy Wonder, stop dastardly villains from de-hydrating the planet in the original full-length bat-film, BATMAN: THE MOVIE SPECIAL EDITION, arriving on high definition Blu-Ray Disc for the first time July 1st from Fox Home Entertainment. Starring Adam West (Batman) and Burt Ward (Robin), this 1966 spin-off of the popular “Batman” television series features all four of the hero’s most diabolical and cunning adversaries: the clown prince of crime, The Joker (Cesar Romero); the count of criminal conundrums, The Riddler (Frank Gorshin); the pompous waddling master of fowl play, The Penguin (Burgess Meredith); and the fiendish feline, The Catwoman (Lee Meriwether). Directed by Leslie H. Martinson (PT 109, Rescue from Gilligan’s Island), who later won a Golden Gryphon for his efforts, the colorful and over-the-top film featured a groovy and swank score by Academy Award® winner* Nelson Riddle.

Brimming with brand new and exclusive high definition bat-features, the Blu-ray Disc includes “Batman: A Dynamic Legacy,” a tribute to the caped crusader and look at Gotham’s evil villains in “Gotham City’s Most Wanted”; a 360 degree navigational tour of the Batmobile; and an isolated score in 5.1 DTS HD Master Audio (Lossless), an industry first for Blu-Ray Disc that allows viewers to listen to the score only. The Special Edition also includes interviews and commentary by actors West, Ward, and screenwriter Lorenzo Semple, Jr., featurettes, trivia track, galleries and trailers.


DVD Special Features:
The Batman: The Movie Special Edition Blu-Ray Disc is presented in widescreen with English 5.1 DTS HD Lossless Audio, English and French Mono and includes English, French and Spanish subtitles. Bonus features include:

· Commentary by actors Adam West and Burt Ward
· Commentary by screenwriter Lorenzo Semple, Jr.
· Isolated Score Track 5.1 DTS HD Master Audio (Lossless)
· All-new high-definition featurettes:
o Batman: A Dynamic Legacy
o Caped Crusaders: A Heroes Tribute
o Gotham City’s Most Wanted
· 2001 35th Anniversary Piece Featuring Interviews with Adam West and Burt Ward
· The Batmobile Revealed with George Barris
· The Batmobile Interactive Tour – A 360 Degree Navigational Tour
· BATMAN on Location: Mapping the Movie
· Holy Pop-Up Trivia Track, Batman!
· Original Teaser and Theatrical Trailers
· Galleries:
o From the Vaults of Adam West
o Interactive Pressbook
o Posters
o Production Stills
o Behind the Scenes
o Premiere

Holly Hobby Mania

Being a lad, the allure of Holly Hobbie completely missed me but the number of times I saw her back in the day makes me think that she was something of a rock star in that "girl world" of which I still know little to nothing about.

I will admit to being somewhat nostalgic for dear old Holly, this happened last week when my three year old brought home her first "Bratz" doll. I like to think I'm young but that incident alone hiked up my pants about 3 good inches.

It's Tuesday and here's what cool on DVD today:

You can get the first season of Cannon on DVD today, starring William Conrad as the crimebuster with a glanduar problem. God, I loved spotting the obvious stunt man in some of these shows.

This isn't from the 1970's but seeing as I'm a monster fan I thought I'd mention the rerelease of the classic Karloff Mummy DVD in the legacy collection. I still remember watching this as a kid and being totally captivated.

Last week saw the release of the 1966 Batman Movie on Blue Ray. This was an event when it turned up on the WKBW Sunday movie back in the 70's. I should be running a contest for a copy fairly soon...

Groupies

Women just can't control themselves around singing duos, it's a fact. Fake turtlenecks really put these boys over the county line of score town...

I can't believe I haven't mentioned the amazing work of Wishbook Web yet. If you like department store catalogs, then you need to check this place out. These maniacs scan each and every page of these books in order to share with you. Just looking at this site makes me feel like a lazy, lazy man. Which is true but I'm in denial...

Shogun Warriors Under the Tree

Got a great couple of vintage images this week from Dan Brackett, who here is opening up his Shogun Warriors Mazinga (man that box looks sweet) and behind him is a Bat-Away set. Dan says he managed to replace the Bat-Away on Ebay for under $10 but no such luck on Mazinga...

Want to see more? Check out the Mego Museum Blog Today for more vintage goodness from Dan.

Got a Vintage Shot to Share? Please drop us a line!

Lincoln International Monsters Gallery

The Lincoln Monsters can often be dismissed as "Knockoffs" which they are but they are also a charming and fun monster toy line to collect. These eight inch Mego inspired figures debuted in the mid 1970's by Lincoln International, these figures saw distribution in the United Kingdon, Europe and much of North America.

They're also my favourite mego-esque figures to collect, mainly because my dad sold them back in the day! Best of all, he carried the line because I asked him to. I have nothing but happy memories of my Lincoln Monsters getting in huge battles with my Mego Superheroes.

A recreation of one of those fights can be seen below:

Click here to visit the new Lincoln Monsters Page or click on a "Monster Sticker" below to see the individual character pages. I've included Star Trek Knockoff figure "Mr. Rock" just because he didn't fit anywhere else....

For more Monster Toys, Check out these fabulous links:

. ..

To all my US brethen (and sistren) have a safe and happy fourth of July weekend!I'm off to celebrate ten years with the most understanding wonderful woman in the whole wide world....