Life in Leisureville

It's a monarch butterfly collar of happiness...

The Aliens

Park Plastics Aliens line was another attempt to cash in on the endless popularity in space and sci fi caused by Star Wars, they're also kind of fun looking. If you've never heard of Park Plastics, that's because they were mainly known for water pistols and non tv advertised rack toys. As far as I know this is the closest thing they ever made to an action figure and they made a big splash about them in the trades.

Representatives from Park Plastics at Toy fair circa 1978.

Review: Age of TV Heroes

From the moment I first saw Jackson Bostwick leap just slightly off camera I've been hooked on the combination of TV with superheroes. In my lifetime, I've endured them all, the Captain America with the clear shield, the Hulk, Exo Man, even Mandrake and the Spirit movie, I'm an addict and happy to admit it.

Oh Ghetto Man, why are there no further adventures?

That's why this  book by Twomorrows (a publisher who seems to get more of my money than anybody else these days) is pretty amazing to me. I've seen other books on TV Superheroes but they were usually kind of lifeless affairs. Age of TV Heroes is a colourful, insightful love letter to this genre.

It's design gets you lost in the different eras and it's content could have easily been focused on bigger successes like "Batman" and "The Incredible Hulk" but you see less discussed shows like "Swamp Thing" and "The Tick" in the mix as well.

This is my version of porn.

If that wasn't enough, authors George Khoury and Jason Hofius have added an incredible chapter about the "Superheroes at Sea World" show (a favourite subject of mine here) that has to be seen to be believed, it's more than I ever hoped for.


There is no way I can't rave about this fun book, if you're a child of the 60s, 70s or 80s, this book will sing to you.

You can buy Age Of TV Heroes: The Live-Action Adventures Of Your Favorite Comic Book Characters at Amazon Dot Com for a great price.

A Ride in the Bat Boat

Bob sent in this incredible shot of him and the caped crusaders at Sea World and an incredible story, I'll let him explain:


"An employee picked me out of the stands, 'cos I was reading a gigantic "treasury edition" size comic book (reprint of the original Flash comic) that I bought on site. 


He asked if I wanted a ride on the Batboat.
The ride was a fast blur, and seemed to last about 10 seconds.
Robin carried me ashore, running.

I looked down and saw their feet.
Batman's "boots" covered the shins, but ended at the ankle -- his feet were bare.
THAT is how I knew they weren't the REAL Batman and Robin"


So not only am I envious of anyone who got to see this show but I'm doubly envious of you Bob. Thanks for sharing this fantastic photo and memory.

And if you have anything to add, I'd be your friend for life.

1978 Mattel Pulsar Catalog

1978 saw the return of Mattel's Pulsar the Ultimate Man of Adventure returned to I guess, fight crime with his non descript powers. This year he would be joined by his new foe Hypnos. While Pulsar sold well for a toy with no publicity other than his TV commercials, things were starting to fall flat for his look alike Steve Austin and Pulsar's adventures would sadly end in 1978.

Mattel 1978 Pulsar Catalog

Previous Pulsar:

1977 Pulsar Catalog

New Blog: Flea Market Gold

I'm happy to announce another family member to the Plaidstallions family of blogs (although if you count Sitcom Diablo, I'm kind of a deadbeat dad)

Flea Market Gold is a tribute to my favourite weekend event, digging through other people's old crap. It's a loving and completely sarcastic look at the subculture of dirt malls.

Please do check it out the inaugural post about my most recent "find" and I totally welcome and encourage submissions, be it something weird you found or incredibly cool. Tell me about your favourite find or the grossest thing you ever saw, it's all good.

Flea Market Gold

Love is.....creepy

"Let me just check the time on my watch with depictions of naked children on it"  Doesn't sound so cute anymore now does it?

Just like Dad!

Aquavelva Jr sold seperately..

Bionically Dry

Rain is terrified of Lee Majors as it should be.

Coolest Spidey Ever

Robbie also sent in this great late 70s Monkey Wards appearance of him and Spidey. How cool is that Spider-Man? He's got killer eyes (kind of reminds me of Deadpool) and Web Shooters? Those details win me over.

Send me your mall appearance photos!

1977 Johnny's Toys Catalog

Located in Kentucky, Johnny's Toys was one of those independant Toy retailers you sorely miss in this day and age. The store was very customer friendly, sending children birthday cards that contained a key that could unlock a free gift on their next visit. In addition, they printed these fun catalogs that showcased some of the merchandise available in the store.

1977 was a fantastic year for Kentucky Ohio area kids as evidenced by the samples of these fun pages which include all the hot toys of the time like Mego Batman, Star Trek, G.I. Joe, SWAT, Six Million Dollar Man and much more.

Click on the images below to see larger pages with descriptions:

1977 Johnny's Toys Catalog

Other Toy Flyers and Circulars:

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The Lady Joker collection

Be the clown princess of hospitality at your next party, also available in Riddler green.

Imitation Fonzies

Lest we never forget the massive spread of "Henry Winkler Mania" that pummeled the country in the mid 1970s. It's somewhat understandable that teens and pre-teens wanted to be more like this leather clad rebel so we can forgive this young man doing his best "Ayyyy" here.

Somehow though, it's just unforgivable when you see a grown man doing it. This guy should have dressed like Schneider from "One Day at a Time", he could have pulled that off...

My dad filled this up in one week!

Ahhhh the days before recycling! Seeing this ad reminds me of Black Label which was pretty much my beer in my college (poverty) days. We broke up one horrible Sunday morning and I decided to see other beverages....

Give 'em enough rope....

Great, pants that remind me of 7th grade gym class failings, now i'm depressed...

1983 LJN Advanced Dungeons & Dragons catalog

In 1982, LJN toys beat out rival toymake Mego for the rights to produce toys based on the popular TSR role play game "Dungeons and Dragons" and a great underrated series of toys was born. The LJN D&D line was sort of a grown up version of Masters of the Universe with it's Elves, Wizards and Orcs populated a fun middle earth environment. Sadly, the line didn't fare well, most likely due to then strong opposition to the game itself and it's themes.

Despite being kicked out of my sole D&D game when I was 12 (I didn't really "get" role playing and decided to instead be an ass) I really dug these toys and bought much of the first wave of figures. Click on the images below to see larger pages with descriptions:

Click Here for the 1983 LJN Advanced Dungeons and Dragons Catalog

Personal pan pizza hut

Here is another accessory that I need for the Plaidstallions nerve center, I'll put it right next to the beer fridge and the baconer, when they finally retrieve my bloated carcass from under this pile of old catalogs, at least it'll be smiling.

Tarzan Underoos

Business man by day, Lord of the bedroom by night.

Sing along with GI Joe!

This G.I. Joe radio is completely bad ass but I'm confused as to what use the "Sing Along" feature would have to the bearded world adventure...

A Hug from the Hulk

Robbie sent in some great shots for us to enjoy this week starting with him and the Hulk at the Kentucky State Fair in the 1980s. Thanks Rob, some mall appearance shots are always a welcome site, especially great ones like this.

Speaking of Superheroes: it's Free Comic Book Day today, a great opportunuity to bring the family to your local comic shop, get some free books and maybe support a local independant retailer while you're there.

Send me your mall appearance photos!

Kenner Milky and pals

You know I've had a lot of fun at the expense at Kenner's "Milky the marvelous milking Cow" toy with easy comments like "they must have been drunk that day" surfacing. However a deeper look into the Kenner 1978 catalog provides the insight that Milky was not the result of a vodka soaked luncheon but actually a  premeditated series of preschool toys based on animals.

Click here to join Milky, her pal Gobbles the goat and Alvin the Aardvark for some creative and slightly demented fun.

More Preschool Fun

Try this at home kids

As cool as this is, isn't kind of like handing a kid a license to perform stunts?

The definition of luxury

Tom Jones man perm, newspaper and a steaming mug of chicory, this guy is classy in ways I can only imagine..

Fashion Mockery Contest Results

Ok, so I got a little ostentatious in thinking I could juggle school, beer,  a six year old's birthday party, beer, fighting a lifelong inclination to nap and judge a tough contest in a single weekend. As a consolation, I've increased the amount of winners:

 

I got PILES of great stuff, here are some of the runners up:

Steve wrote: "Young Mikey hoped the jumper would draw things out long enough that he could quietly slip away before anyone noticed that his ass looked like a frownie stormtrooper."

Underdog wrote: "While watching the amazing feats of Doug Henning as he made the Statue of Liberty disappear, little Johnny noticed that his wallet had been stolen. It was time for him and his "Disco Crew" (TM) to take action and begin detective work."

Bryan wrote: "Little Tommy, born with his head on backwards, only feels normal when looking up and to the side with his friends... in his new "360 degree" demin ensemble from Penneys."

Aimee wrote: "Man, I didn't think Billy would fly so high when we launched him in our homemade rocket!"


Mark wrote "The boys watched as their self respect bid them a fond farewell."


Tom sent in ““That’s the fourth member of our gang to get a hanging wedgie this week!”

Actually I got a bunch of wedgie related comments, great minds think alike.


The winners after the jump:

Creepy! Gruesome! Awesome.

PS reader Robb sent in these awesome pictures from his collection to add to the AHI World Famous Supermonsters section of the site. These are the slightly smaller versions of the monster jigglers on their original cards which Robb has owned since childhood, absolutely stunning.

Not many kids saved their toys, let alone rack toys and kept this in this kind of condition. Many thanks to Robb for sharing with everybody these awesome childhood treasures.