The Shadow Merchandise Gallery

As a collector, one of the bigger mysteries I've enjoyed is the interesting amount of merchandise that appeared in the 1970s devoted to the character "The Shadow" whose heyday seemed to be at least 30 years prior to my birth.

Click here to visit the Shadow 1970s merchandise gallery

More  Groovy Superhero Toys from the 70s

Who to punch first?

I think I'll kick the crap out of Bam Bam for a while and then go to town on Fred and Pebbles for a while, that's healthy.

The cult of fleece welcomes you

Won't you stay for some kool aid?

We've got wounded!

Eventhough it's pictured in the 1977 AHI Catalog, I somewhat doubted this M*A*S*H emergency helicopter got made. Not because it isn't totally logical (makes a HELL of a lot more sense than this) but because toys based on M*A*S*H never seem to be all that in demand.

So, I nearly did a spit take when these came on Ebay and I acted like it was better than a MIB Venus Space Probe. Fortunately for me, I got this for a completely reasonable price. This kind of discovery gives me hope that more oddball rack toys made it out the door that I don't know about.

Pajama costumes?

Having children, I can totally see how absolutely anything that helps you get your kids ease towards bed time is a good thing . I've just never heard of any kid who had a night time costume before, particularly one that was the devill. If you had something like please enlighten me in the comments section.

Aquaman's Death Defying Stunt

Jonathan sent these awesome photos of his family's trip to sea world in, explaining that we've never mentioned Aquaman's dive from a tower into a ring of fire before. He's right, I hadn't heard of that stunt but it seems totally appropriate for the King of the Sea to handle it over that spotlight hogging caped crusader.


A great shot of the soggy Justice League, Jonathan submitted more photos, which I'll get to next week.

A big old high five to Jonathan for being my Superhero and showing us these great glimpses into Seaworld past.

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

1979 Parker Brothers ROM: SpaceKnight Press Kit

One of the biggest splashes in the toy industry is when game (and nerf) giant Parker Brothers decided to make an action figure.

Not just any action figure but an electronic space hero with bells and

whistles not seen before. Rom was truly a toy ahead of his time and while he didn't prove to be the smash that Parker Brothers hoped, thanks to a relationship with Marvel comics, he became a much beloved comic book character.

Click Here to read all of the 1979 ROM Press Kit

More ROM stuff:

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That pointy eared kid sure plays a mean pinball

While I never really enjoyed "bagatelle" games as a kid, I must admit to being slightly addicted as an adult. Mostly to the crazy graphics on these things, AHI utilized this format for a number of licenses including Star Trek and Space:1999. Trek was deemed so popular that it came in two flavours, Spock (seen above) and Kirk (seen below)

The Kirk set is mint in original packaging, which really enhances things for me. If the font looks familiar, it's cause it's from the popular Gold Key Star Trek comic, another favourite of mine.

Visit the AHI Star Trek Gallery

When Big Bird was scary

I was pretty easily scared kid, how the sight of early Big Bird didn't send me running to my room I'll never know....

Fuzzy covers

I can only imagine this is what Brick Mantooth's bed looks like, I've never seen it.

Neighbourhood spies

Secret agents? Space capsules? These kids live in a far more exciting neighbourhood than me. The highlight of my walkie talkie spying career was catching my buddy's sister in some guys van in '79, it's something I simply cannot unsee, I'm sure he felt 10,000 times worse.

1979 Kingsford Star Force Catalog

Following the blitz of Star Wars, a lot of previously unknown companies began cashing in on what the toy industry called the "Sci Fi craze" of the late 70s. These toys were often lower priced generic toys that likely offered better margin for the toy retailer.


Kingsford's line of Star Force toys is one of those lines that many of us likely had but had no idea what it was from, the line looked like an unlikely union of Star Wars and Battlestar Galactica, which was a pretty sharp look in 1979,

Blast Off with the 1979 Kingsford Star Force Catalog

More Space Toys of the 1970s



The Shadow Knows?

I love a toy mystery but these rack toys based on pulp character The Shadow were driving me crazy, first, they looked almost exactly like

Secondly, why The Shadow? It wasn't like the character had a big presence in the mid seventies, even his DC title had been cancelled by this point. Fortunately, I met a kindly soul who answered some of these mysteries for me. look for a gallery of Shadow Merchandise later in the month.

AHI Batman toys but they weren't made by Azrak Hamway.

Hot Comb Love

"For that Chevy Chase look every time"

I really shouldn't be making fun.

In a Minute Cake Maker?

The Ideal "In a Minute' cake maker concept confuses me, mostly because there's no baking involved in the baking. So many questions.

 So why do you need an oven at all, why wasn't this set simply a bowl, a cake pan and an egg timer?

What the heck was the "cake" made of? Was it a high quality polymer created by the good people at DuPont?

Did it taste any good?

Please somebody fill me in on this...

The League of Ernie Shirted Gentlemen

Vigilante protectors of the sacred rubber ducky.

Mall Appearances of the Apes

Thought it would be fitting to do a piece on the various Planet of the Apes mall appearances we've collected over the years. The one above came in from the UK circa 1977 (Apes popularity lingered there)





Scott sent me this classic of him and Cornelius at a Long Island Toy Store, dig the Mego Treehouse Playsets behind.



Another great shot from a similiar appearance, these were put together by Mego and 20th Century Fox.



The action figure display behind Cornelius makes my head explode.

Send me your mall appearance photos!

Governer Seized in Revolt of the Apes!

Like a lot of kids in the 1970s, I had a healthy dose of "Apemania" and there was no cure. One of my favourites in the film franchise is the dystopian future of "Conquest of the Planet of the Apes". That's why I was so excited to find this rare promotional newspaper promoting the film, can you think of a better headline than that. There is no better time to unveil and share with you than the opening weekend of the remake of the film. I hope it's good, just so I can see Gorillas on horseback again...

Conquest of the Planet of the Apes Promotional Newspaper

More Apes!



Meet the Astro Apes

Now that I've introduced you to AHI's Action Apeman line, it seems only fitting to  get you acquainted with Warrior, Artemus, Myra and Dr Zorma, otherwise known as the Astro Apes. If the Action Apemen were blatant ripoffs (and they were) then the Astro Apes would need to go down as the "Most Blantantest Rippyoffiest Ever". More after the jump.

Jigglers of the Apes

Mixing my fondness for Jigglers with my Ape Mania is a dangerous cocktail. These Jigglers made by Ben Cooper (surprisingly not AHI) are a happy childhood memory for me and I was excited when my pal Mike J sent me a shot of one in a baggie, something I had not seen before. More on these cool l'il guys after the jump.

Planet of the Incredibly Silly Merchandise

This wonderful piece made by Larami is a prime example of licensing run amuck, other than the clever title it has no connection whatsoever to the Planet of the Apes franchise. In fact, once you take it out of the box, it's just two flimsy boomarangs.

And then there's this, the pellet shooting walkie talkie, another item that doesn't make a lick of sense but I do praise it for it's gorgeous card art depicting Brent and Nova. "Beneath" scared the holy hell out of me as a child and now I'm obsessed with it.


Why the hell do I want these SO badly then?

Many thanks to Mike J for the share.

Apes Week: Action Apemen

What better way to kick off Apes week than talking about one of the more interesting toy legal battles of 1974? The AHI Action Apemen (that's the trading card I made for them above) are interesting tale of a knock off that went too far. More after the jump: