A new age of togetherness

It's a brave new world of love baby, happy dress alike day!

Denys Fisher Cyborg

Not enough props can go out to what I think is the UK's better kept secrets, originally a Japanese line called "Henshin Cyborg", the clever monkeys at Denys Fisher took it, made it smaller and added a keen back story.

I didn't grow up in the UK, had no inkling it existed when I was 7 but when I look at this stuff I swear I feel nostalgia, it's that cool.

Check out the 1977 Denys Fisher Cyborg Archive

Nerd Therapy Session: Full Frontal

Warning: this one may or may not contain nudity.It’s still the summer of 1977, I am six years old and having a pretty great time despite the “No TV” clause mandated by my parents.

Trading Card #38: Venus Space Probe

Plaid Stallions Trading Card #38 is dedicated to the Venus Space Probe toy by Kenner.

As indicated by this piece last week, I have something of a history with this particular episode of the series and combine that with the fact that this toy makes me weak in knees when I see it and you have a no brainer.

As much as I like it, I doubt I will ever own one. It always goes for more than I am willing to pay and it's huge, space is a premium in my secret bunker...

Turtleneck and martini not included

Spy kits like this (check out the international currency, that's attention to detail!) seem to be a forgotten art. As a kid, I had one that included a t pack of cigarettes that fired bullets, I don't even know where to begin on that one.

This one is pretty amazing with it's gun with silencer and real working camera,  you were Matt Helm Jr.

Shogun Warrior PJs

OMG, these things are so super cool. I miss the days of toy lines with absolutely no back story.

Great flaming arrows!

I picked this set up during the summer and was surprised to discover it's not the legendary HG Toys Archery set but a knock off of some sort. which surprises me. I barely knew who GA was as a kid, so it amazes me that toy manufacturers did.

That one appearance on the Superfriends got him places, Mego not only made a figure but gave him some wheels too. The 70s were definitely good to Ollie.

New Site: Collecting Candy.com

I'm elated to finally announce the launch of www.collectingcandy.com , a new website that describes itself as the following:

"CollectingCandy.com’s mission is the celebration of candy packaging, candy marketing, and the people behind it all.

 

Visitors should expect the site to be composed of short daily blog entries, while regularly offering in-depth looks into specific brands and categories through longer features. Expect to see images of packaging and learn details of candy history you won’t find anywhere else.

When possible, CollectingCandy.com also hopes to shine an entertaining and positive light on the unknown stories and colorful personalities behind some of candy’s well-known brands and forgotten favorites."

I'm excited about this site mostly because it made me realize a) how much candy factored into my childhood and b)how much i had forgotten. Be sure to check out the opening essay on Big League Chew.

The site's creator Jason Liebig would be better known to a lot of PS readers as one of the brains behind wishbookweb.com.  I'm looking forward to losing hours of productivity as get reaquainted with some old friends...

So welcome to teh interwebs collecting candy, we're better off for knowing you!

Frosty : 1976

I think professor Hinkle will let him keep the hat in this version.

Nerd Therapy Sessions: Peeping Toms

This one takes place in the summer of 1977, which I only remember as being a happy one. My universe at the time was a fairly quiet street in the suburbs of Toronto. It was a pretty unassuming day until my best friend Neil broke some pretty big news to me, tonight on Six Million Dollar Man, Steve Austin is fighting the Death Probe!

Mattel's The Archies

Click the link to see a larger picture

After Marx introduced a series of Archie Action figures in 1975, Mattel took a kick at it in 1978 with these been bag versions that used the same construction as their then popular 'Honey Hill Bunch" line of toys.

I have to say that the Mattel sculpts are much nicer than the Marx ones which looked a little creepy.

Betty, stalwart of the line was actually dropped in favour of Sabrina the teenaged witch who did have a popular series in the 70s.

The reason Donald Duck is so crabby

You'd be a bear too if you had some ginger kid on your back the whole time...

Caftan Fever

This page should include the tagline "..but for the love of God, stay indoors. Seriously, if you show up to pick up your kid at School in this, you are their prom date"

Super 7 Merchandise Part 1

Filmation's Tarzan and the Super 7 series is easily one of my favourite cartoon series of all time. It's copyright infringing characters made me a fan for life, however merchandise for the series seems few and far between. However, it seems that rack toy manufacturer Imperial did have the license and exploited it nicely, here are just a few of the items.




If anybody has some of these, especially the Web Woman and Freedom Force piece, please for the love of Mike, contact me!

Superfine XXX

Ladies beware, the brothers Superfine are once again on the prowl, with their fists raised in righteousness!

Oh, there will be panties on the dancefloor tonight...

Hanging at Kool Stuff

This past Saturday, I got to spend a day at one of my favourite haunts Kool Stuff Toys in Hamilton. Jeff the owner was gracious enough to let me set up a small photo studio and take photos for my upcoming book "Rack Toys".

This not only filled some gaps I had but also gave me a time to linger and explore, something I rarely get to do.

While I was there, I snapped a few shots of the place for the blog and thought I'd share some of the more interesting sights there.

Nerd Therapy Session: (Super) Girl Trouble

For this installment, I’ll be skipping back to the mid 1970s, which is pretty appropriate considering this blog. Like many of you, I grew up in what was a golden age of action figures, the Mego era.

Mattel Sunshine Family for 1978

The Sunshine Family were a series of (In my opinion, creepy) dolls marketed by Mattel beginning in 1974. At the time, the line was marketed with the family being very into the burgening "post hippie" early 70s craft movement.

By 1978, the line's look had begun to look dated so it was rebranded the "Sunshine FUN Family" (bet that was an all nighter at Mattel) and the characters were given a bit of a makeover. The Sunshine family had moved into the suburbs it seems...

Click here to see Mattel's Sunshine Fun Family Catalog for 1978

More Sunshine folks

1976 Mattel Sunshine Family Catalog

EMU Nightmares

One of the more endearing things I find about my wife is her childhood fear of Rod Hull and his puppet Emu. While I was enjoying them on "The Hudson Brothers Razzle Dazzle" show, she was behind the couch in terror as a child and the sight of this puppet still creeps her out this day. If you'll excuse me, I need to check ebay...

Bedtime: A New Hope

The sight of that bathrobe makes me say "Jar Jar who?".

Reed Richards ride

When he's not being totally boring, Mr Fantastic likes to cruise around in his awesome muscle car. What I love about this toy is the Fantastic Four have a totally cool space vehicle that they ride around in but the folks at Fleetwood went and made him a car instead.

That's like releasing a Batman figure on a tenspeed which probably got done by Hasbro in the 1990s....

A reminder about Sweaters

Sweaters were put on this earth for two reasons, the first is to make you uncomfortable, the other is to make you  look as silly as possible.  I hate them, so should you.

Nerd Therapy Session: So-Dumb Warrior

First off, thank you for the incredibly kind response to last week's entry. It's extremely comforting to know I was not alone because that would have been pretty terrible.

My next tale of nerd-woe jumps me to 1986, I had started drifting away from collecting comic books and jumped into collectibles, specifically sci fi based toys. Actually, it was all about toys but I was still in kind of denial about the whole thing.

1977 Hasbro Super Joe Catalog

After folding the G.I. Joe Adventure Team in 1976, Hasbro sought to give their rugged man of action a massive overhaul. Thus SuperJoe was born, bearing little resemblence to the soldier of the past, Joe had lost four inches of height and the G.I prefix. Superjoe was now set in the far off future and (I'm guessing here) on another planet.

The Superjoe dolls were all electronic and the 1978 campaign was "They fight by night with light" meaning the figures were working penlights. Despite the very trendy Sci-Fi theme, Superjoe failed to gel with kids and faded away after the 1978 Christmas season.

Check out more in the 1977 SuperJoe Catalog

And hey if you're fascinated by Super Joe be sure to check out our Super Joe Action Figure Archive which has been freshly updated.

Super Joe Gallery

Action Man for 1976

I'm always perplexed at how much a difference an ocean makes, GI Joe by this time was all about Mike Power and Bullet Man (not complaining!) and kids in the UK were choosing different eras of machine guns.

Rope burn

Jeans that remind me of 7th grade gym class and  total embarrassing failure. Please, send me ten pairs!

Super Slate of the Apes

My pal Mike sent this into me and honestly, it's new to me, a wonderful throw away rack item that some smart soul preserved and we're better for it. I had plenty of magic slates as a kid but never one this cool...

Ewww! There's Ape centric art on the back too, that's awesome.

Yeah, I want one. Big props to Mike J as always for sharing his toys...

Junior sales achievers

Jimmy and Miles dream of the day that they'll be drunk in the Dayton Ohio airport extolling the virture of Bill Braskey.

Nerd Therapy Session: Adventures in Cosplay

In order to flex my (somewhat scrawny) writing muscles and perhaps to deal with some pain, I've decided to start posting little essays about some of my more embarrassing moments in my life that I can completely blame on my nerdy obsessions.

I wasn't exactly Miles Davis as a kid, so the well runs deep folks. I also welcome guest submissions at any time, so open up and let the healing commence.

 

Bionic Bubble Bath

From the "Stuff I hadn't seen before but now can't live without" department comes this Six Million Dollar man bubble bath container from the UK. I guess in the 60s they called these "soakies", I just call this thing awesome. Many thanks to Ebay Seller RetroToyBoy for the photo submission.

More after the (Slow Motion) jump

Pimpin' ain't easy

First name Smooth, last name Jenkins...

Karosel Kitchen

Is anyone else getting a total "TARDIS" vibe from this?

Paging Wayne Rogers

My pal Steve found me this and I wanted to hug him. This toy makes total sense, I mean what kid didn't have a Pernell Roberts poster on their bedroom walls back in 1981?

That Halloween they were all out of Gonzo Gates costumes so I had to settle for Yoda.

Passing up on the Trapper John action figure license is also rumoured to be the thing that killed Mego.

Curtain Trip

These should really be brought back, I wouldn't hesitate to put them in every room in my house.

AHI Superfriends Buggy

After almost three decades of toy collecting, not many vintage toy sightings make me want to wet my pants. This past few weeks I've had the pleasure of almost losing control several times, first with the Tomland Monsters and then followed up by this, the AHI Superfriends car in glorious detail.

My friend Mark from Heroes West Coast hooked me up with these awesome shots, so please everybody check out his ebay store.

More after the jump:

Shagerific!

I'd really, really like to run barefoot in that man's den.

Big Bumper

I have never seen this vehicle before but mein Gott, I wish I had an adult sized one in college.

Kojak Harbor Patrol

Another classic "who gives a crap" Rack Toy from Hamony, the makers of this pile of "hunh?" . Harmony is quickly becoming my favourite Rack Toy company mostly because everything I've seen from them seems to smack of little to no thought.

I'm sure Kojak had some episodes that featured both boats and helicopters but nothing will convince this toy was conceived in anything than a  ten minute period.

I'm totally putting that ID card in my wallet...

The Aztec Sweater tells us....

that the Mayan calendar doesn't know what it's talking about, we're all going to be fine.

Do not question the Aztec sweater!

The 2011 Plaidstallions Retro Awards

It's time once again for my fake awards show dedicated to what I feel is retro goodness of the past year. All in all, 2011 was a tremendous year for this kind of commerce, so there was lots to choose from.


I've also got some news on the book projects and changes to the site for 2012.


More After Jump