Oh Happy Day

I decided to go to what I think is the grossest flea market in the world yesterday, it's a very short drive from my home yet, I never go. Why? Because it smells in there.

Seriously, I was kind of hungry when I went in but quickly lost my appetite. It's an old barn where the vendors just stack the crap to the ceiling. About a year previous there was a dealer with a bunch of old catalogs, he was rude and wanted to sell everything as a set (including dime a dozen summer/falls bleah!) and I hadn't been back since.

As I was leaving yesterday, i noticed a box under a guys table and began to scrounge, it was old fliers mostly but at the bottom was a SHOPRITE CATALOG! (those unfamiliar with my obessesion with that store click now)

I also grabbed this one for "Cardinal" a chain i have not heard of nor does the catalog list locations or anything for that matter. Wonder how they could have gone under?

The bittersweet portion of this is that the Shoprite toy section kind of sucks in this one, damn my memory. Also there isn't a scrap of Mego to be seen. Still they'll be scanned in great detail shortly.

Also picked this up for me and the boy on Saturday, I vowed not to buy fisher price adventure people but this one over powered me. The chute works just as good as I remember.

One of the lamest action figure sets ever

I pretty much dig any action figures from the 1970's but even I can't see the play value of Lassie.

Oh boy, it comes with Timmy! He and Lassie can do farm chores on their playset?

There's not even a well for Timmy to fall down! This may replace the Mego Waltons and fall just slightly below the Sunshine family on my lame-o-meter.

I don't actually have any sort of scale to rate lameness....

Space Shield and Space Sword

Does anyone remember these? I had both of them, they were Star Wars knock offs that somehow transcended their source material.

I'm not sure if these were sold stateside but I imagine they were. The sword (lightsabre) itself was ok but that shield just set it out of the stratosphere. It acted as a sheath and had all kinds of cool doo dads on the inside.

If anyone has any info on these puppies, drop me a line!

Beware the dreaded His "n" Her!

I've never been terribly obsessed with being thought of as Macho but even I can't fathom the guy that would wear His "n" Her Pjs, especially flowery Kabuki ones like these. I would also think twice about friends I knew who did this, it's so "Stepford".

Revenge of the Amish Lingerie

MegoSteve sent me this painfully funny picture this morning based on my comments in my original "Amish Lingerie" post. Looks like the Sith ain't gona get no loving either.....

I got to meet Lou Scheimer!

At San Diego Comic Con this weekend, a woman handed me a Filmation Flash Gordon Tattoo, I quickly told her that i was a fan. She replied "We have Lou Scheimer signing this afternoon" I completely lost it. Even as a kid I equated that name to countless Filmation Cartoons.

I was there at 2pm on the nose for the signing, second in line behind a young She-Ra fan. I brought a Mego Museum Isis Card from Mark's table to get him to sign. Mr Scheimer was a real gentleman, while I explained that I got my appreciation for Tarzan from him, his daughter explained to me "Oh Dad loves Tarzan" How cool is that? The item on the left might be my favourite thing I got this weekend.

More SDCC coverage at the Mego Museum Blog

Amish Lingerie

Wow, I think I see a little foot there, whew! Getting hot in here. Not that I expect women to wear pvc cat suits to bed but this is the north American equivalent of the Burca.

I think the mother's hat is the true indicator that she's done with fornication for good. It kind of reminds of those royal guard guys from Star Wars.

I'll never complain about my wife's ratty basketball shirt again........

On that note, Plaid Stallions is going offline for the rest of the week, so I can cover San Diego Comic Con for the Megomuseum. Next week, I'll promise more tacky clothes, toys and even less direction!

A little Something for the Ladies!

Simpsons-Sears thought so much of Brick Mantooth here that they gave him a double page spread. Imagine the arouma of Hai Karate and Cognac that probably oozes out of this guy. Looks like a guy used to complicate matters in a Love Boat plot.

I'm just glad no one saw me scanning this image, it could have raised questions.

Woolco's Toy Land

When I was last researching at the library, I came across this cool old newspaper circular for Woolco Catalog stores. Which I don't even remember existing and according to this flier there was one a block from where i was BORN!

You don't see cool ads like this anymore. I had all of the Star Wars toys in this flier, I really kind of said "goodbye" to my Mego Superheroes by this point. I even remember my mom saying "whatever happened to Superman and Batman?"

Oddly enough, I have no nostalgia for Star Wars either these days. Somehow I think George Lucas will survive.......

The Power of TV Advertising: Iggy and Sandy

The amazing Iggy and Sandy made it onto my Christmas 1976 wishlist, they are a cone and a box that shape snow/sand. The people in the commercial made them look like they were more fun than a day at Disneyland with Batman.

What the hell was I thinking? I was risking losing cool toys for these things?

Luckily I screwed up their names, I think I called it "Igoo" because the commercial was on during the Herculoids and my Mom just ignored it. Phew!

One the Mego side, I updated my "Other" site ForeignMego today with new France and South Africa Gallery pages, enjoy!

Reasons it rocked to be 6 in '76 Part three: Six Million Dollar Man

Kenner's Six Milllion Dollar Man line rocked my world as a kid. I think it was incredibly popular, my mother said she nearly got killed getting the first Steve Austin doll for that Christmas.

Maskatron may have been the perfect toy,I mean it's a robot doll with John Saxon's head! (note that the masks in this catalog pic hadn't been painted yet) I even thought the Oscar Goldman doll was cool, plaid jacket and all.

What's weird is, toy junkie that I am, I have almost no desire to buy these toys now. I'm simply numb to them, it's strange. Maybe it's a good thing.

Reasons it rocked to be 6 in '76 Part two: Big Jim

Big Jim was always there when I was a kid, he first burst on the scene as a Sports outdoor type guy in 1972, every kid I know was issued that Camper of his. He was good, not great.

In 1975, Mattel turned him into a bad ass Super Spy and leader of the P.A.C.K, (Professional Agents Crime Killers) the boxes had Jack Kirby art, Jim went up several points in my book.

What's truly unique about Big Jim to me is, he was the first toyline that i saw die. In the Spring of 1977, my family visited Sears and my sole purpose was to get a new member of the P.A.C.K to go with the Torpedo Fist I had gotten the previous fall.

When we went to Sears, there was no Big Jim section. I asked a Stock boy and he said "Big Jim? they don't make him anymore". It was a lot of information to process when you're six. Luckily for me, the stock boy was a nice guy and went into the back room, he pulled out a boxed Gold Commander that was going on clearance, it was complete. I literally got the last Big Jim in the store.

Twenty years later, at a toy show in Toronto, I saw a dealer put that same Canadian boxed Gold Commander on a table, it never actually hit the table as I simply took it straight from his hands. I think at the time, I overpaid by about $20 but honestly, I wasn't going home without him. It's still in my collection to this day!

Reasons it rocked to be 6 in '76 Part one : GI Joe

A couple of disclaimers, I was five for the majority of 1976 but that doesn't make for an interesting title.

Secondly, I was a boy, girls toys for all I know sucked in 1976, I would not be aware.

It was very disapointing to read in collector books that the GI Joe Super Adventure Team is not well regarded among collectors.

For me characters such as Bulletman and Mike Power Atomic Man represent when things got really cool for GI Joe. I spent hours playing with those two.

But nothing and I mean nothing, screams 1976 for me like the Capture Copter (pictured above). I remember every single detail about that piece, when i got it, the box art, how mad i was when my mom stopped to pick strawberries on the way home from the store, locking it in the car!

I think it's time that 30somethings took back the Super Adventure team from the "painted hair" collectors and rewrote the "footnote" history, so attrocities like this will not continue.....

Agggghhhh! You Dare to Mock Bulletman? then suffer my wrath!

And cover up for Gosh's sakes!

They're called Space Boots, Dur!

Anyone who grew up in the 70's (in a part of North America that experienced snow) would remember these fashionable numbers on the playground.

For years, I kept asking people "remember those Space Boot things kids wore?" but not knowing their actual name. Well, they're actually called Space Boots, what a surpected exprise.

Toy stuff: This month's Toyshop Magazine features a whole 70's Superhero tribute, Evel Knievel, Mego Superheroes and Energized Spider-Man are the topics at hand. Support the newly revised Toyshop and pick up a copy today!

The Terrycloth Jumpsuit: Designed by Satan

Men don't need excuses to dress poorly. To this day, I have friends who wear their pajama bottoms out in public, I feel uncomfortable for them.

That's why this snazzy outfit bugs me so much, it's made of terry cloth so essentially it's towel pants!

Tell me this happy extra from Space:1999 didn't think twice about wandering off to his kid's little league game in his bathtub suit. Blech, you just know he's naked under there, let's not even get into the powder blue number.....

What exactly were Pulsar's powers?

When i first saw the commercial for Mattel's Pulsar, I admit I wanted one but even then, I wondered what exactly was the advantage to having a see through chest.

Was it a good for fighting crime, did bank robbers drop their guns in order to vomit?

Pulsar's enemy was named Hypnos and is pictured above, he had the same issues as Pulsar but he's not as gross. There is a back story here that the world needs to know, how come we have erotic stories for Chip and Dale's Rescue Rangers but not a decent Pulsar origin story?

Shogun Warriors Commercial

Ah memories, who didn't want that Godzilla?