Well this was inevitible, after a family trip to an antique mall I officially began collecting Fisher Price Adventure people. Although I resisted the urge for years, I blame this site and blog as the reason I did this.
The Adventure People were some amazing toys though, I spent many happy hours playing with this set. Unlike many of the other items in my toy room, this is one the piece my kids will be able to touch and play with any time they like.
So I was reading a Man From Atlantis comic to my son ( how this kid is popular with a dad like me I'll never know ) and we came to this ad. This one really took me back to a time when Star Wars was all shiny and new, ads like this served as your action figure checklist. The art, provided by the Kubert school is also wonderfully slightly off model, love it!
Oh and German superstar "Hans Solo" is awesome.
Even though I swore I'd never do it again there was something fun about the previous House of Kesman Lingerie catalog so I had to find another. This one is more of the same with models that slightly resemble your aunt with airbrushed nipples showing off the finest in non breathable bedroom fabrics. Oh and ladies? There's a little eeeewww-la-la for you too......
Gumcards! Gumcards! Gumcards!
Vintage Valentines
What's left of childhood friends.
I also found several old Eaton's catalogs, I can't believe I moved out of there without this stuff. My wife was thrilled to see me pull up with a "basementy smelling" box.....
I don't own any of the Gabriel Lone Ranger series nor did I as a kid but I do have a lot of respect for it. It's one of the best made toy lines of the 70's and holds it own. Case in point this Carson City playset, what a quality product this is. I'm a playset junky mind you....
Boys have baseball bats, girls have catcher's mitts
AMT was a pretty big deal in the mid seventies, they had some terrific car model kits but for those whose tastes ran geekier they had an amzing line of kits based on Star Trek. I can't tell you how many of these great kits I ruined with my crummy gluemanship and sloppy testors paint jobs. Check out what was new for AMT in 1975 here.
Thanks to Mike Rogers, I can see what the kits were supposed to turn out like.....
Even ladies aren't safe from the fashion massacre that is the Put Together. More on this all July, it doesn't get better, I assure you.
Seeing as Gabe Kaplan is making news as an author these days it seems cool to revisit the Mattel Welcome Back Kotter dolls. The classroom playset had a record so you could reenact your favourite moments, the Sweathogs motorcycle was a clever recycling of Big Jim's motor cross bike. Mattel never throws anything out!
Seriously, I like this bathing suit, it's kind of "star trekish" in a sort of sexy way.
That red number in the corner is the piece I have been looking for, it's what I plan on wearing to weddings of people I don't really like.
Does anyone else hate the word "slacks"?
Today, we go back 30 years (!) to the 1977 True Value Toy Catalog to look at some of the hot items of the day, it was a banner year for toys with memorable items such as Telestar, Stretch Monster, Fuzzy Pumper Barber shop, The Sunshine Family, Pulsar, Charlies Angels and so much more.......
Previous True Value Toy Catlogs on Plaidstallions:
Remote Control seemed to come on real strong in the late 70's, wireless toys became more cost effective I guess. I had the remote controlled R2-D2 (which broke quickly!) and remember desiring Tobor greatly. That Batmobile by Remco would have been killer too.
Not content to let JC Penney's Man Mates collection roam the earth unchallenged as the world's only "Permanent Bachelor Wear" so Monkey Wards came up with "Put Togethers" a series of outfits that should have made God angry. All this month we'll be featuring new put togethers, leaving you to judge which line is worse. For now, enjoy Captain Lime and the Pastel Force.
Two killer updates to the rack toys section at plaidstallions.com, the first being this very rare Filmation Space Sentinels Magnetic Figure. This is one of the only pieces of merchandise I have ever seen for this series.
I remember reading about this Ghost Rider set in a heroes world comic back in the day, I was disappointed when I finally saw it. I always assumed it was a mego figure as a kid..
I've always been intrigued by the Ready Ranger pack, in comic ads and catalogues it seems to make a lot of promises. I mean, Power Pack, signal light, compass, weather forecaster, PA and a compass? If that all worked it would be so bad ass. I've heard from friends that this was not the case however. Anybody have it?
I found this odd toyline in a spiegel's 1974 Christmas catalogue recently. I was first caught by his resemblance to Dr. Quest but then I started to recognize the pieces. Big Red is actually better known as "Mr. Action," a G.I. Joe wannabe produced by LJN that we all probably have pieces of in our toyboxes and didn't even know it. I still have that flightsuit.
Pieces from this line appeared in several G.I. Joe catalogue pages and the dolls themselves were sold worldwide, just under many different names and aliases. You can't fool me Big Red if indeed that is your real name......
