In the mid 1970's Gabriel toys released some of the highest quality action figures of the decade with their Lone Ranger line. Not known for action figures previously, the company spared no detail in the figures, their horses or the multitude of accessory packs.
I used to collect Sleeping bags, talk about a space killer. This spread has me wondering though, what kid wanted the McDonalds characters over say Spider-Man and Hulk or the cool robots from the Black Hole? I can't imagine unrolling a McDonaldland sleeping bag at Richard Huer's sleep over back in the day. I think I'd have been better off with the oversized Dorito's bag.
I dig bean bag chairs, I dig Star Trek: The Motion Picture, so imagine my surprise to find two styles of Star Trek: TMP Bean Bag Chairs. It'll be a tough call but rest assured ,the crew of the enterprise will soon be cradling my butt cheeks.
When I look at the outfit on the left, the word "rough house" doesn't really pop to mind. Words like "Pixie" or "Musical Production" do though.
Finalizing the slow moving syndicated adventures of the Starship Enterprise, I'll be keeping the previous entries on the site in the Star Trek Comic Strip archive.
And that's it! I'm out of Star Trek Comic strips, I hope you enjoyed the past eleven weeks. After a short break next week, we'lll be back on the weekends with a feature called "Colouring Book Theatre" and whatever else falls out of my head.
Another return to the retro play ground this time our adventures are grounded to Earth but they are no less fantastic. Journey now to Story Book Themed Playgrounds. Castles, Giant Shoes and Spiders all draped with a little bit of 70's funk.
In case you missed our last entry in this series, it was Space Themed Playgrounds which will return with a new entry in a month or so.
Another bit of vintage toy industry advertising. Growing up, Corgi Jrs were some of the coolest diecast around, not only because of their Superhero lines (I still have my Batmobile and Batcopter) but because they seemed to license almost every cool car from TV and movies including James Bond and Starsky and Hutch. Hopefully I'll do more on these later...
I recently got a Childworld Flyer from 1975 which included some killer art, until I find a scanner big enough I'll highlight some of the better pieces here and on the Megomuseum Blog. Today's image of the Remco Phaser is probably my favourite, I love that young Spock from what is probably the series pilot. I have about three flyers from 1975, not a single one uses Captain Kirk.
I was scanning the catalog from a UK company called Berwick when I came upon this neat-o Tom Baker Doctor Who play costume and I thought it deserved blog attention.
Like a lot of 70's Canadian kids, I was watching Doctor Who on TVO from the time I could talk. The first con I attended was a Who one at the tender age of 15, so I have a real soft spot for vintage Who merchandise.
I have to give Berwick props for not putting the Doctor's face and the Tardis largely on the smock as Ben Cooper would have likely done.
Continuing the slow moving syndicated adventures of the Starship Enterprise, I'll be keeping the previous entries on the site in the Star Trek Comic Strip archive.
Coming Next Week: The Exciting Conclusion!
Remco was a division of Azrak Hamway and while AHI made more of the dimestore "Impulse' items, the Remco brand was used to promote toys of a higher quality. In 1976, the company attempted to infiltrate the action figure category (the McDonalds characters), Games (Magic Hat) along with their usual children's role play items such as Star Trek and Space:1999 utilty belts.
Check out the 1976 Remco Catalog for more goodness.
And be sure to check out the Earthquake Tower Playset, this is a somewhat morbid toy no doubt inspired by the Irwin Allen movies of the era....
My goodness, this was actually sold in a JC Penney Catalog. It's not often I am without speech....
You can't go wrong with a whole page of Sesame Street goodness like this 1978 Eatons Circular has. I still have my Fisher Price clubhouse and my kids use it every day. I do however find the Bert and Ernie Puppets on this page slightly disturbing.
"Aaaaaaaggggghhhh!" 
Sadly, there's just not enough time in our modern world to "Go Disco" as the fine print in this ad tells us to do. Maybe the world would be a happier place. If I saw people doing the hustle at my office, I'd be happier.
Even though this Mattel Tarzan set is made completely of recycled Big Jim pieces, (That's Big Jeff as Lord Greystoke) it's got to be one of my favourite action figures ever. For more Tarzan stuff check out our Tarzan Toys Gallery.
Continuing the slow moving syndicated adventures of the Starship Enterprise, I'll be keeping the previous entries on the site in the Star Trek Comic Strip archive.
Dun-Dun-Duuuuuunnnnn!
The Ben Cooper name is synonymous to many of us with Halloween from their well known "Smock and Mask" Halloween outfits that had all the relevent licenses to their rubber masks and jigglers, Ben Cooper had almost a stranglehold on October 31st. Journey back to the 1980 Ben Cooper catalog for a an incredible variety of pop culture characters and memories.
Featuring well known characters such as Frankenstein, Darth Vader and the Incredible Hulk to the more obscure ones like Web Woman, this catalog is the biggest item I have ever attempted to put on the site before.
Wow, six Metal Men figures for $10? Where do I sign up?
For those not in the know, Metal Men were a series of funky Diecast Metal Robot figures that had no back story (you had to use your imagination). They have a bit of a following now and don't come cheap mint on card sadly.
For more on the Metal Men check out this cool site.
Previous Metal Men Posts on PS
Try saying that five times fast, I think I would buy these today in adult sizes but nobody ever makes a decent slipper in a 15 wide. I never tire of Sesame Street merchandise, which is good because I have material to blog for ten years about it.
Good Morning, Welcome to the year 2008. At your front door will be a box containing your new speed suit, we hope this mandatory, durable garment will provide you comfort in the fabulous world of tomorrow.
If you wish to exchange your speed suit for another colour be sure to tell us whether you prefer white or powder blue.
