Adam West as Batman in 1985

Chris Curley sent in these great shots of then 57 year old Adam West still looking pretty darn good in his Batman gear. This is from a car show in Chicago, West must have been on a tour that year. Batman was being heavily syndicated and I remember him popping up in my own city around the same time.


The awesome TV Batmobile.

In about 3 years, West would no longer be allowed to wear the costume in public appearances.



Thanks a bunch for the great pics Chris!

If you have something to add to the Superhero Mall Appearance Gallery please drop us a line, we'll happily feature them.

The 1981 Duncan Yo-Yo Catalog

Most people know Duncan from their Yo-Yo products which they still sell to this day but their 1981 catalog shows a company branching out into different things, mostly toy vehicles (such as 70s style vans) but also licensed items like the Batmobile.

Check out the 1981 Duncan Catalog here

Batpod 1976

Imagine how different a movie the Dark Knight might have been if Christian Bale had emerged from the Batmobile riding this. I wonder if he'd put on the batsuit and ride this for me?

Bicentennial Bedroom Overload

Now I know what Captain America's bedroom looks like.

Camping with Bert and Ernie

As weird as this set seems, my kids have a modern version if this that's almost entirely the same except Elmo is now crowbarred in there. Bert looks totally at home on a chopper, I should have known he was an outlaw biker.

Your New Mustard Yellow Family

In these more enlightened times, dressing your family like K-Mart cafeteria ladies carries stiff penalities and mandatory jail time.

Superheroes VS Monsters

Yeah, I did another batch of trading cards that I'll slowly reveal on slow news days. The first being my favourite catalog spread of all time, so it's surprising it didn't come out earlier.

There are something so damn awesome about seeing two of my favourite toylines (in this case the Lincoln Monsters and the Mego Superheroes) having a good donnybrook.

Look at how cocky Shazam is, giving the Mummy the bums rush like that.

I'll be having another card contest in the not too distant future...

The Amazing Spider Brothers!

Chris Pitzer sent in this great shot of him and his younger brother meeting Spider-Man at the Valley Mall in Hagerstown, Md circa 1979. I love the "webbing" in the background.

Do you have a vintage Mall Appearance shot? Send it on down!

Check out the Mall Appearance Gallery for more vintage spandex goodness...

1976 Mead Catalog for Super School Supplies

Yeah, it might seem pretty weird to feature a school supplies catalog, except this is Mead, who made all the cool licensed stuff you wished you had.

The big launch for 1976 were the Marvel Comics Superheroes school supplies, while I never recieved any of these personally, I must have sat across from a kid who did as they are permanently etched into my brain. Big props to my pal Tim Arnold for getting me these scans.

Check out the 1976 Mead Catalog Here

Related Links: If you like all things stationary and Super Heroes then check out the "Our Ways Studios" catalog for Stickers and other fun stuff that you might remember being advertised in comics.

El retorno de los Guy Karate

Ever since we ran the "Name this guy" contest, images of Guy Karate have been few and far between. It's almost like I jinxed myself, while I run into Brick at least once a wishbook, Guy is so rare that I actually got more excited than I should have spotting him in this spread from 1971 of course, catching a ladies eye.....

Imagineering Introduces the Face

Scary!

New Spider-man Hop Ball

With great hopping comes great nausea.
Toyfair 1979 Coverage continues....

Battle of the Planets Kits from Entex

It's funny that the version of the Phoenix shown here is something we never saw as kids. Most of us wouldn't learn that this is from the second season until college...

I loves me some Message from Space BTW, killer movie.

Ideal Toy Line to be Featured on Lawrence Welk!

The Lawrence Welk show, repulsive to me as a child, downright hypnotic to me now.....

Big Trak

The zenith of electronic toys for 1979 was at Milton Bradley.

More 1979 Toyfair coverage all day.

Plush Superheroes from Knickerbocker

I see these guys at every single toy show I attend, so they must have sold well. The Superman always looks like he has bed head.

More Retro Toyfair coverage all day.

Rocket Soaring Sales Builders

The Starroid Raiders look like the love child of Kenner Star Wars and Play Mobile figures, which totally rocks!

Look for more Retro Toy Fair Coverage all Day...

Ohio Art has Disco Fever

A cure for Disco Fever was found in 1981, I still have my immunization scar...

Velcro Superheroes

I've been tempted by the Superman Velcro puppet on more than one occasion.

More 1979 Toy Fair Coverage all day

Wham-O Fun Fountain!

"Hey a clowns head is exploding, let's play!"

Toyfair 1979 coverage continues....

Fun from Star Wars

I still have that Chewbacca book, if I'm not mistaken, there were recipes in there!

Silly Putty Man!

Anyone whose main villain is the "Eggomeany" is ok in my book.

Retro Toy fair 1979 continues all day....

Giant Colouring Fun from Parkes Run

Hey, I had the Spider-Man one where he fought the astronaut Werewolf guy. It took forever to finish a page, maybe that was the point.

GAF in view with Superman & The Muppets

Superman was heavily merchandised this year. Remember when every kid you knew had viewmasters?

Join Us in the 25th Century

Biddy-biddy-biddy, I'm so there.

Stay Tuned all day for more flash backs from Toy Fair 1979

Dakin Has Benji

Benji is due for a comeback. Stay Tuned all day for more flash backs from Toy Fair 1979

Ben Cooper Unveils New Godzilla Costume

Rooted Hair? Stay Tuned all day for more flash backs from Toy Fair 1979

The Return of Retro Toy Fair

It's that time of year again when we leave the 2009 Toy Fair coverage to sites like Action Figure Insider and we go back in time with toy fair articles from the 70s.

This year will be a little different however, rather than try to tackle four years in four days (which nearly killed me) I'm just going to focus on one year, 1979 for the entire period. So starting tomorrow for big announcements in the toy industry from 30 years ago.

Retro Toyfair Galleries

Weebles!

Popped up some scans from the Weebles section of the 1975 Hasbro Catalog this evening. Although I never had them (my parents were firmly in the Fisher Price camp), I sincerely envied those who did.

Check it out here in the 1975 Weebles Catalog

Harry Slade Strikes Again

If you put a pistol in this guy's hand, you would have the cover to just about every crappy spy novel I read in college when I should have been studying...

The Most Logical Superhero Toys Ever

This Aquaman Sled from the 1974 HG Toys catalog is something you just don't see anymore, a product that actually suits the Superhero. Nowadays if somebody got the DC comics license for pool toys, it'd feature Batman or Spider-Man but here the sea king gets his due. But wait, there's more....

Wonder Woman Magic Lasso jump rope. How awesome is this? It gets better...

Yeah, that's right even Oliver Queen gets some well deserved respect with his own archery set, somebody had their thinking cap on at HG toys, could this get better?

Um well, no it doesn't. This one is a bit of a reach and honestly it's a terrible pun. Hey, three out of four ain't bad right? It has lovely Neal Adams artwork, that counts for something?

I shouldn't have ended the segment with this one.....

Life on Mars- Don't forget about Life on Mars tonight on ABC, the show is "on the bubble" to get renewed and it would be great to see this wonderful retro series back for another season.

The Trouble Alarm!

" Activate your belt buckle and warm up the Mod Mobile Chad, it looks like we're need once again!"

Hey Hey Hey

Behold the HG Toys Fat Albert "Fat Kite" (was the extra fat really needed here?) The site of a flying Fat Albert reminds me of something the great Joel Hodgson once said "Funnnnyy..... but impossible"

The real Batman and Robin in 1975

Paul Novak sent in these amazing shots from Chicago in 1975. As superhero appearances go, this is the top of the food chain. Adam West and Burt Ward live and in costume as Batman and Robin. Even though both mean still tour, you'll never see them in their bat duds again.

Burt Ward still looks like he jumped off a television set here, I can't imagine how cool this would have been to be a kid and meet these guys.

Thanks Paul!

Do you have a vintage Mall Appearance shot? Send it on down!

Check out the Mall Appearance Gallery for more vintage spandex goodness...

Fleetwood Toys for 1980

This week's catalog is from Fleetwood Toys, a Rack Toy manufacturer that focused entirely it seems on the hottest licenses from TV and pop culture.

in 1980, Fleetwood was concentrating on late seventies icons such as CHiPs, Buck Rogers and Vega$ but not forgetting such evergreen properties such as the Marvel Comics Superheroes and Mighty Mouse.

There's a lot of neat stuff I'd like to own in the 1980 Fleetwood Toys Catalog....

Other Rack Toy Links

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