Cool Collections: Dan Bru

Dan Bru, a graphic
designer/artist/blogger living in West Paris, Maine dropped me a line this week with some peaks at his uber cool upstairs office. Dan muses on comics, art and pop culture on his very own blog 3-d monster.

That Brianiac figure is one of Dan's own creations, which reminded that I used to know him as "DangerDan" waaaaaaay back on the Megomuseum forums.

Lots of Japanese toy love here.

Shogun Warriors are always a sign of good taste.

Lunch pails, classic toys and comics, no wonder, as Dan admitted, that he spends more time than his wife would like in this awesome workspace.

Thanks Dan! You have an enviable place to create.

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Apes Attack Part 2

As promised last week, more of the Apes visiting Plymouth Hoe circa 1977. Again, I cannot begin to explain how wonderfully cool and trippy this all is.

Check out Derek's awesome blog dedicated to Plymouth local histoy and stay tuned for much more coolness from him.

General Urko plans to whip humans here I gather.

The only good human is a dead human!

Send me your mall appearance photos!

The Martian Chronicles Toys by Larami

In the late seventies, Charles Fries productions (the same people who brought you the TV version of Spider-Man) undertook an ambitious project, bringing Ray Bradbury's acclaimed book of short stories "The Martian Chronicles" to Television as a 6 hour event.

The names involved were a Science Fiction fans dream, Richard Matheson wrote the screenplay and it was directed by Michael Anderson, director of Logan's Run. The cast included genre veterans such as Darren McGavin, Roddy McDowell, Nicholas Hammond (TV's Spider-Man), Barry Morse, Bernie Casey, Jon Finch, Michael Anderson Jr (Doc from Logan's Run) and the series was tied together by the character Col. John Wilder, played by Rock Hudson.

The mini series premiered 30 years ago this January (yikes!) and was met with mixed reviews, the harshest critic being Ray Bradbury himself but personally, despite it's slowness in points, I think overall it's a terrific attempt and I love it's style.

Still, I find it weird that Rack Toy Manufacturer Larami decided that this was the property to go forward and make some action figures with. To my knowledge the company hadn't delved there before. Despite the fact that Star Wars figures were all the rage, Larami chose to go the Mego route and produce three 8" figures all based on the Martian designs. Going so far as to rip off the an outfit from the Mego Star Trek aliens line, these little touchs give the line a mid seventies feel.

The Martian figures have no names but all are based on mask designs the Martians wore in the series, the figure above isn't really a Martian at all. In the first installment, Col. Jeff Spender "goes native" on his landing party killing them off while wearing this Martian battle mask. So really what we have here is an action figure of Bernie Casey.

This is the second, let's call him the "Pink Martian" this mask appeared in the second episode and only briefly as Darren McGavin's character shoots him!

Click Here to see more of the Larami Martian Chronicles line

Visit the Larami Rack Toys Gallery for More

The Ugly Shirted Gentleman Strike Back!

They're back and this time, they're out for revenge. The guy at the bottom seems to wearing one drawn by Jack Kirby.

More Azrak Hamway Monsters

Some great new variation figures added to the AHI Monster Gallery today, cataloging these is a bigger chore than I imagined, below we have wrist jointed Dracula:

Man he looks pissed that someone stole his shoes! These jointed wrist versions are the closest things to Mego, but for some reason they all have the Wolfman's hairy chest (gives the figures a little bit of a Sean Connery thing going on) and their clothes are really susceptable to dry rot. Hard to find them in good shape.

"Vere is my shoe?" This is a cupped hands variation of Dracula, I'm not completely on solid ground here but I believe these may have been the very last monsters to surface. I've heard everything from them being released in baggies to these not even being official AHI merchandise (That seemed to happen a lot) but four figures were released in this series. If you have pics, please send 'em.

Here is the jointed wrist wolfman, the only figure that the hairy chest makes real sense.

On the Jiggler front, the Creature from the Black Lagoon finally makes an appearance:

Now, if I could only get him to stand for a picture...

I've spent a little time upgrading and organizing the growing AHI Monsters section of the site, check it out.

Status Symbols

The home bar craze in the 1970s (ours was orange with a white and gold speckled counter) is something I fondly remember but I have to wonder how many folks had to stare at this day in and day out.

I have nothing against Anheuser Busch (partially thanks to them I don't remember much of my frosh year) but if I think having this in the living room says a lot of things about you, not all of them good.

Signs You're Being Raised By Circus Folk

Bonus points for topping off that outfit with the most gender neutral haircut devised M'aam/Sir?. Unless you have some rum in that bag, this is going to be an unpleasant morning.

Cool Collections: Colbie

I've done a couple of ebay transactions with Colbie in the past, so I knew he some great toy tastes but recently he sent shots of his toy room and will admit to being gob smacked, so much to see, it's like walking into your childhood.

Ahh, Vintage Star Wars, Black Hole even the foreign produced Battle of the Planets? Insane.

I honestly don't think I ever visited a toy department as a child that as much win as this picture. I haven't seen Dragon Riders of Styx figures since they were fist released and I can't ever recal Team America figures on the card.

I don't collect Lord of the Rings but I do know how incredible it is to have this many Knicker Bocker Ringwraiths.

This is what most people's wantlists look like. I wish I could mae my collection look this organized.

A mind blowing spread of 3 3/4" goodness! An entire set of Love Boat? Now that's hardcore.

For more (and there is more) check out Colbie's photostream on Flickr.

Thanks Colbie, I can't describe how much I enjoyed this.

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Apes Attack Part 1

Derek (the man responsible for this awesomeness) strikes again, this time it's some vintage shots of the Apes visiting Plymouth Hoe circa 1977. I cannot tell you how jealous of this I am, I was Apes crazy at this point and there was nothing happening in Canada.

Check out Derek's awesome blog dedicated to Plymouth local histoy and stay tuned for much more coolness from him.

Send me your mall appearance photos!

1979 Palitoy Star Wars Catalog

UK kids weren't immune to the awesome, corrupting influence of George Lucas and got Star Wars Mania every bit as bad as we did here in North America.

There were of course, subtle differences as evidenced in this 1979 toy catalog by Palitoy, UK distributor for the Kenner line. Among them you'll notice several exclusives (like the deathstar in the header) and fun prototype items that eventually were changed before release.

In addition to the catalog pages, we also have some cool shots of my pal Bill Frost's carded Palitoy collection, click on any image to be transported to the 1979 Palitoy Star Wars Catalog.

More Star Wars Toys

The Price of Fame

It has to be a weird compliment to be so famous that your face appears on items both flattering and unflattering. Take the late Farrah Fawcett-Majors for example, her trademark smile and hair was on posters, mugs, nightgowns and things like towels and these bean chairs. Basically, these are encouraging you to place your backside on that smiling face and no matter what happens during the course of your sit, she'll just grin and bare it like a trooper. "Oh sorry Farrah, these damned lentils!"

This kind of marketing has given me an idea, look for my line of Celebrity Urinal Cake Covers in the near future.

Mantooth Redemption

Just when you lose all hope, he comes walking in with a bird on each arm. Phew! Had us worried there....