Completing the trifecta of awesome sent in by Scott during "Frogtown Frolics", at Thompson Park in Colts Neck, NJ. It's the classic Spider-Man appearance shot, notice that Scott is clutching a Mego Spiderman doll. Scott equates this event as not unlike "The Beatles at Shea Stadium" it's not hard to see why.
Thanks for the great memories Scott!
Shindana (a Swahili word roughly meaning "to compete") toys was formed in 1968 after "Operation Bootstrap" was created. Their goal was to improve black self image by producing ethnically correct toys. According to their literature, they did this to promote understanding and love.
I've always wanted to do a feature about Shindana on Plaidstallions as their actions truly changed the face of toys. Before Shindana children of color often had to make due with crudely repainted toys if they could find any at all. Any look at a toy catalog in the early 1970s will see the dramatic impact Shindana had on the marketplace.
1976 was a hot year for the company, they were running with their successful baby dolls, had hot celebrities in the form of Jimmy Walker and OJ Simpson and they created IMO one of the most awesome action dolls ever, SLADE!
Visit the 1976 Shindana Toys Catalog Here.
More from 1976
Watch out for his crushing Bear Hug! I have a friend who should also come with this warning...
I honestly don't remember anyone ever wearing stuff like this, it should have come with a warning that wearing it will give you an instant urge to kill Indiana Jones...
Another recurring contributor to my mail bag is Super Joe, I get email from folks from time to time that say:
"I had this 8 inch tall Micronaut, he lit up, who was he?"- His name is Luminous and he's part of Hasbro's short lived GI Joe revamp called Super Joe. Luminous is clear like a Micronaut so the confusion is genuine.
"I remember this big Lizard that walked but if you hit him with a flash light, he stopped"- That's Terron, the big "get" for 1978 that many attribute to ruining the Super Joe line.
I think the big problem with Super Joe is he just didn't have the name recognition, kids didn't get that this was GI Joe and without some sort of tie in (ie TV show or comic book) he just became somewhat swept under the carpet next the Superfriends and Star Wars.
It's a bit of shame because Super Joe has some neat ideas, look for more on him at the site in the coming months.
Add to this that their latest victim, Alien Factor, is actually a pretty fun and creative film in it's own right. What happens when a space ship full of alien convicts crashlands in Baltimore.
You can see the first five minutes here and what's even cooler you can download the whole movie at their store for $10.00. If you're a fan, please support quality comedy and laugh your ass off.
I'm not really big on doing movie reviews but I really can't not spread the word about this insanely fun movie. 
Here's Scott C with another shot from "Frogtown Frolics", at Thompson Park in Colts Neck, NJ. This time it's Batman and Robin and even though Scott admits they looked kinda bogus, it was still a big thrill to meet heroes in costume like this. It looks to me like the 36 year old "boy wonder" in this pic has a perm, "Holy Mike Brady!"
Look for more from Scott next week!
As far as 70s toystores go, none are as far remembered and beloved as Childworld, a chain which had at one point 180 stores across the united states. This 1975 flier preserves what they had to offer during that time including the greats like Mego Star Trek and Planet of the Apes:
Toy Fair 1978- Tobor is robot spelled backwards, that blew my seven year old mind....
Toy Fair 1972- An Angela Lansbury doll with an "Action Bed" accessory? I'm sooooooooo there!
Scott sent in this first in a series of three awesome pics that were taken at an event called the "Frogtown Frolics", at Thompson Park in Colts Neck, NJ. It's an appearance by the late 70s Marvel Hulk costume. Scott also laments that when Spider-Woman visited Child World in 1981, he couldn't get close enough to her as he had a big crush on her. That's something I totally get, I still have a thing for that character...
Look for more from Scott next week!
Recently ressurected toy maker Odeon Toys (http://www.odeontoys.com/) announced today that they would be re releasing their hit action figure "Brick Mantooth: Action Model" to toy stores in 2010.
Released originally in 1975, the Mantooth doll was a tremendous hit which current Odeon toys president Victor Machismo Sr attributes to one key factor, manliness. "Brick had more testosterone than any other toy on the market, he was more bionic than Steve Austin, his fists smashed through GI Joe's puny Kung fu Grip" Machismo adds " And Big Jim took one look at Brick and ran like the fancy little princess that he was"
While Odeon released a number of outfits and vehicles for Brick including the "Mantooth Party Van", current releases for Odeon Toys simply include the original action figure and potentially some of his "manmates" outfits.
The Brick Mantooth doll will come as shown and sold in a replica solid box at the Plaidstallions.com website. It will be on display at the EMCE toys booth at this weekend's 2010 Toy Fair (http://www.emcetoys.com/). For more on Odeon toys please check out their website http://www.odeontoys.com/
Be sure to check out the Mego Museum today for an equally cool announcement regarding all things 8 inch action figures.
Visit the Mego Museum Forum for more good news!
Just an aside, this is totally legit, no foolin', I'm making a Brick Mantooth action figure in 2010.
Many thanks to my creative partners in crime, Scott C Adams, Steve Moore and Sean Sansom, Joe and Paul from EMCE for the tremendous help to make this dream come true!
Stay Tuned!
I've decided to allocate some time to the recurring trend of email I get on the site, other than the constant one of "How much for the Stretch Armstrong?" (For the record, I don't even own one myself) most people write me for the name of a toy and I'm noticing a recurring trend with certain toys, so during the month of February, I'll try to cover the majority of them.
So to answer the recurring email of "I had this aircraft carrier that fired soft foam planes" what you had as a kid was Mattel's Flying Aces (pictured above). There was more than one set in this series and all good toy geeks know it was also revamped for Battlestar Galactica.
Flying Aces by all accounts looks like a super fun toy but I've been told by 70s kids everywhere that the planes were easily made less than aerodynamic through regular play. Now that you know the name, please run, don't walk to ebay...
I'm very pleased/totally surprised to have my first corporate sponsor here at PlaidStallions, the good people at Odeon Toys. It's an odd story how this came to be and goes to show you how fate works in funny ways.
A couple of months back I won this catalog on Ebay, I'd never heard of Odeon before but the description listed a lot of great mid 1970s licenses like Planet of the Apes so I went ahead and won it.
Immediately after I receieved an email from a man named Victor Machismo Jr, who claimed to not only to be the son of the President of Odeon but the current president of the reformed Odeon toy company that would be putting out product in 2010!
