I declare this Apes Week

With the upcoming release of "Rise of the Planet of the Apes" , I making all my posts for the next week both here and at the Mego Museum to be completely ape centric. There is nothing more 70s to me than an Ape marathon, so stay tuned for some of the weirdest POTA merchandise this side of the forbidden zone...

Unleashing the Mantooth

It is with great pride that I open up the ordering for the Brick Mantooth doll.

Some important information:

•  This is just for Brick, it does not include the Mego Museum Supercollector outfit, those will be back in stock in mid August at the same URL. (The mini museums are a pain to make)
• This is the first batch, if I sell out, it does not mean I am out of the figure, just out of assembled sets. Every one will get one, the boxes in my garage assure you.
• These are coming from Canada and take anywhere from 5 to 10 business days, Canada Post doesn't work weekends either.
• The doll comes as shown, you may or may not have to dress him yourself. This Depends on whether your set was assembled by Gallant (my friend, who lovingly dressed each one) or Goofus (obviously me, who was getting tired and hungry by this point).

It doesn't have to end there....

Once you get the doll, it doesn't have to end with you placing it on your desk. You've just opened up a world of opportunity in the world of Mego customizing. There are literally thousands of ways you can now personalize Brick. Here are a few online retailers that sell clothing and other bibs and bobs to make Mantooth completely yours:

Dr.Mego.com- We wouldn't have this figure without Dr Mego and he makes a lot of cool stuff.

Castaway toys- Boots, belts, jumpsuits, even vintage Action Jackson sets that will fit Brick.

Classic Tv Toys- Lots of custom fodder including Brady bunch clothes

If you still can't quite find that special outfit, check out the Megomuseum forums as there are several Mego scale tailors for hire.

More Mantooth Coming Soon:

As with any toy line, there will be lots of fun extras coming down the pike

My friend Scott at Dida displays has a Brick Mantooth Bachelour pad set coming out.
Also, my pal Steve is hard at work with several 70s fashions for Brick that are just wonderful and fun. Look for my own weird limited edition Brick figures to arrive in September when I unveil "Project Mantooth".
Show us you Brick!

I want this to be interactive, so if you buy a Brick and alter it in any way (like Brick 5 here) please send me some shots. Take him on a trip? I wanna see! Did you puppy eat him? Send it down (but you're a very bad boy...oh I can't stay mad at you...)

Lastly, Thanks to:

I know I'm rambling but thanks and props have to go to the people who made this happen:

Scott Sansom (Sculptor), Scott Adams (Art and Design), Steve Stolk (Printing), Paul "Dr Mego" Clarke (our man in China), Steve Moore (Outfit prototyping), Ed Leung (doll dresserer), my wonderful wife and children who seem to ignore that their father is insane.

And many thanks to you, the reader, for supporting or at least enjoying this mad idea that clearly has gone too far.

Click here to get a little Mantooth in your life.

1977 Marx Ready Gang Catalog

In 1977, Marx Toys launched the Ready Gang a beautiful line of 9" action figures from the old west with little to no back story (seriously are these guys outlaws for good guys?) and it quietly flopped in the market place.

It's a shame as the figures are not only attractive but well made, nowadays I get an email every once in a while from people convinced they've found a rare Lone Ranger action figure and it's always a figure from this well made but largely unknown series.

 

Click Here to Ride with the Ready Gang

More Western Figures

Drape Illusion

The comfort of Fiberglas drapes, at least you'll be warm.

Vintage Player

And this, is the man who your mom "got with" before meeting your father and settling down. Pleasant dreams...

Mickey Mouse Light Up Drawing Desk

I still totally have my Mickey Mouse light up drawing desk and you can still see where I drew on the actual surface in pen (I was never classified as "gifted" as a child). Despite losing the majority of the sheets (I may still have the Robin Hood ones) this set was of great value to me right up until adult hood when I dreamed of becoming the next Jack Kirby.

Fortunately, the world was spared my amazing superhero adventures in an untimely coffee accident, it was for the better. I get the douche chills when I read those pages now.

Knit Pimp

Meet Wool Jimmy, baddest mack daddy in Iowa.

70s Captain America Merchandise Tribute Gallery

Growing up, one of my favourite Superheroes of all time was Marvel Comic's Sentinel of Lberty, Captain America! Which is totally weird because I'm Canadian, but I digress. As a child, the good Captain adorned a ton of merchandise that I do not own. Fortunately, I know one of Cap's biggest fans Tim A (Marvelmania on the Megomuseum forum) who was gracious enough to share the gems of his staggering collection with us.

From the wonderful...

...to the downright strange, we've got a smattering of Cap goodies that will have you slinging your shield at Ebay before you know it.

Visit the Plaidstallions Captain America Merchandise Gallery for More

 

Other Cap Related Linkage

Nightmare Decor

One look at this thing brought back about a 1,000 different nightmares of being alone in a relatives dark basement and discovering one of these on the wall. Seriously, why were these made?

Car Soup

Not only an ugly shirt, it's an appetite suppressant.

Also available in "Moldy oranges found in your fridge that cause you to dry heave" green.

Plush Obscurity

OK Benji I've heard of but I'm surprised to see merchandising for Joe Camp's other funny animal film "Hawmps!" which I've never seen but probably should since it contains both Denver Pyle and Slim Pickens. That's an powerhouse combination of Southern Stereotypes for one movie.

Dr Denim and Mr Check

A now take on an old classic playing this week at the Marx, Hyland, Odeon, The Brock  and Cinema Six.

1978 Mattel Tarzan and Friends Catalog

Big Jim may have been long gone but his body got a lot work in 1978 when Mattel launched a series of action figures based on TV properties like Tarzan, How the West was Won and Grizzly Adams. Many of these items were made utilitzing items from the European Big Jim offerings at the time which unless you were from Italy, would be blissfully unaware of.

Click Here to visit all the manliness of the Mattel 1978 Tarzan Catalog

Other Mattel Related Links

Mr Spock is concerned about your social life

I love this ad for the "Star Trek metal detection probe" or as I call it the "Social Life Eradicator" has a slightly worried looking Mr Spock overseeing this action. He's not liking this one bit.

Tyler Durden 1973

If Fightclub were a seventies movie.

Gypsies, Tramps and Mego

You know here and in my other life at the MegoMuseum, I've often ignored the Cher toy line which is odd because a) She was huge in the 1970s and b)Cher was a huge freaking deal for Mego. It's a glaring oversight seeing as I've never known a world without Cher and I promise to give her (and girl's toys in general) a little more exposure in the future.

Relationship Rustlers

"Circle the wagons Tex, them varmints want nothing better than to meddle and cause a heap o'trouble between you and your best gal"

Mantooth: The Commercial

Recently discovered in the basement of Odeon Toys Founder Vic Machismo's house, this commercial for the Brick Mantooth doll hasn't seen air since the fall of 1976, when it aired on Buffalo 29 at 3:30 am in between a rerun of "Room 222" and another rerun of "Room 222". We are happy to unveil this unique piece of toy history.



Many props to my pal Rob Chatlin who lovingly restored the film to it's former glory, without his help, this wouldn't be. Hopefully we unveil more Odeon Commericals in the coming months. More updates on Mantooth very soon. Stay tuned, well the internet doesn't have dials but you get the idea...

Wind Up Bath Tub Fun

Oh man, my parents sold these (translation: there were tons in our house growing up) and I absolutely loved them. They were called "Bathtubbies" and were created by Tomy. They were sold carded but I remember my folks having big counter display boxes of them.

My favourite character in this line was the kid friendly Creature from the Black Lagoon character, a nice sprinking of science fiction into an otherwise straight forward toy line.

Teen Idol Shirt A Rama

From the "Faces have changed but not much else department". If somebody would produce a Travolta shirt like that using what he looks like now, I'd wear it every day.

Dinosaur Love

Like a lot of boys (and many girls) I went through a passionate "Dinoasur phase" in the late seventies, this was the "Pre empire period" in between Star Wars and just after "The Black Hole" rocked my world. My choice of figures to collect were these English made figures by a company called Inpro (Thank you internets).

These figures were crack to me, I absolutely adored them and will hunt them down again with the exception of one, this guy who is still in my possession after all these years.

Triceratops, my favourite of all Dinosaurs (I'm not sure as to the why) even followed me to college, he's never leaving my side.

Slumber party silliness

"Pssst Let's put Larry's jock strap in the freezer!"

Mom Vs Monster

Muppet John sent in some toy love with this classic shot of his mom grappling with his Stretch Monster on what looks like Christmas morn. Stretch Monster should know better than to mess with Mom, no toy can defeat her!

Thanks John!

1981 Fisher Price Adventure People Catalog

After blasting on the scene and creating the 3 3/4" revolution six years earlier, the Fisher Price Adventure people were still going strong in a Science Fiction crazed world.

While still focusing on earth bound fun like camping and driving race cars, the Adventure People were also looking to the stars in 1981 with the launch of the Alpha Space Probe, a real sign of the times.

Click on the images below to see larger pages with descriptions:

The 1981 Fisher Price Adventure People Catalog

More Fisher Price Fun