Marx Wrist Watches

That Neal Adams shot of Superman on the card art is some of my favourite pieces of the man of steel, that's how I picture him.

Return of the Lovemakers

Hello Ladies, we shall now begin the dance...

Scream'n Demons

Another toy that I'm too young to remember (I was pretty busy staring at fuzzy wall paper for the majority of 1971) but Hasbro's Scream'n Demons predate the Evel Knievel concept but marry it with the popularity of Biker culture at the time.

Help me R2 D2, you're my only hope

Simon of The Art Hustle sent in this glorious shot of his wife circa 1978 in Jackson, Mississippi at a movie theatre event with "R2 D2". Note the wonderful hand painted Star Wars collage in the background.

I pretty much love all mall appearance shots I get in but these home grown Star Wars ones have become my personal favourites.

Be sure to check out Simon's site The Art Hustle where he makes pop culture/art trading cards, including one of this very image.

Send me your mall appearance photos!

1978 Fisher Price Muppet Show Catalog

The Muppet Show was as much an ingrediant to a happy 70s childhood as were orange kitchens and pop rocks were. The UK Produced syndicated series was a complete smash and not surprisingly oodles of merchandising followed. Toymaker Fisher Price already knew the value of a Muppet, having produced Sesame Street items since the early 1970s released some of the most memorable Muppet show items..

Delve into the 1978 Fisher Price Muppet Show Catalog

More Fisher Price

Lazy Dazy

Coincidentally, should they ever make a doll of me, it would also come with it's own pillow.

Kung Fu and the Dice Brothers

Now playing at Cinema 6- It's a soul food chop socky explosion!

Streetwise

Bert is clearly flashing gang signs here...

Bee Bold in a Shirt Suit

Also, be sure to bring along your tiny clone.

1978 Mattel Electronic Games Catalog

Electronic games have come an incredible way since 1978 but it's hard not to fondly remember the simple pleasure of these awesome hand helds by Mattel. Without the sophistication available today, these games were not only fun to play but affordable as well.

1978 was a year of modest but popular offerings including a game I would consider the best hand held game of all time:

Click here to play the 1978 Mattel Electronic Games Catalog

 TOY SHOW REMINDER!
I'll be setting up at this Sunday's Toronto Toy Show (A link to a $2 off admission coupon is here) selling vintage junk, commercial DVDs and more Mantooth than most can handle. Hope to see some of you there, please do stop by and say hi.

If it's too much of a drive for you, be sure to check out my twitter account for live updates from the show floor starting Saturday night.

Career Opportunities

Ladies, Any one of these fine, fine gentlemen is your ticket to a high paying career in (tasteful) nude modelling and cocaine. A whole houseboat full of cocaine.

Wedding Jitters

Note to toy manufacturers, when producing "Beautiful Bride" type dolls, try not to make their faces so "Twilight Zone creepy" perhaps keep them more at a "Night Gallery" level....

Tragic Kingdom

Ummm, Ì`m not going to Disneyland...

Billy Blast Off

I'm a couple of years too young to have enjoyed the adventures of this Japanese import (created by Tomy, Billy was brought to the Western world by a company called Eldon) but some folks I know that did grow up with it often get giddy upon it's mention..

Odeon Toys Returns with Project: Mantooth

I've updated the site for my semi-fictional toy company Odeon Toys adding some new sections to help chronicle some of the happenings of The Brick Mantooth action doll, here are a few highlights of what's available:

Project Mantooth will be a series of limited Edition Brick figures that are based on iconic characters of the 1970s. They'll be new designs but quite familiar, these will be limited to ten of each figure (mostly cause I think that's the most I'll sell of these) Much more on this later.

Manmates are the mad idea of my pal Steve and are limited edition Brick figures in authentic Catalog outfits, the first one called "Purple Heeeyyys" sold out in a day. Check out the next offering "Green Sleeves" soon to be for sale at the Mego Forums.

Show us your Brick chronicles the many fun custom Brick images people have sent me.

It will be a loooooong time until I break even on this whole affair but stuff like this just makes it worth it.

That plus the site now has a link to the store where you can order Brick and his alter ego The Mego Museum Super Collector (which should be back in stock soon), Playsets, vehicles, upcoming comic book adventures and much more.

Check out the newly revised Odeon Toys Website.

1976 Marx Playset Catalog

Marx was always known for their playsets and action figures but in 1976 they were poised to be one of the early entries into the world of 3 3/4" action figures with a series of generic environments.

Sadly it looks like buyers were indifferent to the concept, so we never got a 3 3/4" Johnny West figure to my knowledge. .

See more at the 1976 Marx Playset Catalog

Right On!

Hat satisifaction is a natural high...

Strange visitor from the planet frisbee

It's amazing to think that the folks at LCA (who handled all of the DC comics characters at the time) approved weird artwork like this. The man of steel on this AHI "zing-wing" has an enormous noggin and apparently tiny baby doll like hands, kind of nightmarish if you stare long enough at it.

Disco Dynamite

Explosive on the dance floor

A green and insignificant planet, is now dead.

Behold, the closest thing we ever got to a toy version of the Alpha Omega bomb that wiped out the Planet of the Apes in Beneath. So this  gives you the option of either thinking it's another dumb rack toy or a surprisingly canon item.

Either way, that's some killer packaging....


More Larami goodness

Big Announcement Sunday

It's finally time to reveal what I've been planning for three years and that is, I'm writing a book! The project is called "Rack Toys" and it's essentially a love letter to what I feel is a very under served area of toy collecting. More after the jump:

Vintage Toystores Volume 11

It's time once again to be whisked back to a simpler time, one that was dominated by "Mom and Pop" toy chains and the wonderful, almost chaotic way toys were distributed.

Vintage Toy Store Shots Eleven is different from previous entries in that it features only images from 1979, where we are DEEP into an over proliferation of space toys lead predictably by Kenner Star Wars.

Click Here to Visit Vintage Toy Stores Volume Eleven


Then check out parts one through ten:

Fembot Nation

I`m slow motion running to this house...

Shindana : where it's at

It`s nothing to see multi cultural toys today but Shindana was truly a pioneer. I love finding ads like this.

International Order of Lovemakers

Their sole objective is your satisfaction...