It should come as no surprise that this was submitted by my pal and podcast partner Jason Lenzi. According to him, this is the only toy that bears any connection to the movie.
It's pretty tenuous as the gun itself is a mix of parts from licensed products made for shows like "Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons" and others.
So strange how little merchandise this movie got, (luckily it's been remedied) I know as a kid I kept hoping and waiting....
1977 saw Gabriel Toys try an interesting experiment in action figures. Instead of licensing a hollywood movie, they sought to captilize on the making of a movie by creating a set based on then legendary stuntman Hal Needham.
The unique concept had a child filming a stunt sequence in a movie and was actually one of the more inspired (and sadly forgotten) toy concepts of the 1970s.
It's been a while since I got anything new in my quest to own all merchandise from my favourite saturday morning show, Tarzan and the Super 7. Lucky for me I found a sweet deal on a complete set of Imperial stickers based on all the characters! More after the jump.
Just a follow up to last week's post about the late start that Star Wars got toy wise. In the very same toy trade magazine that nonchalantly showcased the photo of Lucas meeting with Kenner execs had this impressive add from Ideal at the very front. Ideal invaded alright, the company worked very fast to crank out a Star Wars inspired series of action figures using old molds and a brand name "S.T.A.R Team" they used in the late 60s. The publication date on this magazine is late September (ironically my 7th birthday) that means Ideal got a toy line to market in 90 days. Pretty impressive stuff and don't think people didn't notice,in October a new full page ad appeared in the toy trades.
Scarier than Darth Vader and the Imperial Senate, Fox unleashed their lawyers. It's a battle many would lose but Ideal actually won, seeing as S.T.A.R Team existed prior to 1977. It didn't matter because once Kenner launched real Star Wars, everything else paled and the landscape was forever changed. More Star Team
i'm almost positive this slide comes from a former Kenner file, especially seeing as these are the suits used in the mid 80s to promote the Super Powers brand. I'm loving that Batman suit..... Update: Someone was kind enough to tell me they have a similar slide with the Care Bears, this is the Cincinnati zoo and most definitely Kenner related,
I've posted bits of this before in the dial up days but I don't think I've shown the whole ad. I'm just in awe, I'd wear the majority of these right now especially the Famous Monsters and Tarzan. Also, it's weird to see Shazam! designs yet only one Batman.
I've been digging around in vintage Toy Trade publications this past month and let me tell you, 1977 was not prepared for what hit it. Above is a piece from the summer of 1977 showing George Lucas and Gary Kurtz visiting Kenner, it's pretty bland and certainly doesn't give the impression that the whole game is going to change. However, the original announcement is even more low key:
Expected to surpass revenue earned by Jaws? I should also mention that the magazine makes a much bigger deal out of the "Gong Show Game" coming out.......
I'm really happy vinyl is back in what few record stores I can find these days, that's why I love this 1978 catalog from Dejay featuring a variety of licensed children's record players. Disco, Holly Hobbie and the Superfriends, it's a grouping that won't happen in any other decade.... Check out the 1978 Dejay Catalog here.
In1977, Fisher Price promoted the Little People Sesame Street Clubhouse by creating a gigantice model of it. The happy memories I had playing with this toy are only slightly shadowed by the original Sesame Street set by FP. I look at this thing and it cheers me up, always will.
I need to know if this still exists somewhere, come on interwebs do your magic, we tracked down Oscar Goldman's Briefcase in minutes, let's do this! Also, I'm less than two hours away, if this is in somebody's garage or attic, I would kill to come photograph it. Seriously, look at that giant Bert!
One of the biggest downers of the summer ending is back to school shopping, getting dragged from (Non Toy) store to store, forced to try things on, it's more than your seven year old mind can take.
That's why I've prepared this handy trip down memory lane, once your children see what we had to endure, they'll count their blessings and think twice before complaining.
While
summer comes to end, I now have an awesome set of memories wrapped in some well
loved vintage GI Joes.
You see, my
family chose to spend our summer weekends hiking the wilderness and
then exploring a new town. We got some exercise, saw some natural wonders, tried new food and then
checked out any area flea markets or antique malls (as anyone who has been to my face book page knows, I like this sort of thing).
the "non toy part" of the day
On our first trip, I visited the awesome Bounty Hunter Toysin Hamilton Ontario, where I got a
fantastic deal on a talking GI Joe in the box. He wasn't perfect but his price was more than fair and he kept telling me he "had a tough assignment for me."
I took that assignment by trying to pick a
well loved Joe everywhere I went the next two months. I struck out a lot, often passing on overpriced ones but as our family adventures continued, I had some luck finding some gently used adventurers.
Now, each
figure reminds me of one of those trips, even the Man of Action, who was angrily
purchased online the day we got lost in the woods for 3 hours.
With summer over, so ends my Joe quest, they will remain above my desk, as a reminder of time well spent. Thanks for reading, hope you have an awesome labour day weekend. Brian
I'm really happy to showcase this neat discovery of this lost Lords of Light toy. I've been smitten with these figures since the mid 1990s when I first found out this hidden treasure. A bit of a background on Lords of Light: After Mego Toys folded, a company known as PAC packaging (who light assembled many of your childhood favourites) got into the manufacturing game and produced several Toy lines in the early 1980s.
Lords of Light were produced using retooled Micronauts molds, with the added gimmick of having a glow stick in their chest cavity. It was all the brain child of PAC toys founder Joe Ruzzi (you can read my interview with him here)
The line had all the trappings, a comic book insert telling the story of the brave Izzurians (get it) fighting the dark evilites. There was even a big budget TV spot set to air, which thanks to my pal AcroRay I have a beautiful print of to show you below:
Unfortunately, the Lords of Light were cut short in mid launch due to company legal issues, so only the four villain figures ever saw (limited) release into the market and without the TV promotion, they simply faded away.....
The series of good guys, vehicles and even ride on vehicles just never happened and were thought lost to time, that is until Joe Ruzzi himself recently found this figure in a box:
This is Leborio and he's described as the Izzurian battle computer, he is designed to walk and according to Ruzzi, he was meant to have a slight limp.
Leborio has a removable head in order to place a glow stick in his chest cavity. I am tempted to pop one in.
The most notable element that is from the Micronauts is his head, which comes from one of my favourite characters ever produced in the line:
REPTO! I'm sure you can see the family resemblance. Hopefully more Lords of Light will finally surface!
OK, so apparently actor Richard Anderson visited Kenner headquarters in 1977 and they presented him with a life sized version of Oscar Goldman's exploding briefcase!
So that means, that (hopefully) in Richard Anderson's house, he has a 1/1 scale version of one of the greatest action figure accessories ever made.
I simply have to know where this is, I need to see this. I have a new mission in life, right after i lie down.....
UPDATE:
Thanks to Ann on our Facebook page (like us!), we've cracked the case. Turns out, it still exists and was auctioned off in 2013 to a collector. Nice to know it's still around and being looked cared for. It's also kind of refreshing that I didn't know about the auction before hand because that sort of thing would haunt me....
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