A Corduroy Christmas

I'd like to pretend this is a snippet from our office Christmas party.

Thank you  everyone for a really terrific, positive year. I deeply appreciate all the kindness and laughs you've shared with me by reading, listening and writing in, I am humbled by the responses I get to this crazy project.

So as I go on to my usual week hiatus, I want to wish everybody a very happy Christmas and joyful New Year. 

BrAiN

Atari just added another new game

For the brief time after Star Wars and before the discovery of girls and punk rock, Atari dominated my thoughts. 

Thundarr will take the country by storm!

This ad from Viacom was put out in all the toy trades at the time enticing licensees that Thundarr was a good idea. I wish more of them took it seriously. Heck, I still want the unproduced Mego line.

Two Guys: Action Figure Headquarters

GI Joe, Action Jackson, Big Jim and Mego Superheroes, pretty close to everything I thought about before Star Wars blew up.

Spider-Man shopping spree!

Spidey joined the winner of shopping spree back in 1981, I dream of these things sometimes....

Send me your mall appearance photos!

Vintage Toy Store Pictures Volume 18

For this year's last Friday feature, I bring you my favourite of all sections of PlaidStallions another volume of vintage toy store pictures!

Celebrating the time when we had unique independent retailers dotting our landscape and came up with colourful and and interesting ways of selling us toys.

Volume 18 is our biggest yet and loaded with shots across the USA dating from the 1970s to the 1990s. Maybe even your favourite childhood toy haunt is included in this mix!

Notable sites include Kenner Six Million Dollar Man, Barbie, Hot Wheels, Mego 2 XL, Muppets, Fisher Price Little People, Electronic Games, Atari Consoles,  Kenner Star Wars, Gabriel Lone Ranger and much, much more.

"Take my advice kids, keep one of these in the box!"

Vintage Toy Store Photos Volume 18

Don't forget to visit our archive of Vintage Toy Store Photos, it's a timewarp!

The Shirt Shop

"Point to a winner."

"Casual Friday?

Battlestar Galactica Inflatable Viper

I recently discovered this in a catalog for toymaker GLJ, who specialized in things like bop bags and inflatable Barbie Furniture. 

Turns out they had the Battlestar Galactica license and planned a number of things, including this inflatable Colonial Viper that would have fit the 12" Mattel figures.

While some GLJ BSG merchandise made it to shelves, I'm pretty sure this never saw retail, which is a big shame although I think making one for the 3 3/4" figures might have been the safer bet.....

More Battlestar Galactica at PlaidStallions

1978 Mattel Code Name: Galactica catalog

CHiPs Diecast vehicles

As Rack Toys go, these are a pretty solid concept.

THE Coats for Fall!

"The Men people pay attention to will be wearing these coats this fall" 

Trust me, I know from experience, I get a lot of jealous looks at Parent-Teacher meetings...

Pod Stallions 38: Irwin Allen 1

This month's show starts off with Jason talking a little bit about his BAFTA Flash Gordon event but then segways into the works of Irwin Allen, primarily his TV work of the 1960s.

Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, Lost in Space, Land of the Giants and Time Tunnel as well as the busted pilot "City Beneath the Sea" and "The Man from the 25th Century".

Along the way we talk about Aurora Model Kits, Santa Claus Conquers the Martians, Nathan Juran, Gerry Anderson, Battlestar Galactica, Buck Rogers, Space Academy and Brian's preoccupation with Amazon Women on the Moon.

We also want to keep the conversation going on the Pod Stallions Facebook page, please drop a line as to your favourite Irwin Allen show and toys. We anxiously await your thoughts.

 

  Download the Show Here

Listen here

Show notes:

• The Man from the 25th Century Pilot
• Time Tunnel Pilot from 2003
• The terrific 12" Lost in Space figure by Executive Replicas.
• The Awesome Trendmasters Jupiter 2 toy
• The Land of the Giants box set mentioned
• One if the weird Lost in Space toys by Remco
• This Land of the Giants Space Sled is actually Gerry Anderson's Super Car!
• Remco Seaview toy
• Mattel Lost in Space Roto-Gun

Plenty more content on the PodStallions Facebook page!






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ROM joins Action Man

A year after Parker Brothers launched ROM in the US, Palitoy their UK distributor, inserted him into their Action Man Space Rangers line which is, a really good idea.

I have to assume one of the challenges of selling ROM was that he was a pricey stand alone action figure made by a company that primarily sold board games. I'm sure Palitoy got him on more store shelves by making him part of the team.

More Rom

1979 Parker Brothers ROM Press Kit

Aaaaay Sleep on it!

Between Happy Days and Welcome Back Kotter, the 70s were a golden age for sitcom related bedding. 

Sadly, my children only know Fonzie now as "The Guy on the Pillow Case".

 

Crazy Foam adds new faces

If it hasn't already been established, i love the hell out of Crazy Foam and it's back!

 

Sailaway!

Drop front sailor pants: because you can hold it a really, really long time.....

1977 Gabriel Toys Lone Ranger Catalog

The Lone Ranger toyline is easily one of the nicest action figure lines of the 1970s if not all time and Gabriel Toys had some real long running success with it.

This 1977 Catalog is the third year for the line and shows that it was still going strong, Gabriel put a lot of effort into this catalog and it truly showcases how nice this line really was.

Visit the 1977 Gabriel Lone Ranger Catalog here.

And once you're finished, we've got the most Gabriel Lone Ranger content on teh interwebs!

Lone Ranger Figure Archive

 

Leisure Outfits by Halston

You'll be the hit of the next key party with this matching number..,.,

Star Trek 1978

Even though Star Wars was all the rage, the Mego Star Trek figures miraculously re-appeared in the 1978 Sears Catalog. The figures came on cards with blank backers, it's largely believed it was a tactic by Mego to retain the Star Trek license for the upcoming move. 



Always nice to see the Space Command Center that we featured earlier.

Star Wars club package ready for Christmas

They seem to have forgotten the word "barely".