When the Jedi Return: Make sure your troops are ready

I love this neat British Ad for Palitoy UK, who were pretty confident they were going to sell football fields full of Star Wars toys (psssst they did).

I'm especially smitten with these drawings of the figures which are there because the ad was placed so far in advance of the film.

Battlestar Galactica: The Big One for 79/80?

This is an article from a UK toy industry magazine, I love stuff like this, nobody wanted to get caught with their pants down like they all did with Star Wars. As a result,  Battlestar Galactica was taken very seriously by retailers, at least for a little while.

Sash! Ah-ahhhhhh!

"This planet has frighteningly low levels of chill, Dr. Boogie, we have to help make it copacetic at once!"

Bad News for Villains

Oh Corgi, you are a main ingredient in a happy childhood.

Macho Monday

Women fawn over a man who is not afraid to show his dynamic difference.

New Book Project: Mall of Justice

It seems fitting that on the site's tenth birthday to announce my second book. After the wonderful experience and success of Rack Toys, I am ready to start on Mall of Justice : Recollections of Meeting our Heroes.

Mall of Justice is a love letter to the sensational personal appearances of our comic book, TV, movie and toy icons during the 1970s and 80s.

Whether it's Adam West at a car show, He-Man at a Toys R Us opening or an ersatz Chewbacca at a stereo store, Mall of Justice melds vintage photos with childhood recollection of these epic meetings.

While I will design and eventually publish the book (via PlaidStallions Press), it's a project we can all get involved with!

How you can get involved: I'm looking for your photos and your recollections! Even if you've submitted them to the site before, I would likely need higher resolution and I'd want to talk to you.

What am i looking for: Appearances of costumed characters during the 1970s and 80s, be they from comic books (Batman, the Hulk) , cartoons (, toy lines (Masters of the Universe, GI Joe)  or movies (Planet of the Apes, Star Wars) , a date and place and a description of how you felt meeting these iconic characters. Did you think they were real? 

Does it have to specifically be in a mall: 
HECK NO! Car shows, county fairs, grocery stores, heck I'd even accept birthday party shots. It's all fair game.

Download the PDF Concept booklet for Mall of Justice Here.

Download a PDF Here.

Check out a Little Flip Book Here.

Thanks everyone for reading and I hope you'll share your experiences with me!

Hasbro Super Joe Concept Art

Long ago, I saw these amazing pieces of original Super Joe concept art on Ebay, I regretted not putting a bid in and never got even proper shots of them for the site.

As luck would have it, the winner of the auction was none other than my pal John "Toyzilla" Marshall and he graciously offered to share them with the world.

These pieces appear to be drawn by comics legend Nick Cardy and depict Super Joe punching out what I can only guess is a rough concept of Gor: King of the Terrons. 

He's Joe and early version of the Shield knocking the wind out of Gor again. I can't say enough about this great artwork, I'm smitten.

Thanks again to John for this awesome share. Nothing like some newly discovered 70s joy.

Plaid Stallions Super Joe Archive!

Famous Cossack Shirt

The gold version of this shirt is the #1 clothing choice of guys trying to kill Matt Helm.  

Star Wars X Wing Aces

While I'm not the world's biggest Star Wars guy, I am kind of surprised to have zero memory of this wonderfully low tech game.

Admittedly as a kid, I dumped all other toys into the "Not Action Figures" section, this one draws a complete blank. This is probably the fault of old age or booze, either way i don't want the answer.

Wide, Wide Wale "Velvet" Corduroys

I think at this point, you're more pants than man....

Science Fiction Festival from 1979

While we're pretty spoiled with cons these days, it wasn't always the case. I recently found this program from 1979 for a Science Fiction Festival in Waukegan Illinois that wonderfully illustrates that fact.

No guests, no dealers, just a gathering of SF loving adults and Star Wars crazed kids for a celebration of a then underrated genre....and some disco dancing. 

More after the jump:

Pod Stallions 43: Top Ten Things We Miss about the 1970s

Our website turns 10 this month so we begin by discussing it's origins and why it came to be. With the topic already being nostalgia, we thought it would be fun to talk about the top ten thing we miss about the 1970s.

This is not a "things were better in our day" type discussion (We like Ebay and YouTube just fine thank you very much) but more about the certain rituals, tastes, establishments and items that sadly, no longer have a place in our modern world.

Topics range from Saturday morning TV to local toy stores, full comic book racks everywhere you looked, ice cream men on bicycles, long gone fast foods, Jason's crush on Rhoda Morgensten (and her mom!), Network Stars Battling, Heroes World adverts, colorful home decor and of course, wish books. 

Be careful with episode 43 because the filling is hot!


Hit us up on our facebook page and tell us what you miss about the 1970s, 

  Download the Show Here

Listen here

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Kenner Star Wars, Perhaps you've heard of it....

I had something really cool planned today but a computer update took 110% of my free time last night and made me sad, so I drank two "Blue Moons" and fell asleep instead. 

Here is a page of Star Wars treats I found in a hurry this morning, Blue Snaggletooth and 12" Boba Fett, it doesn't get much better than this....

It's Hat Day Again!

Oh I love new hat day, this year I'm going with the Wheeler Dealer, I'll be the talk of Church!

Captain Harlock Action Figure

In France, they released this amazing Captain Harlock doll using a 12" GI Joe body. These were also sold in Quebec, I had one of these in 1987, paid a whopping ten bucks for it.

One of my toy collecting mentors/friends really wanted it, he was a great guy so I traded it to him thinking "I'll find another one", yeah I'm still waiting.....

Bolero pants...now with SUSPENDERS!

Turn every home into a Ski Lodge with Suspender Bolero Trousers...

The Amazing Spider-Brush

 I'm totally fascinated with little bits of weird super hero merchandise like this. 

Here we have the marriage of hair care and our friendly neighbourhood Spider-Man, whose mantra of putting his name on everything would put Garfield to shame. This is all the handiwork of the standard Pyroxoioid Corp. (sexy name!)

 

This set solves a big mystery to me, that's a repainted Marx Spider-Man figure (which was also sold by Fleetwood Toys a year earlier) and that carry case is often mistaken for a Mego item.



This is a pretty well thought out attempt to get boys excited about grooming, it probably didn't work but I gotta give props for the effort...

Corduroy Ranger Suit

I don't what Park these rangers are from but I'm gonna guess that instead of grass they have velvet....

R2 D2 Standup

I found this in a box (which probably should be the title of my autobiography), not sure where it's from but it's awesome.

Artsy Craftsy folks if you print this out and assemble it, send me a pic on twitter (@plaidstallions) or on our facebook wall.

Battle of the Planets by Ceji Arbois

I've been on kind of a Battle of the Planets jag these past few weeks and here's one of my favourites, the 3 3/4" action figure line.

Originally made by Popy Japan, these figures were later sold in Europe in sets or on individual cards by companies like Ceji Arbois and Jecsan. They even added characters!



Sadly, no toy company thought to bring these to our shores but there is always Ebay to soothe the burn....

Slacks with Color at Your Waist!

Colors at your waist, where they damn well should be....

1979 GLJ Battlestar Galactica toy Catalog

In 1979, GLJ toys (one of my favourite obscure toy companies from the era) did what a lot of toy makers did and grabbed a piece of Battlestar Galactica in the hopes it was the next Star Wars.

Their specialty was inflatable toys, even vehicles for the action figures which is just awesome.

It wasn't quite the bonanza they were looking for and I'm not sure half these inflatable toys ever got made. It's a fun trip nonetheless, check out the 1979 GLJ BattleStar Galactica Catalog here.

More unproduced BSG merchandise: