The folks at Amsco clearly had a lot of fun designing these because they are loaded with Easter eggs and nods to both the movies and the television series, it's one of the coolest Apes toys ever made!
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3 comments:
That absolutely HAD to be designed by a huge Apes fan. To put in nods to a movie and several specific episodes of the TV show... just wow! And BTW, I think the female ape figure might be from an episode I just watched where where Galen reaches out to an old flame for help after Virdon is seriouly injured. I could swear she had on that exact outfit at one point.
I'm a bit older than you, and remember Punch-Out Books (or, sometimes, Press-Out Books). They were mostly by Whitman, and generally sat near the coloring books, paper dolls, magic slates, and sticker fun Books. Many were themed to TV shows and such; some were originals.
The Punch-Out Books were printed on one-sided card stock. You'd generally have some little figures to stand on folded tabs, maybe a vehicle like the Beverly Hillbillies' truck to assemble, and a background piece or two -- a die-cut backdrop, or maybe a boxy building. The best ones had additional 3D props.
I specifically remember the Disney's "Babes in Toyland" edition. It featured the crazy toy-making machine, a background piece with a few 3D touches. There was also a pirate-themed book with cartoony artwork. The main pieces were a rocking pirate ship, a treasure chest, and a flat cannon that fired flat cannon balls with the addition of a rubber band.
They weren't designed to last much longer than, say, a connect-the-dots book, and were in the same low price range. Needless to say, they were nowhere near your Apes set in quantity, quality, or sturdiness of pieces. I remember seeing Nativity Scene punch-out books; our family had a cardboard one but it was printed on very heavy stock.
The last punch-out I remember seeing was "The Green Hornet". It was maybe twice the height of a regular punch-out, featuring full-page standees of the Hornet and Kato, plus a fold-together Black Beauty car (much smaller scale than the standees) and a lipstick-ad billboard for the car to drive through (as in the TV show). I don't think it had anything else; it was really just some stuff to display rather than play with.
They faded away; I'm guessing the custom die-cuts were too expensive compared to similar printed kiddie products. They were somewhat replaced by cut-out-and-fold-and-glue items meant for older and more patient kids and adults. Those would be miniatures of real castles and such. I've also seen elaborate Disney-themed ones, evidently included in foreign editions of Disney comics.
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