1971 Hasbro GI Joe Adventure Team Catalog

 My earliest memories of action figures are Hasbro's GI Joe Adventure team, I would spend hours staring at those wishbook pages, drooling at those fuzzy faced guys having adventures. 

The sights of these toys are so hard-wired in my brain, they're pure happiness.

That's why I'm excited to be showcasing the 1971 Hasbro GI Joe Adventure team catalog, full of helicopters, snakes, sharks, mummies and spies!

  Please enjoy the 1971 Hasbro GI Joe Adventure Team Catalog.

1973 GI Joe Adventure Team Catalog

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Bravado `71!

These brave Ronin walk the earth fighting injustice wherever they go with their incredible macrame skills.

I've got a tough assignment for you

Growing up,  my neighbour Dave had a talking Joe, all it ever said was "I have a tough assignment for you" to the point where Dave came up with his own "tough assignment" and smashed Joe with a hammer. 


It made me giggle when I read the ad copy on this page. Last I saw Dave, he was a repairman...

Watch 'em swing

I'm sure this looked fantastic.

Sea Devils 71

The Mattel Sea Devils made so few catalog appearances in their all too brief run in the early 1970s that it's important to point them out. I never had a Sea Devil growing up as I wasn't two by the time the line was cancelled, I would have been ALL OVER this line though.

My fascination with scuba diving was slightly obsessional during the early 1970s....

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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.

Here come the Microbots

No that's not a misspelling, six years before Mego launched Micronauts, Kenner had tried their luck with the Microbots, a series of futuristic robots who could build their own environments. They even had their own (one shot) comic book by Gold Key!

Sadly, the line didn't take off and was quickly forgotten, the toys themselves are very hard to find these days but there is eveidence that some made it onto store shelves..

Check out the amazing world of the Microbots!

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Major Matt Mason 1971 Catalog

Mattel's man in space "Major Matt Mason" had an successful run during the 1960s space race until about 1969 when man actually walked on the moon and didn't find an alien civilization.

While this did sound the death knell for space toys in general, Mattel marketed the Major until the 1970s and made new items for him.

By 1971 the MMM line was a shadow of it's former self, gone were the many moon vehicles and astronaut pals, all that was left was the good Major and his new alien pal Scorpio. By 1972, Mattel would have a new action figure concept called "Big Jim" and the Major would be all but a fond memory.

Click here to be whisked off into the 1971 Major Matt Mason Catalog

 

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The Bananna Splits Meet Batman

Mike sent in these little bits of greatness from 1973 (Batman) and 1971 (Splits) , I miss store bought costumes....

 

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1971 Mattel Sea Devils Catalog

In the 1960s, Mattel had a great deal of success with their "Major Matt Mason" line of toys, but when Neal Armstrong stepped on the moon and discovered nothing, interest in space toys hit new lows.

Mattel logically thought to spin the concept off to a more earth bound concept and created "The Sea Devils" underwater explorers featuring the same bendable body style as Matt had. Leading the expedition was now Commander Chuck Carter and his sidekick Rock Riley as they explored the ocean's depths.

Sea Devils is something I've wanted to feature on PS, mostly because I find it an awesome line of toys and two, it just fell flat on the market and are really hard to find in the secondary market. It's a shame as they are a great start to what would become a wonderful decade of toys.

Click Here to visit the world of the Sea Devils

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Comic Hero Kites

This is a new one to me, these Comic Hero kites from Remco were made in 1971, which was an odd year to be making Superhero merchandise seeing it was pretty close to the late 60s explosion. There are some pretty interesting things to notice about this line, first is the absence of Aquaman ( although I'm not sure if he had a monthly by this point) and the other is there is not one but two Flash kites, even one where he's punching Mirror Master.

I mean that's some pretty obscure character choices there, even for 1971 when kids actually read comics. The other big tell this is from the early 1970s is the appearance of Wonder Woman in her weird-0 powerless Emma Peel days.

I wonder how many kids would have even realized this was supposed to be Wonder Woman?