A Salute to Canadian Toy Packaging

It's not a closely guarded secret that I'm Canadian. So on the day of my country's 150th birthday, it seems duly patriotic that i share my favourite toys in Canadian packaging. 

Due to having two official languages, we had different toy packages than the US and brother,  it's tough to find.  Hunting these is my obsession because there is no better whallop of nostalgia for me, enjoy!

A double Shot of 70s Barbie

I always seem to fixate on boy's toys over the Christmas season and that's kind of a shame because I always glossed the Barbie section in envy over all the cool stuff she had.

Here's a double shot from the Simpson's Sears 1979 Catalog, click on it to embiggen it.

Star Wars....Only at Sears

Another Christmas page that made me crazy, those "exclusive" figures came on these weird shrunk wrapped cards and it drove me crazy tracking them down as a kid.

Now, I wish I'd kept them as they're worth a bundle.

Pod Stallions Mini Sode 1: Movies We Watched

Due to all the nice requests about making more Pod Casts and our desire to talk, we've started a new concept here.

Presenting the first Mini-Sode, an extra half hour show each month on a variety of topics that are perhaps not long enough for our standard format.

For our inaugural mini-show we decided to pick a simple question "What were the last two movies you watched?" and it goes all the map from Italian futuristic gladiators to talking bears to super human Simon Pegg to punks in Toronto.

Topics Include: Fulci, Kentucky Fried Movie, Zombie, Monty Python, Simon Pegg, Paddington, Peter Capaldi, Vic Morrow, Fred Williamson, Running Man, Mandingo, Meatballs, 

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Show Notes:

• The Trailer for Absolutely Anything the Simon Pegg/Monty Python film that should have made more news.
• 2072 The New Gladiators (Full Movie)
• Class of 1984 just got released on Blu Ray this past year.

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Vintage Toy Store Photos Volume 17

Yes! A new installment of  one of my favorites, vintage toy store photos. A journey back to the days of oddly named department stores and independent mall toy stores and chains that are fondly remembered but sadly mostly gone.



Vintage Toy Store Photos Volume 17 covers the US and Canada this time and features appearances by Big Jim, Kenner Bionic Woman,  Barbie, Shogun Warriors, Mego Star Trek, Space:1999,  Ideal Star Team, Mattel Donnie and Marie and Kenner Star Wars.

I hope this edition brings back some powerful memories like it did for me.

And hey, check out volumes 1 through 16 when you're done.

Pod Stallions Episode 30: Model Kits

This month sees us discussing the days of slapping paint everywhere and getting a l'il high off glue.

Model kits has us discussing Aurora, Addar, MPC, fundimensions and many other kit manufacturers long gone.

Subjects include Sweathogs, the Fonz, Planet of the Apes, Jaws, Doctor Who, Gerry Anderson, Universal Monsters, Dark Shadows, Star Trek and much more.

As always we get sidetracked into talking about Jason's singing voice, Cosplay and star wars sneakers.

Please note I am working on raising my volume level, thought I had it licked this show but it's a work in progress.


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Cryotron

Click for a larger view.

Cryotron is a spacey action figure case offered by Sears Canada in their epic 1980 catalog. I'm not sure who made it and I never had one but I remember it mostly because I stared at the page it was on for a LONG time as a kid.

It's one of those oddball items snuck onto catalog pages that is meant to catch the heat of Star Wars without ever passing Lucas's desk, I love stuff like it.

I was surprised to find out it's fairly hard to get but doesn't command a terribly high price either, funny how that works sometimes.

After literally 30 years of toy shows, I saw my first one this past December with a child's name scrawled across it in magic marker. I'm surprised I didn't go home with it.

Canadian Star Wars

Or as I called it Star Wars, this page from 1979 shows a lot of the unique Star Wars items that could be found north of the US border.  From the cardboard deathstar to the regal plush ending with the (very collectible) cheap-o utility belts that recycled some pieces from Remco.

I want to add that I never partook in any of those unique items as a kid, not that I'm complaining (I did great!) but I just find it kind of funny.