Sleeping Bag O Rama

 

This selection of sleeping bags from 1979 really taps into the pop culture at the time, it's a mish-mosh of TV Properties and popular brands. I'd have gone for the Black Hole at the time, you?

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The First issue of Toy-Ventures magazine is almost here:

Toy-Ventures: Star Warriors?

Time to open another box of knock-off figures and these dudes are my new favorites. This line hedges all bets by crossing Star Wars with the Black Hole and Star Trek into a delicious stew of unlicensed hilarity!

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Maximillian Soap Figure

My buddy Dave sent me his latest mad pickup, a Maximillian from the black hole soap figure. It's something I didn't know about and I super want it, let's explore it after the jump!

Black Hole: The Palomino

This is one of my greatest "wish this toy was made" events of my childhood. You see, I was the kid that preferred "The Black Hole" to Star Wars, call it hipsterism if you will but I was in that minority.

Don't get me wrong, I loved Star Wars but I didn't stop caring about the Black Hole after Empire Strikes Back, I caught the movie two more times (once in my grade school gym) and followed the adventures of the crew in the "Beyond the Black Hole" comic. 

I also completely expected a sequel.

When I first saw this Palomino ship in a Mego Catalog in my teens, i remember thinking "AW COME ON!". I would have played with this for the entirety of 1980....

Black Hole Masks!

These wonderful masks from Italy are from my friend John's collection, they're exactly like the Ben Cooper/Collegeville designs but there was never a smock to go with it.

Honestly, I am just awash in envy about that Humanoid mask, I have a weird affliction for the brain dead zombies of Dr. Reinhart and always will. I really want to thank John for sharing these amazing artifacts.

Toy-Ventures 11- Box of Mego Knock Offs

This week's installment of Toy Ventures is a bit of a departure as I just got a big box of weird Mego Knock off items and I decided to share it with you while i "unbox". 

We talk about various Mego and Captain Action related knock offs i've found over the years and well, some of this stuff is hilarious.. 

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Toy-Ventures 4: Black Hole Cereal Premiums

This week's installment of Toy-Ventures is all about the wonderful relationship between the Movie "The Black Hole", Shreddies cereal and Mego toys. It's one of my favourite childhood memories. Visit us online at www.plaidstallions.com Twitter: @plaidstallions

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The Great Sci-Fi Toy Slump of 1979

It's really hard to believe but in 1979, Star Wars and other Sci-Fi related toys hit a major slump. So much so that many retailers considered it all a "fad" and stopped ordering new items.

This article taken from a "Toys, Hobbies and Crafts" magazine interviews major buyers and the vice president of Mego about the then-uncertain future of  space toys. Surely Star Trek the Motion Picture and the Black Hole were going to kick it back into high gear!

The recent release of two new space movies, with a third on the way for the spring, means kids will again be looking into space toys in droves, say manufacturers.

But retailers are leery about space, since sales dropped off as much as 30% for some last year on licensed and nonlicensed space toys.

The retailer's attitude for 1980s a "wait and see" philosophy. Most are hoping that Star Trek, The Black Hole and the Star Wars sequel, The Empire Strikes Back, will rejuvenate sales.

Still, buyers say they plan to go slow in placing orders for sci-fi toys, depending upon the interest.

TH & C spoke with representatives from Heck's, Winns Stores, Singer and Co., Sprouse-Reitz Co.,Toy Fair, Kenner and Mego. This is what they had to say:

Read the rest here.

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Black Hole Kites

I was amused to find these ads for Black Hole branded kites from Hi-Flier tucked in a trade magazine from 1979. The toy industry really thought the robots from Disney's space epic were going to be the next big thing.

And for me and my friends, they totally were! I had every Black Hole item I could find, the Mego action figures, Gold Key Comics, it was even my lunch box in 1979 (which would end being my last lunch box) and it was a wonderful distraction until Star Wars returned.

Not sure I'd have bit on the kites but dang, that Maximillion one is all kinds of awesome....

Palomino Dreaming

If I could wish one not produced toy into existence, it would likely be the Mego Palomino play set pictured here. I had a strong affection for the Black Hole as a kid and it continues to this day.

More on the Mego Black Hole line here.

Black Hole 1980

Seeing as it's December, I thought I'd showcase some of my favourite Christmas Catalog images of all time starting with this one.

I remember exactly where I was when I first laid eyes on this, riding in the back seat of my father's gigantic car to go visit Vince, his barber.

It blew my mind to see Bob, Star and the humanoid on this page and I stared at this for WEEKS and  would eventually make them mine. I would have no idea that Canada (along with Italy) get the exclusive on these characters.

I never lost my love for Black Hole or Christmas catalogs but I still hate haircuts. 

The Mego Black Hole Cereal Promotion

I joined ebay in 1997, since then like clock work, i have searched "Black Hole" and "Shreddies" in hope of finding this item. Recently on one boring Tuesday morning, there it was with a Buy It Now price that was so agreeable, it still makes me smile.

Sure it's an empty cereal box but to me, it's just something slightly more.



I've written about this promotion before , it's one of those incredibly happy moments in childhood that you just smile about whenever you think about it.

Shreddies was never my favourite cereal, yet for a month in 1979, I endured three boxes of it (with a lot of help from sugar)  to get these....



Actually, it was one box top per figure, an additional $2.50 per figure (plus sales tax) and my mom had to write a cheque! Hell, this wasn't even that great a deal!

But i did it and waited the eternity for that bubble envelope (with a cool drawing of Maximillian on it) to arrive. I'd love to reunite with that envelope as well, I hope one still exists. Those figures were just....kind of earned and I still have my Vincent nearly 40 years later.

One of the saving graces of this promo that really kept me going were the kick ass Space Pal Pencil caddies that came in every box. I'm positive I ate Shreddies well into 1980 to finish my set.

These guys lined my fourth grade desk and actually i still have one at work right now.

I'm thrilled to share this happy memory, it's one of the reasons I collect.

Thanks for reading, have a terrific weekend.

Colouring Book Theatre: The Black Hole Sticker Activity Book

The Black Hole: Sticker Activity Book (1979), Whitman.

        This book is very dear to me, as a kid I got sick, "Miss a whole month of school" sick and my parents bought me a pack containing every Whitman Black Hole tie in to help pass the time.

          
Even though I'd never seen the movie, I became an uber fan that year as a result of the many comics and coloring books in that pack. 

This fun item was one of them and it's better than I remember.

Grab your crayons  and join me after the jump

The 1980 Marx UK Black Hole Toy Catalog

The 1979 Disney sci fi spectacular "The Black Hole" didn't quite become the next Star Wars but the film did make an impression on a lot of us until the Empire Strikes back made us forget all about it.

 The merchandising bonanza lead by Mego was particularly memorable. In the UK, the brand was handled by Louis Marx and they added some interesting items that sadly I don't think made it to market.

This one will always make me weep.

Check out the other never made toys I want in the 1980 Marx Black Hole Catalog.

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.

Pod Stallions Episode 7: Battle Beyond the Star Wars

Originally we were going to do our Empire Strikes Back show but then realized that discussion of all the other Sci Fi properties of the late 1970s would have left us with a four hour show.

So, Episode 7 lovingly talks about all those "other" SF movies of the disco era from the feety pajamas of Star Fleet to Gil Gerard's unforgiving spandex to Vic Morrow's robot love, no cubit is left unturned. 

As usual, there are some detours along the road in the form of discussion of British comics, Wilfred Hyde White and why threes never work..

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• A gallery of covers from the British "Look-In" comics. 
• A page from the Look-In Logan's Run TV series comic
• The never produced Logan's Run Mego Figures.
• The interesting opening to the Buck Rogers movie.
• Jason loves this Battlestar Galactica mail away set.
• Brian thinks Mattel's Battlestar Galactica Space Alert game might be the best hand held game ever.
• The Black Hole Laser gun that never got made.
• Brian still has nightmares about this cereal promotion.
• Klingons hawking Happy Meals, this happened.
• The weekly Star Trek newspaper strip was recently put into a collection1.
• The trailer for Starship Invasions, Canada's greatest film.
• Caroline Munroe makes Starcrash more palatable but it's still a mess with 40% too much Marjoe Gortner.
• Message from Space is now available on BluRay
• Now you can buy Shape of Things to come on DVD and experience the same buyer's remorse Jason did in the theatre.

Plenty more content on the PodStallions Facebook page!

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The Black Hole Gun

As promised to Jason in our upcoming episode of Pod Stallions, I've finally scanned this and put it on the blog for the world to see.

While Disney had a ban on guns in the US (Mego couldn't give their Black Hole characters weapons) it didn't stop UK distributor Marx from attempting to produce a child friendly replica of the awesome hand gun from the movie.

One can only assume that Mego was responsible for this but it doesn't appear to have ever been released. Another chapter in my book "toys not released in the 1970s that make me sad".

Look for episode 7 of Pod Stallions this Friday, our episode is titled "Battle beyond the Star Wars" and is about movies like Black Hole, Message from Space and Star Trek the motion picture.

The Black Hole Breakfast

This should almost be a Nerd Therapy Session but I'm so nostalgic for this time, that I can't throw it under that bus.

You see, when the Disney Sci Fi epic "The Black Hole" came out, I was that kid who thought it better than Star Wars, it just struck a nerve with me.

Most likely it was due to the week where I got the flu and in order to pass the time my Mom bought me every Black Hole comic and activity book she could find.

It was also around that time that an incredible offer was made for Canadian kids, however it did have it's price....(more after the jump)

Colouring Book Theatre: The Black Hole

Here's a colouring book from my past that I found reasonably priced at an antique mall of all places.

Books like this are the reason I'm such a big fan of this Disney Sci Fi epic, around the release date I got sick, "scare your parents" sick and was given a huge poly bag of Black Hole merch to stave off boredom.

Everything was in there, the strangely drawn comic book (why did Tony Perkins have a fro and a moustache? ), the album, little golden book and this activity/colouring book.

I haven't seen this thing in nearly 30 years and I gotta tell you, it's kind of a weird trip. The opening pages are cool stamps (which I ruined) and the rest of the book looks like they blew their budget on the stamps:

Hey Kids, colour in Maximilian Schell! That's the first time that sentence has ever been said. The art in this book is actually nice, the activities however have the same blandess these books are generally known for.

Use your crayon to identify which menial taks the zombiefied slave is doing. Remember kids, death is their only escape!

The rest of the book is a lot of "connect the dots" kind of stuff and a board game, where you're supposed to close your eyes and point to this page, depending on the robot you choose, you advance or go back. Sounds like hours and hours of fun. I am positive I just coloured this page and ignored the game.

Draw it your damn self kids! I think this page would have been better if they got kids to draw that trippy "heaven and Hell" ending.

The back cover is a great image, as a bonus I've posted up the real selling feature of the book, the stamps from the front page, the back was also stamps but it's puzzle you were supposed to tear apart and rearrange, I did a terrible job of that:

Print these out and put 'em on your lunch pail!

Previously reviewed Colouring Books

If you have a colouring book you'd like to guest review, I'd like to hear from you!

1980 Aladin Lunchbox Catalog

Few things say "Back to School" more than a shiny new lunch box, especially one from Aladin who made really striking items over the decades.

This catalog is the best of what the fall of 1980 had to offer, classic monsters, oodles of Superheroes, Good Robots, Bad Robots, Muppets and Men from the 25th Century!

Click the Thumbnails to visit or click here to see the 1980 Aladin Lunch Box Catalog.