Colorforms 1976

If I only could choose one back in the day, this would be an all-day decision and the only thing I'm certain of is what I left behind would haunt me. Which would you have chosen?

Toy-Ventures 21: Alien Attack by Toyco

This week's episode is all about the Toyco Alien Attack playset from 1982, it's astronauts fighting the Colorforms Outer Space Men, what is not to love? Please like and subscribe to our channel to get a weekly toy-venture and other great stuff.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCwYta3nz_7FAzPvP8FPSgpg Music: Beneath the Surface South London HiFi

Colorforms:1981

I'm gonna be honest, as much as I loved Buck Rogers, I probably would have went with the Popeye set when I was ten. I still love that movie and well, I have a thing for Shelly Duval...

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Toyco Alien Attack

Today's update is the answer to one of those riddles that plagued for years. The play set you see above has been something I've been trying to track down for well over 20 years and it's a wealth of toy history (and re-used molds) inside, more after the jump.

GI Joe Adventure Team Colorforms Set

I'm moving and forced to pack up my toys, every collector's nightmare! I'm making the best of it and photographing everything before I box it up.

 It's a lot of fun to get reaquainted with some of this stuff, especially this super cool colorforms set of the Super Adventure Team. More after the jump!

Colorforms Castle Dracula Fun House

A marriage of Monsters and colorforms comes close on the importance scale to chocolate and peanut butter in my house.

Web Spinning Toy Love

What's not to love about this 1977 licensing ad for Marvel Comics, it's like Spider-Man is dropping a treasure trove of Mego items on you along with classics like Crazy Foam and Colorforms.

That's a monsterous improvement over  the usual rain and bird poop that normally falls on me from above...

The Outer Space Man Conspiracy

Despite the fact that the toy line ended before I ever gulped oxygen, the Colorforms Outer Space Men are strong childhood memory for me. Not because I ever played with them but quite the contrary, I'm not even sure if I've ever held one.

You see around the time of Star Wars (perhaps you've heard of it) the good folks at Colorforms dusted off images of the OSM for a series of puzzles (pictured here)

These puzzles hit my radar when they showed up at Dominion Playworld in 1978 but the item  below completely broke my young brain.


I've mentioned before that I wasn't a super bright child,  so it's no surprise that I was convinced that all the figures were in this box. I wasn't sure how but it had to be right? I  marched the set to the counter with my mum in tow. My mother mentioned to me " I don't think the figures are in there, it's just some sort of game", I replied "No, i'm sure they're in there" but the clerk deflated my balloon with "that's a colorforms set, there are no figures in there".

This drove me crazy, what kind of company would make these amazing toys then choose to not release them? Were they just torturing us? Don't they realize how awesome they are?

Fortunately as an adult, I got all the answers from the man himself, Mel Birnkrant  whose annotated archive of the Outer Space Men is exhaustive and wonderful (and sometimes heart breaking). His website is really worth a visit, see you in a few hours.


More Alien Action Figures:

Savvy sites for a Saturday

This past week I was sent links to two sites that promptly took a couple of hours out of my day, any site that does that deserves accolade.  It's cold and raining where I am and maybe it is where you are so let's showcase them in the hopes of brightening your day. It's all about toy aliens and cartoon bird people after the jump:

I Heart Colorforms!

If your childhood was anything like mine, then you spent many a quiet hour being entertained by Colorforms play sets. I collect colorform sets as an adult and still buy them for my kids, it's a concept that never lost it's appeal to me.

That's why I can do nothing but rave about Mel Birnkrant's new website "The Colorforms Years" which is a wonderfully detailed insight into his year's working at Colorforms.

Mel takes the time to discuss each year with great detail, showing catalog and prototype images and even goes as far to identify the artists he worked with . As a person who spent years trying to track down people in the toy industry, it really is a treasure to have a person such as Mel, A fellow collector, sharing this wonderful information.

Whether you grew up in the 60s, 70s or 80s this site is so full of information and vibrant imagery you will be lulled into it for hours. Writing this blog entry took me all morning, it's just that good.

Click Here to visit the Colorforms Years and spread the word!

King Kong Colourforms

As much as I'm a monster geek, I bet the Sesame Street was way more funner.

Colorforms: Ready for the next 25 years

Toyfair 1978- Those "Space Warrior" sets are something that confused me a great deal as a kid, I wondered if those amazing action figures were inside the boxes or if they were available seperately. Sadly they were called "The Outer Space Men" released and cancelled well before I was born.

Luckily, the lines creator Mel Birnkrant is extremely generous with his time and explains everything on his amazing website. To learn more about these "Space Warrior" sets please visit this page.

Planet of the Apes Colorforms

I love it when a toy concept I adore is crossed over with a license that rules, in this case it's the merging of Colorforms with Planet of the Apes. One of the my favourite things about this piece is it seems strongly influenced by the "Return to the Planet of the Apes" cartoon series.

That show is where is my "Ape Love" originated from, so I'm especially soft when it comes to that.

Retro Toy Fair :1974

We begin our coverage showcasing some of the news and advertising Toy Fair 1974, which was held from February 17 to the 20th of that year.

First up, the latest addition to the Colorforms Team.

Check back for updates from 1974 all day long