Toy-Ventures: Corgi Spider-Man Buggy

Thought I'd spend some time this week discussing the one Corgi vehicle I allowed to creep into my collection. Along the way, we discuss the history of Corgi toys and some of the amazing items they've produced over the last 60+ years.

Hosted and edited by Brian Heiler (@plaidstallions)


PlaidStallions Facebook Page
https://www.facebook.com/Plaidstallionsdotcom/

Plaidstallions facebook group
https://www.facebook.com/groups/2226244254053126/

Twitter: @plaidstallions

Subscribe to our Youtube Channel:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCwYta3nz_7FAzPvP8FPSgpg?view_as=subscriber

Batmania!

I've had dreams like this, Robin costume and all.....

Sales will climb with Spider-Man!

It's fitting that i found this ad as i recently discovered the destroyed remains of my  corgi Spider-Copter in my kid's room recently. It made no comic book sense and even at 7 years of age  I knew it was aerodynamically impossible but I thought it was the greatest vehicle ever.

More Corgi goodness:

Corgi Spiderbuggy & Green Goblin

I thought I'd devote today to my favourite diecast vehicle of my youth. A piece of Spider-Man merchandise that makes absolutely no sense but to my nine year old brain just felt oh so right, the super awesome Spiderbuggy with Green Goblin! More after the jump!

Pod Stallions 45 : The Monkees

We're thrilled to be back recording PodStallions after some truly turbulent times.

Today's show is all about our mutual love for the Monkee's, although neither of us were alive for the show's original run we were both hooked on reruns and records during the middle 1970s.

We kick off the show playing catch up and discussing Jason's adventures at San Diego Comic Con, including a chance meeting with SCTV's Dave Thomas and being on  the Famous Monsters of Filmland panel.

Then we get into the Monkee's, our early impressions, favourite bits of merchandise, songs and episodes. We even get into the disastrous "New Monkee's" series that should just be forgotten.

Hit us up on our facebook page and tell us what your favourite Monkees song and merch is!

Show Notes:

•  The Box Set Jason mentioned
• The Monkee Mobile was repackaged as Fonzie's car in 1976
• The amazing Monkees dolls being produced by Figures Toy Company
• Pin Mates by Jason's company Bif Bang Pow!
• Trailer for HEAD
• That version of "Listen to the Band" Brian mentioned
• An excerpt from Mike Nesmith's Television Parts.

  Download the Show Here

Listen here

Plenty more content on the PodStallions Facebook page!

PODSTALLIONS ON ITUNES

PODSTALLIONS RSS FEED

Bad News for Villains

Oh Corgi, you are a main ingredient in a happy childhood.

Corgi Crime Busters!

I like to think that in this universe Kojak was the guy nobody invited but they didn't want to be rude.

Pod Stallions Episode 4: Spies Like Us

Dust off your spear gun and get comfy in your volcano lair, this one's all about Spies and spy like products.

Jason and Brian talk about their love of the genre including James Bond, Man from U.N.C.L.E, Matt Helm, Derek Flint and there was just no way of avoiding discussion of "A Man Called Sloane". 

Topics of discussion include favorite Bond movies, girls and villains as well as the wonderful merchandise attributed to it. 

Download the Show Here

Listen here

• Brian mentions the prototype Moonraker toys Mego proposed that never got made.
• The Bond page from the 1979 Corgi catalog
• A selection of Ernie Anderson ABC voice overs for Bond Movies.
• Here is a comprehensive web page about the many Aston Martin variations made by Corgi.
• Information about the "Incredible World of James Bond" TV Special Jason mentioned.
• The Man from U.N.C.L.E movies box set Brian mentioned
• The Top 5 Best and Most Awkward James Bond Toys article on Topless Robot that Brian wrote and Jason consulted on.
• The very cool James Bond Attache case that Jason mentioned.

Visit the Pod Stallions page on itunes

Like Pod Stallions on Facebook

Kojak's Kar

To me, what set Corgi apart were those mini figures, even though I lost the majority of them on Christmas day...

Tarzan by Corgi

As readers of this blog might know, I have a real affection for 70s Tarzan merchandise, mostly because of the wonderful Filmation series that ran on CBS (which sadly, is not available on DVD). One of the best items out of that era has to be this wicked Corgi set which of course features jungle vehicles, animals, the Zan himself and a jungle backdrop. I wish I had an endless income and storage space sometimes....

1979 Corgi Jr Catalog

One of the biggest names when it comes to diecast cars in the world has to be Corgi and in the 1970s they were a licensing machine! If it was hot with kids and involved vehicles then it was likely a Corgi product.

Everybody from Kojak to Batman to James Bond even the rebels from Blake's 7 are representing in the 1979 Corgi Jr Catalog.

More Super Hero Goodness

The Coolest Batman Toys of the 1970's

With the release of "the Dark Knight" this weekend (which I can't see until next week, grrrr!) it seemed apt to pay homage to the multitude of merchandising that has been created in the Caped Crusader's name, particularly during the 1970's.

How did Bruce Wayne make his millions? Merchandising!

No Superhero is a bigger pimp in the toy aisle than Batman, his complusion for gimmicks means everything with his face on it makes some sort of sense.

The Seventies were the second round of "Bat-Mania" for children, all hopped up on syndicated runs of the 1966 Television series and the added gut punch of Batman being on two separate Saturday Morning series at the same time.

This made for a dumpster full of "Batchandise" (it's a word, I swear...) and here are the ten best pieces from that decade:

The Top Ten Coolest 70's Batman Toys

Did we miss your favorite? Leave us some feedback and tell us what it is!

Diecast Heroes

Corgi was a legend in the diecast car industry, certainly because of the quality and it's licensed goods. Corgi was best known to children of the Seventies as the maker of "that batmobile" we all owned. By 1978, Corgi was grabbing every TV movie license it could and producing some of the finest diescast toy cars in the meantime. Here is a sampling of that goodness in 1978. .

Vintage Toy Ads: KIds Go Bats over Batman

I haven't done a vintage toy ad probably since I burned out during retro toy fair in February. This ad is sort of relevant to me as I recently made friends with a former Corgi sales rep, we were talking about the Batmobile and he said "Do you know how many of those we sold?" and it kind of dawned on me that every kid on my block (which was the whole wide world in 1975) had one, as if they were issued to us.

Anyway, Batman to Corgi was like a license to print money and I was told that if he put 144 units of bat stuff in a K-Mart, he expected it to be gone by his next visit. I'm nostalgic for these stories because it was my childhood, this fellow seemed more nostalgic for those kinds of sales numbers...

Holy Diecast Batman!

Another bit of vintage toy industry advertising. Growing up, Corgi Jrs were some of the coolest diecast around, not only because of their Superhero lines (I still have my Batmobile and Batcopter) but because they seemed to license almost every cool car from TV and movies including James Bond and Starsky and Hutch. Hopefully I'll do more on these later...