For Fast Footed Crime Chasers

I would pay a month's wages to see Christian Bale in one of these in full bat regalia. I can already picture Ben Affleck...


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Imperial Close Encounters of the Third Kind

Despite the popularity of Star Wars, the Close Encounters license was only lightly picked up by toy manufacturers. Imperial produced the only thing that can be considered an "action figure" in this pleasant looking bendy.

I can't speak for everybody but these didn't sell, at all, where i lived. I stared at this display box at my local "Dominion Playworld" until the early 1980s, where it sat, next to the army of unsold Mego Mr. Mxyzptlk dolls. 

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Wormee, Squirmles and Frizzlies?

Finding this ad for "Wormee" by Imperial Toys made me realize that this toy concept has been around non stop for 40 years, under multiple names. 

My dad sold these as "Squirmles" back in the day, to the best of my knowledge this was the brand everybody ripped off: 



You can see a display box of Squirmles in the top right corner of the photo above.

I still see (and occasionally been conned into buying) Squirmles at those touristy gift shop/traps/vaccum cleaner for a wallets places I stumble into every vacation.




Remco AHI launched their own brand called Frizzlies in the early 1980s.

BTW, I'm really good at these things, you'd swear it was alive!

Uggly Wugglies

Oh I'm positive I had a bunch of these and certainly don't remember the name or the delicious box art.

CHiPs Diecast vehicles

As Rack Toys go, these are a pretty solid concept.

Super 7 Puffy Stickers by Imperial Toys

It's been a while since I got anything new in my quest to own all merchandise from my favourite saturday morning show,  Tarzan and the Super 7.

Lucky for me I found a sweet deal on a complete set of Imperial stickers based on all the characters! More after the jump. 

Spider-Man and Hulk Finger Puppets

These are more commonly found loose than carded, they were mainly sold in a counter display box with Captain America and Thor. 

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Tarzan Jungle Bugs

 

You ahd me at Tarzan but you sealed the deal with "rubber bugs".

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Love Boat Puffy Stickers

Technical issues are blocking your regularly scheduled Friday catalog feature. As I tried to do repairs, I found these under my desk.  I have no recollection of purchasing these but frankly I'm not terribly surprised, especially seeing as one of them is a big delicious picture of Ted Lange.

Happy Friday everyone! I'm off to drink beer and watch "Jason of Star Command"...

1980 Imperial Stickers Catalog

Imperial Godzilla

Even though I was a teen when this stuff came out, I won't pretend I didn't go a bit nuts when I saw Godzilla merchandise in my local drug store. I still have my PVC Godzilla on my desk.

But children of the 80s, please tell me, did any of you do the obvious conversion to bubble blowing Godzilla in your college years?

Finger Faces

One of the things I've noticed about Rack Toys is that good concepts don't die. This Finger Faces ad is 40 years old but I can still find them at my local dollar store for exactly the same price.

I can't say that about coffee or Buicks sadly...

Rack Toys: Cheap, Crazed Playthings is a limited edition 144 page book from the creator of Plaid Stallions. Order from us and get three free promotional post cards.

Amigos Del Terror

Amigos Del Terror (which translates into "Terror Friends") is an Argentinian off shoot of the Imperial Monsters figures discussed earlier in the day. The main differences are that the figures are blow molded (meaning they're hollow) and they dropped the Wolfman for the line.

While I'm not fond of the Imperial Monsters, I'm gaga for this line, mostly because of this:

This image of the three monsters palling around never fails to bring myself and anyone I show it to pure joy. It's a happiness generator, that's why I collect toys in the first place, so thank you Terror Friends for showing us how to laugh again.

Here's a shot of the Dracula in the series, there are subtle variations between these and their North American counterparts.

Rack Toys: Cheap, Crazed Playthings is a limited edition 144 page book from the creator of Plaid Stallions. Order from us and get three free promotional post cards.

Imperial Monsters

I have to admit that I've never warmed to the Imperial Monster figures, they came out when I was a teenager and I was spoiled by what came earlier. Since then, I've met several people who owed their adult monster love to these very figures, plus this display box is pretty swell, so I thought I'd feature it today.

While I find the sculpting on the figures crude, thumbs up to this wonderful displayer art. 

I bought this piece to feature it in Rack Toys but unfortunately it got cut for space, maybe it'll make it into volume 2 someday.

Buck Rogers Bubb-A-Loons

Say that five times fast. I do admit to loving the smell of this stuff and the fact that imperial did three different types of card art for the same item. 

Rack Toys: Cheap, Crazed Playthings is a limited edition 144 page book from the creator of Plaid Stallions. Order from us and get three free promotional post cards.

The hungry mouse in the cheese house

This is just one of those weird generic things that the Imperial Toy Corporation was good at in the 1970s. Rubber mice and a fake bit o'cheese, not sure what the  point is but I bet kids wanted it. Not so much with collectors, I nabbed two of these for $0.99 just in time to include it in the book.

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Imperial Inflates the Monsters

 

I wasn't a kid when Imperial Toys got the Universal Monster license (and I'll touch upon this more next week) but I do have nostalgia for the line. There was a Frankenstein bop bag in the back of a KB Toys in Western NY that I visited for the majority of the late 80s and early 90s. I kept flirting with picking it up but never pulled the trigger.

 

 At one point I spent the $10 on Nirvana's "Nevermind" cassette across the mall instead. I know that sounds like a a ramble but nostalgia can be a weird, winding road sometimes.

The Last Photo

The name is Bond, Elton Bond.

I'm interupting the Halloween hijinx for a moment just to make a special announcement, this is the last photo I'll take for my upcoming book, Rack Toys : Cheap, Crazed Playthings.

While they don't look like much, these Secret Service Sunglasses hold some special meaning to the whole thing.

First, they were sent to me by my pal Jason Lenzi, who also wrote the book's introduction. When Jason and I  first got to know each other, we bonded over our fascination of silly items like this.

Secondly, I remember a pair of these hung forever at the "Checker's Variety" store I worked at as a teen,I mocked them constantly, thinking "who'd want those?". 

Well, future me apparently.

Lastly, I'm done. I mean there is still a few hoops to jump through until I push "send" to the printer but it's all just sniggling details, photo corrections, text edits etc. but the creation of Rack Toys is over. So it's now very real and I couldn't be more excited. Even if 95% of these linger in my garage, I won't regret it.

So 2012 will end with Rack Toys being a thing. Until then, I've created a Facebook page to give looks at not only the book itself but it's crude origins. Please check it out and like it to get updates.

It's been exhausting and it's not even here yet but I'm already planning the next one, I need help....