Greatest Catalog Page Ever (to me)

It seems fitting to end a month of Wish Book pages with what I consider the greatest one ever. From Monkey Wards 1976, the Mego Superheroes battling the Lincoln Monsters.

It's not my favourite because of childhood (we didn't have Wards in Canada) but when I was a teen tracking down my childhood monster friends, I could never find them. In the pre-internet days of collecting, I'd plow through toy shop or comic buyers guide and get people trying to sell me AHI and Mego monsters but I knew they weren't right. 

Then I started buying old catalogs from a collector (that's a story in itself) and bam! first page I opened, there they were. That was 1989, it only took me 23 years to finish the set....

More on the Lincoln Monsters:

Super Joe meets Godzilla

Seeing as it's Christmas eve, I'm going to hurry up and do a few of my favourites before I shut down for the year. This piece featuring Hasbro Super Joe (an underrated line IMHO) features Shogun Warriors Godzilla, for no good reason but it totally works. This is what I miss about catalogs....

More on Hasbro Super Joe

Super Joe Gallery

Christmas Cowboys

Although they were far past prime, Western action figures were still very much a viable commodity in the 1970s. I'd even be willing to argue that Gabriel's seminal Lone Ranger line may be one of the top ten action figure lines of the 1970s.

Check em all out here:

A little more Kung Fu Grip Love

It's true, I loves me some GI Joe. While I have no room to put it all, I sure like to window shop.

Atomic Joe Love

This page is from the 1975 Eaton's catalog and I'm pretty sure I burned it into my brain that year. Joe's world (and packaging artwork) has always captivated me and 1975 was a super special time for me...mainly because I was five.

Atomic Man was a childhood favourite of mine (though the appearance of Steve Austin did diminish Mike's appeal) and Sky Dive to Danger (the set where Joe lands into a giant spider web) will forever be my favourite GI Joe set of all time.

Vintage Barbie Love

I'll admit it, that camper van tempted me....

Fun Girl's Toys

Bionic Monday!

Christmas will forever remind me of the Bionic Man, mostly because he or his friends were a staple from 1975 to 1978. I didn't get everything on this page but I had Steve, Oscar and Maskatron and I played with those three for years.

I would feel remiss if I didn't extend the Bionic Monday spotlight to the Bionic Woman, a show my sister watched loyally (I'd watch the Fembot ones or when Steve did a guest star/crossover). While I personally never had any of this stuff, I remember how big a deal it was on the playground.

More Bionic Love

Christmas Adventure

Adventure People were a Christmas staple for me from '75 to '79, I'm not sure I ever even asked for them but they were welcome. The hours I spent playing with sets 1 through 3 probably outnumbered the amount I studied in college, so more than nine hours...

Other Fisher Price Links

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.

79 Micronauts love

I love old Christmas catalogs, I love Micronauts but the 1979 Sears Canada catalog will always be a favourite of mine as it holds a special place in my heart.

My Micronaut love really piqued in 1979, spurred on by those glow in the dark aliens with gorgeous Ken Kelly package art. However, the real reason I love this catalog is that I used it's graphics for a detailed letter to Santa, probably my last and the only one still in my possession:

I didn't get everything on that wishlist (although I have most of it now save for the cat calendar and the remote controlled sand crawler.) I clipped a lot of images out of that wishbook but some were lost to time. Whenever I look at this thing, it brings me back to that great time.

The 1983 Simpson's Toy Catalog

My toy buying ended in the early 80s (until I discovered flea markets) but I still used to keep an eye what was coming out. That's why I loved finding this news paper circular from Simpsons, a now long gone Canadian department store chain.

All the big names of the time are here Smurfs, He Man, G.I. Joe, Barbie in very well laid out pages that would still have kids drooling to this day. It's a great time warp back to the land of leg warmers and break dancing.

Check out the 1983 Simpsons Toy Catalog Here

Other Toy Flyers and Circulars:

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The Dolemite Jr. Collection

"What are you looking at? You rat soup-eatin' motha-F***a!"