Birth of the Leisure Suit

34 years ago men everywhere nodded in approval of this hot new look. I ask you, can you blame them?

British Phaser

I'm a sucker for purty toy packaging and these shots of the UK version of the Star Trek Phaser just had me drooling. It's so nice that I'll forgive the dye job on Shatner's hair. Thanks to Ebay seller retrotoyboy for letting me use these.

More Trekky things to look at:

The Terrific Trio

It's hard to make out but that's Batman and Robin hoisting Batgirl on their shoulders in the picture from SeaWorld. This scene isn't far removed from something you'd see on the 1966 series.

This picture is again courtesy of Steve C.

More Aquatic Superheroics next week.

For more on this check out our gallery:

And if you have anything to add, I'll be your friend for life.

1977 Lili Ledy Toy Catalog

Lili Ledy was Mexico's premiere toy manufacturer and because of trade restrictions, all toys they sold had to be manufactured in Mexico. So many of the popular US lines were licensed and then produced by Lili Ledy resulting in wonderful variations that toy collectors hunt for to this day.

1977 was a killer year with Bionic People, G.I. Joe and Mego Superheroes for everyone. Many thanks to Steve F. for these incredible scans...

Click on the images below to see larger pages with descriptions:

1977 LILI LEDY (MEXICO) TOY CATALOG

More Great Foreign Toys:

Buy, Sell or look for vintage Lili Ledy Toys at our trading post

Space:1999 Trading Card

Trading Card #26 is Palitoy Space:1999, I did this card for the 2009 Megomeet convention back in June because timing didn't allow a Megomuseum card for the event (as the card quality shows, it takes me a lot less time to do these).

This UK exclusive toyline kind of changed my life, in that it made me a bat sh*t crazy toy collector. I was just some regular old science fiction fan until one day in 1985, I found a Captain Zantor doll and thought "I wonder what other toys Mego made?"

I don't have a Palitoy Space:1999 page on the site, that's because there is aready a great one here.

I have one more Mego toyline that I plan to put into the trading cards sometime later this year, stay tuned.

The Smiths Next Door

These are the first people you see at any and all Swinger's parties...

Nerfman Trading Card

Trading Card #25 is Nerfman by Parker Brothers, he's kind of forgotten now but this guy ruled, so I really wanted to honour him a bit. As an added nostalgic bonus, Nerfman is from the first toy dealer catalog I ever found because it came from my dad.

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Time for another great link in the world wide web and today's is pretty fantastic. Toy creator Mel Birnkrant has created a site giving you an inside look at the Maxx Fx toy line. I've blogged about Maxx here before, the concept was a doll of a special effects artist who could become movie monsters through the help of costumes. The whole thing imploded according to Birnkrant due to Matchbox's bright idea of making a stuffed Freddy Kruger doll for kids.

The Life and Death of Maxx Fx is an amazing resource and provides insight that you will wish all toy lines had websites this good.

Faux Hillbilly

This image will be featured in my upcoming book "Salute! How Hee-Haw ruined America"

The Bat Boat Zooms In

The Dynamic Duo swoop in on their sweet, sweet bat boat in this great shot from Sea World.

This picture is again courtesy of Steve C. and it's just cementing my belief that I missed out on something.

More Aquatic Superheroics next week.

For more on this check out our gallery:

And if you have anything to add, I'll be your friend for life.

G.I. Joe Real American Hero 1982 Catalog

I know it's technically not a 70s toy but it is related, plus these figures came out when I was eleven and had the distinction of being the last toys I bought to play with.

In fact, on my twelfth birthday my mom made me a G.I. Joe cake (as I've explained before, she was "cake lady" back in the day), knowing I was a fan of the comic. I think that might have been the exact moment (surrounded by friends) that I realized "Hey, maybe I should stick to Atari games now". That feeling hung around for a while, until I got into vintage in high school.

After the Adventure Team closed up shop in 1976 and Superjoe was lost in space by 1978, the G.I. Joe name rememerged in 1982, a good deal shorter but fueled by a surge in patriotism.

G.I. Joe was no longer a single man but a team name, returning to his military roots, Joe was a covert group that protected the world, as we would now discover, from the forces of Cobra.

By mass marketing the (well written) toy tie in comic with wonderfully animated TV spots, G.I. Joe became one of the biggest hits of the 1980s and it's popularity endures to this day. Click on the pictures to enjoy:

Hasbro G.I. Joe: Real American Hero Catalog

More Incarnations of Joe:

Buy, Sell or look for vintage G.I. Joe Toys at our trading post

Lee Majors checks out Kenner's Six Million Dollar Man

The title of this post could have easily been "Lee Majors plays with himself" but I had a rare bout of restraint. Also in this picture is Kenner President Bernard Loomis, the man who made the decision to make Star Wars figures 3 3/4" and very responsible for changing the action figure landscape.

Bionic Favourites:

Once they were enemies..

Now they're inseperable chums!

Bouncy Bouncy

They should make adult sized of hippity hops, it would end war.

Tomy Mighty Max

Here is another one of those toys like Electroman or Matchbox MAC that people fondly remember everything but it's name. Mighty Max was a robot concept toy by Tomy that strongly resembled a Mego Micronaut. So much so that the first time I ever saw one, that's what I assumed it was.

At 14" tall, he towers over everything but the Shogun Warriors and was likely a lot of fun to have in the era of all things "droid".

Fist Fighting Superheroes at Sea World

A little "Bif Bang Pow" today as the Dynamic Duo engage in a little fisticuffs with the Joker and Penguin at Sea World.

This picture is again courtesy of Steve C. and I love the henchman carrying the
"Pow!" sign in the background, it not only shows the influence the 1966 TV show still had ten years later but the show's low rent charm.

More Aquatic Superheroics next week.

For more on this check out our gallery:

And if you have anything to add, I'll be your friend for life.