1975 Pied Pier Toy Catalog

I've never heard of Pied Piper Stores, not surprising, as I didn't grow up in California in the 1970s. No doubt they were one of the many "Mom and Pop" toy store chains that at one magical time dotted our landscape.

One thing i do know is that Pied Piper stores had a pretty grasp of what was popular in 1975, the pages are brimming with the hottest toys of what was a great year. The Six Million Dollar man is present, as is Evel Knievel and more Mego 8" action figures than you can shake a stick at:

More Vintage Toy Store Catalogs

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Christmas is.....Soft Knits

And don't you *&%^ing forget it!

Nothing in this life, did I loathe more than that prerequisite itchy V neck sweater from an Aunt and Uncle. I have never been more honest in saying "You shouldn't have"...

Santa Putty

Ever wonder what makes Santa tick? Wonder no more, rip ol' Saint Nick apart and spend hours playing with his magical (possibly delicious but definitely non toxic, so dig in!) guts.

Stocking Stuffers!

Any Christmas catalog worth it's ilk has a stocking stuffers section, a glossary of lower priced and unrelated items that are "just perfect". I personally own the skeleton bank about and am totally eyeing that cow creamer. More perfect last minute gifts after the jump:

Rack Toys in your stocking

Hey, even Santa has a budget and shoving a cheap-o rack toy into your stocking is a time honoured, fun tradition. There's nothing particularly Christmassy about what's inside the display but it didn't matter. I've put together a collage of different Christmas dump bins (I'll always giggle when typing that word) from the shag decade.

70s Santa Explosion

Let's kick the week off right with a sampling of  Santa suits and other bric a brac from the era when I knew he was real. I will say that suits like captain eyebrows above, give me the willies. It probably has to do with a childhood viewing of "Tales from the Crypt", not the HBO show, that British one.

More polyester jolliness after the jump

PlaidStallions 70s Christmas-O-Rama Week

Seeing as this blog is pretty much a celebration of 70s Christmas catalogues, it seems only fitting to make the entirety of next week a Texas sized helping of all the things that make Christmas what it is.

So get ready for mountains of itchy sweaters, gaudy ornaments, plastic Santas,  strange stocking stuffers and more cardboard chimneys than you'll ever need to see.....

Top Ten Coolest 3 3/4" Action Figure Lines of the 1970s

I gave up writing a weekly list for Topless Robot, in order to finish writing Rack Toys. I will admit to missing it from time to time, so I’m going to keep fresh by churning out the odd one for PlaidStallions. 

 One of the things children of the 1970s were witness to was the birth of the 3 ¾” action figure, this was something that was entirely ours as a generation. The 3 ¾” action figure was to us, what the Slinky or Mr Potato-head were to  baby boomers. 

 The explosion happened so quickly and so many companies followed suit that it’s easy to over look who did some of the best jobs.

Disclaimer: Your favorites might not be here, sorry about that but this list is merely meant as a fun distraction and doesn't serve in any sort of "official capacity". I don't really consider myself any bigger an expert than you, trust me. I'll probably do an 80s one in the coming months. .

#10- Butch and Sundance Kenner

Kenner’s Butch and Sundance line wasn’t based on the Paul Newman/Robert Redford classic from the early 1970s but on the prequel William Katt/Tom Berenger film “Butch and Sundance The Early Years” yeah that happened.

Kenner went all out on this line making figures of other characters played by Peter Weller and Brian Dennehy. The figures had better articulation than Star Wars figures, their legs moved they could ride horses and pull their guns with quick draw action.

All the bells and whistles couldn’t save the line from the fact that cowboys had fallen out of vogue and the movie it was based on wasn’t a big hit. Frugal Kenner recycled some of this line for their “Adventures of Indiana Jones” line in 1982, which filled it with additional win.

Click here to read the Top Ten 3 3/4" Action Figure Lines of the 1970s.

More Top Ten Fun

Wonder Women

How ABC didn't see how a Dolly Parton/Wonder Woman team up wasn't ratings gold I'll never know.

Demotivating thought for the day

I'm court ordered to mention that captain sleazy here most likely got laid all over town.  I know, it's just not fair....

Battlestar to the moon!

At first glance the Larami L.E.M lander looks more logical, almost in synch with the series. I mean these guys packaged EVERYTHING under the BSG banner save for sewing sets including jets, yes just plain ordinary fighter planes. However, the L.E.M lander is just a repackaged moon landing toy and has absolutely nothing to do with the series. So, the track record is flawless...

Dr Fabulous

A lesser known Bond Villian, Dr Fabulous ran SPECTRE from his Plastic Surgery clinic, his plan to give everyone breast implants was one Bond defeated albeit reluctantly....

Big Jim Italy 1979

Big Jim was an international sensation in 1979, he just wasn't available in the country of his birth. By 1979, Big Jim was still enjoying popularity in Europe where he had gone through several changes and permutations to become a strong compeititor to the Hasbro lines based on GI Joe which was also no longer available in the United States.

This 1979 Italian catalog shows just how versatile the Big Jim brand was, he was not just the action sportsman adventurer but a James Bond like super spy, a cowboy, a soldier of fortune and a world explorer.

He was even a pirate! I think these figures are crazy cool.

Check out the 1979 Big Jim Italy Catalog here. 

Warning: It may be harmful to your wallet.


More Big Jim than you can handle!

Osmond Mania!

I'm finally coming to grips with the actual amount of time I probably spent watching the Donny and Marie show, sure the choice to watch it was made by my older sister, who at five years my senior could totally take me. 
However, I will attest to kind of enjoying the experience. I watched a lot of variety shows as a kid, they were just part of our culture and the fact that we only got like 9 channels, one of them French, growing up.
I don't think I've ever noticed the Donny and Marie van before, the 1970s "Vans to Action figure lines" ratio is looking about 75% right now. Things are right with the world.

Underwear Party

Just in case an alien race comes to our ruined planet in the far distant future and stumble upon this image, I just want to repeat, this is not a regular thing men do.

Swiss:1999

If you're stranded on an alien planet and the beer bottles aren't screw off, this puppy will be worth it's weight in gold. What's sad about this thing is, I've spent about twenty minutes looking through catalogs trying to find the version of this that has images from the show's second season. 

It's getting a little obsessive when I spend this much time looking for a picture of Martin Landau in an orange jacket, I need to go lay down.

There is plenty of Space:1999 goodies in my upcoming book, shipping this month!:

 

Brick is Micronaughty

It is with great joy that I unveil the packaging art for the upcoming "Project: Mantooth" figure "Micronaughty", produced for me by the amazing Tim Baron.

I've admired Tim's style for some time and was happy he wanted to work with me on something. I offered him this project because I knew he'd do it justice and he totally knocked it out of the park and exceeded my expectations here. 

I was hoping to have the figure out before Christmas however I've had a rather harsh lesson on chemicals and it'll take me until new year to fix the problem (boo). However, if you are looking for a unique gift this holiday season Tim has graphic novels for sale.

Micronaughty will likely land in January 2013, limited edition of 10. More on this and other figures soon.

Filmation Favourites

Judging by the tremendous amount of feedback I got on my review of Lou Scheimer: Creating the Filmation Generation, I can honestly say I am not alone in my adoration of this once great studio. If anything, I'm part of a mob, it feels pretty great.

I'll announce the winner of the contest below but I felt like talking about my personal Filmation favorites, no real reason other than reading the book has reignited my interest and it's my blog, so feast upon my rambling.

In no particular order:

Shazam! I never saw the Adam West Batman series much as a kid, maybe twice, so this larger than life show was my first introduction into superheroes. A boy never forgets his first man in tights. I went close to madness to find these on bootleg VHS in the 80s, one dealer tried to convince me they were all destroyed. Luckily the Warner archive finally released these on DVD this year with morals intact. 

I have no idea why Filmation's Tarzan isn't on DVD in it's entirety, this series gave me a lifetime love for the character and I'd argue it's one of the best adaptations going. This wasn't the "Me Tarzan, You Jane" dolt, this was a smart calculating, adventurer Tarzan who often found lost worlds. Lou Scheimer's daughter told me once that he was a big Tarzan fan and it showed.

Jason of Star Command grabbed my attention every week and gave me an early crush in Nicole Davidoff. The show also featured 70 exploitation film stars Tamara Dobson and Sid Haig, nothing to sneeze at. I can still pop in the Jason DVDs and be thoroughly entertained.

Speaking of childhood crushes, there was a lot to love about Filmation's New Adventures of Flash Gordon, especially the amazing detail and credence that was paid to the original Alex Raymond strips. As a bonus, their interpretation Princess Aura gave me an appreciation for red heads that often clouded my judgement for the next 10 years.

I absolutely know there is never any hope for all of the Super Seven segments to find their way to DVD but I hold a special place in my heart for them. The Freedom Force, Manta and Moray, Super Stretch and Micro Woman were can't miss shows in my book. Then there's Web Woman, my absolute favorite of the bunch for....well.... obvious reasons (see Princess Aura).

Ark 2 was kind of like if Logan's Run and Space:1999 had a baby. It was another show I had a real tough time tracking down and one of the few post apocalyptic kid's shows. It was a head above a lot of Saturday morning shows and definitely fostered my early love for Sci Fi.

But enough about me, let's get to the drawing.

First off, who are all you people? I had no idea you were reading and I'm excited. There was no solid consensus or wrong answer (unless you chose Sport Billy, which I'm glad to say none of you did) but everything from Archie to She Ra was submitted showing the massive appeal these programs really had. 

Without further adieu the winner of the book as drawn by my daughter is....

Steven M who wrote:

I would have to say Tarzan, but it is a tough call.

Honorable mentions go to Shazam and Fat Albert.

Good choices Steve, enjoy the book. To everyone else, thanks for playing, we'll be doing another contest in the very near future.