By the late 1970's, Remco was making a heroic amount of comic book merchandising including logical items like the CSF BatCopter and inflatable Hulk muscles to the truly head scratching stuff like the Hulk Helicopter and Spider-Man pistols. Check out the 1979 Remco Catalog.
"Run! The Bass player from the Hives is a giant!"
These Sears kind of look like uniforms from a 70's reluanch of the Prisoner televions series.
Source: Sears 1977
Two more additions to the Plaidstallions Mall Appearance Gallery today and they're both pretty fantastic!
Daniel Preston sent in this fantastic pic of Darth Vader at the Mac Dade Mall Woolco in PA, Vader choked that Imperial officer when his marker ran dry.
Mark ( AKA Vulcanjedi ) sent in this wild Incredible Hulk Appearance at the 1979 Philadelphia Car Show, also in attendance were Eric Estrada and Scott Baio, hopefully he can find those pictures. 
I can still remember the first commercial I saw for Underoos, during the Plastic Man cartoon, your underwear could make you Superman, Darth Vader and even the Dukes of Hazzard! I was sold but never saw them in stores growing up (My mum was a "Marks and Sparks" shopper).
As an adult a friend gave me a Shazam! set as a joke. I seem to recall a very tall and thin friend trying the shirt on at a party. My son wears that Shazam shirt to this day.
Mike Power had a big impact on me as a kid, he beat the Six Million Dollar Man to market by a few months and he was a pretty big deal on the play ground. He was of course, pretty much forgotten once Steve Austin lumbered onto toy shelves.
The Sea Wolf Submarine, also seen on this page is a fantastic toy, a working submarine you can put a Joe into and it comes with a "giant" Squid!
Source: 1975 Alden's Catalog
In 1979, a Star Trek daily comic strip appeared, tied into "Star Trek : The Motion Picture". What's weird about this is I somehow clipped and pasted an entire story into a scrap book as a kid, eventhough I have no recollection of doing so.
It does make sense, as a kid, I was really into the Gold Key and later Marvel Trek comics. So, for the next few Saturdays I'm going to post installments of this remarkably well drawn story.
Now here is installment 1 of Star Trek: The Comic Strip
Kenner's Steve and Bob Scout line was an answer to other "Razor and razor blades" adventure lines like Big Jim and G.I. Joe but with a sharp focus on being wholesome. Steve and Bob were 9" Mego like figures that had well made outfits and accesories. Visit the Plaid Stallions Steve Scout Gallery for more pictures and info.
Yes, you are reading that correctly, it says "Overalls in a HEE HAW print" as in that show that was on opposite of Lawrence Welk. Was this show popular with the playground crew? Wearing these where I grew up would be the equivilant of being caught dressing up my cats.
Not available in "Junior Samples" size.
Source: 1977 Sears
I really dig unlicensed catalog play sets like this star fortresss. I'm sure that more than a few grandmothers were fooled into thinking this was a death star. I've never seen one but it looks to be entirely of laminated cardboard, I wonder how many survived?
Also as a Star Wars nerd, the concept of Yoda, Lando and Hoth Han teaming up against Vader, Fett, Bossk and a whole lot of Storm Troopers reminds me a lot of 1981.
Possible link of interest pertaining to the subject: 1978 Kenner Star Wars Catalog
Sadly, my Sears has no "Style Aisle" as this 1977 Catalog advertises. Which is a shame because that yellow shirt is just about the greatest thing ever.
These "lovey dovey" dress alike photos always look ackward and somewhat stilted, apparently personal space hadn't been invented in 1979.
I've had dozens of dealings with Jesus over the years and can vouch for him as an honest and dependable trader, he'd be in my top ten.
If anyone is interested, get in touch with me and I can forward yout info on and if you have a collection you want to showcase here, let me know. It doesn't have to be toys, it can be anything 70's related and it doesn't have to be for sale. I'd like to do a "Cool collections" week someday.
Who doesn't love a clip show? After more than a year and a half of blogging about polyester, it seemed fitting to put together a "Greatest Hits" packageof some of the bigger fashion attrocities of the 1970's. Thanks of course, to the good catalogs at Aldens, JC Penney, Sears and Wards.
So check out the best of Fashion Mockery for the finest in ugly shirts, dress alikes, Furhley wear and of course, Mantooth.
New to the web today is the 1976 Maskatron commercial from Kenner. Every child should know the joy of owning a robot doll that becomes John Saxon. That's not sarcasm, I really mean it!
These are scans from the 1976 Kenner catalog, click on the link for more. Expect more Bionic Man and Woman stuff in the new year.
It's been too long without some fashion mockery and while these gents score high for truly being "Plaidstallions", they lose points for not having their belts match their shoes.
Source: 1975 Sears Catalog
BTW, I wanted to confirm that this is indeed Gayle Sayers, Bob Griese and Tom Seaver modelling these fine outfits. I was born without a sports gene so I have no clue
The Mighty and Men and Monster Maker was simply one of the coolest Monster toys ever. I don't know how many women I've known who wanted this but received it's female companion, Fashion Plates. This happened to my wife, who simply mixed fashion plates people with her brother's monster plates, genius. I got to play with one of these while watching "Mad Monster Party" at my friend Charlie's place this weekend, a total geek overload!
Charlie also sent in more pics of the Crestwood series of Monter Books, I had totally forgotten about the Mad Scientist one. I think I memorized the Godzilla book in fifth grade.
These color versions are harder to find according to Charlie, I've never seen them.
I picked up these cool Burger King Monster figures for my kids this past weekend at Kane County, there was a frankenstein but he's gone AWOL. My daughter won't put the "cree-ker" figure down, it's very sweet.
I don't know what it is about toyshows the last weekend in October but they put me in a monster toy buying mood, this weekend my entire haul was monster stuff. Including some spare crestwood books from Charlie, the previously mentioned Burger King figures and my grail for the past few months, the Remco Monsterizer.
This puppy is going to be on full display tonight along with my other figures. Happy Halloween!
I actually started out my Halloween coverage worried i didn't have enough content, now thanks to some very generous folks, I have way too much. Above is another great French ad from Eric (Aka Baron Sat). These were the popular shows in France at the time, Fantastic Four and Goldorak (which many Franch Canadian kids will also remember).
Close up of the ad which also mentions suits for Captain Harlock, Spectre Man and Maya the Bee! Does anyone have pictures of these costumes?
Doctor Mad's Hairy Scary Monsters is a spooky play do knock off I've never heard of.
Charlie sent in this pic of the classic Weebles Ghost Van, only in the 1970's did a Ghost need a van....
More Halloween goodies tomorrow! Stay Sick!
My pal Eric sent this amazing cool advertisement for costumes in France, this stuff is just killer. I guess Bionic Woman was called "Super Jamie" over there, I wonder if they'll call the new series that?
These Leia and C-3PO costumes are undeniably cool, the Leia looks exactly like the Kenner figure!
Mighty Mightor was kind of a bit player on Saturday morning TV stateside but in France this Hanna Barbera character was a full blown superstar! He even got his own Mego figure. Although I don't know if running around bare chested in October is a good idea....
It almost doesn't seem fair to talk about Monster Toys and not bring up one of the most popular and influential of them all, the Aurora Monster kits. So today's update is a look at the 1975 Aurora Glow in the Dark Classic Movie Monsters Catalog. As an added bonus we have shots from the collection of Charlie Balicki including boxed and built up versions of these classic items.
Have a spooooky weekend folks!
Remco Mini Monsters are an obsession of mine, the marriage of 3 3/4" Star Wars like figures with the Universal Monsters is in my humble opinion, perfection. I just recently tracked down the play case but bought a sealed one that I can't play with. I'd never punch out the cardboard pieces anyway.
What haunts me about this line is the fact that I passed up on one of the rarer pieces this past August at Wizard World. I took a photo but never asked price, arg! I hope to rectify this problem at the toyshow this weekend.
