Following the blitz of Star Wars, a lot of previously unknown companies began cashing in on what the toy industry called the “Sci-Fi craze” of the late 70s. These toys were often lower-priced generic toys that likely offered better margins for the toy retailer. Kingsford’s line of Star Force toys is one of those lines […]
Kidco (a pretty logical name for a toy company) made some pretty unassuming toys during the 1970s, the most interesting items they produced in 1979 are not one but two different lines of Shogun Warriors inspired toys. Sliver Warriors and Space Defenders are the things you find at toy shows or in lots and have […]
Manglors were a pretty interesting concept from Ideal and one you remembered seeing, first, everybody in the line was a monster, which is cool in itself. Secondly, the concept was that you hatched the figures from their eggs and then you could stretch, squeeze and even rip the body parts off the figures and attach […]
After the Adventure Team closed up shop in 1976 and Superjoe said Goodbye in 1978, the G.I. Joe name reemerged in 1982, a good deal shorter but fueled by a renewed surge in patriotism. G.I. Joe was no longer a man but a team name, a covert group that protected the world, as we would […]
1978 saw the return of Mattel’s Pulsar the Ultimate Man od Adventure returned to I guess fight crime with his nondescript powers. This year he would be joined by his new foe Hypnos. While Pulsar sold well for a toy with no TV other than his TV commercials, things were starting to fall flat for […]
American Aerosol Corporation began selling Crazy Foam in the 1960s but most 70s kids will remember for it the many licenses it had including the DC and Marvel Comics Superheroes. I can honestly remember choosing a tin of Robin Crazy Foam over getting a toy once. You have a pretty powerful product if a kid […]
It’s hard to believe that toymakers thought the next merchandising blitz would come from a David Lynch film but that’s exactly what happened in 1984. Dune got the full treatment with colouring books, bed sheets and of course a selection of action figures produced by LJN. The movie wasn’t particularly kid (or for that matter […]
They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, which means Ideal Toys was very fond of George Lucas when they hobbled together these spacey toys and rushed them off to market. Lucas in turn sued Ideal but lost because everything including the S.T.A.R (which stands for Space Travel And Reconnaissance Team) Team name had […]
In the mid-seventies, UK Toy Maker (and the inventor of Spiro Graph) Denys Fisher took a Japanese Toy called Henshin Cyborg which was an off shoot of Captain Action (and the father of the Micronauts) and made it a 9″ series of figures. The back story was told in a series of beautifully illustrated comics […]
If there is one thing I like collecting as much as toys, it’s catalogs, it’s why PlaidStallions exists in the first place and my personal favourite catalogue to find are these toy store newspaper circulars or flyers, I don’t care what you call them. They are time capsules, wonderful little moments into what toys were […]
@brickmantooth
Official Tura Satana Action Figure Now Available
PlaidStallions Action Figure Archive
5 Awesome Things on eBay this week
Toy-Ventures Issue 12- Stretch Monster
Knock-Off Book
Recent Comments