To my surprise, I now am the proud owner of this, a Canadian “The Legend of the Lone Ranger” set of the Ranger and Silver by Gabriel Toys but distributed by Irwin Toys. Irwin was known as Kenner Canada and was a big deal around these parts.

I don’t collect the Lone Ranger lines, but I can’t remember when I’ve seen such an item in Canadian Packaging.  While the found “The Legend of the Lone Ranger” somewhat forgettable, I also have massive affection for this well-made toy line. 

However, what truly sold me on this piece was the back.

I will admit that I was unaware that the free Western Town Promotion was valid in Canada, but that it was that rather off sticker that clinched it for me.

The sticker indicates that this came from Consumer’s Distributing, a chain of “Catalog Showroom” shops that dotted the Canadian landscape until the late 1990s. I have a lot of fond memories of that store, especially giving the clerks fake names they had to yell out as a kid. I’m pretty sure they knew my name wasn’t Zaius.

Sadly I do not own the 1981 Consumers Distributing catalogue (#lifegoals) but I do have one from it’s another Canadian catalog firm (and equally fondly remembered) Shoprite.

It’s crazy how a simple price sticker can push nostalgia buttons like this…

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That’s why we created Toy-Ventures magazine, an old-school print publication dedicated to vintage toys from the 1960s to the 1990s. Each issue is packed with never before seen images and information written by some of the top collectors. We’ve got 7 issues and climbing; please check our page here or visit our store.

Our latest book is “Knock-Offs: Totally Unauthorized Action Figures” a love letter to cheeky copyright-infringing toys. You can get this new book via the PlaidStallions Shop, On Amazon (Affiliate Link) or eBay (eBay Link)

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Mego Knock Off Headquarters– The leading group discussing 70s Dime store knock-offs and bootleg action figures, we talk vintage toys and not others. We know the difference between Astro Apes and Action Apeman.  It’s a fun group where we talk about Lincoln International, AHI, Mighty Gary, Tomland, Bogi, Demo Man, Mortoys, and other generic greats.

Gabriel Toys The Legend of the Lone Ranger
#toyventures #loneranger #actionfigures

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I was sent these wonderful ads for the Iconic Gabriel Lone Ranger Toy line from the United Kingdom (Where the line enjoyed long-lasting success). The craftsmanship that Marx (The UK distributor) put into these is rather joyous. This toyline had a whole universe of characters, horses and outfit sets, it really would be a chore to collect them all.

One of the things I love about the Gabriel Lone Ranger line is the villain characters, you got the big bad Butch Cavendish but also “scurvy compadre” El Lobo and the wild card character, Red Sleeves!

Check out the 1977 Gabriel Lone Ranger Catalog here

1977 Gabriel Lone Ranger Catalog 

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Toy-Ventures Magazine is our newest creation, an old-school print magazine about vintage toys! Professionally laid out and written, each issue is brimming with obscure and rare toys from companies such as Mego, Kenner, Remco, AHI, and much more. Monsters, Superheroes, Adventurers, Knock Offs, Apes, and so much more, it’s in Toy-Ventures.

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Mego Knock Off Headquarters– The leading group discussing 70s Dime store knock-offs of Mego action figures, we talk vintage toys and not others. We know the difference between Astro Apes and Action Apeman! It’s a really fun group where we talk about Lincoln International, AHI, Tomland, Bogi, Demo Man, Mortoy and other generic greats.

The post Gabriel Lone Ranger Ads from the UK appeared first on PS.

1977 saw Gabriel Toys try an interesting experiment in action figures.

Instead of licensing a hollywood movie, they sought to captilize on the making of a movie by creating a set based on then legendary stuntman Hal Needham. 

Gabriel devoted six pages of the 1977 catalog to this line and it was clearly their big feature.

 

Gabriel’s spokesman was Dick Van Dyke that year and here is a rare toy fair sales reel for the line.
 

The unique concept allowed kids to film an action sequence in a Western complete with breakaway sets, a camera and our titular Stunt Man, who wasn’t a household name.

This really was a great and well-made concept.

This should have been as big as Evel Knievel…

Issue 4 of Toy-Ventures magazine ships this June

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Mego Knock Off Headquarters– The leading group discussing 70s dimestore goodness, we talk vintage toys, not others!

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Planet of the Apes was a new hot ticket item for 70s wunderkind Mego who also produced the World’s Greatest Superheroes around the same time. Big Jim was Mattel’s answer to G.I. Joe and Dinah-Mite was Mego’s stab at Barbie, who was the original.

Child Guidance was one of the bigger players in Sesame Street merchandise, it’s so nice to see Roosevelt Franklin. Etch a Sketch is never going to stop being cool..

I have many fond memories of Play-Doh Pumper No. 9. The Mego Superheroes “Supervator” was a complicated game where you used strings and a glove to make the heroes retrieve “Nasty Secret Plans” and avoid villain cards like the enemy of Tarzan. See video below:

Planet of the Apes and Superhero Puzzles from HG are collector’s items now. Another toy I forgot I had until now is the Mattel Put-Put railway, along with Spirograph and Lite-Brite. I had to explain to my son what Lite-Brite was last week, that made me sad….

Here is a whole page of toys that made my four year heart go pitter patter, the Big Jim Kung Fu studio was a cool set up that allowed Big Jim to kick a little ass. The Mego Batcave was also recycled by clever Mego into the Planet of the Apes village and the Action Jackson “Lost Continent” playset, we kids didn’t mind. I consider both the Matchbox Fighting Furies and the Gabriel Lone Ranger to be two of the nicest toy lines made in the 1970s.

Rodney Allen Rippey was made by Shindana, a company that catered to people of colour. Shindana made some wicked cool toys and below is one of my favourites, Slade!

Barbie always got the best vehicles and playsets, lucky for us boys Mattel converted her country camper for Big Jim so we boys could play with it and still feel masculine. .

Another great vehicle is the Barbie friendship, again Mattel recycled this for us boys in the form of the Big Jim Skyhawk. It is a pretty awesome piece, my daughter has the modern version, which isn’t made of vinyl…

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Mego Knock Off Headquarters– The leading group discussing 70s dimestore goodness, we talk vintage toys, not others!

The post 197 Children’s Palace Catalog- Mego-Big Jim-Barbie-Sesame Street appeared first on PS.

This newly acquired Toys R Us flyer fromn 1980 is possibly one of the best I’ve ever picked up, it just reminds me of being a ten-year-old kid and it’s loaded with incredible toys, oddly enough not a huge amount of Star Wars content, which is OK by me.

Those fourth prices of DC Comics Treasury editions from the mid 1970s amazes me, I love those books with all my heart.

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The Little Professor is still in my kitchen junk drawer

Oh ENTEX Space Invaders, how I loved thee.

Alligator was actually based on the movie of the same name, 1980 was a great year for “Games based on Rober Forester movies” 

That Fiddlesticks Superhero set is something that comes up a lot in the PlaidStallions mailbox. Nobody remembers it.

Elastic Mickey Mouse by Mego is now famous thanks to some Meme I think I had a hand in. The Incredible Hulk work bench is “Krusty the Clown” levels of selling out Bruce….

Crazy Foam is so my jam.

Oh Presto Magix! Awesome!

The Cosmic Clipper is a model kit by Airfix, who released a whole range of cool spaceships that looked like they were from Space:1999.

Reggie Jackson’s Bat Away Pitching Machine really got out there.

My dad bought that father and son set, what a treat fighting someone three times your size! Remember when Kramer was in the kid’s karate class, it was like that…

Toys R US Catalog from 1980

Toys R US Catalog from 1980

I love this page to pieces and I do remember some shops over ordering Yoda until it was the only Star Wars figure they had.

Toys R US Catalog from 1980

Toys R US Catalog from 1980

PlaidStallions Toy-Ventures Magazine #2 is now available and it’s been called “not only an entertaining read, but it’s also an impeccable work of reference” by PopCult.

FACEBOOK GROUPS FROM PLAIDSTALLIONS

Pod Stallions is one of the most fun groups on Facebook.

Mego Knock Off Headquarters– The leading group discussing 70s dimestore goodness, we talk vintage toys, not others!

The post 1980 Toys R Us Catalog (with video walkthrough) appeared first on PS.

The Lone Ranger toyline is easily one of the nicest action figure lines of the 1970s if not all time and Gabriel Toys had some real long-running success with it.

This 1977 Catalog is the third year for the line and shows that it was still going strong, Gabriel put a lot of effort into this catalog and it truly showcases how nice this line really was.

The way these figures held their guns was epic.

Let’s have a better look at that lovey store display

Oh man, such a lovely display.

PlaidStallions Toy-Ventures Magazine #1 is now available and it’s been called “not only an entertaining read, but it’s also an impeccable work of reference” by PopCult.

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The post 1977 Gabriel Lone Ranger Catalog appeared first on PS.