Toy Lines

LJN Has high hopes for Dune- Toyfair 1984

The caption reads “LJN is aiming for success in the forthcoming movie “Dune” as this reproduction of a scene from the film in the toy company’s Toy Fair showroom proved.” The article goes on to mention “LJN will also be involved in producing a line of products for “Dune,” a Universal Pictures release. The movie […]

Toy Industry Reacts to the cancellation of Battlestar Galactica

The following article is from the June issue of Toys, Hobbies and Crafts and deals with toy retailer reaction to the cancellation of Battlestar Galactica’s television series on ABC. NEW YORK – If the sales of licensed items carried as much  eight as ratings, “Battlestar Galactica” would return next fall. But that’s not the case, […]

Toy-Ventures Issue 13 is now shipping!

I am elated to announce that issue 13 of Toy-Ventures Magazine is now available for purchase and if I don’t say so myself, it’s a banger!   Now Available: Issue #13 of Toy-Ventures will feature the never-before-seen plans for the 1983 World’s Greatest Superheroes toy line and a cover featuring artwork specially commissioned for Mego’s […]

Toy-Ventures: Big Jim’s Devil River Trip

Toy-Ventures: Big Jim’s Devil River Trip https://youtu.be/hZ-vxKwFrFU Tonight’s Toy-Ventures is about a childhood toy woe and a deep appreciation for the “Man Vs Nature” action figure genre. It’s the Mattel Big Jim Devil River Trip! #BigJim #Toyventures #Mattel   Issue #13 of Toy-Ventures Magazine will feature the never-before-seen plans for the 1983 World’s Greatest Superheroes […]

1979 AHI Pool Toys Catalog- KISS! Mr. Spock! Marvel Comics!

AHI (Azrak-Hamway International) is largely famous for creating some incredible licensed rack toys and action figure in the 1960s to the 1980s. However, they also had a thriving business in the inflatable pool toys category. while the offerings were largely generic, AHI occasionally brought over some of their better licenses from Rack Toys. The 1979 […]

Mattel MegaForce Toy Catalog from 1982

  MegaForce was poised to be the action blockbuster of 1982. The 20 million dollar Chinese/American co-production had an impressive marketing budget which wisely targeted kids with it’s sci-fi military stunt show of a movie. It also easily found licensors; on paper, this looked like a slam dunk. The only problem was that people eventually […]

Space Sword! Space Shield! Space Trooper Helmet!

Space Sword! Space Shield! Space Trooper Helmet! The trinity of glow-in-the-dark Star Wars Knock-Off lightsabers! I realized I haven’t documented completing the glow-in-the-dark trinity of Space Sword, Space Shield, and Space Trooper Helmet by Toy Box Inc. Meant to cash in on Star Wars, these wonderful toys were somehow better than what Kenner offered in […]