I mean, the only thing missing from this is macrame and a fresh pot of Chicory brewing.

However, the more curious thing is the selection of toys for a 1978 catalog, a weird mix of stuff from 1977 and years earlier and a couple of glaring omissions.

The top toys here would be Pulsar and Electroman, and Zogg; both toys debuted in 1977 and were actively available so it’s no surprise to see them. The lack of Pulsar’s nemesis Hypnos is a bit strange but not the strangest thing in this toy catalog.

Six Million Dollar Man was kind of a fixture in toy catalogs even in it’s last year so that’s not surprising, Shindana’s Dr. J was also fairly current but Mego’s Muhammad Ali toys came out in 1976 and were discontinued by 1978.

Mego Micronauts were a hot toy in 1978, so it’s no surprise to see Biotron, although it’s weird he’s all alone. The Mattel Welcome Back Kotter series is another line that was discontinued by then. This deluxe classroom was likely a way of closing out unsold figures.

Both Evel Knievel and Fonzie were available but were in the last years of production. Most of these toys made their debut 2-4 years previously.

Finally, we have Stretch Monster (1977) and Stretch Armstrong (1976) which were staples of this kind of Service Merchandise/Consumers Distributing type store.

What’s interesting about this catalogue is what isn’t there, no Kenner Star Wars, No Mego Superheroes, No Mego KISS, Kenner Bionic Woman. It’s weird.

If you had a Monroe store in your area, please let me know what kind of store it was. Was it a closeout store? I need closure on this weird toy catalog.

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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.

weird toy catalog

The post 1978 toy catalog with oddball action figure assortment appeared first on PS.

During these years, the EK stunt set was a top ten bestseller in North America and it was a steady rocket ride for the next couple of years.

A nice depiction of the carnage that can be had with these toys, as a bonus, the Evel Knievel figure had no bones to break.

The crash car empowered little boys to break their toys, a brilliant stroke of marketing. Growing up we all want to see what would happen if we ran our toys into a wall, this gave us a safe way to do this.

Evel’s steam-powered Rocket was a bit of a bust that nearly killed him but it sure made for a cool toy. It was later recycled into Ideal’s Star Wars clone, Star Team.

The old standard, I think most of us think “Motorcycle” when we think of Evel.

The Stunt Stadium was one of the bigger playsets of the era.

The scramble van was on Santa’s “most requested” list that year..

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Our newest book “Knock-Offs: Totally, Unauthorized Action Figures” is now available. It’s 130 pages of bootleg goodness.
You can get this new book via the PlaidStallions Shop , On Amazon (Affiliate Link) or on eBay (eBay Link)

Our book Rack Toys, Cheap, Crazed Playthings is now available again! Order through our Affiliate Link

Order Rack Toys 2.0 Here through our Affiliate Link►https://amzn.to/3Bkm9z1

FACEBOOK GROUPS FROM PLAIDSTALLIONS

Pod Stallions is one of the most fun groups on Facebook. Toys, Comics, Movies, TV, it’s all up for grabs and remember, you keep the glass!

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 1974 Ideal Toys Evel Knievel Catalog appeared first on PS.

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!

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This is the third Toy Flier I have from 1975 with Mego Star Trek on the cover, thank goodness for Star Trek collectors saving these.

The Fisher Price Sesame Street set is the big get here, this was the first year it was launched.

Mego’s Wizard of Oz line was also launched in 1975, it was a big year for licensed toys.

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It’s kind of weird to see the Planet of the Apes adventure set mixed in with growing up Skipper and Holly Hobbie.

Evel Knievel was still a super hot toy in 1975 and surprisingly the Mego planet of the apes dolls still sold despite the series getting canceled almost a year earlier..

Those flock haired Karate Men were under my tree that year, I always wanted to turn them into action figures.

Hedstron, Huffy and Murray….

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.

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In 1973, New York-based Ideal Toys created toys based on Butte Montana’s daredevil son, Robert “Evel” Knievel and history was made! Many thanks to Rob Chatlin for the terrific scans.

Thanks to Knievel being a household name and the toy’s clever concept, it became a hot seller and one of the most memorable toy lines of the 1970’s.

f you were a boy in the 1970s and didn’t own one of these, most likely you wanted one. Other companies such as Kenner and Mego tried to knock off the success of this toy with their own daredevil stunt line, a true sign of a successful line.

The Scramble Van was a colorful bit of vinyl and plastic that was put under a lot of trees in 1973.

 Get Toy-Ventures Issue 2 now!

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.

The post 1973 Ideal Evel Knievel Catalog appeared first on PS.