Eaton’s 1975: Big Jim and Barbie
Over the weekend, I found a wonder 1975 newspaper flyer/catalogue from Eatons. For those not in the know, Eaton’s was Canada’s department store chain and a really big deal back in the day. When I saw these images, I felt like I’d seen them before and immediately bought this (best ten bucks I’ve spent in a long time). I’ll share more pages from this but this one particularly resonated with me.
I was ALL ABOUT Mattel’s Big Jim at this time, I had many of his sets and like a lot of kids that Sports Camper was a birthday gift that year. However, the big memory here was figuring out that Mattel was using Barbie tooling to make Big Jim toys. The Big Jim Sports Camper was Barbie’s Country Camper, his Sky Commander plane was the Barbie friendship. I think at the time I felt like I had really uncovered something, a toy conspiracy, not realizing this was obvious to anyone with eyes.
None of this deterred me from enjoying Big Jim.
Check out this awesome Big Jim Catalog from 1975
1979 Italian Big Jim Catalog
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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.
Remco Energized Spider-Man
I wonder if Big Jim figures would have fit in Ken’s clothes? Had I known about the shared tooling back then (I wasn’t as smart as you, Brian), I might have expanded Jim’s, Jeff’s, and Warpath’s wardrobes. Of course, Ken was kinda wimpy. Jim’s muscles might have gotten in the way.
Yeah Ken’s clothes are kinda tailor made to his tall and gangly physique. Also, Big Jim doesn’t have time for sports coats! 😉