Archives

Action Man for 1976

I’m always perplexed at how much a difference an ocean makes, GI Joe by this time was all about Mike Power and Bullet Man (not complaining!) and kids in the UK were choosing different eras of machine guns.

1976 Marx Playset Catalog

Marx was always known for their playsets and action figures but in 1976 they were poised to be one of the early entries into the world of 3 3/4″ action figures with a series of generic environments. Sadly it looks like buyers were indifferent to the concept, so we never got a 3 3/4″ Johnny […]

1976 Imperial Toys Catalog

Halloween is always the best time to talk about rack toys, specifically ones made by Imperial Toy Corporation, who  had a year round  selection of rubber bats, bugs and skeletons. 1976 also had the distinction of being the year that Imperial wisely got the “Jaws” license and marketed a series of cool inflatable toys. Check out […]

1976 Multiple Toymakers Catalog

Multiple Toys doesn’t immediately spring to mind when you think of childhood favourites but they certainly should seeing as they did create an incredible amount of childhood staples like plastic dinosaurs and green plastic army men.Add to that Multiples hot licenses like Planet of the Apes, M*A*S*H, Kung Fu and the DC Comics superheroes and […]

Shindana Toys for 1976

Shindana (a Swahili word roughly meaning “to compete”) toys was formed in 1968 after “Operation Bootstrap” was created. Their goal was to improve black self image by producing ethnically correct toys. According to their literature, they did this to promote understanding and love. I’ve always wanted to do a feature about Shindana on Plaidstallions as […]

Beyond Tomorrow, Beyond Recycled

I love stuff like this, in the mid seventies Sears marketed this “Beyond Tomorrow Lunar Space Station” play set with three handpainted “alien” figures that were clearly supposed to be Kirk, Spock and Uhura. What’s more weird is this seems to be originally an MPC playset based on the Gerry Anderson Puppet series “Fireball XL5” […]

Heroes of the American Revolution

I could be wrong as I’m Canadian but I’m not sure any kid ever thought “I wish I had a John Paul Jones doll”, this seems like bicentennial overload. If you had these as a kid and thought up exciting adventures for Ben Franklin like “The secret of the Bi-Focal Wearing Mummy’s Tomb”, please correct […]

Monster Squad Merchandise Gallery

No, not the 1987 movie but the original 1976 Saturday Morning Series that really helped my love for Monsters in general. The show has precious little web presence and I’m honestly surprised how much merchandise I discovered, so I’ve created a little gallery to showcase it all. It’s all here and there may be a […]