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Help me R2 D2, you’re my only hope

Simon of The Art Hustle sent in this glorious shot of his wife circa 1978 in Jackson, Mississippi at a movie theatre event with “R2 D2”. Note the wonderful hand painted Star Wars collage in the background. I pretty much love all mall appearance shots I get in but these home grown Star Wars ones have become […]

1978 Fisher Price Muppet Show Catalog

The Muppet Show was as much an ingrediant to a happy 70s childhood as were orange kitchens and pop rocks were. The UK Produced syndicated series was a complete smash and not surprisingly oodles of merchandising followed. Toymaker Fisher Price already knew the value of a Muppet, having produced Sesame Street items since the early […]

1978 Mattel Electronic Games Catalog

Electronic games have come an incredible way since 1978 but it’s hard not to fondly remember the simple pleasure of these awesome hand helds by Mattel. Without the sophistication available today, these games were not only fun to play but affordable as well. 1978 was a year of modest but popular offerings including a game […]

1978 Mattel Tarzan and Friends Catalog

Big Jim may have been long gone but his body got a lot work in 1978 when Mattel launched a series of action figures based on TV properties like Tarzan, How the West was Won and Grizzly Adams. Many of these items were made utilitzing items from the European Big Jim offerings at the time […]

1978 Mattel Codename: Galactica Catalog

Several months before it’s TV Debut Mattel Toys debuted their merchandise based on the upcoming series titled “Code Name: Galactica” which we all would come to know as “Battlestar Galactica”. 20th Century Fox would promptly ligitate the makers of Galactica for copyright infringement but the one thing that Galactica had over Star Wars was the […]

The Aliens

Park Plastics Aliens line was another attempt to cash in on the endless popularity in space and sci fi caused by Star Wars, they’re also kind of fun looking. If you’ve never heard of Park Plastics, that’s because they were mainly known for water pistols and non tv advertised rack toys. As far as I know […]

1978 Mattel Pulsar Catalog

1978 saw the return of Mattel’s Pulsar the Ultimate Man of Adventure returned to I guess, fight crime with his non descript powers. This year he would be joined by his new foe Hypnos. While Pulsar sold well for a toy with no publicity other than his TV commercials, things were starting to fall flat for […]

1978 Time Life Doctor Who Catalog

In the late 1970s a British Phenomen made it’s way stateside via syndicated package from Time Life, originally offering the first seasons of Fourth Doctor Tom Baker and the rest is cult TV history. This beautiful piece not only has to sell the long running series to an American market but also explain it, which […]

Fantom 4

I’m pretty sure this amazing little hovercraft appeared on at least one of my Christmas wishlists, it was sadly the one that got away..

Wonder Woman goes to Toys R Us

Wasn’t I just saying something about how I’d never seen many Wonder Woman appearance shots? Well, when it rains it pours because not only this another great shot of Diana Prince’s alter ego, it’s a vintage toy store shot to boot. I know this appearance took place in 1978 because I can see a shelf loaded […]