Collegeville was one of the leading Halloween costume manufacturers of the late twentieth century. 


 This extensive 1968 catalog really demonstrates the powerhouse licenses they were rocking in the 60s, including Labyrinth, The Transformers and the Go-Bots, WWF Wrasslers, Wuzzles, Rainbow Bright and the Peanuts, it’s a good group and some solid 1980s nostalgia.

1986 Collegeville Halloween Costume Catalog

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My best guess is these rubber dudes came out in the mid 1980s, anybody want to confirm?

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He may have faded from our toy shelves in the 1970s but in Europe, Big Jim was still kind of a big deal.


How big a deal? In this 1984 Mattel Italy catalog, Big Jim has as many pages as Masters of the Universe.







By this time, the Big Jim line is firmly set in the future with flashy villains, sci-fi heroes, giant play sets and transforming vehicles. It is one of the most underrated and attractive action figure lines of our life times.

Check out the 1984 Big Jim Italy Catalog here.

 

 

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It’s been a while since I’ve found a Rack Toy that excites me (that sounds weird) but this week I totally have. These toys come from Remco/AHI and are as I can figure, the last line of these kind of licensed affairs that AHI was so known for in the 70s and 80s. 


Mighty Crusaders are a superhero team owned by Archie Comics, they have a great lineage but an awfully sporadic publishing history since the Golden Age. During the early 80s, they had a pretty decent attempt at a revival which spawned licensed toys from Remco.


While the Remco Mighty Crusaders action figure line is fairly commonly found, these toys must have been produced in much lower numbers.  I’m still not positive what got made and didn’t . 



Prior to this discovery, the only Rack Toys for the Mighty Crusaders I could confirm were these helicopters.

The back of the package suggests that Mighty Crusaders got the same treatment that Batman and Planet of the Apes did in the mid seventies with helicopters, Motorcycles and (gasp!) Parachute figures. (If you have one please email me, even if it’s not for sale!)

A really nice shot of “The Web” figure, I’m glad that I keep running into one of my favourite characters when I do find this stuff.


If you have any input on this Mighty Crusaders merch, I’d love to hear from you!

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One of my favourite monster toys of late is this tremendously quirky 1980s action figure made in  Brazil by the famous (to Star Wars collectors) Glasslite toy company.

Glasslite simply released the single 3 3/4″ Dracula, no other monsters appear on the card and he’s a pretty sweet figure but that’s not the best part.



  (Photo courtesy of Phil Rendon of A&A Acrylics)


They also created this killer Dracula gift set that gives Vlad a sweet convertible Porsche and a Monster Truck! It’s so wonderfully silly that I absolutely want it. Unfortunately, they’re hard to get so I’ll just have to stare at my buddy Phil’s.

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Send me your mall appearance photos!

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I’m really happy to showcase this neat discovery of this lost Lords of Light toy. I’ve been smitten with these figures since the mid 1990s when I first found out this hidden treasure.

A bit of a background on Lords of Light: After Mego Toys folded, a company known as PAC packaging (who light assembled many of your childhood favourites) got into the manufacturing game and produced several Toy lines in the early 1980s.

Lords of Light were produced using retooled Micronauts molds, with the added gimmick of having a glow stick in their chest cavity. It was all the brain child of PAC toys founder Joe Ruzzi (you can read my interview with him here)

The line had all the trappings, a comic book insert telling the story of the brave Izzurians (get it) fighting the dark evilites. There was even a big budget TV spot set to air, which thanks to my pal AcroRay I have a beautiful print of to show you below:

Unfortunately, the Lords of Light were cut short in mid launch due to company legal issues, so only the four villain figures ever saw (limited) release into the market and without the TV promotion, they simply faded away…..

The series of good guys, vehicles and even ride on vehicles just never happened and were thought lost to time, that is until Joe Ruzzi himself recently found this figure in a box:

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