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Bugmen of Insecta

I thought I’d dedicate the Friday feature space to this odd little line of early 1980s obscurity. Not because I collect them but because they kind of fascinate me. When Toys R Us first hit my town in 1984, the Bug Men came with it. Their cards looked warn already and it was sort of […]

1983 JC Adventures in Toy Land Catalog

Another fun trip down memory lane courtesy of the JC Penney toy flier. The Penney Flier always kind of went a step up normal advertising and this 1983 brochure looks more like a cool comic book than an advertisement. 1983 is a great example to have thanks to the metric ton of iconic 80s toys […]

1983 LJN Advanced Dungeons & Dragons catalog

In 1982, LJN toys beat out rival toymake Mego for the rights to produce toys based on the popular TSR role play game “Dungeons and Dragons” and a great underrated series of toys was born. The LJN D&D line was sort of a grown up version of Masters of the Universe with it’s Elves, Wizards […]

LJN TV Superstars 1983

LJN toys had a long tradition of picking up cool cop shows like SWAT and The Rookies and that tradition carried on in the 1983 catalog where they hoped to continue for toy maker Mego (who ahd just filed for bankruptcy) left off by continuing the CHiPs line. Also offered this year was Magnum PI […]

1983 Remco Toys Catalog

By 1983, Remco had put down their utility belts and picked up some swords but never actually straying from their comic book licensing ties. Their long relationship with Marvel comics made them a natural to market the action figures based on their Crystar comic series , also announced were a series of figures based on […]

The 1983 Simpson’s Toy Catalog

My toy buying ended in the early 80s (until I discovered flea markets) but I still used to keep an eye what was coming out. That’s why I loved finding this news paper circular from Simpsons, a now long gone Canadian department store chain.All the big names of the time are here Smurfs, He Man, […]

The Somewhat Short Saga of Crystar

In the early eighties, Marvel Comics teamed up with Remco (a division of Azrak Hamway) to create the Saga of Crystar. After years of success with comics based on toy lines (such as Micronauts and Shogun Warriors) Marvel sought to reverse the situation and create a toyline they would themselves license. I can’t help but […]

The 1983 Collegeville Halloween Catalog

Lots of new faces (well, in the form of Masks) could be found in the 1983 Collegeville Catalog, while the company was still selling various knock offs such as the Spider (a very healthy run since I wore that same suit in the mid seventies) there was also a staggering amount of licensed goods available. […]