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Mattel Big Jim Repro Art Book

Reproduction is was a series of black and white line drawings of toy products provided to vendors for newspaper advertisements. It is something of a lost artform in this digital age and something I both admire and collect. I’ve compiled a gallery of repro art for Mattel’s 1975 Big Jim line, as I’m pretty fond […]

PodStallions 21: Bionic Man-ia

It was bound to happen, episode 21 talks of the Six Million Dollar Man television series which slow motion ran across our television screens (and our collective hearts) during the Polyester decade. In this we discuss the series itself, the spin offs and the crazy/wonderful merchandise that made Christmas more memorable. We go through the […]

1975 German Toy Catalog

I found this wonderful catalog from a German company called Spielzug, I remember my grandmother bringing me back some of these and how enthralled I was. It’s a really great slice of what lucky kids in Germany got, their own versions of GI Joe and Big Jim, as well as Barbie, Sindy, Lego, Playmobil and Steiff. Check […]

76 Superheroes

This page from Simpsons is pretty much all I thought about in 1976, Big Jim P.A.C.K, GI Joe Super Adventure Team and Mego Superheroes, throw in monsters and sandwiches and that’s the brain patterns of six year old me. I think it’s ironic that the Mego heroes are so small on this page, their popularity […]

The Incredible Dr Steel Commercial

Today is an epic day for Plaidstallions.  I finally tracked down the film reel to a commercial that has haunted me since 1975 and I get to share it with all of you.  I remember it vividly, watching Space:1999 on my parent’s black and white TV when this commercial aired. Already a fan of the […]

New PS Trading Cards!

It’s been a long while since i printed up some new PS trading cards, mostly because of spending my time with Rack Toys (still available!) but this month I resolved to make some new entries.  The first is card #40, the Whip from the Big Jim’s Wolfpack line of toys. I had been doing the […]

Big Jim speaks!

How I loved my talking Big Jim when I was four and if I can find it kicking around here, I remember that back pack still worked at the last pull. A lot of stuff gets said about Jim these days but he rocked my world as a kid.

When Big Jim was new

This early ad for Big Jim immediately whisks me back to the my earliest memories of “Action Figures”. I took a few breaks but the damn things have been a part of my life since then, probably better off because of it…

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 […]

Creators of Zorak

This fun little ad is the kind of stuff I love to find, meet Ed and Bonnie Fogarty inventors of 70s childhood friends like the Nerf Glider, Weebles Fun House and Double Trouble Big Jim and Zorak. This ad is from 1978 where they seem to have had a string of items produced, it would […]