Founded in 1970 by Jack Friedman, LJN was one of the 1970s more successful toy companies, offering a mix of nicely made licensed products and some lower-cost “house brand” items. 1975 saw the company in full swing with hot TV licenses such as “The Rookies” and “Emergency!” as well as Petite, their attempt to capture the fashion doll market and “Mr. Action”, the lower cost G.I. Joe.

Petite was a low cost Barbie clone that LJN marketed for a period in the 1970s.

A lot of the items made for Petite were later sold by other companies well into the 1980s.

Mr. Action was one of the more prolific G.I. Joe knockoffs of the 1970s, his outfits and uniforms are usually mistaken for Hasbro products.

These Mr. Action vehicles were often sold on the same page as G.I. Joe in department store catalogs. Lili Ledy in Mexico even sold them as G.I. joe vehicles!

The Mr Action “Double Action” concept is actually something I wish we saw more of…

If I recall correctly, the back of the box was a cardboard backdrop for the adventure.

‘

That is a killer record player. I want this now.

The 1970s was once a booming industry for children’s typewriters…

LJN’s line of 8″ figures were second only to Mego at this time, while Mego took a lot more fantasty licenses, LJN clung to reality based shows like the Rookies and later, SWAT.

The Rookies Police Car is tough to find in nice shape these days.

LJN’s Emergency toy line was a big hit for the company, the show was a steady rating winner during it’s run. Sadly, no figure of Dr. Bracken was made. The figures were meant to knock-off popular Mego figures and are often confused as such.

Like the Rookies car, the Emergency fire truck is quite a collector’s item now.

These Mr. Action Fold Up play sets are a great idea by LJN, I’m not sure they were released.

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Toy-Ventures Magazine is our newest creation, an old-school print magazine about vintage toys! Professionally laid out and written, each issue is brimming with obscure and rare toys from companies such as Mego, Kenner, Remco, AHI, and much more. Monsters, Superheroes, Adventurers, Knock Offs, Apes, and so much more, it’s in Toy-Ventures.

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Mego Knock Off Headquarters– The leading group discussing 70s Dime store knock-offs of Mego action figures, we talk vintage toys, not others. It’s a fun group where we talk about Lincoln International, AHI, Tomland, and all those companies that never thought to put their name on things because….lawyers.

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LJN TV Stars from 1976

I never had the LJN TV Super Stars, a Mego scaled line based on then-popular shows like The Rookies, Emergency, and S.W.A.T. I would have loved Police and Firemen to clean up after my Mego Superheroes or perhaps interact with the Mego Star Trek crew. Also impressive are the number of vehicles and accessories they offered.

I’m especially enamoured by the S.W.A.T playset, LJN did a really nice job with it and I’m a sucker for those old-timey computers.

Issue 4 of Toy-Ventures magazine ships this June

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Pod Stallions is one of the most fun groups on Facebook.

Mego Knock Off Headquarters– The leading group discussing 70s dimestore goodness like figures from Azrak Hamway, LJN,  Tomland and Lincoln International.

The post LJN TV SUPER STARS 1976 appeared first on PS.

New Six Million Dollar Man Shirt in our Redbubble store!

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Can’t say I’m a huge fan of either S.W.A.T or Emergency! but those vinyl & cardboard playsets are awesome and I totally want them.

That old timey computer….sigh….

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While action figure giant Mego was busy swooping up all the comic book and science fiction properties it could for their 8″ action figure lines, rival toy maker LJN was going after a different sort of hero. In the seventies, LJN pursued the men in uniform namely the TV shows Emergency and The Rookies, both dramas about real life heroes, namely firefighters and policemen. The gambit paid off as LJN had a successful run with these well made action figures.

Check out the (1974?) LJN TV Superstars Catalog here

The post The LJN TV Superstars Catalog appeared first on PS.

Emergency was crazy popular in the 70’s, I’ve even heard that the show was unjustly cancelled because it was cut with high ratings.

Larami sold that stamp set concept more than once, there is a marvel superheroes version.

More on the subject of me: Anther piece I wrote for VVM’s Topless Robot popped up today it’s titled “The 8 Classic Toys Parents Classicly Hated” and it covers everything from Slime to well, toys filled with Corn Syrup. Sad News: World’s Greatest Toys Blog has reported the death of Danton Burroughs, grandson of Edgar Rice Burroughs has passed away. Danton was instramental in providing great information for Ben’s book about Mego Superheroes and being a giant fan of Tarzan, it saddens me to hear this news.

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