Disclaimer: The links are sponsored and also, some guy farted in here.

Welcome Back Kotter Guitar by Fleetwood Toys (sponsored link) 

Did the Sweathogs ever show any musical prowess? I watched the show a lot as a kid and only remember John Travolta’s singing. 

Hal Needham Stuntman Playset by Gabriel Toys (sponsored link)

This is a truly innovative toy concept from the mid-1970s, a doll based on the legendary stuntman Hal Needham. This allowed kids to do real stunt work. Obviously, this set saw some play, as Hal’s head came off, which is probably not something that happened to the real guy.

The Mighty Hercules Book and Record set from Japan (Sponsored Link) 

As a Canadian kid, I thrilled to the Adventures of the Mighty Hercules and his idiot sidekick, Newton, his idiot sidekick, Newton.  (if you get that joke you are cool) I am blown away that this show had any popularity in Japan but now this is all I can think of.

Spider-Man Super Klobbers by AHI (sponsored link)

I’m not surprised that AHI chose to rip off Socker Boppers; they sold a lot of inflatable toys and well, they had the Spider-Man license. What’s surprising is how rare these are, I guess they did not take off.

Big Jim Cipsa Kid Acero Lobomovil (sponsored link) 

This vehicle was known as “The Beast” in the USA and was the first vehicle available for the P.A.C.K toys, mainly because it’s a repainted Camper. In Mexico, they didn’t have the same characters so they drew over the (GLORIOUS!) Jack Kirby’s art and turned them into bad Guy Garfio and Good guy Hombe Bionico. I love this so much but this freaking thing is such a space killer. Ugh, this is going to bug me….

Oh God, I just realized Hombre Invisible was added! Agggghhhh I have no money!

Issue #13 of Toy-Ventures Magazine will feature the never-before-seen plans for the 1983 World’s Greatest Superheroes toy line and a cover featuring artwork specially commissioned for Mego’s catalogue, gloriously coloured by Robyn Adams, founder of the Mego Museum.

The Blood-A-Rama Shock Festival Pack

Toy-Ventures is our magazine; we’re an independent publisher trying to bring back print toy magazines; if you would like to support us, please check out the latest issue: https://plaidstallions.com/reboot/shop

Toy-Ventures Issue 12- Stretch Monster

Click Here for past installments of 5 Awesome Things on eBay this week

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The Super Collector Newsletter combines all the news from Mego Museum and Plaid Stallions and a lot of other fun stuff across the Interwebs. It’s got customs, new action figures, vintage finds and a lot of pop culture. Sign Up Here!

We co-produced this amazing action figure with White Elephant Toyz; it’s an 8″ Mego Style Officially Licensed Tura Satana figure with a beautiful box by Joeseph Linsner! Get yours while supplies last.

Knock Offs; Totally Unauthorized Action Figures the book

Knock-Offs Totally Unauthorized Action figures is from the demented mind that brought you “Rack Toys: Cheap, Crazed Playthings” and features hundreds of hilarious, charming, copyright infringing toys. Get a signed copy in our shop!

Facebook Groups we enjoy

The official FB group for PlaidStallions, come for the conversation, stay for the chill vibe. Remember, you keep the glass

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The Mighty Hercules, Sweathogs, Rack Toys, Fleetwood, Book and Record, Japan, Spider-Man, AHI, Socker Boppers, Inflatables, Big Jim, Kid Acero, Cipsa, Big Jim PACK, Dr Steel, Jack Kirby,  Hal Needham, Gabriel Toys, Stunt man, 1970s toys, action figures, PlaidStallions, 5 Awesome Things on eBay, 5 Awesome eBay,

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Johnny West Marx Toys Shoprite Catalogue 1974 – PlaidStallions

Marx Johnny West & Gabriel Lone Ranger- Frontier Fun

From the Shoprite 1974 Catalog, the 70s was the last great decade for Western Toys. The Marx Johnny West line was still going strong, these figures are Canadian variations in Mod colours. Debuting that year was the Gabriel Lone Ranger line, one of the finest of the era.

More Here:

1977 Gabriel Lone Ranger Catalog

Marx 1975 Johnny West/ Best of the West Catalog

Marx Johnny West & Gabriel Lone Ranger- Frontier Fun

Toy-Ventures is our magazine; we’re an independent publisher trying to bring back print toy magazines; if you would like to support us, please check out the latest issue: https://plaidstallions.com/reboot/shop

Toy-Ventures Issue 12- Stretch Monster

Click Here for past installments of 5 Awesome Things on eBay this week

Join our weekly newsletter.

The Super Collector Newsletter combines all the news from Mego Museum and Plaid Stallions and a lot of other fun stuff across the Interwebs. It’s got customs, new action figures, vintage finds and a lot of pop culture. Sign Up Here!

We co-produced this amazing action figure with White Elephant Toyz; it’s an 8″ Mego Style Officially Licensed Tura Satana figure with a beautiful box by Joeseph Linsner! Get yours while supplies last.

Knock Offs; Totally Unauthorized Action Figures the book

Knock-Offs Totally Unauthorized Action figures is from the demented mind that brought you “Rack Toys: Cheap, Crazed Playthings” and features hundreds of hilarious, charming, copyright infringing toys. Get a signed copy in our shop!

Facebook Groups we enjoy

The official FB group for PlaidStallions, come for the conversation, stay for the chill vibe. Remember, you keep the glass

.

#marx #johnnywest #plaidstallions #gabriel #loneranger #tonto #Shoprite #1974 #catalogues #wishbook #canada

Marx, Johnny West, Plaidstallions, Lone Ranger, Gabriel Toys, 1974, Wishbook, Shoprite Stores, Shoprite Catalogue,

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Gabriel Smokey Bear Jeep

Like most people, I thought it was “Smokey THE Bear” but this wonderful shot from the 1978 Gabriel Toys catalogue is loudly disagreeing with me. There is only one logical answer, I’m in the wrong universe.

#SmokeyBear

More Gabriel toys here!

The Lincoln Monsters are here!

The Blood-A-Rama Shock Festival Pack

Toy-Ventures is our magazine; we’re an independent publisher trying to bring back print toy magazines; if you would like to support us, please check out the latest issue: https://plaidstallions.com/reboot/shop

Toy-Ventures Issue 12- Stretch Monster

Click Here for past installments of 5 Awesome Things on eBay this week

Join our weekly newsletter.

The Super Collector Newsletter combines all the news from Mego Museum and Plaid Stallions and a lot of other fun stuff across the Interwebs. It’s got customs, new action figures, vintage finds and a lot of pop culture. Sign Up Here!

We co-produced this amazing action figure with White Elephant Toyz; it’s an 8″ Mego Style Officially Licensed Tura Satana figure with a beautiful box by Joeseph Linsner! Get yours while supplies last.

Knock Offs; Totally Unauthorized Action Figures the book

Knock-Offs Totally Unauthorized Action figures is from the demented mind that brought you “Rack Toys: Cheap, Crazed Playthings” and features hundreds of hilarious, charming, copyright infringing toys. Get a signed copy in our shop!

Facebook Groups we enjoy

The official FB group for PlaidStallions, come for the conversation, stay for the chill vibe. Remember, you keep the glass

. 

Smokey Bear, Smokey the Bear, Plaid Stallions, Gabriel Toys,

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Hot Toys for 1978

Gary Bradberry Manager
Lionel Play World Decatur, Illinois

Our best-selling items this year are the Star Wars characters, the Shogun [Warriors] and the Micronauts. Of course, we expect something big like this every year, and it’s a good guess that next year we’ll be looking at something coming from a movie like Close En­counters . . . maybe a man from outer space or a flying saucer of some kind.

Along with Star Wars’ toys, Ken­ner’s Fuzzy Pumper was popular. And I don’t want to forget Chutes Away and Mr. Quarterback for as long as we had them in stock. Other good items are the electronic gad­gets, Baby Come Back, comput­erized football and road race sets. The price of these items (some more than $25) has not been a fac­tor. Customers would pay anything for them, especially during the last four weeks of the year.

We aren’t promoting anything special. We categorize items throughout our store and the average shopper (usually a woman) will buy according to age, whether its dolls or sporting goods. Our #1 items are TV-advertised merchandise. ­We advertise heavily on radio and TV during the fourth quarter of the year and average two newspaper ­ads each week. We also run four­magazine-type ads each year as newspaper supplements.

Business in general? Probably the same as last year: pretty good. This year, however, shoppers seemed to put off their Christmas shopping until the last minute. I guess the economy and lack of funds have some impact. Because of the late shopping trend, some essential items were gone. But customers didn’t seem to mind. They came in to buy and switched to some­thing else when we didn’t have what they were looking for.

Check out our latest show:

Toy-Ventures Collectible Pins, including the Mego Mad Monsters

Do you miss toy collector magazines?

That’s why we created Toy-Ventures magazine, an old-school print publication dedicated to vintage toys from the 1960s to the 1990s. Each issue is packed with never before seen images and information written by some of the top collectors. We’ve got nine issues and climbing; please check our page here or visit our store.

Our long running Pod Cast, Pod Stallions is now available on Spotify.

The PlaidStallions Polyester Pals have arrived and come in green and orange. Be the first kid in the sandbox with our Podcast mascots!

Our latest book is “Knock-Offs: Totally Unauthorized Action Figures” a love letter to cheeky copyright-infringing toys. You can get this new book via the PlaidStallions Shop, On Amazon (Affiliate Link) or eBay (eBay Link)

FACEBOOK GROUPS FROM PLAID STALLIONS

Pod Stallions is based on our podcast and is one of the most fun groups on Facebook. Toys, Comics, Movies, TV, it’s all up for grabs, and remember, folks, you keep the glass! If you like our show, then you have found your tribe.

Mego Knock Off Headquarters– The leading group discussing 70s Dime store knock-offs and bootleg action figures, we talk vintage toys and not others. We know the difference between Astro Apes and Action Apeman.  It’s a fun group where we talk about Lincoln Monsters, AHI, Mighty Gary, Tomland, Bogi, Demo Man, Mortoys, and other generic greats.

Micronauts

Topics discussed, Mego Micronauts, Kenner Star Wars, Mattel Shogun Warriors, Toys, 1978,

The post Our best sellers are Star Wars, Shoguns & Micronauts. appeared first on PS.

To my surprise, I now am the proud owner of this, a Canadian “The Legend of the Lone Ranger” set of the Ranger and Silver by Gabriel Toys but distributed by Irwin Toys. Irwin was known as Kenner Canada and was a big deal around these parts.

I don’t collect the Lone Ranger lines, but I can’t remember when I’ve seen such an item in Canadian Packaging.  While the found “The Legend of the Lone Ranger” somewhat forgettable, I also have massive affection for this well-made toy line. 

However, what truly sold me on this piece was the back.

I will admit that I was unaware that the free Western Town Promotion was valid in Canada, but that it was that rather off sticker that clinched it for me.

The sticker indicates that this came from Consumer’s Distributing, a chain of “Catalog Showroom” shops that dotted the Canadian landscape until the late 1990s. I have a lot of fond memories of that store, especially giving the clerks fake names they had to yell out as a kid. I’m pretty sure they knew my name wasn’t Zaius.

Sadly I do not own the 1981 Consumers Distributing catalogue (#lifegoals) but I do have one from it’s another Canadian catalog firm (and equally fondly remembered) Shoprite.

It’s crazy how a simple price sticker can push nostalgia buttons like this…

Our long running Pod Cast, Pod Stallions is now available on Spotify.

The PlaidStallions Polyester Pals have arrived and come in green and orange. Be the first kid in the sandbox with our Podcast mascots!

Do you miss toy collector magazines?

That’s why we created Toy-Ventures magazine, an old-school print publication dedicated to vintage toys from the 1960s to the 1990s. Each issue is packed with never before seen images and information written by some of the top collectors. We’ve got 7 issues and climbing; please check our page here or visit our store.

Our latest book is “Knock-Offs: Totally Unauthorized Action Figures” a love letter to cheeky copyright-infringing toys. You can get this new book via the PlaidStallions Shop, On Amazon (Affiliate Link) or eBay (eBay Link)

FACEBOOK GROUPS FROM PLAIDSTALLIONS

Pod Stallions is based on our podcast and is one of the most fun groups on Facebook. Toys, Comics, Movies, TV, it’s all up for grabs and remember folks, you keep the glass! If you like our show, then you have found your tribe.

Mego Knock Off Headquarters– The leading group discussing 70s Dime store knock-offs and bootleg action figures, we talk vintage toys and not others. We know the difference between Astro Apes and Action Apeman.  It’s a fun group where we talk about Lincoln International, AHI, Mighty Gary, Tomland, Bogi, Demo Man, Mortoys, and other generic greats.

Gabriel Toys The Legend of the Lone Ranger
#toyventures #loneranger #actionfigures

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1977 saw Gabriel Toys try an interesting experiment in action figures.

Instead of licensing a hollywood movie, they sought to captilize on the making of a movie by creating a set based on then legendary stuntman Hal Needham. 

Gabriel devoted six pages of the 1977 catalog to this line and it was clearly their big feature.

 

Gabriel’s spokesman was Dick Van Dyke that year and here is a rare toy fair sales reel for the line.
 

The unique concept allowed kids to film an action sequence in a Western complete with breakaway sets, a camera and our titular Stunt Man, who wasn’t a household name.

This really was a great and well-made concept.

This should have been as big as Evel Knievel…

Issue 4 of Toy-Ventures magazine ships this June

FACEBOOK GROUPS FROM PLAIDSTALLIONS

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

Mego Knock Off Headquarters– The leading group discussing 70s dimestore goodness, we talk vintage toys, not others!

The post 1977 Gabriel Toys Hal Needham: Stuntman Catalog appeared first on PS.

The Lone Ranger toyline is easily one of the nicest action figure lines of the 1970s if not all time and Gabriel Toys had some real long-running success with it.

This 1977 Catalog is the third year for the line and shows that it was still going strong, Gabriel put a lot of effort into this catalog and it truly showcases how nice this line really was.

The way these figures held their guns was epic.

Let’s have a better look at that lovey store display

Oh man, such a lovely display.

PlaidStallions Toy-Ventures Magazine #1 is now available and it’s been called “not only an entertaining read, but it’s also an impeccable work of reference” by PopCult.

Join the Mego Knock Offs Facebook Group!

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