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I’ve got a tough assignment for you

Growing up,  my neighbour Dave had a talking Joe, all it ever said was “I have a tough assignment for you” to the point where Dave came up with his own “tough assignment” and smashed Joe with a hammer.  It made me giggle when I read the ad copy on this page. Last I saw […]

GI Joe’s cheaper wheels

During the 60s and 70s, Irwin Toy made some lower cost blow molded vehicles for lines like G.I. Joe and Action Jackson that were a lot of fun and quite collectible these days. The cool thing about these is Irwin actually went and licensed the GI Joe name for some of these, they were branded […]

Mobile Suport Unit

As much as I adore all thing Mego, I have to admit that the GI Joe Mobile Support unit may indeed be the finest toy vehicle ever made. It honestly looks as if it’s from some Gerry Anderson TV show that never made it to air. I’ve owned this piece more than once, the hard reality […]

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 […]

1977 Johnny’s Toys Catalog

Located in Kentucky, Johnny’s Toys was one of those independant Toy retailers you sorely miss in this day and age. The store was very customer friendly, sending children birthday cards that contained a key that could unlock a free gift on their next visit. In addition, they printed these fun catalogs that showcased some of […]

Toy Recycling

I love catalog extras such as these, this pile of accessories for G.I. Joe (or as the picture demonstrates his lower cost equivilant Fighting Yank) is actually left over parts from Marx’s “Mike Hazard” spy doll from the mid 1960s. The toy industry wisely never seems to throw anything away.

Blockbuster Toy Riot

A riot indeed, a lot of my personal toy favourites in this one, including Sky Dive to Danger, Atomic Man, mego Fonzie and I still have one of those “Ranger ” walkie Talkies on my desk as I type this. Sometimes I think I’m kind of immune, then I find something like this and I […]

G.I. Joe Action Team Catalog

G.I. Joe in Europe experienced a massive change in 1975, when the ladies came over! That’s right, German adventurers Hard Rock, Tom Stom and John Steel were now joined by Super Peggy and Super Sandy. There was no kitchen playset in the action team, these women were full fledged adventurers! Other surprises this year included […]

1977 Lili Ledy Toy Catalog

Lili Ledy was Mexico’s premiere toy manufacturer and because of trade restrictions, all toys they sold had to be manufactured in Mexico. So many of the popular US lines were licensed and then produced by Lili Ledy resulting in wonderful variations that toy collectors hunt for to this day. 1977 was a killer year with […]

G.I. Joe Real American Hero 1982 Catalog

I know it’s technically not a 70s toy but it is related, plus these figures came out when I was eleven and had the distinction of being the last toys I bought to play with. In fact, on my twelfth birthday my mom made me a G.I. Joe cake (as I’ve explained before, she was […]