Archives

The Humble Origins of Kenner Star Wars Part 2

Just a  follow up to last week’s post about the late start that Star Wars got toy wise. In the very same toy trade magazine that nonchalantly showcased the photo of Lucas meeting with Kenner execs had this impressive add from Ideal at the very front. Ideal invaded alright, the company worked very fast to […]

JJ Armes meet Kojak

Both these guys were based on real people, Kojak was an amalgam of several people who worked on a real life case but Armes was a real life detective with prosthetic hands. I’m not sure about the van being real however, just in my dreams sadly… More JJ Armes: “

Evel Knievel Road & Trail Adventure Set

I was scrounging through an Ideal advertising book when I remembered this somewhat more sedate Evel Knievel set.  This has to be Ideal’s response to Big Jim, who was pretty much the king of Camping related toys in 1975. Turns out, this is a pretty rare set that got limited release and a sealed one probably […]

Headquarters for Evel Knievel Action Products

Discovered this in some documents featuring Ideal toys from 1976 that I’ll feature on the site in the very near future, a photo of the different Ideal toys store displays, the belle of the ball being Mr Knievel. The displays for Mousetrap and the Junkyard game are particularly inspired, I miss the days of paintings […]

Vintage Toys I saw this weekend

This past Sunday I set up at Burlington Toy Show, mostly to hang out with friends and eat food that’s not good for me but also to hopefully earn some money for next week’s Mego Meet toy show. It was hard being good but I took photos instead of buying, above is easily the rarest toy […]

Jaws Game: Start to Finish

I found these images in a shareholders report and it gives a very rare look into the toy manufacturing world in 1977. Above is the Ideal assembly plant in Newark New Jersey, sure the plastic parts were made in Hong Kong but back then everything was assembled states side and the box was also printed […]

Ideal’s Electroman promotion

I recently came across this Ideal piece demonstrating how much TV advertising they were putting into their Electroman toy. This came as a surprise to me, as Electroman was one of those “What the heck is this?” discoveries at a flea market for me. I certainly remember Evel Knievel and JJ Armes commercials but I […]

TOYFINITY Presents: The Return of the Greatest Villain from ALL of the 70’s Space Franchises – ROBO FORCE’S THE KNIGHT OF DARKNESS!

For immediate release – April 1st, GROVERS MILL NJ –  Somber. Powerful. A grim-masked menace that strikes terror into the bravest heart. A perfect bad guy for long hours of imagination and excitement. – Ideal Toys Catalog 1978 So read the official description of the awesomest bad guy from the greatest space franchise in the […]