Archives

Release the birthday Kraken!

Christopher Elam of the great blog OWARI submitted this great bit of 1981, this being his ninth birthday he has received the Mattel Kraken. Being of a similiar age, I wax fondly at those blockbusters that diverted our attention from Star Wars, albeit briefly…

Osmond Mania!

I’m finally coming to grips with the actual amount of time I probably spent watching the Donny and Marie show, sure the choice to watch it was made by my older sister, who at five years my senior could totally take me.  However, I will attest to kind of enjoying the experience. I watched a lot of […]

Vintage Toy Store Pictures: Part 13

It’s time once again to be whisked back to a simplier time, one that was dominated by “Mom and Pop” toy chains and the wonderful, almost chaotic way toys were distributed.  Vintage Toy Store Shots thirteen features images from a former Mattel employee, who seemed to in charge of taking shots of retail displays and […]

Italian Shogun Warriors

Mattel marketed their successful “Shogun Warriors” toy line not only in North America but to Europe as well. What’s fun about all international toy lines in the 1970s were the things that were different or at times, additional. And the Italian Shogun Warriors line does not disappoint, while Godzilla is strangely absent, Goldrake a popular […]

1975 Mattel Hot Wheels Catalog

Mattel launched the HotWheels brand in 1968 and the free wheeling 1:64 scale muscle cars became a household world by the early 1970s. By 1975, the brand was doing what it does best, creating great looking cars and complicated racing playsets, a formula they still use today. 1975 Hot Wheels Catalog

Donny and Marie meet Donny and Marie.

This shot from 1977 pictures Donny and Marie inspecting their toy namesakes at a Mattel Expo where they were guests of honour. Other notable displays at this show involved Mattel’s new line of Shogun Warriors, Slime, Pulsar and Welcome Back Kotter toys. Sadly, the article only mentions those and this is the best picture I […]

1975 Mattel Heroes in Action Catalog

 During a time when many toy companies were shying aware from realistic military toys thanks mostly to the Vietnam conflict, Mattel toys launched Heroes in Action.  Heroes in Action was a very early attempt at the 3 3/4″ figure market made popular by the Fisher Price Adventure people and later Star Wars, it’s crew comprised […]

Vintage Toy Store Photos Volume 12

It’s time once again to be whisked back to a simplier time, one that was dominated by “Mom and Pop” toy chains and the wonderful, almost chaotic way toys were distributed. Plaidstallions Vintage Toy Store Photos volume twelve is different from previous entries in that it features images from a photo album of a former Mattel employee, who […]

Sea Devils 71

The Mattel Sea Devils made so few catalog appearances in their all too brief run in the early 1970s that it’s important to point them out. I never had a Sea Devil growing up as I wasn’t two by the time the line was cancelled, I would have been ALL OVER this line though. My […]

Mattel’s The Archies

Click the link to see a larger picture After Marx introduced a series of Archie Action figures in 1975, Mattel took a kick at it in 1978 with these been bag versions that used the same construction as their then popular ‘Honey Hill Bunch” line of toys. I have to say that the Mattel sculpts […]