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The Ghost who walks (in pharmacy toy aisles)

The Phantom got a lot of cool Rack Toy love in the 70s, which is pretty cool considering he didn’t have a cartoon show to back him up.  I like all of the toys but this set, this one is something I’m actively searching for. Seriously, if you have one of these for sale, I’ve […]

Lincoln Monster Mystery

I’ve been been pretty much under the assumption that I’d seen it all when it came to Lincoln Monsters. Well, that fell apart this weekend when I got this photo emailed me to me. These are the four perfect as the day they were made Monster figures shrunk wrapped to a card. To me, it […]

Bugmen of Insecta

I thought I’d dedicate the Friday feature space to this odd little line of early 1980s obscurity. Not because I collect them but because they kind of fascinate me. When Toys R Us first hit my town in 1984, the Bug Men came with it. Their cards looked warn already and it was sort of […]

George Kennedy goes on a rampage

I’m not sure why but Larami Toys really thought that kids would dig George Kennedy and his one and a half season series “The Blue Knight”, which was the story of a veteran beat cop. They marketed all kinds of slightly ridiculous “actiony” items around the series including motorcyles with figures (which I assume means […]

Codematic by Larami

I love this display from Larami in 1976, the company prided itself on it’s ability to systematically stock toys using their sales team (they were owned by a bakery). They also really thought the image of George Kennedy would make kids weak in the knees, crap he’s on this display more than Martin Landau or […]

Star Raiders Updates

It’s been over a year since I launched the Tomland Star Raiders gallery on the site and I’ve had some good luck with regards to new images and information thanks to some lovely people who like to share. For those not in the know, the Star Raiders were a brazen and rather kooky attempt to […]

Lightning Bug

    Most people would hear the word Mego and associate it with the eight inch action figure craze they created in the 1970s that still has enduring fandom. However, the company started out as a producer of low cost “Hush Up Toys” which we now call “Rack Toys”. The majority of the companies output […]

Rack Toys full circle

One of the things I really wanted to do to promote the book was to recreate a vintage rack toy aisle, complete with the original orange peg board so common in my area. While that wasn’t a realistic goal, it’s amazing what is right under your nose. Above is M and S Mini Mart, which […]

Gerry Anderson Toy Tribute

The passing of legendary TV producer Gerry Anderson yesterday, put me into a real funk. Anderson created two of my favourite science fiction series of all time in UFO and Space:1999, not to mention a pile of super cool kid’s programming in the 1960s.  The man was a visionary, Whenever Anderson’s name appeared, awesome merchandise […]