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Post by Thor Laserpunch on Jun 10, 2016 19:51:12 GMT -6
Oh, man. That Big Bad Stuff Hawk from '94 is truly radical! I have to admit - there's a sorta' unusual feeling that hits me in a way when the ads get totally ruthless. Like the line 'Superheroes Stand For Sales' or the body text on the Olmec one: "Look a new specific demographic, let's grab the cash up!" I don't wanna risk sounding naive, business is business. I think the feeling stems from looking at toys directly from a time when I viewed them with childish simplicity - and viewing these promos now. Most employ charm, cockiness or cheesiness, yet others are so quick draw "MONEY HAHA!" they almost slap the inner child right outta me... almost. Anyhow, this thread is right proper eye candy, Starrunn2. You have some incredible image collections in your arsenal. I think there's genuine passion in the toy industry even today... ehn, well, maybe dependent on where you look, but I'm sure that's always been the case. The hype (and a hefty dose of straight up lies, I imagine) is probably coming straight from the ad agencies. Doesn't really diminish my feelings for the toys at all--sorta like the way Leonard Part 6 is still one of the best movies of all time even though the Coz is Das Rapinator. I mean, he rides a freakin ostrich.
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Post by StarRunn on Jun 13, 2016 2:41:13 GMT -6
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Post by StarRunn on Jun 20, 2016 1:59:14 GMT -6
The advertisements in this batch are all comic book super hero related, Marvel and DC specifically. Some of them might look familiar. Earlier, I posted a Remco ad that used the same art that’s in the Marvel Crystar promo piece this time around. Actually, I have a variation on this Marvel ad, again using the same art, but the differences between the two are so slight that only a really diehard fan would want to see both of them! Another case of two similar ads is for the Mattel Secret Wars action figures. This one uses the same photo that appeared in the ad I posted at the beginning of this thread, but the copy is completely different. One ad that is a definite repeat is the Mattel one for the Justice League figures. This one was first shown in the thread featuring ads from comic books. Now, while this ad made legitimate comic book appearances, it also showed up in regular consumer magazines, but not in trade publications. Still, it’s good enough to be included here. This last ad needs some explanation. It was a 4-pager printed on light card stock and inserted in some trade magazines. It was specially cut and folded so when it was opened the Captain America kite in the middle would pop up and extend above the top edge of the magazine!
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Post by Thor Laserpunch on Jun 20, 2016 8:33:45 GMT -6
The Bond kite graphics are pretty cool. Batman looks like he's brushing dandruff off his shoulder.
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Post by StarRunn on Jul 9, 2016 7:06:53 GMT -6
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Post by Thor Laserpunch on Jul 9, 2016 11:54:48 GMT -6
Nice batch! I wonder if Chap Mei actually had licensing with those anime brands like Gatchaman and whatever else is on the card art? The blond guy and the black-haired mercenary guy both look very familiar. Curious what they put on the film slides.
That small transforming Yonezawa 4x4 really gets around--seen it under several different brands including Straco, Village Toys, & Four Star.
I quite like Metal Man figures. I remember another military themed line by Zee Toys also.
And you gotta love that unlicensed battery operated V.I.N.CENT!
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Post by StarRunn on Jul 18, 2016 7:19:12 GMT -6
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Post by figurecollector on Jul 18, 2016 9:45:46 GMT -6
Those crawling soldiers reminded me that I was looking last week for information on people born in the same year I was and found a site that also gave cost of living values at the time (housing prices, car prices, costs of a loaf of bread, eggs, etc) and an interesting section was a small display of toys from that year. I did not have anything to prove the actual scale of the item, but it was not like the 12" GI Joe weapon of the same variety. It was a a 50 caliber machine complete with tripod. It made sounds and swiveled all the way around and mentioned dual hand grips for firing, so it was not a toy for a figure. I bet you will never be able to find those again. It was something like $27.50 which would have been a high price in those days.
I am going to have to go back and see if I can find the site again.
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Post by rihia2k on Jul 19, 2016 2:39:39 GMT -6
Love to those Imperial Inflatables. Never would've imagined an official Battle Beasts inflatable. The artwork Imperial used for the Universal Classic Movie Monsters (Frankenstein in particular) is like seeing an old familiar face.
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Post by StarRunn on Jul 25, 2016 6:56:38 GMT -6
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Post by Thor Laserpunch on Jul 25, 2016 15:29:47 GMT -6
Mighty Mouse's star power seems just a bit overblown. The Bakshi/Kricfalusi show was brilliant, but I think it just about petered out by the time this ad was running. Viacom's list of licensees is kind of laughable as well. While I'm sure there's been some Honeymooners, Beverly Hillbillies, and certainly Twilight Zone merchandise available at some point in history (i.e., never an abundance of any), I have yet to see any vintage Phil Silvers Show or Carol Alt t-shirts being worn ironically by hipsters or anything.
Of course, the best property to ever appear in a Wendy's kids' meal is Gobots. But that was 30 + years ago and the toys themselves were terrible.
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Post by StarRunn on Aug 5, 2016 11:53:46 GMT -6
When I started this thread I mentioned and showed the covers of many of the toy and hobby trade magazines that are the source of the advertisements that I’m presenting here. For the most part, these are U.S. publications. One title that I haven’t talked about is Hong Kong Toys. Covering the manufacture and distribution of all the toys produced in the British Crown Colony, this magazine took on an appearance quite different from its American counterparts. Most notable was its 10½“ width, 2” wider than most other toy journals, giving it an almost square format! This gave the advertisers some much needed extra space. However, I think the real reason for this increased size was for the editorial content of the magazine which was devoted to the very artistic presentation of a wide range of toys, both individually and in themed groupings, photographed in stylized settings. Another notable aspect of the title was its page count. The earliest issue in my collection, 1977, is an unremarkable 180 pages. But the amount of pages increased every year. By 1986 it was over 600 and by 1990 it went beyond 1,000! The growth was so great that the 1991 edition was split into two volumes totaling 1,602 pages! This two volume trend continued and, of course, all of this paper added weight and things got pretty heavy. The last copy that I have, 1994 (only Vol. 1, I don’t have Vol. 2), is just under 9½ pounds! I have run some ads from Hong Kong Toys before, but I’ve put off any comprehensive coverage because of the shear volume involved. The 10½“ x 11” format also means that I have to scan full page ads in two pieces that have to be reassembled in Photoshop. However, I felt that it was time to make a serious exploration into this mountain of material, especially in search for Masters of the Universe knockoffs. So, I’ve zeroed in on the mid-‘80s; there are a couple of reasons for this. First, it was a good time for MOTU KOs. Second, from 1984 to 1987 Hong Kong Toys was produced in standard magazine width of 8½“, making my job of scanning the ads a whole lot easier. But even with the reduced width, there is still some difficulty in scanning. It’s near impossible to get square bound books of 500 to 700 pages in thickness to lay completely flat on the scanner bed. Therefore, you’ll find some cropping, distortion and shadowing of the left or right edges of some ads. OK, that’s enough explanation. Here are a few examples of the editorial showcase groupings. Since some Blackstar figures are shown above, here’s the official Galoob ad for them. The A-Team is also included as the line was part of this 2-page advertisement. Putting all of this material together brought the realization of Sewco becoming Solido in 1986! Here are ads from Takewhole and Poliports both showing Combo figures. This brings up a couple of questions. Are these advertisers manufactures or distributors? Are the figures the initial KOs or KOs of KOs? Many other same figures appear in ads for different companies, so these questions will keep returning. I don’t have any answers.
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Post by figurecollector on Aug 5, 2016 19:14:41 GMT -6
Those are great! I have some of those wrestlers in my collection.
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Post by Thor Laserpunch on Aug 5, 2016 19:45:08 GMT -6
Wow! Nice! You gotta love those covers!
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Post by alfi on Aug 7, 2016 2:11:31 GMT -6
I love this thread. Thanks much!
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Post by rihia2k on Aug 7, 2016 6:21:58 GMT -6
Beau.Ti.Ful. The colours on that '85 Sewco ad are mad gorgeous! Thanks so much for maintaining this thread.
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Post by StarRunn on Aug 12, 2016 8:10:13 GMT -6
Thanks guys for the kind words. This thread has generated more views than all of my other threads combined, so I know people are looking; still, it’s nice to get encouraging compliments. This batch continues featuring ads from Hong Kong Toys, with the emphasis on fantasy females – knockoffs of Princess of Power and Golden Girl. The Hong Kong Toys showcase group shots include Galaxy Adventure Girl and Beauties of Nature by Sungold in the first one and legitimate Masters of the Universe figures and some peripherals from Echo and Sungold in the other! I really love the line that Lucky Bell came up with to describe their Goddesses figures, “Our designs are not just parallel to the trends of the doll market, but exceed others in execution.” What a way to say, “Our copies are the best knockoffs you can buy!” I don’t remember ever seeing these characters. Here’s something a bit different, Crystar knockoffs!
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Post by StarRunn on Aug 17, 2016 8:15:01 GMT -6
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Post by StarRunn on Aug 22, 2016 6:29:42 GMT -6
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Post by Thor Laserpunch on Aug 22, 2016 13:11:22 GMT -6
Do I see some KO PVC Rocks & Bugs & Things in there??
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Post by alfi on Aug 23, 2016 4:11:36 GMT -6
Man thanks for the Dinosaurs/Godzilla/Monster pics. I have most of them and a lot of those aren't marked at all so now I know which figures belong together. Woohoo.
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Post by StarRunn on Aug 29, 2016 7:01:07 GMT -6
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Post by Thor Laserpunch on Aug 29, 2016 20:17:07 GMT -6
I remember a lot of syndicated shows from the 90s like Superboy, Renegade, Highlander, My Secret Identity, Forever Knight, about a dozen shows with Michael Dudikoff... but I totally do not remember ever seeing Super Force. I frankly doubt its existence.
Defenders of the Earth was just dope.
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Post by StarRunn on Sept 5, 2016 2:51:41 GMT -6
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Post by StarRunn on Sept 12, 2016 5:52:12 GMT -6
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Post by figurecollector on Sept 12, 2016 7:37:19 GMT -6
Hopefully we get to a new page soon so that the page does not take so long to load, but today I had the opportunity to let it fully load and I got to see a Corgi James Bond car from 1966 that I have.
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Post by StarRunn on Sept 12, 2016 14:05:16 GMT -6
The amount of material that makes up a full page is determined by the number of posts, not by how much copy or how many photos each post contains. Each page has a capacity of 30 posts. It doesn't make any difference if the post just says "That's nice!", or if it contains 15 pictures - the count is the same. I know that this particular page takes a long time to load and I find it frustrating waiting to check comments and post the next batch of material. I've actually been reducing the number of ads in my recent posts, but not enough to lessen this jam. I suppose that I could help things along in the future by splitting the ads up into several smaller posts, but the rest of you could help even more by making more comments. A few additional "I had one of those!" or simple "Thank you!"s would move things along more quickly.
If I've counted correctly, this is the 27th post on this page. Three more and we'll move on to page 4.
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Post by waywardmonk on Sept 12, 2016 15:30:07 GMT -6
Man all those different motu ko ads are so cool! The wealth of information and reference you share with this little community is staggering and very much appreciated. It is really neat to able to see original ads & manufacturer names for some of the more obscure lines. Like Tung Sing, their boxer line and apparent ninja line that used the same shields as Underworld Warriors. I never heard of Wallex' Mystic Princess or those Action Team figures. Those Powco It's Magic kits would later have the Mannix name on them. The Quality Toys/Hang Yip ad is really cool. The Vader like head and head of the blue guy in the art would be used again in the 90's to make Power Ranger knock-offs with names like Mighty Rangers, Mega Rangers, Super Robotic Rangers etc. I never knew they bootlegged those molds from previous lines. I didn't realize Dormei released generic versions of the Defenders of the Planets beasts. Anyone know if Imperial really released that single-boxed chariot without a beast? Never seen that before either. There's so much to comment on I could jabber on for quite awhile Awesome, awesome stuff StarRunn! Do you take requests? Remco's Secret of the Ninja line had some pretty rare variations with speculation of a 2nd series or foreign release. Have you run across anything about them? And you know I have to ask something Mannix related. You said you had Hong Kong ads to 1994. Is there anything on OverTop Man, Top Warrior, Monster Warriors or other figures using those early molds?
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Post by figurecollector on Sept 12, 2016 19:03:16 GMT -6
The amount of material that makes up a full page is determined by the number of posts, not by how much copy or how many photos each post contains. Each page has a capacity of 30 posts. It doesn't make any difference if the post just says "That's nice!", or if it contains 15 pictures - the count is the same. I know that this particular page takes a long time to load and I find it frustrating waiting to check comments and post the next batch of material. I've actually been reducing the number of ads in my recent posts, but not enough to lessen this jam. I suppose that I could help things along in the future by splitting the ads up into several smaller posts, but the rest of you could help even more by making more comments. A few additional "I had one of those!" or simple "Thank you!"s would move things along more quickly.
If I've counted correctly, this is the 27th post on this page. Three more and we'll move on to page 4. I hope you did not take my comment as a complaint. I have enjoyed what you have posted (and commented!) as it relates to quite a few things in my collection. It would be nice to have more comments in here so that you can keep the large posts coming.
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Post by rihia2k on Sept 13, 2016 5:55:50 GMT -6
StarRunn, I have to mention it's pretty mind-blowing how much material you have to share. And thanks for the mention on Jack Davis'artwork, may he RIP. When you began this thread I didn't expect you'd be adding as much obscure/eclectic material as you do. I'll sheepishly admit to learning more about some items I own and already thought I had all the info on.
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