Action Figure of the Week: She-Ra

Board Game of the Week:She-Ra (Mattel)

Godzilla Week: Godzilla Game (Mattel; 1978)

Action Figure of the Week: Casper the Friendly Ghost Talking Plush Doll (Mattel)

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (Mattel Edition)

Board Game of the Week: Flipper Flips (Mattel)

Action Figures of the Week: Hook (1991; Mattel)

Board Game of the Week: Hook (1991; Mattel)

At Flashbak: Mattel's Gre-gory (1980)

This week at Flashbak, I remembered Gre-gory, Mattel’s toy bat.

Here’s a snippet and the url: (http://flashbak.com/hes-the-bat-youll-love-to-hate-remembering-mattels-gre-gory-1980-366456/)

“It was great to be a kid growing in the 1970s and 1980s, in part because of great and weird Halloween toys like this one, “Gre-gory, Big Bad Vampire Bat” from Mattel.

This toy bat was made of reddish-brown, soft vinyl, and intended for kids aged seven and up. And Gre-gory could be all yours for under $12.00 dollars.

As the ads claimed, children would “go bats” for Gre-gory as they enjoyed “hours of frightening fun” playing with their new friend.  Gre-gory’s red eyes would never close, either, which only added to the nightmare fodder.  Maybe you could perch him over your bed at night?

What else could Gre-gory do?

Well at eight inches tall, he could literally bite the hand that fed him.  “Put your finger in his mouth and see what happens when you squeeze him!” the Gre-gory advertisements urged.  If that wasn’t wicked enough, kids were also implored to “see if your friend dare stick their fingers” in his mouth.

Gre-gory also had a see-through belly so you could watch “the red fluid” -- blood? -- “flow.” 

Gre-gory couldn’t do much else, though if you wiggled his wings and shook him, it apparently looked like he was in flight. Not very high-tech, in today’s world, I guess.”

Please continue reading at Flashbak.

At Flashbak: Mattel's Vertibird (1971)

This week at Flashbak, I remembered an awesome toy from the 1970s, Mattel’s Vertibird.

Here’s a snippet and the url for the article: http://flashbak.com/test-flight-skills-remembering-mattels-vertibird-1971-60080/

“In 1971, Mattel produced one of the greatest toys of a generation: the Vertibird.

The Vertibird toy featured a helicopter which could fly around a central base while a “pilot” operated a control panel which could change speed and even pitch.

The box for the original Vertibird noted that the (child) pilot could “throttle fast or slow” the copter with 8-inch rotors. The pilot could also “change altitude, speed, direction…and touchdown.” 

But there was more to Vertibird than mere flight. The plot could also engage in rescue missions, picking up an astronaut and “his space capsule.”

Described and promoted as “safe flying for indoors and outdoors,” the Vertibird came in many packages throughout the 1970s and early 1980s, and had a multitude of copycats.

In terms of copycats, Remco created a Star Trek (1966-1969) version of the Vertibird, with a flying starship Enterprise instead of a rescue copter. The toy was called CSF: Controlled Space Flight.

Mattel’s Vertibird got into the space age action as well, creating a Space:1999 (1975-1977) model – in which one could command the series’ trademark Eagle space craft -- and later a Battlestar Galactica (1978-1979) edition too….”

Please continue reading at Flashbak.

Action Figures of the Week: Grizzly Adams (Mattel; 1978)

Action Figures of the Week: Battlestar Galactica Cylon Centurian and Colonial Warrior

“In the far reaches of space, human colonies were founded by a legendary mother race.  The Colonials are their descendants.  Now, in the seventh millennium of time, these freedom-loving humans try once again for peace with their rivals, the evil, non-human Cylons.  On an errand of peace, the Colonial fleet is treacherously attacked.  The battle lines are drawn again.  Now it’s Colonials against non-human Cylons.  The epic struggle resumes.”

-From Mattel’s Battlestar Galactica Colonial Warrior and Cylon Centurion Box Art, circa 1979.

In 1979, the Star Wars (1977) toy and movie craze was still going strong, and Mattel acquired the license to Glen Larson’s new outer space series, Battlestar Galactica (1978 – 1979). It produced many toys for the line, including small toy ships (Vipers, Cylon Raiders, stellar probe, Scarab, etc.), as well as a full line of 3-inch figures.

In addition, however, Mattel manufactured two large, 12-inch figures, the Colonial Warrior and his enemy, The Cylon Centurion.   The figures shared the same body mold, which was actually a re-cast or re-use of a character called Captain Lazer” (“Major Matt Mason’s Friend from Outer Space") in the late 1960s.  This wasn't the first time Mattel had re-purposed old space toys.  Their Space: 1999 Moonbase Alpha set, for instance, featured a "star flash" computer that was also, actually, a Matt Mason toy.

Both BSG action figures came complete with a large black backpack and a “pump” that when pressed would activate the lights on their crystalline-appearing energy weapons, and in the Cylon's case, his chest light or "heart."  These energy weapons came with a variety of strange extensions, of different shapes, and made “star system sounds.”  

Additionally, the Cylon Centurion’s tell-tale red “eye” could be moved back and forth in his robotic skull by a horizontal lever on the back of his helmet.

The Colonial Warrior was a blond-haired, elfin-looking fellow garbed in a tan vest, who failed to resemble Apollo or Starbuck to even a slight degree.  In fact, he appeared to have slightly pointed ears and up-swept eyebrows, granting that kind of “fantasy" elf impression.  I remember, when my aunt Patty and Uncle Bob bought me these great toys for my birthday, the first thing I did was paint the Colonial Warrior’s hair brown.

Somewhere along the line, I managed to lose my customized Colonial Warrior.  I still have in my home office the Cylon Centurion, complete with his chrome chest-plate, though his “laser pistol” extensions are all broken or gone at this late date.  

Action Figures of the Week: Mork and Mindy (Mattel)

Breakaway Day 2015: Space:1999 Moonbase Alpha Set (Mattel; 1976)

The year 1976 was America's bicentennial, but much more importantly the heyday of Space:1999 toys and memorabilia. 

Mattel released its three-foot-long Eagle toy in 1976 and also a line of  action figures to go with this play set, the Space:1999 Moonbase Alpha "control room and launch center."  On television, this area was called "Main Mission" and was a colossal, two-level chamber replete with big screen and observation deck.

This toy doesn't quite live up to the impressive set from the Gerry and Sylvia Anderson TV series, but is a lot of fun nonetheless. 

It comes with a cool "Starflash Computer" that "really lights up!" and  vaguely resembles one of Alpha's trademark "comm-posts." 

Eagle-eyed collectors, however, will also notice that the Starflash computer is actually a toy re-purposed from the popular Matt Mason toy line of the sixties.

Other than the Starflash Computer, this set is basically a vinyl mat with  a swivel chair, a console chair and table, TV monitor screens, console readout dials, and vinyl covered walls. 

You could apply decals to the playset, to recreate scenes from Year One of the series.  Most importantly, however, this set was a place where your Commander Koenig, Dr. Russell and Victor Bergman action figures could hang out and fight Planet of the Apes figures, or the aliens from Mego's Star Trek line.

The back of the box described the set this way: "18" x 30" x 11" control room & launch center designed for 9" Space: 1999 action figures. Control panels are printed, label set and instructions included.  Action figures not included. Flasher light "D" battery sold separately."

Today, as an adult collector, I long for a more accurate representation of Moonbase Alpha, one that  captures the minimalist, Kubrickian aesthetic of the TV series a bit more closely. 

But I still have a lot of nostalgia for this toy, in part because I remember seeing it in toy stores back in the disco decade and begging my parents for it. 

Advert Artwork: He-Man and the Masters of the Universe (Mattel Edition)

The Monkees Finger Puppets (Mattel)

At Flashbak: You’ll Burn Your Fingers! Remembering Mattel’s Strange Change Toy

My latest article at Flashbak remembers the great (but finger-scalding...) toy: The Strange Change Machine (Mattel; 1967).

Here's a snippet and the url: (http://flashbak.com/youll-burn-your-fingers-remembering-mattels-strange-change-toy-1967-30791/ )

"File this one under great toys that kids of the twenty-first century would nver be permitted to play with. 

Why?

Because Mattel’s Strange Change Toy Featuring the Lost World (1967) is, essentially, a hot plate. 

Here, a child at play takes tiny square “capsules” and deposits them on the hote plate (preferably with tweezers) as it grows hot. 

After a while, the heat makes the capsules unfold into the forms of strange monsters and creatures.

Then, after the shapes have formed, you put the monsters in a “compression chamber” (really a vise, operated by a wheel) and squeeze them back into their tiny capsule form.

Not as fun as Minecraft you say?

Well, I grew up with this toy, though it arrived on the market a few years before I was born.  Still, my sister and I spent many hours burning our fingers while trying to help the capsules form into giant ants, or dangerous dinosaurs...."

BraveStarr Neutra-Laser (Mattel)

Mattel BraveStarr Playsets

Action Figures of the Week: BraveStarr (Mattel)