Zoids – motorised monster machines by Tomy

Posted on January 30, 2018 by The Vintage Toy Advertiser

The motorised monster machines Zoids. You only have to assemble them to discover a fantastic and surprising world created by Tomy. France. Tomy mini-catalogue. 1983.

Presenting another new toy entry at TVTA.

Zoids are fictional mechanical lifeforms formed around a techno-organic ‘core’ which serves as its heart and mind. The Core is considered to be ‘alive’, making the Zoid a living creature – often some kind of animal, dinosaur or fantastic beast. The Zoids franchise includes multiple model lines since 1982, five anime series, multiple video game series, and additional supporting material. Text adapted with thanks from Zoids Wiki

Below are the scans from a tiny French Tomy catalogue I picked up showing the 1983 model range.

Click to enhance images.

Who are the Zoids? On a planet far away, millions of light years, the fantastic monster Zoids revel in titanic combat. Zoids are powerful and mobile and equipped with a super motor.

Catalogue image from Super Jouet, France, 1985.

Catalogue image from Autumn Bargains, UK, 1986.

Batman TV Series by Starburst

Posted on January 29, 2018 by The Vintage Toy Advertiser

UK. Starburst. Vol 10. Number 7. March 114. 1988.

UK sci-fi magazine Starburst devoted its March 1988 cover and an article to the popular 1960s Batman series. The article, written by Jon Abbott, talks about the initial success and then decline of Batman’s three series run on the ABC network airing between 1965 and 1968, in particular to the relation of other hit fantasy shows of the time such as Lost in Space, Bewitched, Jeannie, The Monkees, Star Trek, The Time Tunnel, Land of the Giants and The Green Hornet to name some. The article also discusses the erratic and out-of-sync airings on British TV, and some of the actors to play in Batman. Below are some pics I scanned.

UK. Starburst. Vol 10. Number 7. March 114. 1988.

All images courtesy of DC and Starburst magazine.

Nutella, it’s a jungle out there…

Posted on January 26, 2018 by The Vintage Toy Advertiser

Just got back from the supermarket with our ‘three-jar-only’ rations of Nutella, both eyes intact and no bones broken. Was a good trip today. Maybe tomorrow not so lucky.

French supermarkets these days, it’s a jungle out there…

The Nutella French supermarket brawls

Pif Gadget. 1977. France.

Nutella Poem

Nutella, Nigella, your nuts have a nuance enrobed in palm oil

Rush for nuts, aisles smeared in irate blood and nuts that are crushed

Underfoot, tut, tut, zut! Leap over yellow signs that say Sol Glissant

Nuts, Nigella, cook me up your brunch of nuts Nutella

Black dress, black hair, let’s split then call 18 pour les pompiers

Nuts, palm oil nuts, Nigella, Nutella, it’s a 24 hour gastronomic countdown to

cut price markdown meltdown supermarket aisle showdown smackdown

Downtown Intermarché, Lidl, Carrefour, Aldi, Super U, Super you

You got Nutella, 3 packs, and all your limbs intact, nuts, pots and pans

Casserole, nuts Nutella, Nigella palm oil, je suis la, j’ai faim, oui, mais calmez vous!

(love never ends) We’ll always be together, together in Nutella dreams

France. Pif Gadget. 1981.

France. Pif Gadget. 1976.

Italy. Topolino. 1978.

WCW action figures

Posted on January 25, 2018 by The Vintage Toy Advertiser

Ladies and gentlemen, WordPress promotions in association with Freshly Pressed Premium Cat Food Accounts only, are proud to present, all the way from 1992, Galoob’s World Wrestling Championship action figures and Sound Slammin’ Action Ring playset! Woop! Yeahhrrr!

“RARRRR! TVTA is comin’ atcha! Grrurrrghhhh! An’ this time we ain’t foolin’ around an’ no way we’re lettin’ them low-down vintage ad browser boys beat us and cheat us like they did last time!! So better hold on to your pants coz TVTA’s gonna be whippin’ that VTWWC¹ belt right offa your skinny hips… Weee-doggie!!!² An’ there ain’t gonna be no stinkin’ cheatin’ Google referees to place us below you in the search engine rankings this time! Grarrrrrrr! We’s mean, and keen, and goin’ up to eleven on our time machine! We’s tough, rough, got an office cat called Wooof, and you better mark our words when we say TVTA is gonna lay this thing down right now! Yeah!! Bring it on!!”

US. Galoob trade catalogue. 1992.

Thank you for Hay-making, Half-Nelsoning, and Boston-Crabbing with us on a Saturday teatime with Dickie Davies 🙂

Footstool notes:

Vintage Toy World Wrestling Championship
Thanks Mean Machine, you would have made an excellent pro-wrestler if it hadn’t been for that pesky Judge Dredd

TVTA apologies for its poor imitation of 1990s pre-match wrestling threats. Wooof ate far too many cat energy biscuits while reading his latest copy of The Cat Fanciers Furball Monthly while at the same time keeping one eye on a failed weekend binge of WCW on VHS. Normal service will be resumed as soon as we clean up the mess, rewind the tapes, and get back from Blockbusters.

The lack of sleep of the cat

Posted on January 24, 2018 by The Vintage Toy Advertiser

No work for three whole days! Yippee Wooof, it is Tuesday, right? Absotiffily, replied the cat, who was returning, somewhat bleary-eyed, from all an all-nighter down in the archives. Armed with empty cartons of Are-You-Feline-Fine-Cat-Fuel, Miow-Miow-Nitro-biscuits and a dozen or so vintage adverts, the poor mog looked absolutely exhausted!

You’re working too hard, you should take a day off, I told him, like me. Not until we get these latest ads scanned, replied the cat. We’ve got deadlines, didn’t ya know.

Me: Yes, and you have crows feet, and more bags under your eyes than the Eye of Horus coming out of Sainsbury’s on a Saturday morning! Now give me those ads and go and grab some zeds. I’ll do the scanning today.

Wooof: If you’re sure?

Me: So long as there are no clown ads I’m good.

Wooof: Nope, no clown ads today.

Me: Positive?

Wooof: Positive. Jings, sonny, when are you going to get over this ridiculous fear of clowns?

Me: I’m trying, Wooof, I’m trying. Now, donc, alors, allez, au lit… bonne nuit!

Righto, said the cat, on my way! Oh, and by the way, it’s not Tuesday, it’s Wednesday…

Too late. Cue sounds of scanner….

Whirr… whirr… click…

Whirr… whirr…

Whirr…

“Woooooooooffffffffff!!!”

In today’s Non-toy ad Tuesday non-Tuesday non-sleep blog post, we get all bubblegummed-up with Malabar and Bazooka. We get snappy with Kodak and Polaroid cameras, quench our thirst with sporty-themed drinks, brush our teeth with Colgate, discover that in Danish Kaptajn Knas cereals is Cap’n Crunch cereals, and Peter Plys is Winnie-the-Pooh, and lastly we get busy with the fizzy SodaStream!

Malabar Bubblegum

France. Pif Gadget. 1983.

France. Pif Gadget. 1978.

Polaroid Instant 10 Camera

France. Pif Gadget. 1978.

Kodak camera

Denmark. Anders And & Co. 1983.

Colgate

Denmark. Anders And & Co. 1983.

Sporty-themed Drinks

Denmark. 1988.

France. Pif Gadget. 1977.

Kaptajn Knas is Cap’n Crunch in Denmark

Denmark. Anders And & Co. 1987.

Peter Plys is Winnie-the-Pooh in Denmark

Denmark. Anders And & Co. 1981.

SodaStream

Denmark. Anders And & Co. 1981.

Denmark. 1980.

Thank you for bypassing clowns with us 🙂

Play Ballet Dancing Ballerinas

Posted on January 20, 2018 by The Vintage Toy Advertiser

Play Ballet Dancing Ballerinas was a line of 6 ½ inch dolls presented on decorative stages which could be glided across a surface to enable the dolls to spin and twirl. The dolls could also be removed from their stages for individual handplay. Characters were sold individually or in couples known as the Play Ballet Dance Partners, of which there were 6 collectable sets. Stages could be connected enabling each couple to dance together. Images are from the 1992 Galoob trade catalogue.

I’m not sure how successful these ballerina dolls were, but I think they’re pretty adorable, and the catalogue photo designs from Galoob are beautifully made… though I must admit the darker side of me can’t help but conjure a few images of Aronofsky’s Black Swan…

Black Swan. Darren Aronofsky. 2010.

Picture courtesy of Marlena Lovett – Fanpop.

Thank you for performing your ‘Fouetté en tournant en dehors’ with us 🙂

Trash Bag Bunch by Galoob

Posted on January 19, 2018 by The Vintage Toy Advertiser

Trash Bag Bunch was a line of toy figures released by Galoob in 1992. The ingenious gimmick with these toys was that they came in special ‘garbage bags’ and you couldn’t see which figure you were purchasing until you got home and immersed the bags in water. The bags would then fizz and dissolve to reveal your figure.

There were 36 figures to collect – 18 Disposers (the good guys) = the filth-fighters standing for all that is clean, and 18 Trashors (the bad guys) = evil dump dwellers fighting dirty and mean. Figures included monsters, robots and alien creatures.

A Grip ‘n Dip Bagger playset was also released in 1992. Essentially a hand-operated crane enabling you to re-bag your trash figures.

The pictures below are from the 1992 Galoob trade catalogue. Click to enhance.