Monthly Archives: April 2019

ThunderCats

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TVTA is pleased to present a selection of toy adverts, comic covers, mini-posters and fact files for the 1980s animated series ThunderCats. ThunderCats was originally aired between 1985 and 1989, with an additional series added in 2011 and a new series (ThunderCatsRoar) scheduled for spring 2019. The ThunderCats brand has appeared worldwide on merchandise such as action figures and play sets, toys, stickers, comics, books and a video game.

This post has been 100% office cat approved by Wooof, who has made himself a cardboard sword and a fake fur leotard costume, and is now proclaiming himself to be the new Lord of the ThunderCats!

Enjoy the scans 🙂

ThunderCats N°77. 1988. UK.

ThunderCats toy weapons. 1987. Netherlands.

ThunderCats new action figures. 1988. UK.

ThunderCats Luna-Lasher. 1988. UK.

Thundercats Cheetara mask. 1988. UK.

ThunderCats Mini Poster N°44. 1988. UK.

That’s all for now, vintage cats. Thank you for getting thunderous with us 🙂

Western Models – quality hand-built model cars

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Western Models 1982 catalogue poster. Artwork by K. Williams.

Founded in the UK in 1973 by husband and wife team Mike and Joyce Stephens, Western Models produced a range of white-metal casted cars both in kit form and fully finished. Their high quality models were aimed at collectors and enthusiasts, and were typically hand-built from a lead-based white metal. Some vehicles were produced in extremely limited quantities of as little as one-thousand per model, making them highly sought after at the time. Models such as the F1 range and racing cars were specially licensed and built with the co-operation of the racing teams of the day.

Western Models continues to exist to date though it now focuses on producing model aircraft. The following scans are from the 1982 and 1983 poster catalogues, and feature the typical 1:43rd scale vehicle range available at the time, along with its newest innovation line of 1:24th scale vehicles featuring ‘authentic wire like wheels’, or ‘realistic photo-etched wheels’ – often referred to as the ‘Small Wheels’ models.

I’ve never owned a Western Models car but would certainly like to! Looking at the images in the two catalogues you can see the amount of detail, care and attention that went into making these top quality models.

Enjoy the scans.

Information taken from the Western Models poster catalogues 1982 and 1983 – purchased and scanned by TVTA, the company website Western Models, and the Western Models Wikipedia page

As always, thanks for looking 🙂

’75-’88, comic book art and covers

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Wonder Woman N°240. 1978. Garcia Lopez et Dick Giordano.

Welcome, vintage mates, to another selection of comic book art, covers and ads. In this instalment we span the years 1975 to 1988 and feature a DC-heavy dose of amazing cover work from the likes of Garcia Lopez, Dick Giordano, Dan Jurgens, Karl Kezel, Ross Andru, Jan Duursema and Jack Kirby, along with DC adverts for Stick-ons, medallions and Superman: The Movie.

As always, thanks for looking 🙂 

Tales of the Legion of Superheroes N°321. 1985. Dan Jurgens et Karl Kezel.

Superman N°334. 1979. Ross Andru and Dick Giordano.

The Super Friends N°45. 1981. Schaffenberger et Smith.

Atlas N°1. 1975. Jack Kirby.

Power Girl. 1978.

Arion N°6. 1983. Jan Duursema.

Superman Double Dynamite. 1979.

Superman: The Movie. 1979.

Superman 50th birthday medallion. 1988.

Wonder Woman newspaper strip. 1979.

DC Super-hero Stick-ons. 1979.

Join TVTA again soon for more superb comic covers, art and adverts!

Latest ads, April luck, and Lando liked my reply!

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Happy Easter vintage mates! If you’re lucky enough not to be working over this holiday weekend then enjoy it to the max. Me, I’m working. Boo. But I do have Monday off (it’s my day off anyway – so actually it doesn’t really count).

April… Hm. An interesting month so far… I’m currently sitting on some potentially brilliant news. If it all turns out rosy I’ll be sure to let you know 🙂 If not, expect a succession of extremely ill-tempered, grumpy and sore posts. Without me giving anything away whatsoever, please wish me luck over these next couple of weeks or so!

In other interesting news…

Billy Dee Williams liked my reply!!

Billy Dee Williams Colt 45 ad. Image: The Baltimore Times.

Yes! I was strolling around Twitter at the beginning of the month, and happened to reply to a post from actor Mark Hamill about the general and all-round coolness of his fellow actor Billy Dee Williams (as you do – on Twitter). I included a pic of a vinyl album I have for the film Scott Joplin, in which BDW starred (as you do – on Twitter).

Well, fast forward a day and a bit, Billy Dee Williams only goes and likes my reply! I’ve been telling everyone since – “Hey, did you know Billy Dee Williams liked my reply on Twitter?”

Here are the screenshots which I accidentally on purpose intentionally didn’t mean to but did save to share here:

BillyDeeWilliamsLikedMyReply!BillyDeeWilliamsLikedMyReply!BillyDeeWilliamsLikedMyReply!

BillyDeeWilliamsLikedMyReply!BillyDeeWilliamsLikedMyReply!BillyDeeWilliamsLikedMyReply!

Star Trek uncut!

In a recent comic book and ad lot I picked up, I found this Star Trek The Next Generation uncut character card sheet. I have no idea what it’s meant for – trading card set, role-playing game, an unproduced test copy, a fan-made item?? Star Trek fans – do you know what this is for?

Star Trek The Next Generation Uncut card sheet.

And now, we go to a quick commercial break

Monogram World of Outlaws. 1988.

Rotadraw. France.

Revell’s Power Lords vs. Mattel’s Masters of the Universe. Article. Starlog N°80 1984. An interesting battle but one which was surely won by Mattel?

Superhero merchandise from The Super Heros Company. France. 1970s.

Heroes World. US. 1977.

Back to our Easter break…

Looking for some activities this Easter?

Speelboom Club Journal Easter activities. Netherlands.

Warning!

Easter cuteness and adorable awesome overload! 

That’s all for now vintage mates. Thanks for looking. And did I mention that Billy Dee Williams liked my reply on Twitter? 🙂

Construx by Fisher Price

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Construx. Speelboom, Netherlands.

Some of you may know of the recent Mega Construx building sets by Mattel, featuring well-known franchise entities like Masters of the Universe, Pokémon, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Monster High, Call of Duty and more. But did you know that Mega Construx has its origins dating back to the early 1980s when it was owned by Fisher-Price and known simply as Construx?

Construx. Speelboom, Netherlands.

The original Construx sets can be comparable to Lego, especially Lego Technic sets, in that creations could be built from a choice of interlocking and movable parts. Sets came with large-size beams that acted as frameworks; these were connected to smaller pieces by connector blocks. Hinges, motors, wheels, pulleys and figures added to the build and play experience.

Construx. Speelboom, Netherlands.

Construx production appears to have ended around 1988, with Mattel (current owners of Mega Brands, including Mega Bloks) re-imagining the line for their Mega Construx sets in 2017. When making my research for this post, an overiding sentiment I found among the original owners of Fisher-Price Construx was that it was one of the best construction sets of its time – even better than Lego, with many agreeing it was a toy limited only by the imagination of the builder.

Construx. Speelboom, Netherlands.

The following images come from 1986 and 87 Dutch catalogues, when the brand was heavily geared to space and action themes.

Construx. De Speelboom, 1987. Netherlands.

Construx. Intertoys Speelboek, 1987. Netherlands

Construx. Speelboom Club Journal N°4, 1986. Netherlands.

Construx. Speelboom Club Journal N°4, 1987. Netherlands.

Thank you for connecting and interlocking with us 🙂

The Barbie, Ken and Midge Wardrobe Booklet – 1962

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Here is the second of the three 1962 Barbie in-pack booklets I recently added to my collection. These beautifully illustrated catalogues show the fashion range available back when Barbie was just 3 years old!

Alongside dozens of fashion items for Barbie, Midge and Ken, other gems found inside the catalogues are the Barbie board game, the Dream House and Fashion Shop, knitting patterns, Trousseau Set and the Barbie fan club and magazine.

Below are scans from the blue version wardrobe booklet – Barbie, Ken and Midge. Click images to go bigger.

As always, thanks for looking 🙂

Ten misread internet instructions that prove I am a serial killer at heart

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Texas Chainsaw Massacre 3D. 2013. Japan.

Or so Wooof reckons… The cheeky office cat suggested I might have serial killer tendencies due to my occasional habit of misreading text, replacing innocent words with a terrifying synonym, and adding murderous instructions onto the end of online mission statements!

Pfft. Wooof’s a fine one to talk… he’s killed more than enough mice, birds, moths and garden frogs to put Ed Gein’s cat to shame, if Ed Gein ever had a cat, that is.

Dear readers, trust me when I tell you I don’t have serial killer tendencies – just poor eyesight and cheap reading glasses, and a fondness for Halloween.

Yippee!! Only 200 days to go till Halloween!

Image courtesy of days.to

You misheard it here first!

10 misread internet instructions that prove I am a serial killer at heart…

  1. eBay – Don’t forget to leave feedback for your victims.
  2. Email – You have twelve undead messages.
  3. Privacy – Your privacy is important to us, which is why we are recording you undressing.
  4. Tabs – You have multiple open stabs. Do you wish to create stab groups?
  5. Facebook – We know what you did last summer (even if you aren’t on Facebook).
  6. Blogging sites – Proudly prowled by WordPress.
  7. Virtual Assistants – You have severley disabled Alexa.
  8. Defunct Social Media – In MySpace no one can hear you scream.
  9. Twitter – Find people you know (drug them, blackmail them, kill them).
  10. YouTube – Create a personal chainsaw. Fill out the details to name your new chainsaw and verify your account.

As always, thanks for looking for innocent victims to chop up according to the voices in your head  🙂Â