A TVTA Christmas Selection Box Special!
Greetings, vintage mates!
December is our busiest month here at TVTA, with lots of Christmassy search hits from retro toy lovers seeking those special treasures from a bygone age.
Join us throughout this festive month as we highlight toy and pop culture goodness with images direct from the collection of The Vintage Toy Advertiser!
Tomarts Action Figure Digest. 2006. US.
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- Tomarts Action Figure Digest. 2006. US.
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- Tomarts Action Figure Digest. 2006. US.
Master of the Universe. Hamleys Christmas Book. 1983. UK.
Star Wars. 1978. France.
Barbie. 1962. US.
Ideal. 1980. Rubiks Master Cube. France.
Quick Shoot Game. Ideal. 1972. UK.
Zeroids. Ideal. 1972. UK.
Princess Leia. Black Series. Photo TVTA.
She-Ra: Princess of Power. Mattel. Italy. 1986.
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- Ghostrider Flame Cycle. Hasbro. 2007.
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- Ghostrider Vengeance. Hasbro. 2007.
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- Ghostrider Fire Blast. Hasbro. 2007.
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- Ghostrider Caretaker. Hasbro. 2007.
Ghostrider Hasbro figures. 2007. Cardbacks. Rear.
DC Heroclix. Arkham Asylum.
Energized Spider-Man. 1978. US.
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- Back To The Future II Action Hoverport. 1989.
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- Back To The Future II Action Hoverport. Rear.
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- Jack Bauer 24. 12 inch action doll. Diamond Select Toys.
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- Jack Bauer 24. 12 inch action doll. Diamond Select Toys. Rear.
Golden Girl. 1985. Germany.
The Beatles taxis album covers. Corgi.
Thanks for looking đŸ™‚
Join us again soon for more toy goodness!
The Vintage Toy Advertiser 
Barbie, Sophisticated Lady is my fave!!! Thank you!
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My goodness, that Barbie Gown was expensive! It’s fun to see those, especially since we didn’t have those as kids đŸ˜‰
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Great post! I was just thinking about how much fun it was to get a catalog and mark everything that I wanted. It was a part of my yearly ritual. Those were wonderful times đŸ™‚
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Agree. Such a treat seeing those catalogues filled with toys and games. I have some in my collection marked by the previous owner with ticks, crosses, or the even the words ‘got’ and ‘need’ đŸ™‚ Happy days indeed!
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Brilliant Christmas toy ads! Especially love the Doctor Who themes adverts! Also liked the Masters of the Universe as a kid, always wanted a Castle Grey Skull but never go one sadly. I did have one of those energised Spider-Man toys though, was fun watching him go up his web line and shine the torch!
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Yeah, bet that Energised Spider-Man was a cool toy!
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Hi there TVTA, I kinda always wanted Castle Greyskull as a kid but never got one as I was also into Star Wars and couldn’t afford to collect both. My younger brother had that Tom Baker Dr Who figure though. We lived next door to the owner of a haberdashery/knitting shop and my mother used to knit orders for the shop so I learnt to knit (and crochet) from all the spare ends of wool lying around the house. I knitted Tom a new scarf and it was about 18 inches long. Sadly my knitting career did knot last as long as the scarf!
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Hiya. That’s cool you were able to make some additional costumes for the Doctor. Did you have Action Man too? Would have been good to knit some extras.
I always liked the Castle Grayskull play set but never had it. For Doctor Who I had a Marx Dalek as a youngling, then later as a collector I have a ton of the modern-era figures. Plus Star Wars figures. Corgi die cast. Playmobil. It’s neverending the list of other toys I’d like to get, but due to storage space issues I have to be selective.
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Hi there, my knitting skills weren’t really advanced but my mother did knock up a few jumpers and cardigans for my Action Man figures. She could knit and sew 3 to 4 jumpers per hour. I even had knitted karate suits with belts, drawstring duffel bags, scarves, hats just about everything regular sized humans wore. They were a big seller in the shop (the neighbour sold a jumper, trousers, hat and scarf as a set along with the karate/ninja uniforms).
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Brilliant stuff. They sound good, especially the karate suits.
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Nice selection box! It’s hard not to get excited by the sight of so many toys. I like the look of that Masters of the Universe castle.
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I had a few MOTU figures but never Castle Grayskull. I know if I ever saw one at a flea market I’d snap it up. Such a cool play set.
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Unique pieces there!
I was wondering how could you/we survey the topic ” Are the toys a thing of the past for children ? ( Excluding video/virtual games)”
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The toys are as popular as ever. If not more since the explosion of pop culture recognition and Film/TV franchise growth in the 21st century.
Another question: Do we ever ‘outgrow’ our toys?
I’d say no. Not now. One of the biggest factors I think is the power of nostalgia to the grown-up child who has disposable income to become either a serious toy collector or impulse-buy a certain toy they once had and cherished.
There are the ‘perennial toys’ like Lego, Playmobil and Barbie for which recent sets like Friends, Wonder Woman, Ghostbusters, Back to the Future, Scooby-Doo etc appeal to adults possibly even more so than they do to children.
The market of TV and film franchises such as Star Wars, Star Trek and Doctor Who which have spanned generations from the 60s and 70s onwards is simply massive.
Include also ageless board games like Monopoly, Cluedo, then jigsaw puzzles, colouring books, playing card games etc.
The 21st century crossover from child appeal to adult is smooth (partly because of all the pop culture we have inherited from the 70s+), and I think we never really ‘grow out’ of our toys, rather we keep ‘growing into’ them.
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Well said. And yes,my answer to the “outgrow” also seems to be :nope.
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Yeah, when you see something you loved as a kid, but also as a twenty-something, thirty-something, it’s hard to resist not wanting it đŸ™‚
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I Haven’t seen most of these toys before.
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I think I had one of the Zeroids when I was a kid but don’t remember which one.
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I didn’t know about them until I saw the catalogue page. They look really cool.
Zeroids – predating the Gerry Anderson/Christopher Burr Terrahawks Zeroid characters in the TV series by a good ten years!
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