Panda-monium!

Posted on October 31, 2021 by The Vintage Toy Advertiser

Happy Halloween vintage mates 🎃

Presenting:

This year’s TVTA Halloween pumpkin…

Pumpkin Panda Pink Skater!

Lol 😁

Well, that was fun, and a bit different than what my sketchbook initially suggested… it was supposed to be a bit more, erm, intimidating, but ended up a bit cute (not that I would like to see this thing skating across the floorboards in the middle of the night!).

Pumpkin Panda wasn’t so much a carving this year as a construction piece, with lots of fiddly setting up of slices of pumpkin to make the arms, legs and ears, and then adding the skate parts.

During the build, I saw that one of the pumpkins had started to rot inside … yeuch (note to self not to buy them so early next year)… some of the rotten arm and leg parts are luckily disguised by the skate pads! Then I ran out of white and red paint – she was supposed to be a pink panda, and so I had to change colour scheme to an orange/terracotta (note to self to check art materials next time!) … and then on completion I realised I had no witchy brew to celebrate (note to self to buy more beer) … and then when all was done it took me about an hour and a half to clear up the kitchen in time for dinner… eventually though, I was pleased with this year’s effort (and I got to wear my old Nirvana apron from art session days).

Hope you like Pumpkin Panda Pink Skater 🎃 🐼

Look out! The editor and pumpkin panda spot nefarious poachers in the middle distance of the TVTA art/kitchen studio and prepare to defend their art!!

Below is a gallery of TVTA’s previous Halloween creations.

Happy Halloween vintage mates! 🎃🎃🎃

Thanks for looking! 🙂

Cave Bears, Dirty Cops, Motel Psychos and The Springwood Slasher!

Posted on October 26, 2021 by The Vintage Toy Advertiser

The Clan of the Cave Bear. L’Ecran Fantastique N° 69 1986.

TVTA is pleased to present a selection of movie magazine covers and adverts featuring the talents of Daryl Hannah, Clint Eastwood, Anthony Perkins and Robert Englund among others.

Content is from 1980s editions of L’Ecran Fantastique, Starfix, Mad Movies and Spotlight magazines, as published in France at the time. The only films I haven’t seen from the titles shown are The Clan of the Cave Bear; Star Knight; Raw Deal and Monster in the Closet. The Daryl Hannah image on the cover of L’Ecran Fantastique N° 69 is just wonderful, and seems to be the same image as used for the movie posters for The Clan of the Cave Bear.

I also love the cover showing Anthony Perkins in his role as Norman Bates in Psycho 3 (for which he made his debut as a director), and the poster for Short Circuit. The Monster in the Closet poster is just hilarious fun!

Do you have any favourite images here?

Psycho 3. L’Ecran Fantastique No 71 1986.

A Nightmare on Elm Street 3. L’Ecran Fantastique N° 81. 1987.

Below: Star Trek Spotlight Special; Star Knight; Spotlight Magazine; Mannequin; Masters of the Universe; Raw Deal; Monster in the Closet; Journey to the Center of the Earth; Mad Movies; Short Circuit.

Mad Movies 47. L’Ecran Fantastique No 81 1987

Short Circuit. L’Ecran Fantastique N°71 1986.

As always, thanks for looking 🙂

Coming soon… the TVTA 2021 Halloween Pumpkin Creation, revealed!

The TVTA 2021 Halloween Pumpkin Teaser!

Posted on October 23, 2021 by The Vintage Toy Advertiser

Take one large size pumpkin, one medium pumpkin, one skateboard, some conkers and a witchy brew…

Not long till Halloween! And TVTA went shopping to pick up some of the parts for this year’s pumpkin carving ritual. Last year’s Med-Hed proved to be a popular Jack-O-Lantern treat…

As for this year, what can TVTA possibly have in store? 🎃🎃🎃

Anyone else have plans to make a pumpkin or do anything cool this Halloween?

Mebetoys 1971 Italian Die Cast Cars Catalogue

Posted on October 18, 2021 by The Vintage Toy Advertiser

TVTA is pleased to add its second catalogue to the Mebetoys category for die cast cars. This latest catalogue is from 1971 and was printed for the Italian market. The catalogue has some very cool stylised images of the models showing partial views of the car, as well as colour photographs of the range available at the time. The catalogue also includes an image for the Yogi Bear and Boo Boo car.

Thanks for looking! You can see our other Mebetoys catalogue here

Horror film posters of the 1980s

Posted on October 16, 2021 by The Vintage Toy Advertiser

As seen in adverts from the French movie magazine L’Ecran Fantastique, featuring a couple of well-known horror movies as well as some a little more obscure. Our first image is from the excellent A Nightmare on Elm Street franchise – A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors, with poster design by French artist Laurent Melki, who also designed French posters for A Nightmare on Elm Street 4; Blood Feast; 2000 Maniacs; The Last House on the Left; Night of the Living Dead; Day of the Dead; Videodrome and Creepshow among many others.

A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors. L’Ecran Fantastique No 81 1987. Art by Laurent Melki.

Next up is an advert showing the poster for House designed by artist and writer Bill Morrison, who later worked on The Simpsons and created The Beatles – The Yellow Submarine Graphic Novel. You can see his signature on the side of the doorbell, but thanks to Cameraviscera I was able to get additional info.

House. L’Ecran Fantastique No 69 1986. Art by Bill Morrison.

Next is an advert featuring the poster for The Supernaturals, a zombie film starring actress Nichelle Nichols, famous for her role as Lieutenant Nyota Uhura in the Star Trek franchise. I can’t find any information on the name of the artist for this poster.

The Supernaturals. L’Ecran Fantastique No 70 1986.

Next up is an advert for the French poster for the cult comedy horror shocker Street Trash. Artist unknown.

Street Trash. L’Ecran Fantastique No 81 1987.

Next is an advert for the poster of the film Blood Sisters. Artist unknown.

Blood Sisters. L’Ecran Fantastique No 81 1987.

Finally, we present an advert for I. Media video cassettes, featuring some popular titles available at the time to purchase via mail order.

I. Media videos. L’Ecran Fantastique No 71 1986.

Thanks for looking!

Only 15 days to go for Halloween! 🎃🎃🎃

Sixties Horror!

Posted on October 9, 2021 by The Vintage Toy Advertiser

TVTA is pleased to present a selection of Japanese horror film posters as featured in the pages of L’Ecran Fantastique from 1986. Featuring the actor Peter Cushing in various Frankenstein pictures from the British Hammer Film Productions Ltd., plus Christopher Lee, Barbara Steele and Vincent Price appearing elsewhere.

The Curse of Frankenstein L’Ecran Fantastique No 70 1986

The Evil of Frankenstein L’Ecran Fantastique No 70 1986

The Revenge of Frankenstein L’Ecran Fantastique No 70 1986

Frankenstein Must be Destroyed L’Ecran Fantastique No 70 1986

Frankenstein Created Woman L’Ecran Fantastique no 70 1986

Continue reading →

Dinky Toys 1971 Die Cast Vehicles

Posted on October 4, 2021 by The Vintage Toy Advertiser

TVTA is pleased to present scans from the 1971 Dinky Toys catalogue as produced for the French market. As well as featuring vehicles ranging from road and sports cars to military and emergency vehicles, the catalogue shows three famous pop culture TV series vehicles: the SHADO Interceptor from UFO; Lady Penelope’s FAB 1 from Thunderbirds; and the Spectrum Pursuit Vehicle (SPV) from Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons.