Greetings vintage mates! Welcome to another roundup of various print adverts featuring toy and pop culture goodness, this time from the 1970s all the way up to 2007! Let’s get the action going with…
1996. ACTION MAN (Hasbro) US.
I was pleased to get hold of the above Action Man double-page ad, even though I prefer the original Action Man line from Palitoy which I played with as a kid. The Hasbro line has already been around for more than 25 years now (how time flies!) and is starting to tingle the TVTA vintage sensors! I remember my eldest son when he was a child having lots of Action Man toys, and we would mix up what he had with some of the accessories I still had from the 70s.
The rest of the ads below you might remember if you were a 70s, 80s, 90s or even a 2000s kid! The ads come from publications as seen in the UK, US, France, Netherlands and Denmark at the time.
Enjoy 🙂
1978. PETRA / LOTTE DOLL. Denmark.
1971. SPIROGRAPH; FROG MODELS; Disney MINEMA and MINICINEX Projectors. France.
2001. CRIMSON / GHOST action figures. La Boutique Semic. France.
1987. DREAM GIRL USA. Netherlands.
1987. COX HOBBIES. SB-X Stealth Bomber. US.
2007. YU-GI-OH! and POKEMON trading cards. UK.
2005. YU-GI-OH! trading cards. Konami. UK.
2001. BUFFY / SPAWN / ZIPPO LIGHTERS. La Boutique Semic. France.
As always, thanks for looking 🙂
The Vintage Toy Advertiser 
Woah! Woah! Woah! Gimmick infringement….and Intellectual Property borrowing! I’m sorry but that Stealth SB-X Bomber is clearly the Buck Rogers Starfighter that has been modified! How on earth did they get away with that one?
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They couldn’t give a Buck!
🙂
It does look very similar doesn’t it. The angle of the SB-X on the ad makes it look slim, but when you look for models of the SB-X online it’s surprisingly wide and flat.
I think sometimes back in the day some companies couldn’t be bothered to file a lawsuit – too much hassle. It’s like the ‘Force Beam’ light sabers that were made in the UK, completely ripping off Lucas even down to copying Luke and Leia’s images on the ads, but somehow they got away with it.
Link: https://thevintagetoyadvertiser.files.wordpress.com/2013/08/sw-uk-force-beam-1978-tmwom-post1.jpg
A Brazilian company in the 80s marketed a hot chocolate drink using Darth Vader and other Star Wars images, and they got away with it too.
May The Infringement Be With You!
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I still had my Super Spirograph from the 70s up until we emigrated when I decided it should go to a new home. I’d forgotten all about it until my friend’s just-teenage son posted some of the designs he’d drawn with it a few months ago. Finding some of my handiwork still in the box, he was actually impressed with my ‘back in the day’ talent!
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I had one in the 80s. It was a really good design toy and very popular. That’s cool some of your old designs were still in that box you gave away 🙂
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Loved my spirograph! I bought one for my kids and they don’t make them as good as they used to be.
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I had an 80s version which I loved. They seemed so popular.
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Brilliant ad selection. Never seen those one’s for the Buffy action figures of the4 Spawn film video. 🙂
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Thanks, Paul. The Buffy, Crimson and the Ghost figures from 2001 are really cool. Hadn’t seen them either.
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