Tag Archives: 1980s toys

Toy shop goodness: Hamleys of Regent Street, London W.1.

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Peter and Jane: We Have Fun. Lady Bird Books. 1964 / 2004.

Hamleys toy shop based in Regent Street, London, England, was founded in 1760 by William Hamley. It is the biggest and oldest toy shop in the world, and prides itself on selling not only traditional toys but newer toys that enter the market. Hamleys Book of Toys, Sports and Games, Christmas 1983 states

“Whilst traditional toys and dolls are as popular as ever, a vast revolution has nevertheless taken place in toyland. Electronic games and home computers have captured the imagination of children and their parents throughout the world.”

The Hamleys book goes on to announce the creation of a vast 4,000 sq. ft electronic games complex called ‘A Step Ahead’ with trained technology advisors on hand to guide customers through what surely must have been described back then as ‘video game heaven’.

A Step Ahead. 1983. Hamleys.

Hamleys also announce another new department ‘Small World’ featuring international dolls furniture and miniatures, as well as extra space given over for their ground floor Star Wars department.

The 123 page Hamleys Christmas book is wonderfully presented with photographs and descriptive text, giving us a sense of not just what the toys looked like back in 1983 but what they did, too. Enjoy the scans!

The 1983 Christmas Book of Toys, Sports and Games by Hamleys. Front and rear cover. The front ‘cover subject’ is “Toy Lady” while the back features one of Hamleys famous bears.

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The 1980 Trampline catalogue – how much toy goodness can you take?

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Trampline Cat PG 608 1980 01 cover POST

Cover. Trampline Catalogue. 1980. France.

The 1980 French Trampline catalogue features some well-known toys that were sold around the world during the late 1970s and throughout the 1980s. With products on offer such as French-licensed versions of Etch A Sketch, Action Man, Star Wars, Strawberry Shortcake, the Magic Treehouse toy, Evel Knievel, Lego, Lundby and Merlin, and including brands like Mattel, Revell, Ideal, Smoby, Joustra, Playskool and Miro-Meccano… the 1980 Trampline catalogue would have been a must-have publication for parents seeking to delight their children with a special gift!

Enjoy the scans! If you are interested in ordering a digital image of anything you see, contact us in the comments or at: thevintagetoyadvertiser@zoho.com

Lego and Playskool. Trampline Catalogue. 1980. France.

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MPC model kits

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The Road Runner and Wile E. Coyote MPC model kits. 1972. US.

MPC was established in 1963 by George A. Toteff Jr. and Dick Branstner. As well as producing high-quality, detailed versions of road cars, MPC produced many TV tie-in vehicles from shows such as The Monkees, Happy Days, Space: 1999, The Fall Guy, Knight Rider and The Dukes of Hazzard. Some notable film tie-ins include Star Wars, Alien, The Black Hole and Raiders of the Lost Ark.

TVTA is pleased to present a selection of print adverts as featured in comic books during the 1970s and 1980s. Enjoy!

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TENTE Construction Toys

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TVTA is pleased to present further images from the 1988 Exin catalogue featuring TENTE construction toys.

Today we look at the lines Elephant (a range of pre-school bricks similar to Duplo and Mega-Bloks), Variant, Compact and Combi (for early school ages), and then sets for the more advanced young builder featuring typical Tenté themes of helicopters, boats, military vehicles and space craft.

To round off the post we have some examples from the Titanium line… and here there can be no doubt that some of its space vehicles were inspired by certain craft from the early Star Wars franchise (X-Wing and Tie Fighters immediately come to mind). 

Enjoy the images!

Selection of Tenté construction toy lines. Composition by TVTA.

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Roblock – transforming robots you build!

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Roblock was introduced around 1984 as part of the TENTE construction toy range by Exin-Lines Bros S.A., probably as a cash-in on the trend for transforming toys such as Go-Bots, Transformers and the like. The difference was that Roblock robots had to be built first – brick by brick, with special hinges enabling the vehicle parts to become robots.

Roblocks might appear as simplistic and cartoonish for a transforming toy robot, but for me they add a special cool factor with their bold colour schemes, striking decals and fun element… I mean, who can resist a sci-fi, earth-moving machine on caterpillar treads, which can transform into a frog? That’s the kooky joy that is Frogster. See pic below…

Tente Roblock featuring the models Defender, Dark Warrior and Frogster. Exin catalogue, 1988, Spain.
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Exin Castles

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Exin Castles, known as ‘Exin Castillos’ in its Spanish country of origin, is an interlocking construction toy similar to its competitor Lego. The sets were based on the concept of medieval and fantasy castles (beating Lego, who would introduce the same themes later on) and were introduced in 1968 by Exin-Lines Bros S.A. of Barcelona, Spain. Exin was also well known for its hugely popular TENTE range of interlocking bricks.

TVTA is pleased to present images from the 1988 English/French language Exin catalogue, printed in Spain, featuring sets from the Exin Castles line as well as sets from the Golden Series line.

Exin Castles. 1988 Exin catalogue. Spain.
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Balls! Time to get mad with TVTA!

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Madballs Mad Money Wacky Cash banks. Wonderland catalogue. 1987. France.

Greetings vintage mates! Remember the short but popular phase of Madballs toys? They also had their imitators like Uglyballs and Weird Balls. Back in the day I had a few Madballs, but I didn’t know the line expanded to include money savings banks and water squirters, as seen in the 1987 edition of Wonderland Catalogue.

Madballs Water Squirters. Wonderland catalogue. 1987. France.

TVTA is pleased to present some additional images from the 1987 Wonderland Catalogue, featuring excellent toys from the likes of Bravestarr, Barbie and Popples.

Enjoy the images.

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