Tag Archives: toys

Madelman action figures from Spain – short is beautiful

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Madelman Live Action sets. Featuring: Trapper, Canadian Mountie, Polar Expedition. FAO Schwarz. 1973_74. US.

Greetings vintage mates! TVTA is pleased to add a new toy entry to the archives – Madelman action figures, from Spain. I hadn’t come across these toys before, and when I first saw the adverts for them I believed they might be 12 inch scale (approx 32 cm) Action Man / GI Joe spin-offs of the 1960s. But no, although similar in design and play themes, Madelman figures stand up at approximately 7 inches tall (17 cm), meaning that the production costs for the figures, accessories and vehicles would have been far lower than their taller contempories back in the day.

Madelman was produced in Spain, and saw successful exports to countries like Germany, France, United Kingdom, Italy and the US. The original production years covered between 1968 to 1983. The line was revamped by the longstanding Spanish toy company Exin around 1988, but fell out of toy fashion by 1990.

Madelman Buzo Deep Sea Diver and Polar Explorer set. FAO Schwarz. 1973_74. US.

Madelman Catalogue entries. FAO Schwarz. 1973_74. US.

Madelman Live Action sets. FAO Schwarz 1974_1975 Catalogue. US.

Madelman figures space toys. FAO Schwarz 1981 1982 catalogue.

Thanks for looking!

A numerical dilemma: The Elephant in the Room!

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Cover. FAO Schwarz 1967 1968 catalogue.

Greetings vintage mates. Since 2011 TVTA has been diligently keeping track of the number of vintage print advert and catalogue images it has been archiving for your viewing pleasure. To date, prior to this post, our print archive stood at “4,998” images! Why, that’s “Enough print to encircle the planet three times, hot enough to fry an egg, deep enough to contain six Olympic swimming pools, and faster than a cheetah driving a Formula One racing car!!” or so our blurb says!

So… only two print images to go until we reach that magical figure of “5,000” archived images. Goodness! Whatever shall we post here today to celebrate such a milestone?

Well, how about this… a 1967 Corgi Toys advert featuring the Batmobile and Batboat! Bam! Pow! Kersplowie! Cool, “4,999” images! We only need one more ad to reach our 5,000 target!

Corgi toys. FAO Schwarz 1967 1968 catalogue.

Fine. So how about print image N° 5,000? What will it be?

How about this one?

The Fright Factory Thingmaker horror kit by Mattel! Y’all know how much TVTA loves horror and Halloween, right?

Fright Factory by Mattel. FAO Schwarz 1967 1968 catalogue.

Cool! But, then, how about this… The Sound of Music Dolls by Madame Alexander?

Yodel-me-not, for we do not kid around! Here it is in all its glory:

Madame Alexander Sound of Music Dolls. FAO Schwarz 1967 1968 catalogue.

Okay, but how about the splendid joy of the Teleidoscope and Musicalscope… TVTA dares you to look into the eyepiece of toy goodness and not be bedazzled by the sight and sounds which await!

Teleidoscope and Musicalscope. FAO Schwarz 1967 1968 catalogue.

However… how can one resist the lure of Lincoln Logs?

Lincoln Logs. FAO Schwarz 1967 1968 catalogue.

Or, Winnie the Pooh toys and books?

Winnie the Pooh toys and books. FAO Schwarz 1967 1968 catalogue.

Gosh-durn-it on a biscuit, what about the Hound Hotel and Bear Outing playsets that probably no one’s ever heard of but wishes they had?

Hound Hotel and Bear Outing toys. FAO Schwarz 1967 1968 catalogue.

Or the Hurricane Galloping Horse toy? Giddy up!

Hurricane Galloping Horse toy. FAO Schwarz 1967 1968 catalogue

Don’t know about you, vintage mates, but we here at TVTA are finding it hard to simply pick two adverts to reach our goal of 5,000 archived images!

How about some Dinky Thunderbirds toys?

Dinky Thunderbirds. FAO Schwarz 1967 1968 catalogue.

Or a Bilofix building set? (free pipe included for Dad to smoke on while he helps out building boats and stuff on Christmas day)

Bilofix building toy. FAO Schwarz 1967 1968 catalogue

We could always ask our TVTA intrepid office cat Wooof what he suggests as our 5,000th print image…

TVTA’s intrepid office cat, Wooof (in one of his latest incarnations. Wooof has had more nine lives than you’ve had hot dinners!)

Wooof says: “Miow, mewl, myaw, meeeow, myah, myah, myah, mioooow!”

Translated: “Dear editor of TVTA, why not just post everything you just scanned, and then we can have another week off work? You silly, human twit, you.”

Dang. So, as usual, the cat wins. Hence, TVTA is proud to announce that we have now archived “5,010” print images. Excellent. Right, we’re off to set up the Bilofix and light our pipes! As always, thanks for looking 😁

Happy Star Wars Day! May the Black Series be with you!

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Back in Black!

In 2013, Hasbro began releasing their highly anticipated line of Star Wars action figures known as the “Black Series”. The first wave of 6 inch figures proved highly poseable due to their large number of articulation points. Great attention was made to detail and paint applications, both in the figures and the accessories, along with the stylish window boxes which housed each figure, giving the brand a unique style that differed from previous incarnations of Star Wars packaging.

Indeed, the Black Series was firmly aimed at the adult collector rather than children, and with its no-nonsense, no thrills, black is black identity, many of the range sold out shortly after their appearance.

TVTA is pleased to present its thus far collection of Black Series 6 inch figures. Enjoy the pics. Happy Star Wars Day!

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Hello? Fisher-Price toys customer services department? Yes, can I get a sniffer dog please?

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The Fisher-Price Chatter telephone. 1963 catalogue detail.

Greetings, vintage mates. TVTA is pleased to add to its archives a selection of scans for Fisher-Price Toys. Who among us, as children, didn’t own or have a friend who owned the Fisher-Price Chatter Telephone? Or how about the Snoopy Sniffer dog? Or the Little People (formerly known as Play Family People)?

Little Snoopy and Snoopy Sniffer dogs. Fisher Price. 1968.

Fisher-Price is an American company founded in 1930 during the Great Depression by Herman Fisher, Irving Price, Helen Schelle, and Margaret Evans-Price. The company can proudly claim a long tradition of producing delightful preschool and early-years toys made from durable materials, and designed to last throughout generations of family members as the perfect hand-me-down toy.

Presenting: complete scans from the 1963, 1965, 1968 and 1970 Fisher-Price catalogues, each featuring toys a good deal of us will remember all too fondly.

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Live long and prosper… with Playmobil Star Trek

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Playmobil 71155 Star Trek the original series. Box front.

Never Mind The Adverts! Part 19.

Greetings vintage mates, and a happy New Year to you all. TVTA kicks off 2023 with this wonderful Playmobil homage to the original Star Trek series, featuring the figures of James T. Kirk, Mr. Spock, Dr. McCoy and Lieutenant Uhura. Nothing else to say here except that I’m very pleased to add this cool toy to my collection. I’ll let the pictures speak for themselves! Enjoy.

Playmobil 71155 Star Trek the original series. Box reverse.

Playmobil 71155 Star Trek the original series. Box detail.

Playmobil 71155 Star Trek the original series. Figures x4.

Thanks for looking 😊

Latest ads – 1970s to 1990s

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Greetings vintage mates! TVTA is pleased to present an international selection of print advertising featuring toys, games, bicycles and other goodies, as seen in the pages of comics and catalogues between 1977 and 1998.

Ricochet Racers and superhero shields. The Superhero Book Of Goodies. 1977. US.

Lotte / Petra dolls. Anders 20. 1978. Denmark.

The Bridgenorth Stamp Company. Anders 20. 1978. Denmark.

Raleigh Ultra Burner BMX. Autumn Bargains 1986. UK.

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STS 4×4 – Super Track System by Exin

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STS (Super Track System) 4×4 was an electric slot-car racing system made by Exin Lines Brothers of Spain. The track and vehicle operating systems were similar to Scalextric and other brands of the time, using a motor-driven chassis with pick-ups to make contact to an electrical current flowing inside the track.

STS 4×4 tried to do something a little different from its competitors by focusing on 4×4 vehicles and making their tracks a terrain-coloured brown as opposed to the typical black surface tracks of other brands. Extra track pieces were available to buy to expand the basic sets, along with a range of accessories such as obstacles, bridges and jumps.

TVTA is pleased to present catalogue images from the 1988 Spanish Exin catalogue and the 1988 French STS 4×4 catalogue. The images feature the main sets available at the time along with many accessories.

Cover. 1988 STS 4×4 catalogue. France.

Cover. Exin STS 4×4 segment from the Exin Catalogue. 1988. Spain.

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