Tag Archives: Toys

Highlights From the 1991 Sears Wishbook

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Now that we’re past Thanksgiving, I’m all in on Christmas, and that means features like this. We’re going to look at a few things that really caught my eye while browsing through the 1991 Sears Christmas Wishbook.

Super Nintendo Entertainment System

I’m going to kick things off with the main event…the SNES! As I’ll be describing in an upcoming feature, the SNES was all I wanted for Christmas in 1991. Being a Nintendo kid, seeing that an upgraded system with better graphics was coming out just kept me on the edge of excitement all through the fall. The 1991 Sears catalog didn’t have a very big spread for the SNES but I guess that was because it was so close to press time when it came out. At the bottom of the listing, it listed just a few games with a note that said more games would be available on Nov. 1st, but you had to call and inquire about those.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Action Figures

TMNT was the hot property in 1991. The catalog had a couple of pages of just the toys, but the book was filled from front to back with licensed Turtle merchandise. Pajamas, clocks, roller skates, skateboards, and just about anything else you could think of were available with the Turtles emblazoned on them. But I like these action figures. I had a couple of the main Turtles roster, but I was at that age where I was transitioning from playing with action figures to more “grown-up” toys, so I didn’t go all in on the line. Looking back now, I wish I had. The figures were just so vibrant, and the well was deep when it came to unique characters.

Nintendo Game Watches

As I said above, in 1991 I was in a transition period when it came to the things I was buying. These game watches are a great example of the kinds of things I was spending my money on at the time. A watch is a “grown up” thing, but being a game watch, they were also fun enough to still be a toy in a way. I don’t know how fun the Super Mario 3 watch could have been with the limited graphics and gameplay ability, but Tetris is a game that is perfectly suited to this kind of offering. Being the big fan of Tetris that I’ve always been, I’m surprised I never had the watch.

Baseball Card Collector Kit

1991 would have been right near the beginning of my obsession with trading cards. My friends and I spent every afternoon trading cards, and whole summer days were taken up with the hobby amongst us. A set like this would have been something I probably actually circled in the catalog back in the day. I mean, it comes with random cards, sleeves, 9-card pages, an album, and a price guide. What more could a budding collector ask for?

Canyon of Doom Slot Car Track

I was bin into slot car tracks from an early age. My older brother had them, and he and my dad used to race them as a way of spending time together. I had several tracks of my own through the years, but nothing quite like this Canyon of Doom track. It’s pretty much just a basic track with a corkscrew in it, but it’s the theme elements that make this one stand out. Racing across the rickety bridge and through the volcano is pretty badass. Not to mention racing behind the waterfall. My cousin Tim and I could have killed many an afternoon with this track.

Robin Hood Prince of Thieves Toys

I was all in on the Robin Hood movie back in 1991. Hell, I’ve always loved the stories of Robin Hood in all their forms. So when these toys came out, I was almost compelled to revert back to the childhood ways that I was desperately trying to shake at this point in life just to play with these things. And it’s not really the action figures themselves that I salivate over today, it’s the playsets. The re-purposed Ewok village that is the “base” for the Merry Men, and the net launcher and boulder slinger really grab my attention. Especially since the net launcher and boulder thrower were re-purposed from the Bone Age toy line that I never had but always wanted.

Mini Golf Set

Oh man, this set of mini golf toys may look cheesy, but let me set the stage for you. Back in the late ’80s and early ’90s, I was doing all kinds of stuff to mimic things I was seeing on TV. Like, I would see bowling on Wide World of Sports, and I would then go and make a “ball” out of Construx, set up empty soda bottles as pins in the hallways, and I would spend the rest of the afternoon bowling. Stuff like that. So to get a set like this that I could set up a 9-hole course through the house and play some mini golf would have been right up my alley.

Nerf Bow

As I mentioned earlier, I was overly into Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves at this time in life, and as I just mentioned above, I was usually into re-creating stuff I was watching. So here comes this bow and arrow from Nerf that would just have made my playtime a whole lot easier. This Bow could easily make one of my lists of toys I always wanted but never had because I never did get my hands on one.

Days of Thunder Go Kart

Besides the Super Nintendo, this Days of Thunder Go Kart is the best thing I found browsing through the catalog. Days of Thunder was another movie that I was overly into back in the day, and I had a lot of merchandise surrounding the movie but I never had something as cool as this. While I would rather have a replica of the green and yellow City Chevrolet, I would still take this pink and white Superflo car. Do you realize how cool it would have been to cruise this thing up and down the road to trade cards with my friends instead of riding my bike? I would have been able to dazzle them so much I could have talked them into any trade I wanted.

Those are just a small snippet of highlights from the 1991 Sears Wish Book. Considering there are over 700 pages in that book, I could easily do a list of a hundred things I want from it, but we’re stopping at these nine. You can check out the full catalog, and many more, over at WishBookWeb.com. And if this kind of post is your thing, check out these other highlights posts here on Retro Ramblings:

Hot Wheels Sto and Go Playsets

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Oh man, what a rush of nostalgia this past weekend. I’m sitting on the couch watching college football, and at the same time, checking out the TRN Slack Channel. It’s where everyone at The Retro Network congregates online and share all kinds of retro stuff and family life with each other.

Courtesy of Rediscover the ’80s

So anyway, I’m checking it out and come across a picture that Jason had posted of his latest thrift store find. It was the Hot Wheels Sto and Go “City” playset. This particular playset holds a special place in my nostalgic heart for reasons I’ll explain in just a bit, but first, let me explain what a Sto and Go playset was for those who may not know.

In the early 1980s Hot Wheels started releasing their Sto and Go playsets. It was a playset that doubled as its own carry case. You could carry it around and when you wanted to play, you just popped it open, pulled out some cars, and away you went on whatever adventure your mind could come up with. All of the Sto and Go playsets had a theme.

The first one released was the Service Center. My brother owned this one and being in the same house, of course, I got to play with it. It was more fun than just imagining that you were taking your cars to the gas station or to get them washed, but in comparison to the other sets they would release, I found it a little lacking in the fun department.

The only one I personally owned was the Construction Site playset. It was great fun when you owned numerous construction vehicles as I did. That crane you see in the picture was the most fun part of it. I used that crane to lift so much stuff to the top of the playset, that I almost broke it on numerous occasions. When the weather was bad, and I couldn’t take my construction cars outside, I could always bust this out and let the good times continue.

The City Sto and Go playset was the one I really adored. Neither me nor my brother owned it, but it was one of the “community” toys that were at my grandparent’s house. The buildings that this playset had look a whole lot like the buildings on main street in Hazard County from the Dukes of Hazzard TV show. My cousins and I all had the ERTL Dukes of Hazzard cars, and I was always sure to take mine along for a visit to the grandparents. We’d take this playset outside with our Dukes cars. Being how most of Hazzard County seemed to have dirt roads, we’d set the city playset up in the middle of the action, and then incorporate all the dirt and grass around it as the rest of Hazzard County. The garage that says “Fire Station” above it became Cooter’s garage, and the Police Station was still the Police station where Roscoe’s car stayed when he wasn’t chasing the Duke boys. We had so much fun out of this playset, that one of my cousins and I still talk about it to this day.

Hot Wheels put out several more Sto and Go sets through the years, but these were the only three I ever had the joy of playing with. There was another one of them that really caught my attention, and to this day, I still hate that I never got to play with it. It was the Sto and Go Freight Yard. I’ll leave you with a picture of it, but I’ll save my thoughts on it until the next “Toys I Never Had” post.

Old Masters of the Universe Ads

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Friday Five is a quick list of five things with a common theme, and instead of doing a big write-up, I’m doing it in pictures (or videos) with just a couple of sentences to give context to the picks. You can play along by adding some of your own in the comments.

The early days of the Masters of the Universe brand were fascinating. I’ve covered a couple of the early ads here and here, and in this Friday Five post, we’re going to take a look at five more.

I’m not sure exactly when this ad is from, but it’s either from 1981 or very early 1982, as the quip at the bottom of the scroll says more figures will be coming later in 1982. And the fact that it only features characters from the original wave of figures, solidifies that thought.

The Beast Man interpretation is pretty cool in this one. I’m sure it would have been difficult to convey this look onto a plastic action figure, but that would have been a great-looking figure. It would have also been good if this interpretation was what we had gotten in the animated series as well. It would have been pretty hard to portray him as a goof like they did if the character looked like this.

Here’s another one from the early days, and it’s a sale ad from a newspaper. Again, only some figures from the original wave are featured. It’s interesting that it’s Beast Man and Stratos featured in the ad and no He-Man and Skeletor. But even though they are featured prominently, the ad seems geared more toward promoting Castle Grayskull instead of the figures.

While that $21.47 price tag after rebates sounds appealing, if you adjust it for inflations, it works out to be $65.92 in 2022 dollars. That’s right in the range I would think it should be. The figure’s price of $3.88 translates to $11.91. At that kind of price point, I’m surprised I ended up with as many figures as I did as a kid.

This ad is from 1982 and from a newspaper as well. Besides advertising several cool toys, this ad promotes the ability to meet He-Man and Skeletor in person at the local department store.

Those in-person meeting opportunities still fascinate me. They certainly weren’t going to happen in my neck of the woods. I’ve seen just a few pictures online, and don’t believe I’ve come across any stories from anyone who actually went to one. If you ever got to go to one, by all means, please share your story in the comment section.

This is a beautiful ad right here. It’s an ad from some kind of trade magazine trying to entice store owners to carry the product. Using Star Wars figures in the background is a nice move as they try to show that those toys are the past, and He-Man is the future. It details how popular the line was the year before, selling over five million figures, and promising more new figures to come. Towards the end, it mentions the opportunities for in-store experiences like we saw in the previous ad. I’m sure with the powerful imagery featured, and those statistics on sales numbers from the year before, this ad convinced a few more stores to get on board.

And finally, we come to an ad from late in the brand’s heyday. This is an ad for the Masters of the Universe magazine, which was a quarterly magazine that was only available through subscription. It features three actual issues in this ad, and if you want to see what this magazine was all about, check out the Time Capsule feature here on Retro Ramblings to browse through the entire issue pictured on the far right.

When it came to magazines like these, I always drooled over them. They were available featuring brands like MOTU, G.I. Joe, The Smurfs, Barbie, and more. The closest I ever got to that was a subscription to LEGO’s Brick Kicks magazine in the late ’80s. I was disappointed by it, but I believe I would have found this magazine fully worth the time since I was a bit younger and it would have been geared more towards my age.

If old Masters of Universe stuff is your thing, then don’t leave the sight without checking out the full scan of the 1986 Masters of the Universe Toy Catalog.

Five of My Favorite Old Hot Wheels Cars

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Friday Five is a quick list of five things with a common theme, and instead of doing a big write-up, I’m doing it in pictures (or videos) with just a couple of sentences to give context to the picks. You can play along by adding some of your own in the comments.

I spent a lot of time when I was younger playing with Hot Wheels and Matchbox cars. Just like with any other toy line, you always have a favorite few that you gravitate to. I was no different when it came to Hot Wheels. I had a ton of them, but there were a few that I would call my favorites. So for this Friday FIve, I’m sharing five of my favorites with you.

Fire Eater Fire Truck

My Dad was a fireman and the Fire Eater looked identical to one of the trucks at the local station where he served. Even though I had most of the Code Red fire trucks produced by Matchbox (which I covered here), the Fire Eater was still my go-to for imaginary fire fighting. That’s a big statement for me since I was such a big fan of the TV show. I had almost every fire truck that was available on store shelves back then, but this one was always the lead truck in the garage. It’s a beautiful representation of a fire truck, except for the blue light. But to be honest, the blue light and the blue accents in the back of the truck are part of what makes it such a great-looking Hot Wheel.

Dixie Challenger

You know by now that The Dukes of Hazzard was my favorite TV show when I was young. I had a lot of merchandise based on the show, but for a while, I lacked a 1:64 scale General Lee to play with. That’s where the Dixie Challenger came in. Up until the point I got my first true General Lee to play with, this filled the role pretty well. It kinda looked like the General Lee, and had a fast enough look that there were never any problems imagining it could outrun whatever police cars were in my collection. Once I got my General Lee, the Dixie Challenger was relegated to being the car driven by Bo & Luke’s cousins, Coy & Vance. I still can’t believe I subjected such a beautiful car to that kind of fate.

Cat Bulldozer

When I wasn’t fighting imaginary fires or running from Roscoe and Enos, I was playing in the dirt with construction vehicles. Well, not dirt. Coal dust actually. Which is a really fine black powder that gets into every possible crevice and can create a huge mess. But it was also the best substance on earth for playing with toys like these. I had a whole fleet of construction-type cars. I had regular dozers, cement mixers, scrapers, front-end loaders, and more. But this Cat Bulldozer seemed special because it had actual treads, and those two extra wheels to extend the tread just seemed so cool. It moved a lot of coal dust in its day for sure.

Rambling Wrecker

One of the earlier Hot Wheels cars I can remember being fascinated by was this Rambling Wrecker..or as I used to call it…Larry’s tow truck. I mean it’s emblazoned right there on the side of the thing. As a kid, what else would you call it? This was a must-have for someone like me who “wrecked” a lot of cars. I took the whole “wrecked car” thing farther than a lot of kids did though, as I would take some of the older cars I had gotten as hand-me-downs from my brother that I didn’t like very much and beat the snot out of them with hammers. That gave them that realistic feel. Of course, this was before Hot Wheels came out with their “Crack-Ups” line (which I covered here) and did the job for me in a much better manner than I ever could. And I would be failing you all if I did not include the fact that this Rambling Wrecker made a great stand-in for Cooter’s tow truck when playing with the Dixie Challenger as the General Lee.

Fun Fact: The original version of this tow truck had a phone number printed on the side of it. One of the folks at Mattel used their own phone number and ended up getting so many calls at their home they had to change their number.

Masters of the Universe Snake Mountain Challenge Car

So this beautiful work of art came included in the Masters of the Universe Snake Mountain Challenge playset that came out in ’85 or ’86. It was the car with which you attempted to run the course and escape Snake Mountain. I got the playset for Christmas in 1986, and as I’ve detailed before, my brother, my dad, and I spent a significant portion of the afternoon attempting the challenge. Beyond those fond memories though, they couldn’t have done a better job making this car seem like it came from Eternia…if Eternia actually had cars. But the look of it with its color scheme and all, makes it seem like it would have a home among the many various vehicles that inhabited Eternia. Maybe if it had treads instead of tires.

More toy nostalgia…

Five Highlights From the 1989 Lego Catalog

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You probably remember from past posts that I’ve always loved LEGO. In fact, I’d put LEGO at a solid number three right behind G.I. Joe and Masters of the Universe as far as favorite toys of all-time goes. I was pretty fortunate back in the day that my mom was supportive of my love of LEGO, and would buy me small sets on a fairly regular basis. Every once in a while, I would get a big set, but those times were mostly like birthdays and Christmas.

A while back, I got my hands on some of the old LEGO Shop at Home catalogs. As a matter of fact, one of the first Time Capsule posts I did here on Retro Ramblings featured the 1987 LEGO catalog. Being how it was a Time Capsule, I refrained from adding any context or memories to those pages. But today, I want to highlight some of the offerings in the 1989 catalog. Let’s check out some of my favorite things from the line in ’89!

Big Rig Truck Stop

I’ve covered this one before in the Highlights From the 1988 Sears Wishbook post, but I’ve salivated over it for so many years, that it’s worth covering again here. I grew up fascinated by big rigs since my dad had to drive them on occasion for his business. Beyond that, they were always around because there was a trucking company across the road. So I had a lot of exposure to them.

And being as how I was a big fan of LEGO and had numerous other vehicles, wanting these rigs and the truck stop just came naturally. It looks like the set comes with one tractor and trailer, one tractor without a trailer, and a big rig wrecker. Not to mention the truck stop itself, and several minifigures.

I could have certainly put this set to good use with my other LEGO city sets.

Victory Lap Raceway

Here’s another one from the city section of the catalog…the Victory Lap Raceway. I had the smaller version of this once upon a time. My dad had come home from a trip, and we took mom out on that Friday night for her weekly shopping trip. While killing time just walking through the store while mom shopped, we found ourselves in the toy section. It didn’t take much of an ask, and my old man said I could get it. But that set only had two cars and not much else with it.

This set features four racecars, two pit stalls, numerous figures, a press box, a walkway above the track, a car hauler, and two base plates! That’s an incredible amount of play time built into this set. And what cityscape would be complete without a raceway on the outskirts? Not a city I would want to live in.

Black Monarch’s Castle

The Castle System for LEGO always fascinated me, but I never had enough of it to do much with. On an episode of the old TRN Podcast, I told the tale of my cousin, Stevie the Tyrant, having the King’s Castle set at my grandmother’s house. I told how he would never let me help put it together. Instead, he would give me a knight on a horse and have me go into another room and pretend to hunt while he built the castle. A-hole.

This castle wasn’t the largest one offered in the line, but it is the largest one in this catalog so it’s going on my list of highlights. I count twelve figures, and four horses. That’s an impressive lot to go along with the castle. Especiall if you had other sets from the castle system to enjoy with this one. Just imagine the many scenarios that could be played out with this set. I know I would using it to create some of my own scenes from Willow or stuff like that with it.

Futuron Monorail Transport System

From the golden age of castles to the futuristic age of space travel. Now while I never really fancied the space sets from LEGO, this monorail always interested me. Back then, I had these dreams of building a whole LEGO city, and wanted this monorail to run through the city.

I don’t know any of my friends who had it, so I have no point of reference as to how big it was, but if it had any size to it at all, it would probably have been pretty cool to surround other space sets with it.

LEGO Pirates

This was the introduction year for the Pirates sets in the world of LEGO. THey first came to my attention in and ad in the back of an issue of Brick Kicks magazine before their release, and when I saw that ad, I was instantly hooked without ever laying hands on them. I dreamed about them so much, I featured one of the ships as a gift under my virtual Christmas tree in an old post.

After the castle system sets, it should have been a no-brainer to go with a pirate theme. That or a western theme (which would come later) would have been logical choices. They went with Pirates, and the sets they produced to back up the idea were great. I mean, just look at these two sets. Let’s start with the Caribbean Clipper on the right. A pirate ship makes a great playset as theres plenty of adventures to be had just with it. From “sailing” it around to waging battles on it’s deck, I can think of numerous things to do with it.

And then the Eldorado Fortress on the left looks like a perfect island based playset. Just think about how much fun could be had by combining the two sets. With the Clipper trying ti raid the fortress, and the fortess having to fight off the pirates…damn, I can still think of numerous adventures to be had with these things. And what you’re not seeing here is another ship that was available, and several, smaller, playsets.

I never did end up with a single piece from the Pirates system, but that never stopped my imagination from running wild everytime I saw them featured in ads or in box art.

Accessories

While this entry may seem a little mundane, remember that I said I had dreams of building a LEGO city. To have done that would have required accessories just like the ones featured here. The roadway plates, the trees, and the minifigure sets all would have been necessary to pull it off. And I can’t forget to mention the train accessories at the top. I know I wanted to incorporate the monorail system, but a train system would have been awesome as well.

There were plenty of more sets I could have highlighted in this post, but those were the big ones for me. At some point in the near future, I’ll get the entire catalog loaded to the site as a Time Capsule, so keep your eyes open for that.