Sea Devils

Sea Devils were Mattel's next 6-inch bendy after the Major Matt Mason line finished up in 1969-1970. These figures are very hard to find in any, much less good, condition. Like cousin Matt, they frequently suffer from broken wires and paint loss. There were two basic frogmen, Commander Carter and Rick Riley, that each came with oxygen tanks, fins, hoses, face mask, helmet, battery-powered sea sled and pump. Some of these pieces were actually reissues of some of Major Matt Mason's equipment. The pump would cause the figure to dive and resurface. The Search and Rescue set came with an Aqualander, a land and sea vehicle. Their enemies were Kretar and his shark Zark. These figures are very hard to find, much harder than Major Matt Mason's Scorpio. The Kretar seems to always be split around his arms and is very hard to find without broken wires or surface damage.

Figures and Accessories
Commander Chuck Carter - Figure with orange wetsuit, diving gear, sea jet and motor. (box)
Rick Riley - Figure with black wetsuit, diving gear, Sea Jet and motor. (box)
Zark and Kretor - Contains green sea creature, large shark and 6 rubber bands. (box)
Sea Devils Search and Rescue Set with Commander Carter, diving gear, Aqualander, Sea Jet and Motor. (box)

Shogun Warriors were based on the cartoon Mazinger Z from Japan which also aired as Force Five in the US. These beautiful figures were made by Popy and were sold in the US by Mattel from 1977 to 1980. They truly striking thing about the series are the 8 figures that sold from 1977-1979. These monsters were as much as 2-feet tall! The figures were able to defend the world by shooting their fists and/or launching rockets and projectiles from various places on their bodies. They had minor articulation, built-in weaponry, movable head, working arms and were on rollers. This Warriors in this line included Dragun, Daimos, Gaiking, Godzilla, Mazinga, Rodan and Raydeen. The 23.5-inch Godzilla is the and Rodon are the most coveted of the line, easily bringing $200-$300 for loose figures in auctions while the rest of the large series fetch around $150-$250. Shogun Warriors were sold in several sizes and series which only command a fraction of the dollars the big boys bring. Most of these figures and vehicles can be had for well under $100. These figures included Raider, Dangard, Voltus V, Poseidon, Combatra and Leopaldon in addition to versions of the large Warriors. Before investing make sure that they have all of the weaponry that they were sold with and that the mechanisims that launch the missles is functioning. It is not uncommon for there to be a Delta Wing Missle, Flying Fist or Shoulder Sickles missing - even from boxed figures. Also, the stickers wore quite easily with a little handling so make sure that they are clean and well attached before writing a check. You may also want to verify that the stickers and accessories aren't replicas as some dealers adopt the "if you don't ask if it's repro then you don't need to know" policy. google_protectAndRun("ads_core.google_render_ad", google_handleError, google_render_ad); Copyright 2009 GoGoMag.com. All rights reserved.
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Johnny Hero was a 13 inch figure made by Rosko Industries for Sears in 1965 as an alternative to GI Joe. He disappeared a few years after as apparently an alternative was not required. He was repackaged briefly (probably to dump unsold stock) as an Olympic Hero.

Johnny came with a red number 16 shirt, gold shorts, socks and white tennis shoes. His body was a heavy foam with plastic hands and head. He had a metal prong in his hand that helped him hold a baseball or football.

Once you bought your basic Johnny you could then buy accessory sets from your favorite baseball and football teams. It is not unusual to find later sets with mixed accessories. You may find a Vikings helmet with Redskins pants and an Eagles jersy.

One of the problems with this line was getting the helmets and clothes off on and off of the figures. The foam rubber would tear easily and the helmet was nearly impossible to get on without cracking it or scraping Johnny's ears. This means that loose figures in nice shape are a rarity.

That short production run also means that these boys are hard to find. Just a few years ago, you could find Johnny Hero MIB for under $50 and equipment sets for under $10. Now boxed figures regularly sell for $75-$125 and equipment sets for $25+.

In 1973, every pre-teenaged boy had a Wacky Pack sticker on his notebook, locker, math book,
bike, and/or the door of his bedroom.  Topps had given him a way to flick the nose of
the establishment during the awkward years when he was too old for Daffy Duck and too
young for Frank Zappa.


These Mad-magazine influenced trading card-sized stickers contained raunchy parodies
of popular products.  From Crust toothpaste to Bloodweiser beer, no product or
manufacturer was left unscathed.  Each product was given an evil alter-ego name and then
defaced with worms, poison and vomit.  A generation was being prepared for Alice Cooper.


Wacky Packs were so popular that they have been reprinted and re-released several times
during the '70s and '80s, and even again in 1991.  They even have the uneasy distinction
of being the fathers of the Garbage Pail Kids series from the '80s.  Topps also came
up with the Weird Wheels series in 1973, a tip of the hat to the very popular Rat
Fink-influenced Odd Rods, monster-car stickers by made Donruss in 1969, and Fleer's
Weird-Ohs.


It takes a seasoned veteran to figure out all of the set series
with puzzles and checklists, card variaions, short-prints, double-prints and triple-prints.
With prices of sets ranging from $30 to $500, it is worth a new collector's time to visit
some of the great Wacky Pack websites that provide this information in detail.

Muscle Bike Mania! Dad's sports car down to redline hotwheels, what was in the middle? Muscle bikes. The 1960's created a whole new era of bicycles, many made by Huffy.

This is a bit off from a typical toy, but hey, many of us looked at them and used them as much as toys. Here are 2 pretty cool Bikes That have passed through my hands. I wanted to show pictures to many of you who have followed me back in time with toys we had (or wanted) as kids. My apologies to the ladies, This is certainly a biased "boys toys" article, nothing personal.

The urge for these cool bikes hit me when I was about 4-5. I would be heading out of Grants or Ames dept stores with my parents and like Emeril says... "BANG!" there they were, shining at me with chrome and bright paint. Huffy Rails lined up along the entrance ways and sidewalks of the stores. Deep candy apple red, bright orange, and even dark mettallic purple! I recall Sitting on these cool machines on the "banana seats", my feet could barely touch the ground, shifting that 5 speed like a race car! It was heaven to a 4 year old. I also recall my parents pulling me off saying I was too young for speed bikes. And handbreaks? I was told they were life threatning, dangerous, I would flip over the handle bars?, you name it. Huffy 5 Speed Slingshots(Small front 16" wheel), Rails (this bike), or "Stingrays"(actually a Schwinn Bike)were not going to be an option for me. I wonder now if it was a price thing?? They sold for $60-$70 in old catalogs I have since seen. I bet that was big bucks back in 68'. In fact, dept store bikes cost the same today!

Well In 1973 3, 5, and 10 Speed Stick Shift Levers were banned. As a result, bicycles went to lame thumb shifters. At that time I was 6, starting with 20" bikes, but stock coaster bikes. Before you knew it I was old enough for 5 speed rails but the Shifters were long gone, so I cared less for 20" speed bikes. Quickly I bumped up to 24" English Racer 10 speeds. They became the standard as time went on in the mid 70's.

Now the details. The orange bike is a 1969 Orange Mettalic Huffy Rail 5 Speed, was stored for over 30 years. . (I always confuse the terms, rail, stingray, and Slingshot?) It is a 20"X20" bike, Red line tires, slick tire in the rear, skinny 1 3/8ths front tire. I belive Stingrays had a 16" tire in the front? What I can say, Is I have seen several variations of this bike. Sears sold this in 1968 catalogs with 2-3 configurations. The bike has white line pedals, dark ORANGE mettallic paint! Huffy flaming stack chain guard, MINT matching seat, grips, lever covers and sissybar seat pad. All Original as it sat. This bike originated from the basement of a closed bike store.

The next bike shown is a 1968ish Sears Spyder in bright mettalic blue. The Bike was restored and modified some,

It looks pretty much correct to original. The sears 20" stick shift Spyders are pretty neat. many were made in 24" wheel size. This bike also sports the cheater slick tires, standard 20" front tire. Note how the older 10 speeds had no chain guard! I hope kids had these babies adjusted correctly! I can see pants getting caught in the chain, and chain coming off. I also have a 1/2 wheel style handlbar option. Click here to see the alternate handlebars. This was taken as I receved the bike. Note the seat was wrong, panted black.

hese beautiful bendees from 1968 were the only figures ever made by the Colorforms people. The Aliens, and Mattel's Sea Devils are generally the next level for folks who have completed their Major Matt Mason collections. Like Sea Devils, Colorform Aliens are very hard to find without wire breaks, damage or melts to the rubber, and with all of their accessories.

If the first series wasn't enough of a challenge for collectors, there is a next to impossible second series of figures titled The World of the Future. There are rumored to only be a few of these prototypical sets in existence.

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Advanced Dungeons & Dragons toys were released in 1983 by LJN, and they were about to find out if there was a toy market for toys based on the ever popular Dungeons & Dragons RPG game! The figures averaged at the now common 3 3/4" height and they also had a 5" inch figure series. LJN produced these figures with extreme quality, detail, poseability, color, and even gave some a slew of weapons! They really put a full effort into this line, and they even created the Battle-Mattic action for the figures! This is where the figure has a lever on his back and you push it and their arm swings.

The figures themselves ranged from all sorts of characters. There were Humans, Mystic Knights, Ogre's, Elves, Sorcerers, Orcs, Paladins, Barbarians and Dwarf's. Accompanying these figures were the monsters & creatures, which included some horses, dragons, half beasts, and even the 5-headed Dragon Timat! In total, 22 different figures, 7 creatures and 1 playset were produced. There were many figures & monsters and even a playset that were held back and ended up never being produced.

Many side figure toy lines were made. One of which is a small 1" inch PVC line. Another line created was the Power Creature Wind-Ups. Though 3 were advertised being sold, it seems only the Cave Fisher was produced. This figure seems to be the rarest of all D&D toys produced.

LJN also produced a whole other series of Advanced Dungeons & Dragons. These figures were all PVC, and well detailed and colored. These PVC's were more based on the RPG gaming characters and monsters. Though the Action figure line did have some characters and monster appearing both in the RPG, and also in the CBS Cartoon Series. The PVC's were of characters like Bullywogs of the Bog, Fire Elemental, Odious Ogre and the Grell. Many Humans, Dwarf, and Elves figures were produced as well. Some monsters were also poseable with wires inside them, like the Chimera. There are over 45+ Advanced Dungeons & Dragons PVC figures produced and work well with the main Action Figure series.

Overall, the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons toys are one of the largest action figure series of the 80's. The series also provides the collector with many rare and unusual pieces, as well as many variants. Variants such as the card backers from 1st and 2nd series, and even the Purple and Red background colors they switched around with in 2nd series. The figures also have variants such as the 1st series reissues in 2nd series with battle-mattic actions. For a collector of the 80's, this is a good toy line to start out with. And who knows of it's future market values, with the new Advanced Dungeons & Dragons movie coming out!

Make sure to visit Alex's website The Toy Archive for more information on rare and unique toys from the 70's, 80's, and 90's .