What My Dad Kept

My Mom and Dad have always been good at saving my brother and I's childhood things. Anything that survived after we were through with it got tucked away in storage to be found as treasure at a later date. I know I'm extremely lucky as I often hear story after story about how someone's toys were either thrown away or sold in a garage sale by parents. Luckily, over the years, I've been able to find the majority of the things I played with as a kid.

This past week, I spent several days helping my folks sort through things in their garage to either be organized or given to a place like Goodwill (furniture, clothing, etc.). To my surprise there were still quite a few childhood things that belonged to my brother and I that I hadn't somehow come across in earlier "toy recovery missions." So, this is kind of a "down and dirty" post to show some of the things I came across this past week in boxes that were in my parent's garage. These are all items from the mid to late 70s with just a couple of exceptions.

Toy Guns - The above shot is a couple of toy guns from the 70s. The Space Astro gun is one of those light and sound jobs that drive parents crazy. The other is a gun that would shoot little plastic colored disks. I believe that this one may have come on a card and been Star Trek branded, despite it's generic appearance. We also had a Star Trek phaser that shot the same disks. I'm not sure what happened to that one.


Spiderman and Hulk Silly Putty Containers - Spiderman had red putty and Hulk had green. The putty is still inside.

Paperback books from the 70s - I had no idea that I had a Welcome Back Kotter book, at some point. I'm sure I got it through one of those Scholastic school book orders. For those of you a bit younger, Welcome Back Kotter was a popular TV sitcom (remember those?) that ushered a very young John Travolta to stardom (he's on the cover at the far left).


Kiss puzzle and book - The Kiss book is another school order book. I don't remember having the puzzle...but there it is.


Six Million Dollar Man record and books - I had always wondered what happened to these over the years. I used to love to listen to the adventures on this record. It's great to have the books back again, as well.



Superman pop-up book - This is a pop-up book from 1979. It has some pretty cool actions that the pages do when you slide a lever or turn a door.


Star Trek children's books - I love the illustrations in these and they are illustrated throughout. Good stuff.


Fisher Price Adventure people - I don't know a whole lot about these guys. They belonged to my brother. I'm sure there are quite a few pieces missing.


The Lone Ranger and Silver - The Lone Ranger still had a bit of residual clout in the 70s and early 80s from previous decades. This is a 3 3/4 scale set from the 1981 movie, The Legend of Lone Ranger. So, not quite a 70s toy but close.


Starbuck from Battlestar Galactica - This is a 3 3/4 inch figure from Mattel. They created these in the wake of the tremendous popularity of Kenner's Star Wars figures. I always hated the fact that they didn't bother to paint the eyes on any of the characters.


Clash of the Titans - These are a couple of 3 3/4 scale figures from the movie. Nice likeness of Harry Hamlin as Perseus...especially at this scale.


Micronaut - This was a very cool 3 3/4 scale (noticing a trend?) line of figures from Mego. I believe the concept was licensed from Takara's Microman line from Japan. Love these guys!! Although, I have no idea who this character is. He comes with an Egyptian style tomb to store him in.


Mego Pocket Heroes - Mego made a complete line of 3 3/4 size heroes and villains. This is what's left of my brother's collection.


Tron - These are figures from the 1982 Tron movie (close but not quite 70s, again). They are also in 3 3/4 scale. They are made of a semi-translucent plastic. Cool.


Star Wars Han Solo pistol - This, to me, is the coolest thing I found. My Dad made this for me out of a couple of other toy guns in 1977 before Star Wars toys started hitting toy shelves. He chopped pieces off, used part of a scope from another gun, glued things together, and painted everything black. Sure, it's not 100% accurate but it was close enough for me. I still think he did a great job, all things considered. This was at the bottom of a box that was headed to Goodwill. I almost didn't even look through the box...and I've been looking for this thing for years. Close call.

I hope you've enjoyed this smattering of stuff I found in my folk's garage... a little something for everyone, I hope. There are still a couple of other things I found that I will probably do a more in-depth look at in the future.

What a fun week I've had!

Mego 8" Superman

, wgshMego Superman.

To me, this is the quintessential superhero action figure. Let me explain. Before this figure, my 6 year-old pop culture world revolved around things like Popeye, Sesame Street, and Disney characters. My toys mostly consisted of things like Sesame Street Puppets, Fisher Price Little People, Smokey the Bear bendies, Disney bubblegum banks, and even a real corn cob pipe and sailor hat so I could dress up as my favorite hero, Popeye. I even tried eating spinach right out of the can once to emulate my hero. Once.

One evening, my Dad returned from a business trip and presented a return-from-travel gift to me that would set my life off on a new and exciting course (cue rising music and angel chorus). My Dad gave me a Mego Superman. Now, before I go much further, I should mention that superhero action figure toys were not a part of the fabric of American culture like they are nowadays. This was something revolutionary. It was 1973 and I hadn't ever seen a toy quite as wonderful as that first Mego Superman that my Dad gave me. He was poseable. He had fabric clothing and he looked just like Superman...or at least how I thought Superman should look.


My love for superheroes began the moment I received a Mego Superman from my Dad. I distinctly remember a fascination that started at that moment and has, pretty much, continued on to this very day. I would even go so far as to say that my work in comics drawing and painting superheroes is due, indirectly, to my receiving that first Mego figure. My Dad handing that figure to me is "burned into my brain" like not many other moments from my childhood have been. So, now, every time I see a Mego Superman, I'm reminded of my own real-life Superman...my Dad.

The Mego Superman in the photos is, sadly, not my original Superman. My original figure is long-gone and saw so much play time that he became very tattered and worn...like a loved toy in the hands of a six-year old should. The figure pictured is a more recent acquisition but is a vintage figure from the same year as my original.


Superman was one of the first four figures that Mego produced (along with Batman, Robin, and Aquaman) as part of the World's Greatest Super Heroes line of figures.

A Mego Superman should include his blue jumpsuit with cape and emblem attached (early emblems were paper stickers, later issues were fabric stickers), and two red plastic boots.