We’re officially into Christmas Season. Black Friday is past, I’ve attended my first Christmas choral concert, and later this week, I’ll be digging into the shed for the boxes of ornaments.
As a kid, I fondly remember laying on the floor, looking at the store catalogs pictures for Santa’s wish list. And the toy pages in the Sears, JC Penney, and Montgomery Ward were the mother load.
Although most stores had GI Joe figures or a selection of playsets, the big 3 had store exclusives. One year in particular, I got a huge box that contained both the Secret of the Mummy’s Tomb AND Search for the Stolen Idol (complete with both the all terrain vehicle and helicopter.) I later learned that it was a Sears exclusive set that year.
Those amazing offerings only lasted until the mid 1970s, when the Adventure Team began its decline. Eventually, Hasbro’s premier toy line was jumping the proverbial shark with “Bullet Man” and “The Intruders.” It would be another 25 years until we saw a new Golden Age of action figures.
The turn around began when Formative International started making individual 1/6 scale figures. The articulation was limited, the face sculpts were a bit off, and the clothing and accessories were lower quality, but it was the beginning of a new era. Soon, the GI Joe “Hall of Fame” appeared, with its chonky bodies and (figuratively and literally) ham-handed articulation. We all have to learn to crawl before we can teleport.
The Classic Collection upped Hasbro’s game, and ran into stiff competition from 21st Century Toys “Ultimate Soldier” (informally known as “GI Sam”). Before long, a dozen other companies were throwing their hats into the ring. Each line brought something unique to the table, be it Dragon’s attention to detail, BBI’s moving facial features (think Eagle Eyes, but with a grimacing mouth,) to several versions of metal weapons with moving parts. Add the growing world of The Internet, and the sky was the limit for choices.
But my absolute favorite part of this new ear was a return of the store exclusives. Many major retail stores offered a unique exclusive. Target, Kmart, Walmart, Toys R Us and KB Toys all had store exclusives. FAO Schwarz always had an exclusive, too. It was always little more elite, even more exclusive, and usually triple the cost.
The era came to a close in the mid to late 2000s. There seems to be a pattern here – the initial boon was the mid 1960s to the late 1970s. Then the resurgence from the mid 1990s until the late 2000s. If my calculations are correct, we should be seeing a new series soon. Maybe the next couple of years will present a new opportunity for us middle aged kids.
Until then, I still have a couple unopened toys laying around here somewhere. (Really? A COUPLE?) I can sit on the floor later this month and open some “new” toys.
-Toph
