CLASSIC COMMERCIALS: Mattel Power Shifters Quick Change Machine

So close and yet so far... Had Mattel only thought to transform the truck into something a little more exciting than another vehicle and the history of toys would have taken a very different turn...

CLASSIC COMMERCIALS: Blip (1977)

This post over at Battlegrip got me to thinking about other early handheld electronic games - and there are few earlier than Tomy's Blip.

Like most pre-Space Invaders arcade cabinets, Blip was in fact a mechanical game. That ''timer'' you wound-up to play? It's actually a clockwork mechanism that powers the movement of the game's ''ball'' - an LED mounted on a moving pivot that would idle its way to and fro across the game ''screen'' in response to your button presses. Or rather, button very hard holds...

Yes, even by the standards of the day it was primitive. And whilst many people attribute the Game and Watch series to kickstarting the hand-held gaming revolution, credit must go to Blip for being the Granddaddy of them all.

CLASSIC COMMERCIALS: MASK Switchblade, Rhino & Thunderhawk

I never owned any MASK toys when I was a kid and it's been a while since we featured a Classic Commercial but last night I dreamed a previously-unknown friend of the family bequeathed me his mint collection of vehicles and figures. So who am I do deny my subconscious?

CLASSIC COMMERCIALS: GI Joe Dreadnoks

In honour of yesterday's Zanya Review (plus the upcoming Zandar Review) from the Big Bad Toy Store-exclusive Dreadnoks Battle Set, here's how everybody's favourite biker gang first appeared way back in 1985.

CLASSIC COMMERCIALS: The Avengers From Toy Biz

AVENGERS! SHOOT! BANG! POW! LOOK-OUT! PKOW! TOYS! WAH! EXPLOSION! BUY THEM! NOW!

CLASSIC COMMERCIALS: Barbie (1959)

I'm not the only one who gets a weird David Lynch/Blue Velvet vibe from this, right?

CLASSIC COMMERCIALS: Twist & Turn Barbie

Marcia Brady and a very happy-sounding chap promote the new-style Barbie doll, encouraging the HIP! and FAB! kids of the 1960s to trade-in their old dolls for this updated SWINGING! version.

Given that they sell for thousands of Dollars now, I wonder just how many grown-up girls are kicking themselves for parting with their original Barbies so cheaply...

CLASSIC COMMERCIALS: Hasbro's Pie Face

I can't decide which is worse - the fact that some kid, somewhere, figured-out how to tighten the spring-loaded mechanism as a way to inflict torture on their siblings or how many friendless children sat and played this game by themselves...

CLASSIC COMMERCIALS Metz' The Judder Man

So it's nothing at all to do with toys or games or even superheroes or sci-fi but this commercial for the Schnapps-based drink, Metz, is so awesomely appropriate for today that it's impossible not to share it.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

CLASSIC COMMERCIALS: The Masters Of The Universe Horde

Just throwing-out some fodder for The Four Horsemen here...

CLASSIC COMMERCIALS: Starbird By MB Electronics

This weirdly-sedate, rather sterile commercial just doesn't convey how cool the Starbird really was. An electronic toy with flashing laser blasts AND engine noises? Surely that was the Best Thing Ever! It's also interesting to note that the ad is designed for adults, presumably taking a tip from the very cool Micronauts commercials of the same era...

CLASSIC COMMERCIALS: Big Wheel by Marx

Check out this classic cat-scaring, flat-spinning, pedal-pushing action.

It's the coolest!

What kid could resist?

CLASSIC COMMERCIALS: Mattel's Cylon Centurian

I always found there to be something quite creepy about the Colonial Warrior figure in this ad. I think he reminded me of this guy from The Boy From Space. And I don't know if it's for copyright reasons or just a typo, but it's odd to see that the ad refers to the Cylon Centurion as a ''Centurian...''

CLASSIC COMMERCIALS: Mattel's V-RROOM!

A child channels Gerald McBoing-Boing whilst being interviewed by somebody who seems rather too interested in various vehicle sounds. And they say 80s advertising was coke-fueled nonsense.

CLASSIC COMMERCIALS: Great Garloo

A remote-controlled giant monster that can level cities AND bring you cups of tea?

Yes please!

CLASSIC COMMERCIALS: Superelasticbubbleplastic by Wham-O

What I find so amazing about this ad is not so much that they're selling a rubber adhesive that - I'm sure - lead to many a sealed-up mouth or nose but rather that the voice-over guy's delivery is so laid-back. Were this a modern ad he'd be shouting and screaming to get kids excited over the product. I guess youngsters back then had a longer attention span and could - ooh look, a squirrel!

CLASSIC COMMERCIALS: Kenner's Stretch X-Ray

I'd never realised how much Stretch X-Ray resembled Muton/King Walder. Had I noticed this as a child I'd probably have pestered my parents for the toy, despite the limited fun the whole Stretch line of toys offered. After all, there's only so many times you can pull the limbs out of shape and watch them slowly morph back to normal, squeeze him until one limb became huge or use him as an improvised flail to smash your cousin in the face...