Toy-Ventures: 1979 Toys R Us Catalog -Mork-Kenner Alien-Star Wars

[@50footbrewery]

The tag line, "He's a cutie" on the Alien doll made me spit-take.

[@BrickMantooth]

Yeah that's pretty sarcastic for the time.

[@spidey-67]

The Lone Ranger set! I would’ve played with that in the backyard all day!

[@dolewite1355]

I had the Elastic Hulk back then! It was basically a Stretch Armstrong. After a while I accidentally put a hole in it. It had a dark purplish type goo in it, looked like jelly. Thanks for the vids!

[@BrickMantooth]

yup corn syrup.

[@Nimisiskrash]

Fiddle stixx was my intro to Lego. Only had Lincoln logs in school. I asked toy guru did he have FS but he had no clue what I was talking about. Back when you could get DC/ marvel mech in the same line.

[@BrickMantooth]

So many people ask me the name of that set, it's unreal.

[@achtungjamie]

A lot of this was my childhood in 79. Mork and sucker man for sure.

[@oh_poor_damaged_mepatrick1529]

Funniest thing about Mork mania was that the last thing you ever heard bon Scott from ac/dc say on highway to hell is shazbot na noo na noo

[@BrickMantooth]

Ha!

[@mattledbetter859]

Pleasant Sunday night surpirse!

[@BayRidah26]

My parents got me the Alien form Kenner when I was 3 yrs old and I loved it. I’ve got a picture around with me after I opened it for Christmas. I had SuckerMan too, and he’s was fantastic

[@BrickMantooth]

Suckerman was super neat.

[@nosferatu-369]

I remember getting Hornetroid for Christmas. The Micronauts were some of the most awesome toys ever.

[@BrickMantooth]

agreed.

[@stevenmacias3605]

Thanks again for going down memory lane. I have nothing but great thought of Christmas in the late 70s. For me, Toys R Us was at its peak. Whenever my family and I visited, I'd always head towards the slot car and trains section. I was into auto racing so track set caught my attention. What stood out was the complete layouts, train and track sets, on plywood sheets hanging from the ceiling. Good times. Thank you again. 👍

[@Danadu82]

Love these romps through the old catalogues! Takes me back to the excitement of getting it and pouring over every detail as a kid.

[@BrickMantooth]

Glad you enjoyed it, more coming soon!

[@destinycaptain247]

That’s Barry Pearl, Doody - From the 1978 film Grease, behind the register in the Mork Commercial @ 2:04. Ironically, I just rewatched that film in the theatre on Friday.

[@BrickMantooth]

Thanks, I knew I knew the guy.

[@bio1656]

It makes you appriciate how we used our imagination back then .

[@BrickMantooth]

It truly does.

[@karinwade]

"Press A B C or D... NOW!" 2XL classic trivia game. I lovingly have him on a shelf with several game cartridges. My parents thought it would be an educational game for myself and younger brother that we could play together, probably justifying the cost. There are different cardboard overlays for the four buttons depending on the cartridge. You haven't laughed until you insert a 70's Elvis 8 track into the toy's belly and watch the red glowing eyes flash to the beat...Thanks for showing the ad

[@megofan5734]

I did that with a Barry Manilow 8 track tape. Didn't have the same effect.

[@karinwade]

@@megofan5734 I'm sure if you try out more tapes one may work. Also, staring into his eyes and singing along makes a great duet...lol

[@Bucky749]

I like the hulk who line. Who knew Jeffery was a macho man fan .

[@dannycruz5446]

This is probably right at the start of wanting toys as a kid and had quite a few of the stuff shown here. The most memorable for me would be the Alien figure. I begged for it only to be unable to sleep with it in my room. And my mom still reminds me of that.

[@BrickMantooth]

Ha! great story!

[@edhill4486]

Awesome video as usual Brian. I couldn't help but notice the ''Cher's Dressing Room'' playset. In my warped imagination, I could just see the tiny disclaimer ''Cuckolded Sonny sold separately.''

[@BrickMantooth]

Ha! The "Sonny studio apartment" playset never got made.

[@Cameroo]

That glorious football toybox. Doubled as a space ship or car. Eventually a Stretch Armstrong we kept in it busted and leaked syrup all inside it ruining it and several toys. I think it was replaced by the frog toybox.

[@BrickMantooth]

So many Stretch Armstrong related toy tragedies.

[@sammyscollectabletoyshall1626]

That’s awesome

[@jonathansullivan8651]

Dang, i had the stretch Hulk.

[@MadisonCarter]

I was 3 when this came out. Of what's in it, I had Suckerman and the Hulk PJs back then. Great look-through.

[@CoachOta]

9:31 Suckerman! I had a red one and it found a way into play with all my other toys. Totally random compared to lines of toys I had like Mega figures, GI Joes and Star Wars but still a fun addition.

[@BrickMantooth]

Yeah I loved random stuff like him.

[@thatlostinspaceguy]

ANOTHER Great Episode!!!

[@alonzohall8939]

Thank you for this look at this blast from the past it brought back a lot of great memories from me as a kid I look at some of the stuff and I vividly remember it now just looking at this jars the memory sucker man I had the elastic hulk I also had stretch Armstrong and stretch monster also in the stretch Superman and plastic Man also the mark from orc I remember how big the show was even as a kid then I was only like 6 years old but I even then knew how big the show was I had like the smaller Mark the two the three and three quarter inch mark from work with the egg and saw how big all this stuff was back then it was amazing it was great time to be a kid back in this thank you so much for this blast from the past keep doing what you're doing God bless take care

[@travishiltz4750]

Man, did that cause some flashbacks! Even as a kid, it seemed weird when they'd give characters like the Hulk a car.

[@Dorelaxen]

Well, to be fair, on the Super Friends, they gave Aquaman a freakin' jet ski. Wonder Woman flies naturally, but has an invisible jet. There's precedent there for giving super heroes stuff that their powers kinda do naturally. I do kinda want Hulk to have a tiny smart car, though...

[@travishiltz4750]

@@Dorelaxen Maybe get him a vespa scooter.

[@jaysonraphaelmurdock8812]

Give Hulk a Segway. 😂😂😂

[@chrissawyer1484]

My brother had that Football Toy Chest, and I had that Snoopy Pound a Ball. Those were such awesome times for us. Thank you for sharing this.

[@BrickMantooth]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@sennima]

I like how they drew Geoffrey the Giraffe as mork and mindy as well as some other characters through the ad flyer in order to draw you to the pictures of the toys. I don’t remember this from toys r us as I got older.

[@hamletstragedy8988]

I still remember the jaw dropping giant tyrannosaurus model kit. Grandparents got it for me.

[@BrickMantooth]

awesome kit!

[@elrodimusflash9331]

,elastic hulk was one of the toys we unearthed in a toy r us stock room in the late 90s. The sand had become brittle cement and the skin had decayed. As soon as a picked it up it just crumbled

[@BrickMantooth]

Yeah they were a disaster.

[@gavalar7485]

I recently found my childhood mork and egg figure set - with his repainted Battlestar Galactica body ! Loved it as a kid .

[@BrickMantooth]

I wish I had gone for the smaller Mork.

[@macorourke2222]

Totally awesomeness of a Vintage kind!! I remember surprisingly a lot of these wonderful toys. I was only 6 years old in 1979. Thanks for sharing Brother 😀 👍 ♥️ 🇨🇦 🇺🇸🇬🇧🌎🎉🎉🎉🎉👏👏👏👏🎉🎉🎉🎉💯 The alien

[@BrickMantooth]

glad you enjoyed it!

[@YAMISOOLD2009]

I would have wanted the Alien toy and Suckerman. I loved this video Brian even though I didn't get to shop in a Toys R us as a kid.

[@seanmc7128]

Thank you so much for showing the toys R US 1979 catalog. So many toys I've forgotten about and remembered after watching this! Plus I used to own a few of the toys shown. I was never able to find any hulk figures in my area back then. All I had was a small solid rubber hulk "figure" that couldn't move. I would've loved a hulk action figure back then. I was very much into the incredible hulk tv series

[@tavraney3289]

My mom and dad was divorced growing up ..he rarely came by for a visit but one time he did and bought me the alien toy. When he left mom hated it and made throw it away. Always wonder if the trash man kid got to play with it. I laid it on top of trash and not in it so someone could find it

[@BrickMantooth]

Ah man, that's heart breaking.

[@ToyAddict]

That's an awesome flyer! Had the Hulk van in the 80s, sans stickers. We used it for our dolls! Dave from the Chipmunks was always the driver.

[@BrickMantooth]

Don't get Dave angry.

[@ToyAddict]

@@BrickMantooth 🤣

[@Daniellopez-tx5xq]

Awesome vintage toys r us catalog this brings back so many memories as child there's nothing like those vintage toys from the 70s and 80s

[@japewisteria]

I know a calculator nerd (she still has her grandfather's WWII Curta), and you would be amazed at how many models and variants there are for The Little Professor, and how long it lasted in the marketplace.

[@BrickMantooth]

We still have ours.

[@shep1807]

Had the Tonka AJ Floyt racing team. Wish we would have gotten a blow up on that. Worked great with Fisher Price Adventure People. Wish I still had it

[@BrickMantooth]

Sorry I missed it but I'll be putting the whole flyer on the site this week.

[@redsoxrob1506]

in the summer of 1979 my family moved from Connecticut to Florida. most of the toys I had at the time didn't make the trip, they were given away by my parents. the Kenner Alien doll was a gift for Christmas that year, It's on display in a back bedroom right now. I remember spending hours with 2X-L, one of my favorites for sure. 2X-L, along with all GI Joe and Mego Planet of the Apes stuff, didn't make the cut for the trip to Florida. All lost to history and toys I wish I had still.

[@Nimisiskrash]

Man I had a lot of stuff that was in this circular…but I did not have that Andy gibb wireless microphone.

[@andrewtaylor940]

I think the Starcruiser One model was designed by Martin Bower who did a lot of the Space 1999 models. It is rumored that it was intended for another live action tv show. A sort of Thunderbirds meets Space 1999. A Space going Rescue team. Oh and it is interesting to see that "Carnivorous" model hit in Monogram packaging. It was originally one of the Aurora "Prehistoric Scenes kits, and was staggeringly huge for it's time. And pretty well jointed once built. Also in the original Aurrora release the eyes and teeth were glow in the dark. When Monogram re-released it after Aurora's tragic fall they left out the base that it sat on (which connected to the other kits in the line) and got rid of the glow in the dark bits.

[@BrickMantooth]

I think you're right about the Star Cruiser.

[@tay13666]

Sadly, that tyrannosaurus kit never came with a base. Not even from Aurora. The original kit did have a cardboard backdrop that never came in any of the reissues. If you ever want one with glow teeth and eyes, track down the Atlantis reissue of the kit. They had it molded in a light orange with glow bits. Much cheaper than finding an original.

[@andrewtaylor940]

@@tay13666 Goid to know. For some reason I thought it had a base that connected to the Mammoth. But I could be misremembering it.

[@Merylstreep1949]

I'd stupidly want everything on that Mork and Mindy page lol That Star Trek stuff would be cool too

[@sneakyskunk1]

During that montage sequence I found myself wondering if the Snoopy Snow Cone machine would make an appearance. I was not disappointed. Plaid Stallions is one of the consistently great retro toy channels on KZbin! I hope to see even more catalogue and flyer videos in the future. The prices alone evoke some weird nostalgia I did not even know I had. That and I think every household in which Barbie was a resident had to(by law)have that inflatable furniture set for her to lounge around on. Thanks for another trip down Nostalgia Lane!

[@BrickMantooth]

Thank you so much for this comment, you've made my day. I really appreciate it.

[@sneakyskunk1]

@@BrickMantooth Thank you for so many great videos! Plaid Stallions rule(guitar riff)!

[@Dorelaxen]

If I had to pick one...just one item, it would have to be the...ANDY GIBB WIRELESS MICROPHONE! I can be a pop star with it!

[@BrickMantooth]

totally!

[@MagnificentKaaboom]

Great Video! Top Shelf!

[@BrickMantooth]

thank you!

[@mattledbetter859]

The first page with Big Chap, Superman and Hulks... omg I'll take 4 of each?

[@BrickMantooth]

me too.

[@murphiverse]

Great stuff as always! Thumbs up on the low-key music! :)

[@esa5952]

Funny how the SW cantina play set would be almost $27 today

[@BrickMantooth]

yeah it's just plastic with a cardboard backer.

[@schristy3637]

In 79 I was 13... Starcruiser 1 is "kind of" a part of Space 1999??? If anyone would love to hear a KOOL song about the 70's... Check out Everclear's AM Radio...Very KOOL!!! Some of the lyrics..... The VCR and the DVD. There was none of that crap Back in 1970 We didn't know about a World Wide Web It was a whole different game Playin' back when I was a kid

[@popcultureoppressionobsess2104]

this was great!!

[@BrickMantooth]

thanks!

[@albertmorel2771]

I had that Buddy L Nasa Shuttle Truck Transport vehicle set. It also included a helicopter and jeep also.

[@kaioken654]

Very kool

[@Scotty-Z70]

My neighbor, Chris Davis, had the 18" Alien...and i was JEALOUS! It was huge and cool. I watched that movie every night on HBO in 5th grade.

[@LightOfReason7]

Brings back such wonderful memories, thank you so much for posting!

[@BrickMantooth]

glad you liked it!

[@SmilingJack440]

That Little Tikes Football toy chest seemed to be in every store for decades. The last time I saw one for sale in store was at a local Wal-Mart in 2008!

[@BrickMantooth]

yeah it had a long life.

[@wee67]

A lot of fun. I'd love to see any earlier catalogs you might have from the days I'd circle things to let Grandma know what I want for Christmas. Oh, just one suggestion- more star wipes!

[@BrickMantooth]

How about all star wipes?

[@scottstalcup6980]

Dang it, Brian! You said "Hulkamania" and I thought, "At last! The genius of Warren Oates' character in STR--" Nope. Can't do it with a straight face.

[@BrickMantooth]

Sgt. Hulka makes the best burgers.

[@scottstalcup6980]

@@BrickMantooth Had to do something with the cow after Lee Harvey's friend tried to make it with it.

[@anniesapp906]

Great time, great toys.

[@BrickMantooth]

They are!

[@pmwasson]

The Hornetroid was one of my favorite toys growing up.

[@jasperswarp]

I had Suckerman when I was a kid.

[@darryllharden9141]

I thought it was hysterical that the Kenner Alien Figure had a small tagline on saying "He's a Cutie!" on the advert.

[@BrickMantooth]

yeah it's sarcastic.

[@STEPHANTODD]

Had the Morks, had the Super stretch Hulk that my idiot sister dissected, gave her Barbie a mohawk in retaliation.

[@BrickMantooth]

Ouch.

[@NickBartolo]

Someone gifted me the Mork action figure in the egg that Christmas and I hated it. He was eventually beheaded by Darth Vader in an unfortunate light saber mishap.

[@karinwade]

Egg-celent!

[@russellharrell2747]

Everybody else taking about the 80s and I was lamenting that no one ever remembers the 70s. I had the Mork figure that came in his egg ship, the hulk bop bag, Suckerman, and a bunch of other stuff in these flyers. Good times

[@Gappasaurus]

0:22 😳😳😳 OMG!!! That flyer was for my local Child World store from when i was a kid! It was on Wyckoff Rd in Eatontown, NJ, across from Monmouth Mall! 😱 I’m about to hyperventilate from an acute attack of nostalgia! 😵‍💫😵‍💫😵‍💫

[@albertmorel2771]

I had that big Alien. I found pic of me with it on my 5th birthday

[@BrickMantooth]

great memory!

[@Bucky749]

I think there is a Star crusher comic but I think was only realized in the U.K in tv21 I think I could be wrong .

[@BrickMantooth]

you're right, i believe it was in Look-In

[@Clay3613]

Robin Williams was big toy collector too. Jeffery had a wife and daughter?!

[@BlakeGildaphish76]

It’s strange. i didn’t see any ads for Barbie. Did i miss it? When i was a kid, Barbie was all over Toys “R” Us flyers.

[@BrickMantooth]

Yeah it's weird, it's light on Barbie but these things were weekly.

[@keeponcollecting]

Just don't get toy catalogue like this anymore. Well not in Australia. Thanks for sharing this Brian 👍😎

[@BrickMantooth]

Cheers!

[@diaclonnnnnnne]

Thanks for highlighting the BMX bikes, I still can't figure out why the team Murray was so much more expensive than the red/yellow bike.

[@seereadnhear]

Wow absolutely amazing video Brian you keep raising the bar for us other guys on KZbin. I had a talking Mork action figure too😃

[@BrickMantooth]

Really glad you enjoyed it sir.

[@TheNightBadger]

Andy Gibb wireless microphone?! Sold! When did the BMX become the bike of choice for kids? When did it come out? I think of it as an 80's bike...

[@jaysonraphaelmurdock8812]

Omg I had the Snoopy snow cone machine!

[@seereadnhear]

I don't know if they had him around your parts but there was also Lionel Playworld as well and they had like a kangaroo as their mascot if I'm not mistaken

[@beam72]

Lionel kiddie city Allentown PA ?

[@BrickMantooth]

We didn't have them in Canada sadly.

[@megofan5734]

I sure do miss Lionel Playworld and their kangaroo. My family and I were regular customers of that store for several years. Thankfully, I still have many toys I got from that store, mostly Star Wars, of course.

[@johnmiddleton4291]

I had that Football toy chest and my younger brother used to dump it out and hide inside of it. Huge mystery where he might be with the mound of toys laying there.

[@unitruth]

I see Mego and Hasbro were listening to me, they're making 8 in mego style Ghostbusters figures

[@pikapal91746]

My cousin's friend has or had a Mego 2XL like you said he used it as an 8-track player.

[@BrickMantooth]

I totally would.

[@LannieLord]

I remember PILES of Suckerman with the orange clearance stickers .................. PILES and PILES .... Did they think this was going to be the next Stretch Armstrong ? I bought 1 of each color and 1 Glow in the Dark. You can tell when you look at his face that whoever sculpted this was the same artist who did many MOTU figures , later on ! I am old now - BUT it was FUN to be an adult collector (college age) in 1981-1985 !! So so many leftover toys STILL on the shelves . One time we found a BUNCH go MEGO Huggy Bears for $1.29 each. And there was 1 or 2 Captain Dobey (we were surprised that they did not give Captain Dobey the "fat" Mego body a la Penguin & Myxzyplyx . LOL. )

[@LannieLord]

P.S. There were NO TOY SHOWS in the early 1980s - so you had to seek out ANTIQUE shows to hope and prey one person had old toys from the 1960s and 1970s . And back then- FLEA MARKETS sold new merchandise like packages of socks and handbags and sneakers .

[@Scotty-Z70]

i have both Mork and Mindy dolls, and had the egg ship with 4" Mork when i was a kid

[@Nimisiskrash]

Lol I had a choice between aliens or sucker man…I picked sucker man. I like trowing things as a kid 🤷🏾‍♂️ That aliens toy sat like a cornerstone brick 🧱

[@Kranekick1985]

Good vid.👌

[@BrickMantooth]

thanks!

[@karinwade]

I had a Holly Hobbie easy bake oven, although I think it was an earlier version and yes I burnt myself on it... I never met anyone who didn't have a snoopy sno-cone machine

[@megofan5734]

I have one.

[@karinwade]

@@megofan5734 My favorite HH item was a cardboard playhouse. Do you have any other HH items?

[@megofan5734]

@@karinwade My sister's old toys are still at my house. Her entire Barbie collection and Dream House, that her daughter has played with, and her Holly Hobbie Colorforms set.

[@karinwade]

@@megofan5734 Thank you for mentioning the colorforms! I had the HH dressup set. Loved her bonnets/dresses. The plastic/vinyl which was so hard to peel...upgraded paper dolls😊 My kissing Barbie's mechanism broke, making her head pop upward! I had a bionic woman doll, but I always wanted the lab accessories and connections to plug into the hole in her arm (sadly didn't happen) Thanks for sharing!

[@megofan5734]

​@@karinwade I have a pretty large Colorforms collection, mostly super heroes- that's what I mostly collect. It's too bad you didn't get a Bionic Beauty Salon. I found one on Ebay for a good price. My sister's Kissing Barbie works fairly well, but the lipstick is all dried out. I think her favorite is the Superstar Barbie. Mine too.

[@ChapMeifan]

I had that Star Defender vehicle and it was never motorized. I wonder if a few made it into select markets with an electric battery-powered motor? I was always baffled why the Mork and Eggship were always so cheap. Two bucks and change for a figure and vehicle? Granted, it was a cheap egg with a blue seat but Mork was a great figure.

[@BrickMantooth]

It certainly was a decent deal.

[@andrewtaylor940]

I think Airfix had some of their kits motorized in their original UK releases, but they were released without the motors in the North American release versions. They may have required some extra step of certification in either the US or Canada to include the electronics? Or it may have just been cost cutting to hit a better price point.

[@TheRealNormanBates]

8:05 that *Alien* figure goes for @ $100 now 8:23 the “Starcruiser 1” looks like the Swift from *Space:1999*

[@BrickMantooth]

it does look like a Super Swift.

[@paulnewton1001]

I had the stretch hulk loved it

[@camcordernonsense5264]

oh to paroose through these at breakfast and jump in the family truck to go buy some of these.

[@MartenFerret]

Talking Mork! D:

[@KasumiKenshirou]

7:06 "Mr. Mouth" was called "Pac-Man Game" in Japan, predating the Namco arcade game by several years.

[@ShadeofJeremy]

Cool flyer. Never even thought of collecting those. There is a few things in here. But mainly I'd be interested in the Snoopy stuff if I'm being honest. I have an old, unusable snow-cone maker missing most of the parts and really yellow. Other than Snoopy that Holly Hobbie oven I like. The old, cast iron stove look appeals to me.

[@loganjorgensen]

I'm always shocked, just shocked any of these catalog pages survived this long when people show them. In hindsight I wished I had kept stuff like that as a yearly memento, wasn't like I got everything I wanted on Christmas or birthdays heh. But you can't have everything, where would you put it? ;) Probably the funniest items are the vehicles for characters that don't typically drive, yeah The Hulk had a garage just like Jay Leno, or hey kids you need Superman's plane. ^_^

[@tedharrington5432]

05:19 - Seeing the This Game Is Bonkers board game took me down a four hour internet rabbit hole of board games I had as a kid. From Six Million Dollar Man to The Game of Jaws to Payday to The McDonald’s Game to Space 1999 to Bermuda Triangle to Welcome Back Kotter Up Your Nose With A Rubber Hose to Happy Days Fonzie's Real Cool Game to King Kong Twin Towers to 10-4, Good Buddy to Breaker 19 CB Truckers Game to S.W.A.T. to...well you get the idea.

[@secretsquirrel6718]

I put some of those prices into the I flatiron calculator. Things were waaayyyy too expensive back then. Wow. For instance. 10$ in 1978 would be $46.39 today. So think about those toy prices with that in mind.

[@Daniellopez-tx5xq]

Great video 👍👍

[@benbradford9533]

No love for Plush Girl Baboon?! That photo is astounding! She looks so disoriented. Plus, her play feature is she's NOT A MONKEY!

[@Scotty-Z70]

i had the plastic Cantina Star Wars playset..most out of those, i'd like to have the card-board set...and that blue snaggletooth!! Why won't Hasbro repro a Vintage figure of it? it would totally sell

[@robsmoviecollection3715]

Ha! Mork!

[@leatherneck7501]

Wanna hear something sad. Just think how much of this is in landfills now .

[@BrickMantooth]

now i'm bummed out.

[@LannieLord]

Mork and Mindy toys are CLUTTER to the world of vintage toys.

[@Average_Explosion_Enthusiast]

ow much does it cost on average per video?

[@BrickMantooth]

I don't follow.