The Toy Department Podcast

The Toy Department crew presented a panel at Planet Comicon Kansas City back in 2016, and took attendees on a whirlwind tour of the history of action figures. From ancient times to the modern day, we tried to cover it all in just 50 minutes. Of course, if we gave your favorite toys short coverage,... Continue Reading →

It’s been a while, but we’re finally back! We continue to be amazed at the variety of toys that we’re seeing in this department store beyond time. Being stuck here before the internet age, our bandwidth is severely limited and we’re forced to upload our shows at 300 bits per second. Have no fear, we’re... Continue Reading →

We’re back–and still stuck somewhere in time at a department store. It still appears to be the mid to late 70s, but the years are always a little fluid. We don’t mind so much, however, since there are so many cool toys to check out in this toy store beyond time. In this episode, we’re... Continue Reading →

Welcome to the first episode of the Toy Department! Your intrepid hosts Rob, Andrew and Dave will be here to guide you through a (hopefully) monthly tour of toy aisles past. You may remember us from the Flag Points podcast–that’s sort of how we came to be here. Just after we finished recording the final... Continue Reading →

It’s been a while, but we’re finally back! We continue to be amazed at the variety of toys that we’re seeing in this department store beyond time. Being stuck here before the internet age, our bandwidth is severely limited and we’re forced to upload our shows at 300 bits per second. Have no fear, we’re still around, and looking into ways to get things moving at a faster pace. In this episode, we discuss stretch toys of the 70s, from Armstrong to X-Ray and other flexible, tactile wonders of the decade.  We also cover the stretch resurgence of the 90s. Page joins us (in person!) to chat about the stretch market. By the way, be prepared to spend serious dollars if you want to get into the stretch game in 2015, and a word of advice–don’t do any vintage stretchin’! Latex and corn syrup only last so long. Stream the episode below, or you can also find us on iTunes. Click here and be sure to subscribe! http://www.ttdpod.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/Episode003Stretch.mp3

Rob here–and I’m back (by myself) with a special feature podcast. I’m a GI Joe collector, and recently I’ve been delving more deeply into the 1970s era of America’s first action figure line. I spent some time interviewing Jim Beard, who is the author of a Kindle Worlds GI Joe novella based in the Adventure Team era of the 1970s. The novella is a real page turner written in a pulp adventure style and it’s sure to please fans of GI Joe as well as bringing those of us who are used to decades of Real American Hero based media some much-needed exposure to what came before the 1980s. We discuss Jim’s background, his other works, as well as the origins of his GI Joe novella. Jim also shares a few Joe memories of his own, and drops some hints on future exploits of his take on the Adventure Team. You can purchase the novella at Amazon.com via this link. On to the interview, which you can stream below, or download to your device via the direct link under the player. Like our other episodes, this one will be available on iTunes as well. Thanks again to Jim for a great interview! http://www.joeaday.com/wp-content/uploads/JBInterview_FINAL.mp3 Direct Download Jim’s Christmas 1969 GI Joe About the Author: Jim Beard writes adventure fiction in a classic pulp style. A native of Toledo, Ohio, he was introduced to comic books at an early age by his father, who passed on to him a love for the medium and the pulp characters who preceded it. After decades of reading, collecting and dissecting comics, Jim became a published writer when he sold a story to DC Comics in 2002. Since that time he’s written official Star Wars and Ghostbusters comic stories and contributed articles and essays to several volumes of comic book history. Jim and the Joes who watched over his writing His prose work includes GOTHAM CITY 14 MILES, a book of essays on the 1966 Batman TV series; SGT. JANUS, SPIRIT-BREAKER, a collection of pulp ghost stories featuring an Edwardian occult detective; MONSTER EARTH, a shared-world giant monster anthology; and CAPTAIN ACTION: RIDDLE OF THE GLOWING MEN, the first pulp prose novel based on the classic 1960s action figure. Jim also currently provides regular content for Marvel.com, the official Marvel Comics website, and is a regular columnist for Toledo Free Press. MYSTERY OF THE SUNKEN TOMB is the first long-form G.I. Joe Adventure Team prose fiction novella released on the Kindle Worlds licensed publication platform. It is currently available in e-format only, and sells for just $1.99. Set in 1973 at the height of the Adventure Team toy era, MYSTERY OF THE SUNKEN TOMB is jam-packed with all the fan-favorite Adventure Team equipment, vehicles, and mission themes of Hasbro’s 1970-73 releases. If that isn’t cool enough, each of the G.I. Joe Adventure Team action figures of the era have been fleshed out as individual characters in the story, each with their own unique personalities, skills, and specialties. Overall, MYSTERY OF THE SUNKEN TOMB offers all the Adventure team action, danger, and excitement G.I. Joe fans crave.

We are back–and still stuck somewhere in time at a department store. It still appears to be the mid to late 70s, but the years are always a little fluid. We are pretty cool with the situation really, since there are so many cool toys to check out in this toy store beyond time. In this episode, we’re also joined by Micronauts/Microman collector Ben as we discuss each year of the Mego line as well as its Japanese predecessor. We also cover the later releases of the molds as The Interchangeables and Palisades’ re-issues. There’s also something for GI Joe and Transformers fans as we discuss the lineage of Microman/Micronauts and those two lines. Ben really classed up the joint, and we’re glad he could travel back in time (at least for a while) to join us. Stream the episode below, or you can also check us out on iTunes. Click here and be sure to subscribe!   http://www.ttdpod.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/Episode002Micronauts.mp3   You can follow along with the pics below as we travel through the various years’ releases.

Welcome to the first episode of the Toy Department! Your intrepid hosts Rob, Andrew and Dave will be here to guide you through a (hopefully) monthly tour of toy aisles past. You may remember us from the Flag Points podcast–that’s sort of how we came to be here. Just after we finished recording the final episode of the old show, we were transported to this strange store that’s located somewhere beyond time and space. We still can’t quite explain how it happened, other than to say that a lenticular hypno-shield was involved. Of course, the first thing we did was venture into the Toy Department, which was stocked from floor to ceiling with the playthings of the past. It’s a collector’s dream. Anyway, that’s the setup; on to Aisle 1-A: Fisher-Price’s Adventure People. Fisher-Price’s Adventure People line is fondly remembered by many a child of the 70s and 80s. With a fun and functional design aesthetic, rugged construction and a positive message of outdoor discovery and..well, adventure, the line was long-lived and has been long loved. Join us as we travel through the series’ entire history in our inaugural episode. We’ll talk about our favorites, the classics, hits and misses, as well as the line’s place in action figure history. We get a visit from our old friend Page, the toy market expert, who tells us what sort of prices these toys are fetching currently. You’ll also learn a bit about what interests your hosts, and why we’re undertaking the task of talking toys. Why wouldn’t we? We’re in the Toy Department after all. Take a listen below. You can also follow along with catalog page scans in the gallery at the bottom of this page. It’s just like a Read Along Book! (only we don’t tell you when to turn the page–sorry). You can also check us out on iTunes. Click here and be sure to subscribe! The Toy Department Episode 1 – Aisle 1-A: Fisher-Price’s Adventure People http://www.ttdpod.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/Episode001FPAP.mp3 Fisher-Price Catalog Images Page’s Price Check Images Catalog images via www.fplpworld.com. Price Check images via www.ebay.com