Toy-Ventures: Filmation Super 7 Merchandise

Time to talk about my 40-year obsession with the Filmation series "Tarzan and the Super 7" and my long hunt for merchandise which are mainly cheap rack toys but I love it none the less. 


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The Imperial Toy Center

The sight of this is just a total happiness trigger to me. I especially want that Dinosaurs display box.

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Get fit with the Superheroes!

It makes sense, Superheroes are great role models what  child didn't want to have a "Kirby Esque" physique when they grew up?

Marketing fitness equipment with Superheroes faces slapped on it is not only a good idea, it's good for ya!





My dad bought me all of that body builder stuff in the boring, non superhero versions as a kid. Not that Batman would have incentivised me to use them more.



Oh these skates never fail to bring a smile to my face.....

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CHiPs Diecast vehicles

As Rack Toys go, these are a pretty solid concept.

Finger Faces

One of the things I've noticed about Rack Toys is that good concepts don't die. This Finger Faces ad is 40 years old but I can still find them at my local dollar store for exactly the same price.

I can't say that about coffee or Buicks sadly...

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Super Ropes

I love the card art on these Imperial jump ropes but it's kind of funny how once you take your "super pro jump rope" out of the power, you've removed any and all relationship it had to Spider-Woman. It is now just "ordinary jump rope with red handles".

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We are not alone

These rubber bendy figures by Imperial are some of the few bits of merchandise that Close Encounters recieved and they certainly served a purpose to me as a kid.

Mostly because I was incredibly curious as to how the aliens looked in the film.

I'm not sure they were big sellers however, I seem to recall these hung on shelves at my local "Dominion Playworld" until it closed it's doors in 1983.

Super 7 Merchandise Part 1

Filmation's Tarzan and the Super 7 series is easily one of my favourite cartoon series of all time. It's copyright infringing characters made me a fan for life, however merchandise for the series seems few and far between. However, it seems that rack toy manufacturer Imperial did have the license and exploited it nicely, here are just a few of the items.




If anybody has some of these, especially the Web Woman and Freedom Force piece, please for the love of Mike, contact me!

1976 Imperial Toys Catalog

Halloween is always the best time to talk about rack toys, specifically ones made by Imperial Toy Corporation, who  had a year round  selection of rubber bats, bugs and skeletons.

1976 also had the distinction of being the year that Imperial wisely got the
"Jaws" license and marketed a series of cool inflatable toys.

Check out the rubbery goodness of the 1976 Imperial Toys Catalog here


 

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1975 Imperial Toys Catalog

When discussing Rack Toys, Imperial Toy has to come up, they were and still are kings of the industry.

One of their formulas for success was to not invest heavily in licenses but create their own brands. It really did work as many of us had happy childhoos playing with Poopatroopers, Kooky Spooks and assorted Imperial animals such as Congo Gorilla.


Click on the pictures for an indepth look.

1975 Imperial Toys Catalog

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Rubber Jiggly Horrors

Jaws Goodies

I think one of the scariest things in the 1970s had to be the notion of a giant shark eating you. I'm slightly ashamed to admit this kept me out of lakes and occasionally pools as a pup. It's kind of hard to merchandise a shark seeing as he doesn't have any cool accessories or a vehicle of any sort but Imperial toys came up with a pretty neat selection for 1976.

Of course, even Imperial could resist the odd generic rubber animal and why not? To a kid, all sharks were Jaws!

Here is the Imperial Toys booth at th 1975 Toyfair, as you can see Jaws was a pretty big deal.

Parachuting Belushis?

From the "you think you've seen everything" department come these Rack Toys by Imperial based on the underrated Spielberg comedy "1941" particularly the parachuting figures of "wild" Bill Kelso played by john Belushi. It's certainly one of the most logical parachuting figures I've ever seen.

Another completely logical rack toy, I don't often string those words together.

Gliders, completely sound considering the amount of planes in the film. I'm not sure if these were made however, if you have any childhood recollection of this stuff drop me a line.

We Are Not Alone

In 1978, toy manufacturer Imperial, like a lot of toy companies were very interested in all things outer space thanks to Kenner's whirlwind assault on the toy marketplace thanks to Star Wars. Now, anybody with a science fiction film was interesting and a name like Steven Spielberg even moreso. Imperial snapped up the rights to produce the alien from "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" and it became the center piece of their 1978 toy fair display.

While not the full catalog, this piece from 1978 shows a lot of familiar staples from the still very much in business Imperial, some of which I was surprised to find out I had as a kid.

Click Here to visit the 1978 Imperial Toys Catalog

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Rubber Snakes, Alligators and Poopatroopers

It's amazing how much stuff like rubber snakes and alligators are part of childhood, we just seem drawn to these kinds of items when we're kids. Imperial Toys seemed to have a great handle on this and seeing as how they're still in business to this day, this stuff sells. I'm pretty sure I had an Alfie Alligator.
Poopatroopers, ten cents well spent...

Booo the Bat From Imperial

Imperial Toy Corporation made (and still makes) terrific rack toys but the ultimate Halloween item has to be the rubber bat. It's almost an institution unto itself and one tradition that we still insist upon in the PS household (which we never refer to it as)

Check out our Rack Toys Galleries for more Monster Mayhem!