Mac Tonight Fingertronic puppets were briefly a thing. The world was a better place for it (South Florida Sun Sentinel, Ft. Lauderdale, FL, 11/23/88)

Beautiful spread of Jedi goodies. The Scout Walker is a particular fav (Santa Barbara News-Press, 12/4/83)

Where’s Hugo’s award, huh? This seems like another Chewbacca medal situation (The Ledger, Lakeland, FL, 11/7/76)

Yoshi may have been the best pitch character for cookies short of the Turtles (The Times, Hammond, IN, 9/3/92)

Pick a Bond villain from the photos you already have on your phone/device

Why Food Fighters weren’t a massive hit is a mystery for the ages (Boston Globe, 5/21/89)

Never once saw a kid this happy playing with Captain Power toys😂

Walmart seems to have had an exclusive on the Telco Universal Monsters motionettes in the early nineties. $11 even accounting for inflation is a friggin steal for these things

Unlicensed Star Wars ceramics have a long history going back to the earliest days when official merchandise wasn’t on the market yet. Neat to learn I didn’t pay much more for this Vader lamp than the original price, and that’s without painting, firing or installing the lights!

The earliest mention of Pikachu in American newspapers is from December 1997, when Japanese children having seizures from watching an episode of Pokémon made worldwide news (Boston Globe, 12/18/97)

Ever wondered who sculpted those Boglin holograms that were offered as a premium for calling the 900 number? Check *this* out (Plain Dealer, Cleveland, OH, 12/19/88)

I think I know where that soil ended up (Detroit Free Press, 10/29/78)

Slimer marshmallows took Ghostbusters Cereak to a whole ‘nother level (Daily Sentinel, Grand Junction, CO, 7/13/88)

The dealership quickly regretted hiring the real Lord Vader, who in a fit of anger used the force to throw a 1978 Chevy Impala at a heckler (Roanoke Times, 11/22/78)

I loooooooove this exhibit entrance so much. Don’t even care what the exhibit is, sign me up for ten tours. Consecutive. (The Daily Item, Lynn, MA, 9/28/78)

Star Wars at Child World! (The Record, Hackensack, NJ, 3/8/78)

QRP with the doctor you'd trust leading the hantavirus response instead of RFK Jr.

A nice vintage shot of Freddy and Jason Halloween costumes (Indianapolis Star, 10/30/88)

Meet Horror’s Gruesome Trio (The Republic, Columbus, IN, 10/28/88)

You’re a dummy Carolyn. And so is Bonnie😜

I miss Walden Books something fierce. Bought most of my Tomarts books and BWS Weapon X comics at the Walden’s in our local mall as a young teen (LA Times, 5/21/78)

Batman couldn’t be bothered to show up at the grand opening of this Builder’s Emporium, so he sent Batgirl and the Riddler in his place. Shout out to “product shaped radios” too (The Record, Hackensack, NJ, 11/30/76)

Batman and Robin appearing live at Lionel Playworld locations around NYC (Newsday, Melville, NY, 10/31/76)

So as proof that the need to express stupid opinions predates social media, here’s a clown legitimately offended by things like Beast being told “Move your furry butt”. And he’s going to tell you about it. Sadly, this isn’t satire. Sigh (Post Bulletin, Rochester, MN, 8/16/80)

If that was “programming”, it failed because many, many GI Joe fans grew up to be the furthest thing from conservatives (Pueblo Star-Journal, Pueblo, CO, 9/19/83)

Pizza Hut had Superman posters to coincide with the release of the film in 1978. You will believe a man can fly (and eat some pizza) (El Paso Times, 12/13/78)

I sorely miss the days when department stores would advertise these big spreads of jigsaw puzzles. Which one would you have bought? Me, I’m going with Frogger (Central New Jersey Home News, New Brunswick, NJ, 12/26/82)

Turtles attack, cash registers win (Birmingham Post-Herald, Birmingham, AL, 12/12/89)

I like this rawer, more goblin looking version of Rubik (Knoxville News-Sentinel, 5/1/83)

Easter photos with E.T. might seem an odd option, but for those who weren’t around at the time, he really was that popular (Arizona Republic, Phoenix, AZ, 3/18/83)

Slinging Kool Aid wasn’t my first “Summer job”, but I’d have probably considered building a stand in exchange for a free shirt. Man, wouldn’t we all love to see those submitted photos?!? (Kalamazoo Gazette, Kalamazoo, MI, 5/22/83)

Watch out for Grizzlor!

Monsters!!!

Jack Tunney couldn’t stop ANYONE, let alone Papa Shango

Ewoks on ice❄️

The Spider-Man/Power Pack PSA comic is certainly one of the most memorable books of the eighties. It wasn’t only distributed by mail and at retail stores, but included in many Sunday papers in 1986 (Lincoln Star, Lincoln, NE, 4/12/86)

[Hermiston Herald; Oregon - 10/29/1980]

Only Skeletor would be crazy enough to chain a dragon to his back😁 (Anchorage Daily News, 12/8/85)

Honestly, the Dr. Pepper ads were more memorable than Godzilla ‘85 (Atlanta Journal, 8/7/85)

The ownership of GLOW tried to stop Dave McLane from promoting competing women’s wrestling shows. Spoiler: didn’t happen (Indianapolis Star, 4/28/87)

Sticker Slicker: the height of fashion. Or maybe it’d get you beaten up in third grade. Hey, free prismatic stickers with every order! (Sacramento Bee, 4/28/85)

After getting your free MotU poster at the toy store, you could mosey over to the supermarket and grab a free Goonies poster too (Paris News, Paris, TX, 6/16/85)

This BEST toy clearance was INSANE. Shockwave for $7! Robo Force figures for a dollar! Glow Friends for $2! What would you have bought? (The Daily Advance, Lynchburg, VA, 12/19/85)

That free MotU poster was epic; just a huge battle scene with every figure and vehicle engaged (Register-Guard, Eugene, OR, 6/23/85)

Sage advice

Toxie live and in person! (L.A. Times, 11/10/89)

Amazin’ Fruit offered their own version of that public domain cartoon megatape we all owned growing up (Macon Telegraph, Macon, GA, 8/21/94)