Surveying the Gen X landscape and the origins of geek
Suburban home brochure, 1954
Model kit, late-’50s/early-’60s
Paperback insert, 1969
Ryan home brochure, 1963
Or, as Bryan Ferry sang, In Every Dream Home a Heartache.
(Images via Graham Foundation, Tony Cook’s HO-Scale Trains Resource, Olman’s Fifty, Retro Renovation)
I’m excessively fond of The Black Hole (1979). No, it wasn’t Star Wars, but it was a clever riff on Verne’s classic Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, and the story literally revolves around the most mysterious phenomenon in the universe. The sets and the visuals are amazing, the good guys and robots likable (if corny), and the bad robot awesomely sinister. The merchandise campaign was massive, and I’ll catalog as much of it as I can in multiple posts.
The action figures were well done, but, because this was a Disney movie, guns were included only with the Robot Sentry and S.T.A.R. figures. How did they expect the good guys to win in a firefight?
There were also these creepy 12″ dolls, which I never quite understood.
The models, still much sought after, will cost you more than anything else in the line. What to do if I had to choose between the Cygnus and Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea‘s Seaview?
There was also a Fisher-Price Movie Viewer (see it via Toys You Had) and a slew of unreleased toys that you can check out at bugeyedmonster. And let’s not forget the commercials, courtesy of Megomuseum’s brilliant YouTube Channel.
2 Warps to Neptune 