1970 Toys: A Great time To Be A Kid
1970s Toys...
Everyone knows that the 1970s were a great time to be a kid,
but what do you remember about 1970 Toys? The Space Hopper, Clackers or
Hot Wheels. Toys were less complex and needed imagination not a USB
connection. Come with us to a simpler time, when children
played out doors and compute was something Robbie the Robot said.
The 1970 Toys
You might have heard of the Brandi Doll, Crissy Doll, and other popular
dolls of the 1970's, but what is the 1970 toy? What do we
remember from 30 to 40 years ago in the decade of the 1970's as being
the 1970 toy? Certainly the Crissy Doll with brown hair,
dress, and cute looks was popular along with her friends, but there are
two other toys that can make the cut for the top toy of the 70's.
The Etch a Sketch was not a brand new toy in 1970. In fact the Ohio Art Company of Germany created the toy back in the 1960's. However, the next decade marked something totally different. In the 70's the Ohio Art Company came out with a different Etch a Sketch product. This one was the travel Etch a Sketch. It looked exactly like the original, but it was a little small to make it easier for traveling. For anyone in the 70's it was necessary to have the red trimmed sketch board that they could draw and erase with ease. It was something that made it easy for kids to remain entertained for hours on road trips and more. The Etch a Sketch was so popular in the 60's and then in the 70's as a travel version that it has hung around for decades more. The Toy Industry Association named the Etch a Sketch in the Century of Toys list. This occurred in 2003, placing it among 100 other memorable toys of the 20thcentury.
However, the Etch a Sketch is not the ultimate 1970
toy. That honor goes to another toy all together and one you
should recognize. In 1968 Mattel came up with a new invention
for a toy that would bring the toy industry to heel.
This toy was the Hot Wheels. While the production of Hot
Wheels began two years before 1970 it is still one of the hottest toys
of the 70's decade. 
More
than 50 styles of cars were released by Mattel under the Hot Wheels
collection in the 1970's. These Die Cast Toys are the premier
toy of that decade. It is more than the novelty of the
idea. It is the fact that Mattel designed Hot Wheels to be so
desirable that children would collect them throughout their life.
It should not be a surprise for you to learn that there are thousands
of collectors out there trying to get every Hot Wheels car ever made,
and especially those from the original years. One collector
of Hot Wheels had the entire collection still in the original
boxes, making it a high cost collection.
The fact is that there are a lot of 1970's toys that will catch your
attention whether you are female or male, but Mattel has sold several
million Hot Wheels and they still continue to make new
models. Every new car that comes out is a potential
hit to add to a 1970 toy collection of these die cast toys.
Reliving 1970 Toys
Have you ever wondered what it was like being a child in the
1970's? Depending on your generation your parents may have
just hit their teens or early 20's, which means they probably missed
the 1970's toys just as
much as you did if you were born around the 1980's.
Yet, there were some popular ideas in the 1970's at the time.
For collectors a number of the 1970's toys are very
important. So whether you are a collector or just interested
in the history of toys, you can find out what the 1970 toy offered for
fun.
Action Jackson was a lot like GI Joe without the
popularity. The Mego Corporation began manufacturing the toys
in the 1970's releasing three different models. There were
two Caucasian models, one with a beard the other without, and an
African American with no beard. The toys had a number of
accessories for rescue, like a helicopter and jeep.
Unfortunately Action Jackson was not as popular as the GI Joe.
Another alternate to GI Joe were the Adventure People
manufactured by Fisher Price in 1975. These 1970's toys were
designed around themes for preschool age children, much like the Fisher
Price people you can buy today. At the time they featured
scuba divers, park rangers, astronauts, and emergency
workers. The design was quite simple and similar to Construx
figures with a block like shape.
The Batman has been around since the 1940's with a product
line, but in the 1970's new action figures were released.
This time Batman toys were updated to fit the times with Mego and
Kenner as the manufacturers.
The figures have varied little in accessories or looks from
the early design, with slight improvements as toy making became more
about technology.
Brandi Doll might be something you have heard of. As the 70's
clothing, toys, and other products come back the Brandi Doll has made a
resurgence into pop culture. The Brandi Doll was manufactured
in 1972 by the Ideal Toy Corporation. It was considered a
friend doll to the Crissy Doll and the Kerry Doll, which were also at
their height of popularity in the early 70's. As 1970's toys
go Brandi was definitely eclectic with orange swimsuit, clog shoes, and
elastic ties. She was a blonde hair, blue eyed doll with
tanned skin.
Have you recently been in the toy section in your local
store? If you have been around some of the toys today you
might not be surprised to learn that the Inchworm is as popular today
as it was as a 1970 toy.
The Inchworm has seen a number of modifications since then,
but it was a Hasbro Toy that children could ride on back in the
70's. It was a scooter with yellow wheels in the shape of a
caterpillar. It came complete
with hat and saddle.
These are just a few of the 1970's toys offered more than thirty years
ago. For those who grew up in the 70's it might be quite a
shock to know these toys are considered vintage and highly sought by
collectors.
G.I. Joe:
The Greatest American Hero of
1970's Toys
Today, G.I. Joe is a well known entity. There is of course
the major motion picture, the cartoon series from the 1980's, and the
hundreds of action figures available in toy stores. However,
many people do not realize that G.I. Joe first made an appearance long
before that.
G.I. Joe first showed up in 1942 with the creation of a United
States cartoon character in YANK magazine which was an armed forces
publication. This American hero was created to inspire
patriotism and confidence in the youth of America. G.I. Joe
was also seen as a way to encourage future generations to step up and
protect their country through serving in the military.
The first G.I. Joe figurine was made by David Bragger. It
actually proceeded the date of G.I. Joe's appearance in YANK magazine,
and it was truly that publication that spurred on the G.I. Joe name to
nationwide fame. Not long after that in 1945 the first
feature film was released entitled "The Story of G.I. Joe."
While this helped to garner international attention for the character,
it was really the attention that it gained from manufacturers that was
important.
Game manufacturers saw gold in the G.I. Joe brand. They
proceeded to release four different characters from all branches of the
military including a pilot, a marine, a soldier, and a sailor.
Hasbro specifically profited from this garnering large
profits from the brand. One of the most special things about
the G.I. Joe brand was that adults and parents alike enjoyed and
purchased the toys.
Perhaps one of the reasons that the G.I. Joe figurines were so popular
with adults was because of the fact that the toys were influenced by
the wars that the United States was engaged in. This was
specifically true during the 1970's. The Vietnam War era was
one of the most passionate times in America, and it was one of the most
popular times for G.I. Joe Figurines.
It was during this time that Hasbro chose to market the G.I. Joe
figures as "venture models." Additionally, the media of the
day really focused on G.I. Joe and how they could use that "persona" to
help articulate the warfare to the general public.
One of the most amazing things about the G.I. Joe toys is that they
have truly stood the test of time. Each year new models are
unveiled and introduced to the public for sale. This has
led to the large collectorship that has occurred around the
G.I. Joe figurines. Additionally, for many people this line
of toys has served a greater cause in enlightening the masses on the
heroisms of the men and women serving in the armed forces.
Unfortunately, many of the toys from the 1970's simply faded away as
the decade passed. However, G.I. Joe is not one of those
toys. Instead, G.I. Joe has changed with the time
while still retaining the nostalgia that made it such a
popular brand in the first place.
Lego Bricks: One of the
Most Popular Toys in the 1970's
Today Legos are a fixture in our children's development. In
fact, it is hard to meet a child that has not had the opportunity to
play with a Lego brick. They are a go to gift purchase for
kids, and even adults enjoy playing with Legos.
There are so many different kits available in stores, and even a theme
park centered on the popular toy that it seems impossible to think of a
time when they didn't exists. However, the truth is that
Legos were not around forever. Instead, they had a very
humble beginning that grew into an empire that seemed to culminate
in the 1970's toy market.
Today when you hear the word "lego" you instantly think of a plastic brick that you can use to build a myriad of different structures. The lego brick is constructed so that it can be combined in a variety of different combinations to create just about anything that you could imagine. This was specific because the toy itself was geared towards inspiring a child's imagination and fueling their creativity.
Lego has evolved through the years,
but its origin begins in 1932 in Denmark. It was there that
Ole Kirk Kristiansen, a master carpenter, decided to take on a new
business venture. He opened a small shop with just six
employees, and it was from these humble beginning that the Lego empire
was born.
Kristiansen created toys and named
his company the "Lego" company. Lego is derived from the
Danish word that means to "play well." His toy business began
to flourish, and in 1947 the Lego Company expanded by purchasing an
injection molding machine. However, he had still not come up
with the now famous lego brick. It wasn't until 1949 that the
familiar brick was created. It was known as the Automatic
Binding Brick and it was made exclusively for the marketplace in
Denmark. However, within a year the profits from that brick
accounted for half of the businesses revenue. Four
years later after meeting with a purchasing agent Kristiansen's son
created a system, and thus the Lego system was born. In 1959 Legos
began to make their way around the globe being sold in France, Great
Britain, and Belgium. However, it was not until the early 1960's that
they made their way to the United States.
From there the toys really began to flourish. In
the 1970's that same little factory that originally started with 6
workers employed 1,000 different employees to keep up with the demand,
and that demand kept growing. Lego bricks and kits continued
to flourish throughout the 1970's being one of the most popular toys of
the decade, and continue to maintain popularity today.
From those humble beginnings grew an empire of toys that has been
celebrated as an educationally based system that parents and expert's
alike love. Additionally, there have been films made, video
games developed, and the LEGOLAND theme park that draws thousands of
visitors a year.