“MrZerr0’s Favorite Toys”
Dr. Rox Remember When?
Article #126; Aug 2021
For: WDGY
By: RL Schwinden aka MrZerr0
Continuing in the Series “Mr. Zer0’s Favorites” this time around we are going to discuss Mr. Zer0’s Favorite Toys. Especially since Action Figures and Toys are 25% of Mr. Zer0’s Total Business. You see for the past 12 years Mr. Zer0’s has had a constant problem of trying to drive the message home of What We Do: 25% Music: Records & CDs & Cassettes, 25% Retro Toys & Action Figures, 25% Vintage Video Games: Nintendo & Sega & Playstation, and 25% Movies: VHS & DVD , vs. what people think we do and we simply do not carry: EX. Any Type of: Sports, Cigarette, Alcohol, Drug Paraphernalia, Porno, or a Pawn Shop or anything along those lines. Never have and never will. There are plenty of Other Stores Who Do sell that “Stuff”. For a prime example, Today’s Customer Request: “Do you buy Used Gift Cards?” (really, who would?) or even last week’s example “Would you go buy a Cell Phone Card for me and I can pay you later?” (sorry, no, that’s NOT: Music, Games, Toys or Movies), I digress ….
So as I covered last month as a kid I moved 19 times in just 17 years, and my 3 sisters & brother are considerably younger than me, and my Uncle John and Aunts Cat & Laur were not always around. I spent a lot of time alone in my room entertaining myself. One great thing was I had a vivid imagination. And I loved toys and music, NOT Comics or Sports. Back in the “Olden Days” where I lived we only had 1 TV and 4 Channels on TV; NBC, CBS, ABC & PBS, not even a local station like Des Moines or the Twin Cities, just 4 channels, and No remotes, I was my Mom’s remote, (“Go change it to 14”) and VHS had not been invented yet, so you could not watch a film any time you wanted.
Now I was in a unique situation, my oldest sister is 6 years younger than me, but my Uncle John is 5 1/2 years older than me, and my Aunt Cat is 1 1/2 older and Laur is 5 weeks younger !!!!! I was very close to them growing up. For some odd reason I was really attracted to my Uncle John’s toys, which by the time I discovered them, they were long out of production, for example the “1964 Mattel Zero M Sonic Blaster” “1965 Mattel Creeple Peeple” “1966 Mattel Monkees Talking Hand Puppet” and “1968 Mattel Strange Change Machine”. It just seemed to me all the really cool and interesting toys were my Uncle’s as you could no longer buy them in the stores; this made me want them that much more. So as of today the toys I mostly collect are from 1964 to 1972, if you’re wondering. Now while I have always been a huge fan of The Monkees “Music” I was not a big fan of the toys, I only started collecting the toys in about 1990 and only stepped it up in 2017.
So the 1st toys I can remember being into, was anything “Batman” like the “1966 Ideal Batman Cowl and Cape” which I received for Xmas ’66, I have photos of me wearing it. And the “1966 Ideal Official Batman 3 Figure Set” which my Aunt Laur and I threw “The Joker” down the heat vent in my grandma’s house, when my Grandparents moved from 1706 Villa in Sioux City, I so wanted to take the ductwork apart to see if I could find that figure, I didn’t. The next big thing for me was the early 60s “1963 Hasbro G.I. Joe” I just loved the weapons and accessories, like the diving helmet, the scuba tanks, the radio, the bayonet, the life raft etc. Here’s a story for you, Uncle Scott’s Mom Ruth, used to work for the Hasbro manufacturing plant in Rhode Island, “I asked how cool, what did you do?” she responded “Putting together Mr. Potato Head bodies” I said “Really, how was that?” she answered “Boring, one day my boss asked me to step up my production, I asked are you gonna pay me more? He said “No” so I said “Then you get what you get” I (Ruth) did used to get to buy Scott (my uncle) G.I. Joe accessories at cost, he has quite the vintage collection, somewhere”
My Mom told me she bought me a Beatles “Yellow Submarine” around 1968, but I don’t remember much about that. Here again while I loved The Beatles music I didn’t much care for the toys, I didn’t start collecting Beatles toys until 1989 or so. I do remember my Dad buying me a gold “1968 Hot Wheels Red Line Barracuda” I did find a replacement for this in Phoenix in 1997.
Now hanging out with a lot of people 2 to 6 years older than me, I used to see a lot of WWII plastic toy soldiers at other people’s houses, again these were long out of production where I lived, and there were no vintage shops yet. Louis Marx Toy Company began issuing in 1958 through their heyday in 1963. Some of the pieces of sets I saw were;
“1959 Fort Apache” My Cousin Mike had most of it.
“1962 Flintstones” My Uncle John had most of this one.
“1964 Revolutionary War” My neighbor Eugene had a few pieces.
Starting on Xmas 1968 I started getting my own New Sets. The 1st one I got was
“1968 Cape Kennedy” in a metal case.
In 1972 Marx sold to the Quaker Oats Company, they started re-issuing the sets to Sears and Woolco. I vividly remember my birthday in 1972, my Mom & Dad took me to Woolco at the Sunset Plaza with $5.oo to spend to get a toy. I knew what I wanted. “1972 Battleground” WWII playset, and Nothing else, however it was $7.99 + 2% Sales Tax. Well, like I said I only had $5.oo. The next part of this story is one of my Dad’s shining moments, in my eyes. My Dad asked me “So what did you want to get?” I pointed to “Battleground” he said “But you have $5.00, isn’t there anything else you want?” I said “Nope, just that” he replied “There has to be something else here” I responded “No, just that” he came back with “But you don’t have enough, that toy is $7.99 and you only have $5.oo” Now I must point out, it is not that my Dad was unwilling to spend more money, it was that he worked at Woolco making a retail wage, with a wife and 3 kids, it was more he did not have the extra money on that day. I said “Then let’s go home” my Mom tapped him on the shoulder the they spoke really close face to face, my Dad turned around and said “Ok” he counted back the first 3 boxes, grabbed the 4th one, looked at me and said “Never take the one in front” put it under his arm went to the cash register and he paid the difference. Little did he know How He Made My day buying this toy I had wanted for so long. Later in 1977 he did the exact same thing for my birthday but with “KISS: Alive” record LP. I have never forgotten about this Dad. I did get the “1972 Blue & Gray” Civil War set for Xmas ‘73, and the “1975 Prehistoric” Dinosaurs and Cavemen set for my birthday in 1975.
Now, from the very 1st time I saw an ad for “Planet Of The Apes” I was hooked, back then that was my jam, as much as KISS is now. I started collecting anything “Planet Of The Apes” I could. I 1st got the 1973 Aurora model kits, “Dr. Zaius” “Cornelius” “General Ursus” and “General Aldo” as well as the 3 puzzles and board game and 3″ figures and comics. In 1972 the MEGO toy company started releasing 8″ action figures, on Xmas ’74, I got the “1974 Mego Planet Of The Apes” action figures, “Dr. Zaius” “Gorilla Soldier” and the “Astronaut” and “Ape City” play set.
In about 1975 I started building model kits, from the influence of my next door neighbor Chuck. My favorite manufacturer by far was Tamiya, followed by Monogram, Revell & Aurora. I built everything, from tanks, to jeeps to planes to ships, even cars. As I mentioned it was about 1976 I rediscovered my record collection, Beatles, Monkees, Steppenwolf, Osmond Brothers, Black Sabbath & KISS and I gave up on toys, until about 1990 or so.
And there you have it folks, another installment of MrZerr0’s favorites. Dedicated to my Son Oblieon. Check back next month, for more info!
And be sure to tune in every week, for the past 4 years at 7am Sunday on St. Paul Radi0 WDGY 740AM, Streaming, FM: 92.1, 103.7, 107.1 for “Mr. Zer0’s PsychoGello Show” you can hear past episodes of MrZerr0’s shows at www.MixCloud.Com and www.MrZeroS.Com -Podcast.
Check into:
The Annual “Northland Toy Show”
1st Sunday in May Every Year
at The State Fairgrounds in St. Paul, MN.
“Scale Model Supply”
458 Lexington Pkwy N, St Paul, MN 55104
#651. 646. 7781
Mr. Zer0’s
*Est.2009
1744 Lexington Ave N.
Roseville, MN. 55113
“Nerd Is The Word”
25% Classic Music
25% Vintage Video Games
25% Retro Toys
25% Movies ….
And That’s IT!
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