Another Great Toyline (to make you smile!)

[Scout]

This brings back memories! I had the farm, the castle, village, and parking garage, I think. I had a cousin who had some of the others. One really neat thing about these in the '70s was that they were bright colors and they weren't just "for boys" or "for girls." Mine got handed down to brother and then sister. Some time in the '90s I was in a toy department somewhere and saw, in the boy aisle, an FP castle that was all black and purple and had knights and dragons, while in the girl aisle the castle was pink and teal and full of little princesses who...I don't know, were just supposed to pick flowers all day? Made me a little queasy.

[Hulk]

Great collection. I have always thought that if there were another line of toys I'd like to eventually collect from my childhood, these would be them. They really predated Megos as far as toys that I remember using my imagination with, and they just have good vibes to them. Thanks for sharing.

[smonte00]

I think I had the airplane. I forgot that they used to be made of wood.

[nvmbrsdoom5]

Fisher Price toys are great. I played with them for a long time....probably much longer than I should have! I used to even use the castle with my Star Wars and Micronauts, etc. The castle playset and the garage were definitely my favorites. Yet another in a long line of vintage toy series that I would love to collect someday, but haven't delved into it yet. I did bid on the garage a couple of times on Ebay recently but always got outbid.

Whenever I try to tell people about these toys to see if they remember them, there's always two things that jar their memories.....the Sesame Street playset, or the little black and white dog with the red collar. People always seem to remember those.

Good luck with the collection, I'd love to see more pics later as you get even more!

[grayhank]

I made my first custom from the little black & white dog with red collar. I made an all black head dog with white details. Nothing fancy just reversed him a bit. Did you know that the dog also came with Yellow (rare) and Blue (rarest) collars as well. Plus there was a dalmatian which I never knew about until I starting buying these again.

The Little People Dog Show - My custom Black Dog on Right

[nvmbrsdoom5]

I may have seen those other collar variants before, but I never remember seeing that dalmation, that's pretty cool. Good job on that custom black dog on the right :D

It's really amazing how many different variations of these figures there are, total. To be a completist collector of FP Little People must be maddening.

[grayhank]

It's extremely maddening but lots of fun! I am trying to get at least 1 of every main varient. The varients break down into three basic categories as:

Little People with wood bodies / wood heads (which I'm estimating to be probably around 60-70). Then wood bodies / plastic heads (I have no idea how many but it's got to be over 100). Most of the original wood/wood were reissued as wood/plastic plus newer figures. Then the 3rd category is all plastic (again reissuing most of the original all wood, then the wood/plastic and additional newer characters - about 150 plus). These numbers don't even include the special characters like Sesame Street and McDonalds characters.

And I thought collecting these was going to be easy!

[Comic Book Geek]

When I played little people the dog was always the villain. Once the Sesame Street set came out all the muppets were his monster henchmen. He controlled the castle dragon too.

The smiling kid with the red hat was me, and I was the FP land superhero, and I made a little cape for myself. Sometimes the knight was me wearing iron man type armor.

My FP little people come in second after megos as for being the most important toys of my childhood.

The castle is perhaps the best playset ever made.

[boywondermax]

"The dog was always the villain." Hilarious! That made me laugh so hard!

[Sowth]

What a great collection! Thanks for posting the pics, very cool.

So many memories...

Cheers,
Will

[palitoy]

I spent a small fortune on refurbishing my FP Sesame Street sets for my kids, it was worth it. I do get weird looks when my kids bring the figures in public.

[Earth 2 Chris]

Great collection! As a kid, I only really remember having the schoolhouse, and that was actually my sisters I inherited. I found it in my dad's basement this weekend.

My wife found the original castle beside some garbage along my father's street a few years back. My kid plays with it more than any other playset he has. And he's 5.

I think the simplicity of the old-school Little People makes them more open for imaginative play, as opposed to their more detailed "cuter" modern counterparts. Just my opinion.

Chris

[palitoy]

I agree they were/are wonderfully designed. Kids just glom to them, durable as all hell too, much of my childhood stuff (airport, garage, sesame street) is in terrific shape.

[Megospidey]

My wife collects this line.

We went to Canton, Texas a couple of weekends back, and she purchased the Ferris Wheel with all 5 original little people still sitting in their chairs! The only thing missing was the operator's hat.

[grayhank]

My wife collects this line.

We went to Canton, Texas a couple of weekends back, and she purchased the Ferris Wheel with all 5 original little people still sitting in their chairs! The only thing missing was the operator's hat.

I'm envious! I've been trying to find the Ferris Wheel on ebay lately. It's a very difficult piece to get because it has a lot of lithograph detail and fragile parts. Most of the time the lithographs are torn off or the parts are broken. Plus many sellers list the item as complete. Just because they include 4 little people with the set does NOT make it complete. It has to be the correct 4. One of which is very hard to find. So that one is proving to be challenging.

I did just get the cousin to the Ferris Wheel which is the Merry Go Round. It looks beautifully prestine, however it doesn't work. I don't know if I'm brave enough to try and take it apart to fix it.