What toys capture the 70's?

[MegoNinja]

Hey guys,

I was thinking, what toys exactly capture the 70's in there essence. I am referring to ones that have some what gained cult status, such as
-Bullet Man
-ROM Space Knight
-Six Million Dollar Man
etc
Isn't there like a list of this sort of thing? I would love to have a collection with all of what you could call the 'essentials'.

[Hotfoot]

For me its Star Wars. That was the movie of my Senior Summer before I headed off to College and the grown up world. Unfortunately the toys were release after I had gone to college and I didn't buy them.
Hot Wheels were also one of my favorites.

[MegoNinja]

For me its Star Wars. That was the movie of my Senior Summer before I headed off to College and the grown up world. Unfortunately the toys were release after I had gone to college and I didn't buy them.
Hot Wheels were also one of my favorites.

yeah I think the 3 3/4 vintage Darth Vader is one of the classic 70's toys that cannot be missing from any collection of vintage toys.
Hot Wheels are great as well, I never got many of them as a kid though because they were expensive (weren't they?). I remember having a heap of knock off version of them.

[Bo8a_Fett]

Although Star Wars figures do it for me any toy where the packaging shows kids playing with the toys really sum up the 70's for me. I remember going round mates houses specifically to play certain toys/games as they did when they came round to my house and if you could take a photo of that happening it would fit right on any box for any toy of the time...

[monkey tennis]

In my house it was these...

[Bo8a_Fett]

Ah action man....he was one of the reasons you went round ya mates...there was always one mate with all the vehicles...so it was nearly always playtime round their house...5 or 6 of you...so you could have a really good war...then you stayed for fish fingers and chips and peas for tea....

[darkmonkeygod]

The toys of the 70s are defined by AHI, WGSH, Micronauts, SMDM, Stretch Armstrong and Monster, Evel, and SSP Racers for me. Oddly, G.I. Joe doesn't factor in, as the Super Joes came across as weak WGSH, and the big ones seemed to be in the wrong scale to my 4 to 9 yr old self. Then Star Wars heralded a new era of grand playsets and giant spaceships, and even though I got those first four figures via the early bird pack for '77, they seemed to usher in the 80s, and seem to me know as well. There were only 21 figures by the time Empire ramped up (1980), and the explosion in that next half decade is what makes them feel from then, more as a progenitor to the small Joes.

Today, since I focus on the monsters, the AHI brand - not just their monsters, but all the tchotchkes they produced - really exemplify the off-model, anything goes, pirate-like nature fantasy that I have of the 70s.

[MegoNinja]

yeah the stretch characters are definitely 70's to the extreme, Evil Knievel seems to capture a fair bit of peoples childhood.
I have to agree with you Bo8a_Fett, I really love the artwork of certain boxes, the best ones being kid playing, it adds to the 70's affect with kid's on there because they are often wearing clothing that only plaidstallions.com can provide. I love my Lost Continent box for that reason, it has this kid wearing a red turtle neck sweater. You can't not love it!

[HardyGirl]

Well for me:

Battery operated dolls (hey, I'm a GIRL) including Mego's Dancing Lainie!

Rock Flower dolls

Megos (well, DUH!)

GIJoe Adventure Team

Evel Knievel/Derry Daring

Big Jim

SMDM/Bionic Woman

Charlie's Angels

SSP Racers

Big Wheels

Skateboards

[MegoNinja]

yes, big jim, he is the essence of 70's toys I would say. Bionic Woman and Charlies Angels are great as well, believe it or not I was into Bionic Woman but hated SMDMan when I was a kid. Strange eh?
GI Joe has to be given some credit but really, what age are they from? They started in 1964 didnt they? So arent they toys of the 60's? Their 3 3/4" line are hugely popular too and they are from the 80's, GI Joe is more of an all round kind of thing, whereas thing's like Mego are pretty restricted to the 70's (unless you collect 'old mego' from the 50's etc).