:: theLogBook.com ToyBox ::

Every Star Wars diorama I set up in my bedroom as a kid had the same problem — a lack of extras. Ships and starring roles were never a problem — I had plenty of those — but what I didn’t have were the dozens of extra Stormtroopers needed to make a convincing scene from the Death Star. Darth Vader didn’t look near as menacing with only two Stormtroopers standing behind him, and my cantina scene looked downright sad with only Greedo, Walrus Man, Snaggletooth and Hammerhead hanging around the bar.

For fans of horror films and dioramas, Accoutrements has addressed this problem with the release of their Horrified B-Movie Victims. (Click here to see the rest of the article plus pictures.)

In the late 1970s, thanks to the popularity of Star Wars and sci-fi in general, there was a giant resurgence in the popularity of space-related toys. Many were licensed, such as Buck Rogers, Battlestar Galactica and Black Hole toys. There was also a flood of generic, non-licensed toys as well. One popular line of such toys was Tim-Mee’s Galaxy Laser Team.

Tim-Mee is known for releasing small plastic toys of almost everything. From farmers and farm animals to army men, circus animals, policemen, firemen and fantasy monsters…you name it, Tim-Mee cranked ‘em out. If you spent any time at all on the toy aisle like I did as a kid, you probably remember them. Most of them were packaged in clear plastic bags, sealed with a cardboard label at the top. (Click here to see the rest of the article plus pictures.)

Hands down one of the coolest merchandising tributes to classic video games I’ve ever seen have been in a couple of series of “stage figures” released onto the Japanese toy market under the Dot Graphics banner. The extensive series of scenes from Super Mario Bros. depict almost every major event in that game, complete with moveable parts, while a similar (but sadly smaller) series of mini-dioramas depict events from classic 70s and 80s Namco arcade games. To say that both of these selections are merely cool is to not even come close to doing them justice. (Click here to see the rest of the article plus pictures.)

You may or may not have noticed that here in the summer of 2005, theLogBook.com has been featuring a lot of games and other items by Namco, the Japanese video game maker who gained worldwide fame with games like Pac-Man, Galaga, Dig Dug and many more. Namco, formerly the Nakamura Manufacturing Company, celebrates its 50th year of operation in 2005, so it seems only fitting. Another one of the items released just in time for that anniversary is this nifty set of colorful figurines commemorating some of the company’s games. Released only in Japan, the figurines may not represent what western fans of classic games consider to be well-known, high-profile titles, but even with the small dioramas depicting scenes from lesser-known games, the design and craftsmanship of these toys are impressive. (Click here to see the rest of the article plus pictures.)

Ken! Joe! Jun! Jinpei! Ryu!

Don’t recognize the names? Okay. Let’s try it again.

Mark! Jason! Princess! Tiny! Keyop!

That’s a little more like it. Most American viewers, especially anyone who ever sat transfixed by the TV after school in the late 1970s and early 80s probably remember these as the heroes of the animated series Battle Of The Planets. (Click here to see the rest of the article plus pictures.)

As previously seen in ToyBox, Kenner hoped they were latching on the next big thing in the world of post-Star Wars toys when they landed the license for the Q*Bert video game characters. (Click here to see the rest of the article plus pictures.)

The year was 1983. The Star Wars franchise was winding down, and the Pac-Man craze had mostly subsided. What was a toy company like Kenner to do? The next best thing to Pac-Man at this point was to hop onto a multicolored flying disc with Q*Bert.

The D. Gottlieb Co. video game was an almost instant hit because of its unique game play and an extremely marketable cast of characters. CBS rushed a Q*Bert cartoon onto the air, and Q*Bert merchandise began to hit the store shelves. (Click here to see the rest of the article plus pictures.)

Whereas Coleco only had non-exclusive toy and electronic game licenses for Pac-Man, the company had grabbed almost all rights to Nintendo’s Donkey Kong. The primary reason for this was to ensure that the game would be the first game packed in with the ColecoVision game console. But Coleco also took advantage of the license to produce small PVC figures of three main characters from the Donkey Kong games in 1982. (Click here to see the rest of the article plus pictures.)

In 1982, at the peak of Pac-Man Fever, Coleco introduced a line of Pac-Man toys, including a half dozen bendable PVC figures based on the game. The characters included Pac-Man, Ms. Pac-Man, Blinky the ghost, Mr. Pac-Man, Mrs. Pac-Man, and - perhaps oddest of all - “Pac-Angel.” Other companies also cashed in, and Midway - Namco’s American licensee for the game - handed out the rights to produce Pac goods like a bunch of dots in a maze. (Click here to see the rest of the article plus pictures.)

Space may be the final frontier, but it’s also just about the last subject on which you can expect any toy manufacturer to base new products - especially the early era of space exploration. But some toy companies have done just that. Here’s a look at some of the better space toys and collectibles. (Click here to see the rest of the article plus pictures.)