Wheeljack’s Lab Vintage Toy Blog

When Tactical Studies Rules (TSR) introduced Dungeons & Dragons to the public in 1974, they brought two things to the table.

When Earnest Gary Gygax and David Arneson combined forces to create the groundbreaking Dungeons & Dragons tabletop RPG game, they changed the landscape of gaming.

Before 1963, no company seriously considered the thought of creating dolls and action figures for boys. Instead, Mattel had a stranglehold on the hearts of consumers with only Ken representing the male presence.

Before the 1970s, tabletop games focused on one of three genres: family board games, traditional games like chess, and wargames.

Back in the 1960s, two titans duked it out in the Japanese cinema, Godzilla and Gamera. Where Godzilla began as a symbol of the frightening power of the atomic bomb, Gamera quickly appealed himself to the hearts of children.

Gamera first won over the hearts of children across the world during his first on-screen appearance in 1965. Unlike Toho’s titanic beast, Gamera showed inclinations to protect humans, especially the children.

When it comes to giant monsters from Japan, two companies have reigned supreme: Toho with Godzilla and Daiei with Gamera. Unlike Godzilla, Daiei always presented their creature as a sympathetic creature.

Decades after Tron first appeared on movie screens in 1982, fans still fondly look back at the film. At the time, no studio had produced a film that featured minutes upon minutes of computer graphics.

As arcades began popping up in malls across the nation, upcoming filmmaker Steven Lisberger fell in love with Pong. He felt that the unique back-lit experience from video games would do wonders in film.

As video games began to gain popularity in the late seventies, their unique look began to inspire the creative minds behind movies. At the time, the thought of video games inspiring movies was completely foreign.

One of the greatest science fiction franchises of our time began with a simple fever-dream in Rome, Italy. While rumor states that James Cameron flew to Rome to break into the editing room for Piranha II: The Spawning, he has denied such claims.

Years after James Cameron enthralled audiences with the first Terminator film, Kenner Toys became the first company to create toys for the franchise.

Over thirty years ago, James Cameron made his mark on cinema when The Terminator became a massive hit, spawning a franchise. Even though the film has become a staple of science fiction entertainment, it began with humble beginnings.

As Franklin J. Schaffner toiled to adapt Pierre Boulle’s novel into the hit Planet of the Apes film, he trusted writers Rod Sterling then Michael Wilson.

When Planet of the Apes hit theaters in 1968, the reveal that Taylor landed on a post-apocalyptic Earth shocked the audience. Even before the final twist, they fell in love with the expressive performances from the various apes, especially Cornelius and Zira.

Even before Pierre Boulle entertained the world with his novel, La Planète des singes, Arthur P. Jacobs scooped up the rights to create the Planet of the Apes franchise.

Before The Karate Kid hit movie theaters in 1984, martial arts films remained a niche genre. Only a few exceptions, like Bruce Lee’s Enter the Dragon ever caught the public’s attention.

Years after Daniel LaRusso proved that he was the best around, the first Karate Kid toys hit store shelves. During the production of the first movie, which debuted in 1984, none expected the film to become a cultural phenomenon.

As audiences exited the theaters in 1984, they dreamed of becoming the best like Daniel LaRusso in The Karate Kid. The film spoke to both adults and children, for it happily presented the self-empowering nature of martial arts.

Combining the charm of the Lone Rider with ultramodern technology, Knight Rider enraptured audiences in the 1980s. Its showrunner, Glen A. Larson felt that audiences needed a new series that presented the tales of a lone vigilante moved from town to town.

As Knight Rider hit television screens in 1982, audiences fell in love with the shadowy flight of Michael Knight and his car, K.I.T.T. As Glen A. Larson hoped, America fell in love with his show that fused the dynamics of Lone Rider with cars.

In the 1980s, audiences loved to see two things on their television screens: fast cars and the Hoff. First appearing on television in The Young and The Restless, David Hasselhoff quickly became the heartthrob of women across America.

Even as “extreme” defined the 90s, Christmas brought things down to life as we all longed for the toys of our dreams under the tree. This decade saw the emergence of more and more electronic toys in the market.

With Christmas in the air, our minds drift back to our dreams of toys under our trees in the 1980s. During this decade, the toy industry quickly moved to release some of the most defining toy lines.