My toy hunt list, circa 1991

I was looking through my old Tomart's Action Figure price guide and found my toy collector buying lists that I had written in the front and back pages. This would have been 1991-1993 and list some items I wanted to add to my collection and what stores I had seen them. Lots of GI Joes  and Transformers at places like Children's Palace, Pamida, Gibsons and 1/2 Price Store.

Vintage Toy Ads: The Revenge "Defenders of the Planets" and "Tri-Trons", oh my!

I was going through my collection of old toy ads I had collected from Google's digital news archives and thought I'd start posting some new ones.

I usually save ads based on toy lines I like, stores I shopped at as a kid or in some cases toys I've ever heard of. There's a double whammy in this Revco Drug Store ad from Dec. 15, 1985. I stopped for the Voltron action figures and stayed for the "Defenders of the Planets" and "Tri-Trons" toys, two lines I'd never heard of. Defenders looks to be a Masters of the Universe knock off and Tri-Trons "3 Robots that combine into 1 Super Robot" has got to be a Transformers cash-grab.

Revco Drug Store ad from Dec. 15, 1985

Here's the back of a Defenders of the Planets card, showing the Defenders and the Evildoers...

These seem to be fairly well documented amongst MOTU fans and there are even some on eBay.

As for the Tri-Trons, they seem more obscure. I only found 2 references to them online:

1) this nice, clear pic on flickr

http://www.flickr.com/photos/16077641@N07/1811638203/sizes/l/in/photostream/

and 2) These blurry pics from a South American auction site.

They look pretty cool. I like the samurai-thing. If anyone has any info on these guys (manufacturer; clear, packaged examples; and if there were other styles)  drop me an email or send some pics or links. Is this from an existing Japanese series? It's nothing I recognize off the top of my head...

Anyway, just when yo think you've seen it all, new things to learn about.

-Matt aka Dr.G