Gimme Some Gimmicks!

August 1979

Shogun Warriors #7

It’s the Fun Factory again! We’ve seen these guys before in 1978 and 1980, and they’re (mostly) still up to their same old tricks!

I would love to see statistics from this place – what were their biggest sellers, vs. what products were duds?

One thing that I find interesting is the fact that it says “OFFER VALID UNTIL AUGUST 1986” – that’s seven years from the time this was printed! Considering that a lot of these items went up in price by the very next year, it would be worth it to dig around for an older comic!

Apparently Amusing

January 1978

The Secret Society of Super-Villains #12

Here we’ve got another installment from our friends at Fun Factory (see a 1980 ad from them here). In this ad they have fewer items, but devote more space to each one.

On the pocket spy scope, the lens is “optimally ground to view ever detail” – I always get a kick out of finding typos in printed material (I’m an editor by trade, so spotting errors is what I do), but I find it especially funny that this is in a sentence talking about detail! I also love that it’s “Great for watching sports, girls, counter spying” … so, it’s great for being a stalker, then?

On the X-Ray Specs, I like that they put the disclaimer-esque “Apparently” in front of the “see thru” bit – they never said you could actually see through stuff, so no complaining when it doesn’t work! Also, “Apparently see thru bones”? Aren’t bones the one part you’re supposed to see (not see through) with X-rays?

 

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Get Your Very Own… Lizard… Tree?

September 1963

X-Men #1

At first glance, I thought this ad was for some kind of pet, but on closer inspection, it actually appears to be some kind of plant.

I’m struck by the bizarreness of this – both the plant itself (which I have no idea of what it actually is), and the fact that it’s being marketed as a lizard!

Arrowheads Rock(s)!

April 1980

Buck Rogers in the 25th Century #7

What could be more exciting than rocks? Rocks shaped like stuff! I don’t know why, but when I was a kid, I was fascinated by arrowheads (and other similar rock-type stuff), and it looks like other kids must’ve been as well.

And the best part? They’re “authentic stone”! …As opposed to imitation stone?

Though probably my favorite thing on here is on the order form – “Rush my Solar Power Booklet.” WTF? Nowhere in this ad does it say anything about solar power, so that just seems to be completely out of left field! Was that maybe part of some other ad that just ended up here by accident??

 

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So Much Fun For So Little Money!

April 1980

Buck Rogers in the 25th Century #7

OK, time to get back to the classics! I’ve had fun posting stuff from Deadpool #1, but I think that older ads tend to be more fun. I’ve still got some ads from Deadpool #1 that I’ll post at some point, but they’ll be interspersed with the older, more classic stuff.

And speaking of classics, here are tons of them!

I can only imagine how much allowance money went toward the stuff on pages like these… and how much disappoint resulted when the products didn’t live up to expectations.

I think my favorite item on here is the Atomic Mini Pistol – how, exactly, is it atomic? I mean, I guess it’s made up of atoms, but beyond that, I can’t really see how “atomic” applies here…

 

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