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Rack Toys: Cheap, Crazed Playthings
Imagine a book filled with images of the colorful packaging hanging from your pharmacists or grocer’s shelves, designed to entice you while you sat in your parents' shopping cart.
Often terribly made, these strange playthings were low priced enough to wear down even the most frugal adult and were most likely forgotten or broken by the time you left the parking lot.
Rack Toys is a love letter to re-purposed illogically licensed toys that were not meant to be remembered.
144 pages of full color goodness, this non-fiction collection features literally hundreds of photos of toys from every decade and genre from the perfectly logical to the thoughtlessly odd, it is a love letter to an industry our parents called “junk”.
Rack Toys includes an introduction essay by Jason Lenzi (Bif Bang Pow! Toys, Geek Shall Inherit Podcast), along with seven chapters covering topics such as Superheroes, Saturday Morning Cartoons, Monsters, Science Fiction, TV and Movie characters, Generic Joy and Knock Offs.
Often terribly made, these strange playthings were low priced enough to wear down even the most frugal adult and were most likely forgotten or broken by the time you left the parking lot.
Rack Toys is a love letter to re-purposed illogically licensed toys that were not meant to be remembered.
144 pages of full color goodness, this non-fiction collection features literally hundreds of photos of toys from every decade and genre from the perfectly logical to the thoughtlessly odd, it is a love letter to an industry our parents called “junk”.
Rack Toys includes an introduction essay by Jason Lenzi (Bif Bang Pow! Toys, Geek Shall Inherit Podcast), along with seven chapters covering topics such as Superheroes, Saturday Morning Cartoons, Monsters, Science Fiction, TV and Movie characters, Generic Joy and Knock Offs.
- GenresPop Culture
144 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2012
27 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
August 6, 2024
Rack toys. Those cheap impulse items that were pegged at the local drug store, dime store, grocery store, usually consisting of water guns, parachute toys, balsa wood planes, and assorted plastic junk. And an awful lot of them were slapped with some then contemporary cartoon, TV, movie or other pop culture phenomenon which very well may have had nothing at all to do with that plastic junk. They were, by and large, designed to keep kids quiet for a couple of hours before they almost inevitably fell apart.
Brian Heiler, who started the Mego Museum website and the Podstallions podcast has brought together a fairly substantial cross-section of these cheap toys into what is essentially a nerd art book. And it crosses the borders of nerd-dom. There's superhero stuff. There's Planet of the Apes, monsters, Star Trek, etc. I'm familiar with Heiler. I wouldn't say by any means that I know him, but I've interacted with him from time to time through Podstallions and The Mego Museum. He really is an expert on toys of the 70s and 80s. So this is a super fun nostalgic trip for those of us who grew up at that time. I'll also say that I personally never got a lot of rack toys. That money was, to me, better served buying comic books and, later, used paperbacks. Which isn't to say I didn't have some...and want more.
I would say if there's a failing in the book it's that it's pretty heavily boy-centered. There are certainly girl toys here (hey...it was the 70s and 80s). But overall it's weighted to stuff that was aimed at boys. But if you were a kid who grew up in the 70s and into the 80s, this is a super fun art book.
Brian Heiler, who started the Mego Museum website and the Podstallions podcast has brought together a fairly substantial cross-section of these cheap toys into what is essentially a nerd art book. And it crosses the borders of nerd-dom. There's superhero stuff. There's Planet of the Apes, monsters, Star Trek, etc. I'm familiar with Heiler. I wouldn't say by any means that I know him, but I've interacted with him from time to time through Podstallions and The Mego Museum. He really is an expert on toys of the 70s and 80s. So this is a super fun nostalgic trip for those of us who grew up at that time. I'll also say that I personally never got a lot of rack toys. That money was, to me, better served buying comic books and, later, used paperbacks. Which isn't to say I didn't have some...and want more.
I would say if there's a failing in the book it's that it's pretty heavily boy-centered. There are certainly girl toys here (hey...it was the 70s and 80s). But overall it's weighted to stuff that was aimed at boys. But if you were a kid who grew up in the 70s and into the 80s, this is a super fun art book.
January 3, 2016
Rack Toys: Cheap, Crazed Playthings is my favorite type toy-history book: colorful, easy-to-read, and chock full of fun photography. The book has secured a permanent place on my coffee table, right next to The Official Guide to Disco Dance Steps (an entirely different story), and it never fails to generate a nostalgia-fueled discussion or two when someone picks it up and starts thumbing through it.
Over the course of 144 pages, author Brian Heiler has paid tribute to an oft-forgotten niche of off-brand, easily breakable, and ultimately disposable plastic toys that were typically available in supermarket checkout lines, variety stores, and pharmacy shelves. Rack toys were the kind of cheap impulse purchases that parents (like mine) often used to placate young children (like me) during shopping excursions.
Heiler has divided the book into seven chapters, each representing a sub-genre of novelty toy goodness, including superheroes, scary monsters, Saturday morning cartoons, and television shows. As each chapter unfolds, it becomes apparent that the period of rack toys covered in the book (1950s-1990s) was like the Wild West of toy licensing. Companies like Azrak-Hamway International (AHI), Imperial Toys, and Larami flooded the market with products at a time when licensed character branding standards were non-existent or simply not enforced.
Lax attention to licensing also opened the door for some questionable tie-ins. For example, in Chapter 1, Comic Action Heroes, Heiler includes an eclectic mix of rack toys featuring classic DC and Marvel superheroes. And while it may be tempting to question whether Batman and Robin ever really employed a “space probe” as part of their crime fighting arsenal, or when exactly The Incredible Hulk hopped on his “stunt cycle” or sat behind the wheel of his “zoom-powered” van, these types of questions are better left unasked and certainly unanswered.
Of course, this theme continues throughout each subsequent chapter, with Heiler playfully documenting an array of bizarre product choices and creative packaging that retailers used to make a quick buck. Reading your way through the Frankenstein Glow Putty, Space 1999: Eagle Water Gun, and Laverne & Shirley Secretary Set leads to the last (and my favorite) chapter: Hey, Knock it Off – because even rack toys aren’t immune from cheap knock-offs.
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to dig up my Super Friends Swim Goggles for my upcoming trip to Florida.
Over the course of 144 pages, author Brian Heiler has paid tribute to an oft-forgotten niche of off-brand, easily breakable, and ultimately disposable plastic toys that were typically available in supermarket checkout lines, variety stores, and pharmacy shelves. Rack toys were the kind of cheap impulse purchases that parents (like mine) often used to placate young children (like me) during shopping excursions.
Heiler has divided the book into seven chapters, each representing a sub-genre of novelty toy goodness, including superheroes, scary monsters, Saturday morning cartoons, and television shows. As each chapter unfolds, it becomes apparent that the period of rack toys covered in the book (1950s-1990s) was like the Wild West of toy licensing. Companies like Azrak-Hamway International (AHI), Imperial Toys, and Larami flooded the market with products at a time when licensed character branding standards were non-existent or simply not enforced.
Lax attention to licensing also opened the door for some questionable tie-ins. For example, in Chapter 1, Comic Action Heroes, Heiler includes an eclectic mix of rack toys featuring classic DC and Marvel superheroes. And while it may be tempting to question whether Batman and Robin ever really employed a “space probe” as part of their crime fighting arsenal, or when exactly The Incredible Hulk hopped on his “stunt cycle” or sat behind the wheel of his “zoom-powered” van, these types of questions are better left unasked and certainly unanswered.
Of course, this theme continues throughout each subsequent chapter, with Heiler playfully documenting an array of bizarre product choices and creative packaging that retailers used to make a quick buck. Reading your way through the Frankenstein Glow Putty, Space 1999: Eagle Water Gun, and Laverne & Shirley Secretary Set leads to the last (and my favorite) chapter: Hey, Knock it Off – because even rack toys aren’t immune from cheap knock-offs.
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to dig up my Super Friends Swim Goggles for my upcoming trip to Florida.
December 29, 2022
This book is a good little survey of vintage rack toys, but it's focused on toys for boys. I remember so many wonderful rack toys made for girls, such as doll sets, make-up and jewelry kits, and domestic sets for playing house. Those don't get a mention here. The book had so many typos and layout issues, that it was difficult to read in sections. I hope if there's an updated version that the author will devote sections to girl toys or incorporate them more. Also, a good proofreader would help. Fun to look at the pictures and reminisce about old dime store toys.
May 6, 2022
Once upon a time, you could take aim as Captain Kirk with a Star Trek water gun, send Planet of the Apes racing along on a wind-up motorcycle, or have Yogi Bear parachute into your backyard. And probably for less than a dollar.
This book, by the creator of the Mego Museum and the Plaid Stallions website, fanboyishly assembles a collection of all kinds of kooky and oddly licensed toys once commonly available at the local drugstore.
This book, by the creator of the Mego Museum and the Plaid Stallions website, fanboyishly assembles a collection of all kinds of kooky and oddly licensed toys once commonly available at the local drugstore.
February 7, 2022
If you are like me and you like your toys in books. A great reminder of that weird little niche.
I was there, so I love this.
I was there, so I love this.
February 14, 2025
As 38 years of my life were spent in the retail trade, in stores that sold rack toys, this book was particularly interesting to me. The author knows his stuff!
January 20, 2021
The classic toys....that broke easily, but hey they were still fun!
This brought back alot of good toy memories for me. I remember having the spider-man parachute figure and the one with the motorcycle. The arms on my spiderman with motorcycle broke off quite easily as I recall. But a little glue and it was good as new. Book also brought back good thoughts about all those rubber "Jaws" sharks I had. The sharks ate alot of my gijoes. If you had some of these great toys when you were a kid, sit back, relax, and enjoy the book and re-live your fondest toy memories!
This brought back alot of good toy memories for me. I remember having the spider-man parachute figure and the one with the motorcycle. The arms on my spiderman with motorcycle broke off quite easily as I recall. But a little glue and it was good as new. Book also brought back good thoughts about all those rubber "Jaws" sharks I had. The sharks ate alot of my gijoes. If you had some of these great toys when you were a kid, sit back, relax, and enjoy the book and re-live your fondest toy memories!
June 4, 2013
Great photographs, but a more cohesive narrative would have made for a stronger, and more memorable book. Then again, since it celebrates the crap toys that were designed to be forgettable after an hour or so of playtime, perhaps that is fitting. I enjoyed myself, and recommend this look back for any toy junkie or pop culture aficionado.
January 21, 2015
Great book. This book had great pictures and lots of information on the background and history of the toys. I never paid much attention to these types of toys in the past, but after reading this book, I want them all!
December 31, 2019
I haven't had this much fun looking at a book about toys since I picked up a copy of Greenberg's Guide To Super Hero Toys back in the late 1980's. I wish it had been another 100 pages or more.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews