Perhapablog

Friday, June 18, 2010

flying things and the return of the five for friday!

okay...

some people eat--i get on ebay...

not that it happens all that often, but during those times when i'm feeling a little down, a little empty inside--those times when people who are emotional eaters claim they eat the most--i've noticed that i tend to become nostalgic and, since the advent of ebay, i tend to bid on items that, one way or another, take me back to a more innocent time...
this is not healthy.
it doesn't last for long, but, well...i don't have a lot of room here in my little office and if i keep this up they're going to put me on hoarders. granted, i'll have the coolest stuff you've ever seen on hoarders, but it's still not good.

so, anyway, for years i've been searching and tracking down cool toys that i remember from my childhood, whether i had them or a friend had them or maybe i just remember seeing it advertised on tv or in a comic book. i don't buy them all--that would be too much--but it is cool to see them, get a look at the photos, see if memory served well.
one of the things that i did have and that i have been looking for since i first discovered ebay, were these crazy foam airplanes made by, i was pretty sure, topps, the folks who made the baseball cards and, more up my alley, crazy novelty items like wacky packages. these planes were wicked cool 'cause they featured cartoon-y designs and characters that you could collect and assemble your self and fly 'em around the neighborhood with your friends! they were awesome!

the only problem was...i just couldn't seem to remember the name of the things...!

were they...freaky flyers...? wacky wings...? goofy gliders...?

i remembered one was a hot dog...a flying hot dog!! ha! or did they call it a frankfurter...?
one was a guy with a really big nose! ha! and another...was it a mop...?

it tried every single one of those as keywords for my search--and every combination! both in ebay and on google, hoping that at least i'd find reference and maybe catch the brand name that way...

as you can see, when i finally found them i also found why they were so hard to find. i can't think of a more innocuous name to go looking for. type in "flying" you get about a ka-billion results. type in "things" and it's triple that.

but i finally found them and here they are.
i can't help but think that these would STILL be great toys and that topps should strongly consider reissuing this bunch. they are funny and i remember them being a lot of fun!

(i really thought there was a banana or a banana split one... hmmm...)








and here are a couple of the cool things and photos i found during my rather exhausting search...




and, apparently, marvel and topps got together way back in the 60s to make some cool gliders of their own! it is surmised that these were the first marvel merchandise ever--wow. look how far that's come...
please, re-issue THESE marvel and topps!! now!!




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rich woodall just sent me this and you gotta check it out.
you KNOW i WANT to believe--especially anything bigfoot!
what i find difficult to believe is that this guy's name is "pork"...!


http://www.wsoctv.com/news/23937399/detail.html?hpt=T2

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five for friday
music!

yeah, we all know lotsa lyrics to lotsa songs--but will you recognize them written out here, out of context...?
for the sake of sanity, i stuck with what they call "classic rock" so that we don't get too far away from anything recognizable...here are snippets of lyrics from five classic tunes for you to identify.
have fun!


1. "i'll shine up my old brown shoes,
put on a brand new shirt,
get off early from work,
if you'll say..."

2. "don't run back inside, darlin', you know just what i'm here for.
so you're scared and you're thinkin' that maybe we ain't that young anymore..."

3. "i was talkin' with a friend of mine,
said a woman had hurt his pride,
told him that she loved him so then,
turned around and let him go."

4. "when are you gonna come down...?
when are ya goin' to land...?"

5. "if there's a bustle in your hedgerow, don't be alarmed now..."

have a great weekend!
smell ya later!
todd

5 comments:

Rich Woodall said...

Oh man, those look great! And I so wanted those Marvel Flyers until I checked out how much they're going for... $150 - $200!!! "But baby, it's the Hulk, flying... ZOOOOOM!" SMACK!

Brian said...

Funny, when I first discovered ebay, I too went hunting for old toys, especially all the vehicles from those great old Gerry Anderson superanimation shows like Fireball XL5, Stingray and The Thunderbirds.

I ended up getting just about everything I wanted. Lucky for me, I was just as happy with modern versions or reproductions than the Corgi originals, because those originals were awful expensive.

Ok, on to the five for Friday.

1. ?

2. Thunder Road - Bruce Springsteen

3. Don't Do Me Like That - Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers

4. Goodbye Yellow Brick Road - Elton John

5. Stairway to Heaven - Lead Zeppelin.

Colin said...

1. Cheap Trick - I Want You to Want Me

Warren said...

Have you seen this one?

http://io9.com/5565089/north-carolina-man-uses-coyote-trumpet-to-summon-beautiful-six%20fingered-sasquatch

If I was Bigfoot, I'd stay away from that guy.

Those NC Bigfoot sightings are within about 50 miles of me. We've had red wolf and black bear sightings in my town, so maybe I'll get to see this bigfoot with the "beau-ti-ful hair".

And I remember those little airplanes. they actually flew pretty well until they crashed. :)

StandUpGuy said...

Gliders made of foam for 5 or 25¢ apiece. That was back in 1965-66. I remember them as "Freaky Fliers", and have ALSO been searching for them. The ones I remember were sold at the counter of convenience stores and included a flying banana (banana split?) among others. Great sleuthing to find these things!