Film & TV Toys – The Museum of Childhood Ireland

Display in BOI, Dún Laoghaire, December 2024 on Toys influenced by Film and TV Shows in the 60s, 70s, 80s.

Toys I received as gifts at Christmas

“I grew up watching TV and going to the cinema every chance I got. There were plenty of repeats of The Lone Ranger on television in the 60s, through to the 80s. I loved watching the Lone Ranger, Silver, his horse, Tonto and his horse Scout. The films, shows and toys shaped my childhood and provided mine and my friends’ cultural references. ‘Hi-Yo Silver, Away’, ‘Kemo Sabe’!

A variety of Lone Ranger toys were released over the years, some of the most successful being the 10-inch tall action figures and accessories released in 1973 by Gabriel Toys – the ones I played with. Instant classics. The Marx Logo meant it was a UK edition. I’d say Santy collected them for distribution on Christmas eve via Banba Toymasters, upstairs in Dún Laoghaire Shopping centre.

From the 70s too there was also a highly collectible series of annuals and one of my friends had a few of them so I got to read them. The last annual was published by Brown Watson in 1976.

I also had a Six Million Dollar Man action figure. In 1975 Kenner Toys introduced a Steve Austin figure, who was 13 inches tall and was dressed in a NASA-inspired red tracksuit. The Six Million Dollar Man was an American science fiction and action adventure TV series which ran from 1973 to 1978. It centered on a former astronaut, USAF Colonel Steve Austin who, after injury on a NASA test flight is rebuilt with bionic implants that give him superhuman strength, speed and vision. He is subsequently employed as a secret agent by a fictional U.S. government office titled the OSI. The series was based on the 1972 novel Cyborg by Martin Caidin.

Following three television films intended as pilots ( 1973), The Six Million Dollar Man television series aired on ABC Network Television for five seasons from 1974 to 1978, introducing several iconic elements of 1970s pop-culture, such as the show’s opening catchphrase: “We can rebuild him; we have the technology”, the slow motion action sequences, and electronic sound effects. ( Originally referred to as ‘Kung Fu’ slow motion)

The Game of Jaws was a really enjoyable game produced by the Ideal Toy Company in 1975, and based on the film which I saw at the Forum in Glasthule, which terrified me. I’ll never forget it! Today, the game is a collectors item. The box contained a plastic great white shark, and 13 pieces which included tires, skulls, etc. I read recently that years later the game was rereleased as “Sharky’s Diner”. Despite being based on a mature-oriented horror film, the game’s age range was initially from 6 years up and later changed to 4 years and over.

Starcom: The U.S. Space Force appeared on our telly ( and in the shops) in 1987. The action figures were only two inches tall and came with a backpack, a weapon, and identification cards that explained who they were and what their equipment could do. Starcom toy line used Magna Lock technology. (The action figures had tiny magnets in their feet, allowing them to stand on the vehicles or playsets without falling off, or to activate devices in the playsets. They also had Power Deploy features, which used automatic mechanisms to perform multiple actions all at the touch of a button, and without the use of batteries, which our parents loved.

M.A.S.K. toyline developed by Kenner in 1985, along with an animated TV series, ran for two seasons, from 1985 to 1986. They released four official series, each featuring vehicles with hidden features. Most came with one or two drivers, and each character had a mask that had special abilities!

My childhood in a nutshell…Love to hear about yours too!?”

Thomas Byrne, Dúnlaoghaire

“Launched in 1974, the Action Man Escape from Colditz Set was part of a range built upon the success of a BBC TV series Colditz, about the exploits of a group of prisoners of war held in Colditz Castle during World War II. Colditz was a BBC drama series co-produced by the BBC and Universal Studios which was screened between 1972 and 1974.”

“The Six Million Dollar Man’s enemy Maskatron, a Wild Exploding Cyborg Action Figure From 1976.”

“A Palitoy boxed Hoth Wampa from the 1980s. The Empire Strikes Back (also known as Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back) was a 1980s American film based on a story by George Lucas.