Playskool American Bricks #848 SPIDER-MAN Playset (1977)

 

Here is a super-cool playset that was unknown to me, but BOY would I have loved this as a kid.  It immediately struck me as a miniature "Marvel World," which was a 1975 playset made by AMSCO:

Marvel World was advertised in comics of the day, and for the first time ever, it gave you a PLAYSET featuring 34 Marvel characters, the Daily Bugle, the Baxter Building, Dr. Strange's Sanctum Sanctorum, Peter Parker's apartment building, and much, much more. Today this playset is super rare and commands high prices, because, hey, it was cardboard, after all.

Little did I know, I was right about today's playset being a mini-Marvel World!  Turns out, both Amsco AND American Bricks, maker of today's playset, were bought out by Milton Bradley in the late 1960's, and as a result, our Spider-Man playset actually shares quite a bit of artwork (and character designs) with Marvel World! Sweet!

Included here are the Baxter Building, the Daily Bugle, an airport, laboratory (in reality the INSIDE of the Baxter Building), etc....but the catch is that you can't build them all at once, necessarily. Unless your mom goes and gets you more American Bricks!

Here are the contents of the box.  The only thing I am missing is an "axle brick" to hold the wheels, and as the vehicles they want you to make are real dumb, I don't think it's a problem.  

What even is this?

Before we go any farther, I should explain the construction method a little.  The "wall segment" bricks have slots inside of them, which allow you to insert heavy cardstock panels into them.  There are nine panels, but they are double-sided (another reason you can't build everything at once, as you have to plan ahead to portion them out correctly).  The obvious problem with this, of course, is that no matter how heavy the cardstock is, eventually it's going to break down and start to shred from use....and then there is the age group involved with this building toy, which means their survival is tenuous at best.

Luckily, mine are in really good shape! Here is the box insert, which is as much instructions as you are going to get:

So, now the cool part.  Here is what I was able to build!

AIR CONTROL? "You fools! Doom will Control all of the Air!"

This is as tall as the set allows for the Baxter Building. Interestingly, some of this plastic tends to warp over time, especially the white-pigmented pieces for some reason, so they don't always sit flush.  But close enough.

By being creative with the parts supply, I was able to build a Daily Bugle, apartment building, and another smaller structure, which gives us a city scene.

This playset gives you 12 characters--about a third of Marvel World.  The bigger playset actually has an awesome Green Goblin that has Harry Osborne on the reverse side! I wish that had been included here.  Speaking of, here they all are:

They all have little stands like board game pawns.  The problem with this is, it's quite difficult to balance these on the spiky tops of the bricks! If the stands had been interlocking with the "stud" surface of the bricks, it would've been much better.  As it is, there is lots of toppling over.

And finally, here is the artwork with the included 9 panels:

First group: front

First group: back

Second group: front

Second group: back

You can see a problem by looking at these panels.  For example, there are two "laboratory" artworks on the same piece of cardboard...plus, if you want an "Airport" door (which looks like the front of the Baxter Building, actually), then you have "laboratory" artwork on the other side. In other words, you are expected to be happy with your building looking correct from the front only.

All of this doesn't matter, anyway, because you may be shocked to know that the characters do not actually fit inside of the buildings. Nope, they can't stand inside of the pre-determined wall heights.  I mean, good grief, with Lego, we could just add another layer of bricks.  Oh well. It doesn't matter, I have something I thought I'd never have: my own mini-Marvel World!

Believe it or not, this appears to be the only Marvel set that American Bricks made.  (Also note that, although it is very much a general Marvel Comics set, it is titled as SPIDER-MAN!) Isn't it mind-blowing to think about, from today's perspective, that this wasn't just part of a wave of 15 different sets at one time? No matter what anybody ever tells you, things really WERE much simpler back then.