NEW Godzilla Item Discovered, And It's Another Puffy Thing

 (NOTE: This directly continues from the last post, and is Part 2 of a long and sordid story.)

THE STORY SO FAR: Last time we examined some of the puffy magnetic Godzilla items that the mysterious nameless company made in the late 1970's, namely the key chains and the "Jumbo" 7-inch magnets.  We looked at a hitherto-unforeseen Jumbo magnet, and we also concluded that there were six designs in the key chains, and therefore six Jumbo magnets probably exist (by the way these designs were also found in the various puffy stickers that they made...):

So what is the big deal? Well, as it turns out, this company produced ANOTHER puffy magnetic item in their vast arsenal:

These were the "Combination Magnetic Stickers," meaning they too contained crappy magnets (you remember Top Cat living in prehistoric times with the Flintstones, right?). And as it turns out, they made them for dozens of franchises.  Here are just a few:

Just a quick search will reveal:  The Pink Panther, Casper and Harveytoons characters, Terrytoons characters, Raggedy Ann & Andy, Mr. Magoo, Dick Tracy, and some sort of cutified little girls called "Honey Funnies," that probably should be left alone. As you can see, they were sold on little cards on spinner racks, the same way their puffy stickers were sold.  

Here is what the backs of these items looked like:

There is no artwork on the back, and the "sticker" function was merely a small strip with adhesive underneath...which no doubt stuck better than the magnet, and begs the question of why there even WAS a magnet???!!!

The Godzilla Jumbo Puffy Magnets had blank backs like these, but contained no adhesive strip. 

So, what is so exciting about the Godzooky at the top of this post? Surely we have already seen that.  Well, take a look at this:

Lo and behold, he's one of them! I am embarrassed to say I have had this for many years, and I bought it in a lot of random Godzilla stuff, long ago.  It was just sitting in a display case, on top of some other items.  I think I subconsciously thought it was one of those key chains that had broken off, but thank goodness I kept it!

He is also the identical dimensions to the key chains, which is important to note:

So, just when it gets boring around here, there's a new item to discover, and it was there all along.  Now we have to turn up a packaged example, so drop me a line if you can, or can provide a photo for the guide.  

These were the sorts of disposable things that--especially if they were opened--quickly used up their short lifespans. You can imagine them falling off, and the adhesive instantly getting dirty and full of strange hair...and then your mom threw it away when you weren't looking.  That was the 1970's for sure.

Stay tuned, because we have some more Godzilla history coming up shortly that you won't see anywhere else!

NEW Godzilla Jumbo Puffy Magnet Discovered! (manufacturer unknown, 1979)

(NOTE: This is part 1 of a 2-part discovery, to keep them separate on our chronological list of American Godzilla items produced.)

A few posts ago, we looked at packaged examples of the Jumbo [7-inch] Puffy Magnets (called "Magnetic Godzilla Character TV & Cartoon Pals," by their nameless manufacturer, of which there were three different ones:

They look like this on the reverse (this will be important in Part 2):

No adhesive strip, just (extremely weak) crappy magnets inside. I already owned a vending machine backing card that contained the Godzooky magnet shown above:

HOWEVER-- I recently acquired another vending machine backing card from the same line, and guess what was prominently featured? A fourth style of jumbo puffy magnet things:

You just KNOW these were all folded up inside the little plastic egg, and were never right after that...

This brought our total up to four different styles.  Now, hold that thought, and let's jump back to another product that this company made, the Magnetic Godzilla Key Chains (featured in this post):

These fine products were sold on a hanging store display, and took the weak, ineffective magnet feature from before and added a key chain, which was precariously placed closely to the edge of the plastic puffy design.  Not only would it never hold up keys with a magnet, it would also never hold keys, period, or survive being in your pocket.  So, a fine engineering job all around.  But, I digress...

These puffy designs also had an internal magnet, but were double-sided in their artwork. (This will also be important for Part 2.)  So, how many different key chain designs were available? I sat down and studied them, realizing I had double-counted some a long time ago, which were simply just reverse images of what had already been counted.  I finally arrived at six different designs:

...which can all be found facing the opposite way as well  One way to keep track is, one side of the keychain is glossy, and the other is a dull finish. These puffy shapes measured approximately 3 & 1/2 by 2 & 1/2 inches.

You will notice that all four of our Jumbo Puffy Magnets' artwork featured above can be found in this group of images.  Therefore, I think it's safe to postulate that there are probably six different Jumbo Puffy Magnets to be found as well, like their key chain counterparts. Here are the remaining two styles:

I've never seen loose or packaged examples of these remaining two, but you can bet that I will be on the lookout from this point forward.

Now, if all of this wasn't too confusing or boring, hang on for Part 2, because all of this closer scrutiny made me realize there is another product that this company made, which I had completely left off of our list for years because I wasn't paying attention, and it is probably the very rarest of all of them, hands down.  Stay tuned!

Unproduced Lindberg RODAN Model Kit From 1995 Discovered!

 

Here is an awesome discovery! This was discovered by The H-Man, friend to The Sphinx and expert on all manner of Godzilla-and-related video releases (check out his channel).  He contact me to say that he had been researching the old Lindberg model kit from 1995...

...and in doing so, uncovered an Ebay listing for a 1995 Lindberg Dealer Catalog...

...which not only showed their cool Godzilla kit, but also one for Rodan! Who knew?

Once he shared this with me, I knew I had to buy the catalog so I could scan it to share here, as well as get this item added to our List of Unproduced Items (and in our Godzilla Guide of Vintage American Items, too).

This lovely-looking kit would've stood 7.5 inches tall, with a wingspan of 9 inches! Elsewhere in the catalog, it even shows a mock-up of store shelves, showing what your Lindberg inventory would look like...and once again, there is the Rodan kit!

It's too bad that this kit never saw the light of day, for whatever reason.  Except for Trendmasters' 1994-96 output, Rodan was certainly getting no love in the U.S. at the time.

I guess a good question would be: what happened to the prototype and/or molds for this kit? Are they in private hands, or were they perhaps destroyed?

Godzilla Appearances In THE ELECTRIC COMPANY MAGAZINE (1976-87)

We have talked about the wonder that was THE ELECTRIC COMPANY around here (a 3-CD audio retrospective is on this blog; first disc can be found here; search for the other two), but there was another entire facet to its awesomeness, and that was THE ELECTRIC COMPANY MAGAZINE.  This publication ran from 1974 to 1988, with a run of 146 issues, and it brought great joy to many a mailbox (this author's included).  Nearly every month of the year it brought games, puzzles, stories, jokes, entertainment articles, and unique Spider-Man comics that can be found nowhere else.  It was a great time to be alive.

Kids' magazines often featured activities, posters, board games, and things to cut out, and as such usually didn't survive, so this can be a tough magazine to go back and find...so far online I have found only one issue that has been completely scanned, but I've bought several lots over the past months, and have noticed our favorite kaiju popping up from time to time.

This list is by no means complete, but there is more than enough here to warrant a look! [By the way, I am sure these issues fall under the "Unauthorized, but who cares" category!]

ISSUE 29 (October 1976)

The yearly Halloween issues were often looked forward to with great anticipation, and this one doesn't disappoint.  In fact, it gives us the most Godzilla content I have seen yet...is it any surprise that GODZILLA vs. MEGALON had been a huge hit that summer?

For starters, the inside cover is a solarized poster of a popular still from KING OF THE MONSTERS! It took all year to find one that still had the cover intact and non-removed...here is the image stitched together:

Elsewhere in the same issue is a feature where you match the monster to what they (probably) looked like as a baby....and in the course of doing so, the magazine accidentally predicted Godzilla's partnership with Dr. Pepper nearly a decade later!!!! Wha?

Next comes a feature story where kids were interviewed about their favorite monsters:

Get your fingers out of your mouth, sweetie...

Finally, a FOURTH Godzilla appearance--which even includes Rodan--yes, kids in the 70's knew who Rodan was.  Why not take a break and do a word search? Also, points for naming all of the films shown!

ISSUE 31 (December 1976)

This issue (which is incorrectly labeled as "Number 30, November 1976" on the inside) contains a spread of photos for you to caption.  Lo and behold, there is Godzilla...and Gabara, of all things:

They don't supply a caption, so you are supposed to make up your own.  If you have a good one, let me know!

ISSUE 56 (October 1979)

Another awesome Halloween issue, and we are into the Hanna-Barbera Saturday morning cartoon timeline. Godzilla was featured in an article called "Welcome To The Haunted High Class of 1979:"

Note the Ebirah claw there!

Also, there is a two-page MONSTER MAP that may be my favorite piece yet.  It's suitable for framing and even includes Mothra and Gorgo, but also REPTILICUS!

I could look at this all day!

ISSUE 69 (October 1980)

I am sensing a pattern here with the Halloween issues.  This issue stresses the difference between real and make-believe monsters:

Interestingly, no Godzilla photos are used this time, only artwork.

ISSUE 135 (June 1987)

This non-Halloween issue, from near the very end of the run, sneaks in an Imperial Godzilla! Well, not really sneaks, they name-check him:

Hey, somebody marked him out at the bottom....that would've been the first thing I circled! Vacation packing: clean underwear, toothbrush, Imperial inflatable Godzilla.

This lot is all that I have run into so far, but you can be sure that any further discoveries will be posted here.

"Magnetic Godzilla Character TV & Cartoon Pals" (Item #2129, manufacturer unknown, 1979)

 

An extremely rare set of Godzilla items today--these 7-inch giant "puffy magnets" were produced to promote the Hanna-Barbera cartoon.  Three different styles were available: two Godzillas and one Godzooky.  These are scarce on their own, loose, but practically unheard of in their original packaging.  The same nameless company also made smaller "puffy magnet keychains" and various sizes of puffy stickers......apparently "puffy" was this company's specialty.

These were drug store and gift shop types of things, and, for the record, the magnets are extremely weak and hardly do anything. They would've been sold on spinner racks which would've been full of the same sorts of products for dozens of other properties.

Packaged, they measure about 11 x 6 inches (roughly, as there was some variation in the way the header cards were stapled).  For completeness, here is what the backs of the magnets look like:

The printing reads "© 1979 Toho Co., Ltd & Benedict Pictures Corporation." 

I have shared this here in past years, but I even own a quarter machine header card from that era that includes one of the Godzooky jumbo puffy magnets:

I can only assume that these were unsold overstock, and that the magnet would've been grotesquely folded beyond recognition to fit into one of those quarter machine capsules...IF it's even true that they were even a possible prize...after all, there were those full-sized digital watches that nobody ever really won, but every kid tried to.

Godzilla / Dr. Pepper AWESOME TASTE Mail-Away T-shirt (1986)

 

Here is the end of a long quest....just ten years ago on this very blog, we looked at this vintage Diet Dr. Pepper can from 1986:

This kicked off a long-standing sidequest, namely, to find this shirt in question.  It, of course, is based on the extremely memorable Godzilla/Dr, Pepper ad campaign:

Amazingly, all you needed to do was to send them $4.95 before December 31, 1986, and you would receive your shirt.  No proofs of purchase, receipts, or anything! You could've literally copied down the address in the grocery store, gone home, and ordered this fantastic shirt!

There simply can't be too many of these shirts out there (honestly, I bet the can is even rarer than the shirt), especially in decent condition. After all, you can't blame anybody for wearing out a shirt like this! I'm glad to finally put this one to bed, and it has now taken its permanent place in a T-shirt frame, on the wall of The Sphinx!

KING KONG vs. GODZILLA Unused Ad Mat #102 (Universal/National Screen Service, 1963)

 

It doesn't look like much, and it's only the size of a trading card, but you are looking at a piece of history. 

Here is a rarity that would confuse most people today.  This is an unused Ad Mat (called Ad Molds in some places) for a smallish newspaper ad for KING KONG vs. GODZILLA.  These were shallow trays made of wood pulp, which were designed to be poured with molten metal (often lead) and attached to a wooden piece, creating a printer's block that could be added to the layout of a newspaper page...which looked like this:

It goes without saying that this process would destroy the Ad Mold, and printer's blocks themselves were rarely saved at all, as the lead would be re-used.

As a result, unused Ad Mats are rare as hen's teeth; Godzilla ones even more so.  

This particular Ad Mat isn't cut from a larger piece, but is exactly as it arrived 62 years ago! Amazing.

(Reverse side)

When a theatre owner received the pressbook for an upcoming film, it would often show all of the different permutations of ads that were available (each with a number), and Ad Mats could then be ordered from the National Screen Service Exchange.

This one is "Ad Mat 102," and since we have the actual pressbook at hand, we can show you exactly what that finished ad looked like in print, and how much space it would take up on the page:

You can see an entire unused Ad Mat with multiple ads--ironically, for the same Godzilla movie--at this post here from a few years ago.  If you like this sort of thing, we have an entire page of Vintage Godzilla American Theatrical Promotional Items that collects everything in one place!