Pop Cultural Detritus

 

A selection from the Little Black Suitcase of various well-played-with toys, many from our earliest days, some from when the nieces and nephews were little. 

My Thanksgiving PVCs

The squirrels (squirrels have somehow become inextricably associated with Thanksgiving; perhaps because they're connected to fall and food; i. e.,  gathering nuts) and the turkey are from a company called Heartline; the little fellow (a hedgehog) is too small to bear a trademark, though a little research finds it's from Hallmark. They are my only Thanksgiving 'decorations'.

Update: I was putting my PVCs away when I ran across this 'Native American' squirrel that I had forgotten but which I always put together with the others. It is not, apparently, a Heartline, but is almost perfectly in scale with them.

Oz and Wonderland: Principal PVCs

 

My collection of PVCs of Oz (copyright 1987) and Wonderland (1990) (and one Sam the Snowman). I got them all at Paper Bear back in the Day. Paper Bear was a novelty and souvenir shop in nearby San Marcos; it was, as they say, a destination. It was closed for a while but reopened in 2023 as ‘Bearly Paper Bear,’ so somewhat diminished, I would imagine. I haven’t been there.

The figures are displayed in an old spice rack cabinet that I bought at the fabled Lutz-Moving-to-England Garage Sale, where I also got my Iron Lion.

All this Oz also reminds me of my complete set of 3 & ¾ inch Oz action figures. They are a 50^th Anniversary (of the movie) issue. I displayed the Scarecrow and Tin Man here before, but the others must either be in the Big Toy Box or in the attic. Trevco had a set of much better 5-inch figures, of which I found a Tin Man (without accessories) at a garage sale once.

Searching these things reminded me of an old category here on Niche of Time: stuff&junk. Looking at it I found a picture of the Oz PVCs and the Marvel Land of Oz comic, just not listed in 'searchable' form. I posted them some years ago and had forgotten them.