Organizer Dana Cain puts on lots of great shows in Denver — including the fantastic sci-fi fun of her original rock opera, The Android's New Soul, just last year. But perhaps her most popular effort comes in the form of the annual Toy & Doll Supershow, which moved into new digs this year to host multitudes of sellers in offering their classic playthings and whatnots up for sale.
The show, which took place on Sunday, April 13, happened at the National Western Hall of Education and also included two partner shows: the Vintage Voltage Expo and the Colorado Guitar Show. As in past years, the triple-threat of goodness worked to draw a big crowd: it was well-attended from the moment it opened. We took a stroll around the aisles to catch the best deals, the weirdest items and all the stuff we forgot we once loved — and still do.
Best Bargain: P&J's Estate Sale Pros
It used to be that buying old Star Wars toys was pretty easy and relatively cheap. The action figures that originally retailed for about $3 hadn't gone up much in the decade that followed, especially if they were loose and missing their weapon or accessory. And then...well, then the millennium turned, and Star Wars stuff sky-walked its way to big bucks. But P&J's Estate Sale Pros was a pleasant surprise of a throwback: loose figures from the original line for only $3? Yes, please.
Strangest Toy: John McCain Wind-Up
Okay, even the seller didn't know if it was supposed to be former Arizona Senator, war hero and 2008 GOP Presidential candidate John McCain. But damned if it doesn't look like him, right? The seller laughed when we asked if it was the late, much-missed McCain, who earned respect for his service and sacrifice, even for those who might not have agreed with his politics at the time. Here's hoping this McCain doll haunts the dreams of Donald "Bone-Spurs" Trump.
Most Popular Toy: Barbie
Given the 2023 smash-hit movie and the enduring cultural impact of the Barbie toy line since its advent in 1959, it's perhaps not a surprise that sellers offering at least some Barbie merch outnumbered even the super-popular toy lines that follow in the list. (Star Wars was a close second.) It's a Barbie world, folks — we're just living in it. And that has to be "Kenough" for all of us.
This Hanna-Barbera display was worth serious bank. As Snagglepuss would say: "Heavens to Murgatroyd!"
Teague Bohlen
For a cool grand (that's $1000, for those of you tragically unhip), you could buy the Underdog lunchbox up there on the top shelf. It hails from 1974, and it's so rare that it sells for at least that. Frankly, $1000 is a deal since a similar example of this rarity sold for over $2K in 2023. Bill Hanna and Joe Barbera would cartoon spin in their graves if they knew how pricey and popular their various creations are still, some twenty years or more after they passed.
Most Curiously Uncommon: Vintage Lunchboxes
Maybe it's just that at a Toy & Doll show, lunchboxes are just slightly out of their element? But we're confounded as to how there aren't more of these floating around. If you went to elementary school anytime from the 1950s through the early 80s, part of your identity was what lunchbox you carried. The Roy Rogers and Dale Evans lunchbox above comes from the height of their popularity in the 1950s; the Hanna-Barbera from 1977; the Disney's Magic Kingdom from 1979; and the McDonald's from 1982. Note that those last three were essentially advertisements for a new cartoon, a theme park, and fast food, respectively. No wonder that kids lost interest right around that same era.
Most Forgotten Toys: Die-Cast Cars
If you weren't a kid in the 1960s and 70s, it's impossible to overstate the popularity of die-cast cars. They were the de facto gift for any kid — mostly boys, sure — if someone wanted a cheap way to buy a short burst of happiness. There were enough vendors selling these old Hot Wheels and Matchbox cars to suggest there are still collectors out there, but these cool little things were lost nearly as quickly as they were purchased, swallowed up in sandboxes and dirt piles and anywhere you could build a little track to vroom-vroom your little heart out.
Most Oddly Nostalgic: This Return of the Jedi Poster
It's no surprise that Star Wars itself can invoke pangs of nostalgia in those of us lucky enough to grow up in the late 70s and early 80s. What's remarkable about this poster is that it reminded us that there was a time in our lives when it felt important to us to tell people they were unwelcome in our spaces, which is probably still the case, but we really don't put up signs that express it anymore.
Most Actually Nostalgic: Ernie from Sesame Street Finger Puppet
It's tiny. It's rubber. It goes on your finger. That's all there is. And yet, while standing at this booth, we heard four different people stop and gasp and say how much they loved the Sesame Street stuff they had as kids. This is why we need to save PBS, people. Anyone who grew up in any year since 1969 owes part of who they are to Sesame Street. And if they say they don't, they're lying. Or evil. Those are the only options.
Yes, you can now re-enact the casual murder of the Swordsman in the streets of Cairo, which only happened because Harrison Ford had gastric issues.
Teague Bohlen
Peg-warmer is the term for a toy within a wave of releases that sells more slowly than the others — think the Star Wars Power Droid from 1977, on-screen for a split second; Toon Burne from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, who was just a tubby guy in ill-fitting office wear eating a sandwich; or pretty much everyone from the ill-advised Mego line of Love Boat characters. (No, really.) But All-Cs Collectibles had a fantastic selection of peg-warmers that are nonetheless awesome, from re-releases of old Indiana Jones characters to Star Wars and GIJoe-scale He-Man action figures — so you can finally have that team-up between the Masters of the Universe and the Rebel Alliance.
That's hobby-seller Michael Hall in the blue sweater, who was selling Marvel and DC Bronze Age books for a mere $1 (or six for $5!) and Silver Age books for only $3!
Teague Bohlen
That's hobby-seller Michael Hall in the blue sweater, who was not only selling Marvel and DC Bronze Age books for a mere $1 (or six for $5!), and Silver Age books for only $3(!) but was also talking about how it was this that paid for his kids' way through college. We're not even sure that's possible anymore, but it's a good story and shows what collecting is really all about: love. Love for the objects, sure, but also their meaning and how they can enrich the lives of those that come later, directly or indirectly. It's something clearly embraced by the thousands of people who stood in line on a Sunday morning to get in and find some childhood memories.
