Major Bloggiversary Package! Think Out Of The Box!

Mattel's Major Matt Mason line of toys was hands down one of the best space toys ever made. Besides being an innovative and extremely clever line, capturing the zeitgeist of the space race perfectly, the marketing and packaging for the toys was second to none. The bright bold colours, clear type and colourful photography fairly shouted from the toy shelves and the large displays of boxes and carded models were a huge draw at Xmas.

Although the larger toys all came in stout boxes, the majority of the equipment and figure packs were on large cards, with bold photography and graphics. But towards the end of the line in the early seventies, Mattel released four sets of equipment in boxes too. I recall in the late sixties, going in to a toy shop to buy the Gamma Ray-Gard and seeing both the boxed and the carded versions for sale. As the carded version was a little cheaper, my Dad insisted I go for that option, but I secretly coveted the boxed one! Flash forward several decades and I found a Gamma Ray and a Power Suit with the box on ebay. The toys were almost pristine, but the intervening years had not done the boxes any favours.

As you can see from the original auction photos, poor storage, old sellotape and general wear had misshapen and dogeared the card and creased the boxes. Even so, I knew I had to have them, as they are really rare and being a bit of a completist, the boxes would be very satisfying to own.

 

To my surprise I managed to win both sets with minimal opposition and a few days later they arrived. As suspected, the toys were in excellent shape, with one out of the five foil lances missing, but with the added benefit of a Major Matt figure being included. Even the figure was in good shape with only minor breaks in the leg wires.

So, I set to on the box restoration, firstly opening them out and pressing them between two boards with a heavy weight for a few days. Then, I reinforced the inside of each box with thin card and ironed out any creases and tears, with a covering of greaseproof paper over the box to protect it from the heat. 

With all the old sellotape removed and the rips and tears glued, I fixed the flaps in place with special book tape and retouched the photographs, with felt tips to cover the creases and rips.

They are both far from perfect, but the main photographs on both boxes are clean and clear and the overall impression is straight out of 1969!