[crashryan]

Has anyone ever actually seen (whether in person or on ebay, etc.) one of the giant kid-sized spaceships or submarines they used to advertise in comic books? Online I've found many photos of other comics-advertised merchandise but never those. I presume they were printed cardboard boxes.

[MarkWarner]

If ever I get rich and have time I'd love to collect all the stuff advertised ... Think that would be an interesting collection .. matching the ad with an original item (apart from the live animals) and imagine having a bottle of Kooba Cola!

[narfstar]

We bought the wobble ball which was a hollow rubber ball with another ball inside. I have heard those space ships, etc were cardboard cutouts. The forts, etc you draped over a table or something.

[bowers]

The subs and tanks were, indeed cardboard cutouts. Google "comic book cardboard submarine" for photos of each. The fort and dollhouse were printed plastic sheets to be placed over a card table. The only thing I ever ordered from the comic ads (Helen of Toy, I believe) were the "Task Force" game and a box of plastic Romans. Cool, but they took FOREVER to ship them. Of course the ads were much more exciting than the merchandise. Cheers, Bowers

[crashryan]

Thanks, Bowers, for the magic Google phrase. Actually I thought the rocket and sub would look even crummier than they did. At least they were three-dimensional. The rocket bears a certain resemblance to the picture in the ad; the sub not so much. Personally, though I wondered for years about the Sea Monkeys, the only thing my folks let me order was the 100 soldiers in their "footlocker." Maybe I was gullible or just easily pleased...I didn't mind at all that they were 2-dimensional plastic guys. They blew up couches as well as any 3-D figures would have.

[narfstar]

Sea Monkeys were just brine shrimp and still available today. I got the Helen of Toy exploding tanks. They were in two pieces held together by a rubber band. According to the rules if you moved them and they "exploded" then they were destroyed and out of the game. Or the enemy could push them in the middle to explode them in battle.

[bowers]

As children,would we ever have believed how much collectors are paying for these exploding tanks, flat G.I.s, and similar comic-ad products? Cheers, Bowers

[Quian]

I, for one, did order that darn submarine... twice!
Never did get it either time. Was mad as a hornet
about it too. Most items that my friends, or I,
ordered from comics were delivered. Even if most
of the items were well under par.

Yes, it is (nearly) unbelievable what collectors pay
for some of those items now. If we only knew back
then...

*edit*
I extended my reply via a new topic via:
https://comicbookplus.com/forum/index.php/topic,7714.msg51765.html#msg51765