Colorforms

Colorforms
By Euphrates

There are standards in the toy industry for merchandising movies and TV shows, that have
stood the test of time. You need to get your stars on lunchboxes, dolls/action figures,
trading cards, halloween costumes, View-Masters and Colorforms.

Colorforms were first introduced in the late '50s by the Colorforms Company. For those of you
unfamiliar with Colorforms, allow me to describe them for you. Let's say you just
bought a Pee Wee Herman set. You open the box and you find a slick cardboard image of
the Playhouse along with a sheet of paper-thin, flimsy, vinyl images. First, you are going to
need to detach the images and shapes from the sheet, sort of like punching out paper dolls.
Now, you are left with images of Pee Wee and the gang that will adhere, like magic, to the
board. You can attach and detach them repeatedly until the board or the figures get
dusty. Then, just clean 'em up and you're back in business!

The Colorforms folks also made Shrinky Dinks, the famous Colorform Aliens, Dress Up sets (kind of
like the old paper dolls and tabbed-dress sets, but using Colorforms dresses and a slick,
cardboard doll) and Print Putty. Print Putty exercised the Silly Putty Pressed onto the Funnies from the Sunday
Comics syndrome.

Some of the earlier sets were a basic shapes collection, Popeye and Sleeping Beauty. The most
popular offerings are KISS, The Wizard of Oz and The Green Hornet. Colorforms are still
released regularly today, whenever there is a popular movie or TV show that can be exploited.
Here is a partial list of some of the Colorforms and Colorforms influenced sets from the
last 40 years.

A-Team
Addams Family
Alf
Barbie
Batman
Battlestar Galactica
Betty Boop
Black Hole
Bozo
Buck Rogers
Cabbage Patch Kids
California Rasins
Castle Dracula Monster Set
Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
CHiPS
Curious George
David Cassidy
Dennis the Menace
Dick Tracy
Donny and Marie
Dukes of Hazzard
Evel Knievel
Flash Gordon
Flintstones
Fuzzy Felt by Allan Industries Ltd. 1966
Ghostbusters
GI Joe - '80s
GI Joe - Adventure Team
Green Hornet - very popular
Gremlins
Gumby
Happy Days
Holly Hobbie
Incredible Hulk
Julia
Kermit the Frog
King Kong
Kiss - very popular
Knight Rider
Land of the Giants
Liddle Kiddles
Little Lulu
Lone Ranger
Mary Poppins
Masters of the Universe
Michael Jackson
Mickey Mouse
Micronauts
Miss America
Miss Ballerina
Miss Cookie's Flower Garden
Miss Piggy
Mork and Mindy
Nanny and the Professor
New Kids on the Block
Pac Man
Peanuts
Pee Wee Herman
Planet of the Apes
Popeye
Power Rangers
Q*Bert
Rainbow Brite
Raggedy Ann
Sesame Street
Simpsons
Sleeping Beauty
Small Soldiers
Smurfs
Space: 1999
Spiderman
Star Trek
Star Wars
Superman
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
Toy Story
Transformers
Trolls
Twiggy
Ultra Man
Welcome Back Kotter
Winnie the Pooh
Wizard of Oz - HTF
Wonder Woman
Wuzzles
Yogi Bear