I posted a few old newspaper ads for Air Raiders toys recently (here), so here’s a few more!
The first come from battlegrip.com and show some cool drawings of the Thunderhammer, Thunderclaw and Wind Seeker. Granted, they were obviously traced but they still look nice. I really like the sketchy quality of the Thunderclaw and Wind Seeker. The Thunderhammer ad is from December, 1987 in The Chicago Tribune. The other one is unknown. The Tribune ad is clearly from an earlier time as the prices are still normal while the prices are bottoming out in the unknown ad. I’d like a few Wind Seekers for $1.49!
This last one comes from The Times in Shreveport, Louisiana, dated Wednesday Nov. 18, 1987. The Air Raiders art is sadly, pretty small in this layout. It’s a shame because it seems like the artist actually drew something original or maybe from photos as they don’t look like the box art. I decided to post it because I also like the art for the GUTS guys and Supernatural Warriors.
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Air Raiders 
Nice selection. I like the line art ads as you never quite know what you’re going to get or what other toys might show up – as in your last example.
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I always wonder who created it; were they handouts from the toy company or did the newspapers/advertising company have an in-house artist?
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Me too. Perhaps a bit of both. The Heroes World company had their own artists to draw their toy ads and catalogues, and in their early days they used students from the Joe Kubert school of art to illustrate their comic book catalogues.
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Wow, that’s pretty cool!
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I believe that’s a 1987 Cobra Sea Ray shown in The Times newspaper ad. It’s puzzling that the black and white art doesn’t match color box art featuring the formidable flying nemesis firing machine guns and launching a missile. The YoJoe 3 3/4″ vehicle database features a Sea Ray screenshot taken from G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero published by Taxan for the Nintendo Entertainment System. The style is quite similar to the Air Raiders art but this video game was released in January 1991 so it can’t be the source material. I’m guessing one of the 55 G.I. Joe trading cards released by Comic Images in 1987 includes a Sea Ray illustration identical to the art above.
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Interesting, maybe the Times had an in-house artist creating his own stuff from promo photos. I certainly don’t recognize the AR ones though.
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Yeah, I think that’s more likely after all. The YoJoe Collectibles Archive mentions the Comic Images trading cards “feature art taken directly from the Marvel comic books” but I don’t know what issue features the first Cobra Sea Ray + Sea Slug appearance. When I typed my previous comment, I was only paying attention to the $4.99 section. I didn’t look below to see the $7.96 choices. Obviously, someone dropped the ball and provided two Cobra WOLF (Winter Operational Light Fighting vehicle) illustrations instead of including the Sea Ray where it belongs. By the way, it’s interesting to note YoJoe claims the original retail price for these two G.I. Joe vehicles was only $6.89.
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You’re right! I didn’t notice the Cobra Sea Ray was put in the wrong spot. Nice catch!
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