Continuing the theme of totally useless
gifts, in 1/10/76 issue, Look-in offered the chance to be 'bionic', with an 'X-Ray
Eye' (pictured right). It was simply a piece of card with a hole in the centre, the
hole had lines of thread covering it, allowing it to be seen through, but
everything was opaque, giving a double image, and the illusion that you were
'seeing through' what you were looking at.
'Letraset' transfers were another gift given away, from time to time, in
issue 11/3/78, 'Star Wars' transfers were given away (below). You were
given a pair of transfers out of a set of so many. A
ploy to get readers to buy more than one issue?, I don't know if they were
the first publication to do that, but they most certainly weren't the
last...
One of the last gifts given away before the
change of format, was a set of Elastoplast 'Heroes' plasters (Left).
They were basically plasters with pictures of medals. They had little
epitaphs on them, like 'HERO OF THE GREAT CYCLE CRASH'. Not one of the
better gifts but a nice little keepsake.
As the mag continued into the 80's, the gifts were
more mundane, opting for things like Panini sticker albums and packs of
sweets, not so much gifts as promotional items.
Not as imaginative as the 70's. Yes, some of the gifts were crap, but
much more memorable! Have I missed any gifts you remember?, let me know
and I'll add them.