Debs – Page 10 – Vintage Action Figures

Tarzan…King of the Fast Food Jungle!

I’ve been a vegetarian for almost all of my adult life so it’s been quite some years since I’ve eaten a burger or stepped inside a McDonald’s restaurant, and as a result have never really been a collector of the ever popular McDonald’s Happy Meal toys and action figures. They do seem to turn up in bargain bins and on market stalls pretty regularly, however, and I inevitably find them hard to resist!

A stroke of marketing genius, Happy Meal toys have been getting kids to drag their parents into the fast food chain for decades, with Disney heavily involved with the company as a means to promote its latest films during the 1990s, until they abruptly ended that relationship in 2007.

Oscar Goldman – The Six Million Dollar Man’s Boss!

If they were handing out awards for the best dressed action figure of the 1970s then you can bet that Steve Austin’s boss at the OSI – that’s the Office of Scientific Intelligence to any readers too young to remember cult TV show The Six Million Dollar Man – the always dapper Oscar Goldman would certainly be in the running for top prize!

Kenner did a wonderful job with this 12-inch figure – the attention to detail with his plaid jacket (including buttons), dazzling green turtle-neck sweater, tan trousers, as well as socks and slip-on shoes, was absolutely spot-on. As with their version of Lee Majors, the likeness to actor Richard Anderson was also extremely good. Honestly, what vintage action figure collection would be complete without one of these figures!?

The Human Torch meets Robin in a mega Mego mashup!

Collecting vintage 8 inch Mego action figures from the World’s Greatest Super Heroes line can sometimes bring some fun surprises as we saw a while back with my Superman figure …

Star Wars Variations: Sand People aka Tusken Raider

George Lucas just can’t stop meddling with those Star Wars movies! Star Wars: Episode One – The Phantom Menace will be hitting cinema screens all over the world AGAIN this weekend – only this time in 3D. The 2D version was already bad enough, so I think I’ll pass on that one…Instead, let’s take a look back at a vintage Kenner Sand People action figure from the original trilogy, indeed from the very first Star Wars movie, which is nowadays known as the rather less catchy Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope.

Don’t get this action figure wet! It’s Gizmo from Gremlins by LJN!

The 1980s were a wonderful time for the comedy horror movie, and two of my absolute favourites from that decade were released on the very same day on June 8, 1984 – Ivan Reitman’s Ghostbusters and Joe Dante’s Gremlins. Those pre-CGI times were something of a heyday for animatronics and puppetry workshops, and the marionettes created for Gremlins still look impressive to this day.

Gizmo the Mogwai here, may have looked cute and cuddly, but if three golden rules – never expose it to bright light; never get it wet; and never, ever feed it after midnight – were broken, it would spawn a brood of downright evil offspring capable of wreaking havoc!

The Six Million Dollar Man on a critical assignment…to Mars!

Gentlemen, we can rebuild him… We HAVE the technology!

That was the promise made, week after week, during the opening titles of the hit 1970s television show The Six Million Dollar Man. It made total sense, therefore, when Kenner and General Mills acquired the toy license to manufacture the action figure spin-off merchandise in 1975, that kids should also be given the chance to rebuild their own 13-inch version of Steve Austin, the Bionic Man.

The decision to make the Six Million Dollar Man action figure so interactive, issuing him with interchangeable “Critical Assignment” arms and legs, a bionic eye you could actually look through,

David Tennant as Doctor Who’s Tenth Doctor

Hot on the heels of Captain Jack Harkness last week, I thought I’d follow that post with a look at another great Character Options action figure from their 5 inch Doctor Who line – none other than the Doctor himself, as played by David Tennant in the tenth incarnation of the BBC TV show’s protagonist. A hugely popular Doctor, Tennant stayed with Doctor Who for three series, as well as appearing in eight specials, before finally handing over the sonic screwdriver to the Eleventh Doctor Matt Smith in 2010.

Captain Jack Harkness…And who are you?

When John Barrowman first appeared in the BBC’s relaunched Doctor Who sci-fi television show in 2005 in the role of Captain Jack Harkness he was disguised as a Royal Air Force pilot and this is just how he is presented in this wonderful 5 inch action figure by Character Options. Teaming up with the Ninth Doctor and assistant Rose in a two-part wartime story The Empty Child and The Doctor Dances set in London during the Blitz, the swaggering, sexy and brazenly bisexual Captain Jack acquired overnight cult status in Britain, and as Doctor Who fans will know, later went on to star in the hit spin-off show Torchwood.