Debs – Page 11 – Vintage Action Figures

The Real Ghostbusters Screaming Heroes: Egon Spengler

To kick off the New Year I thought I’d look at a vintage golden oldie from the hugely popular 1980s Kenner action figure line The Real Ghostbusters. First launched in 1986 as a tie-in product for the animated cartoon TV series of the same name, the series ran until 1991 when the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles won over fickle hearts and a younger generation, knocking Dr. Peter Venkman, Dr. Ray Stantz, Winston Zeddemore, and Dr. Egon Spengler from toy store shelves.

Kenner really raised the bar with these 5 inch figures, creating some of their most inventive toys ever – they may have only had 5 or 6 points of articulation, but every sub-series in the Real Ghostbusters line had an original interactive gimmick.

You better watch out…Darth Vader is coming to town!

‘Tis the season to be jolly, so here’s a look back at Hasbro’s Holiday Edition Darth Vader action figure that was a StarWarsShop.com exclusive back in 2005. Essentially the same figure with eight points of articulation which had been issued as part of the Original Trilogy Collection in 2004 and earlier still as part of the Toys ‘R’ Us Star Wars Saga multipacks in 2003, this Darth Vader had one major difference which you may just have spotted – a head-to-toe Santa-style coat of red paint!

Super Saiyan 4 Goku by Giochi Preziosi

Italian toy manufacturers Giochi Preziosi may not be the first name that comes to mind when one thinks of Dragon Ball merchandising, but Japanese animation TV series are hugely popular in Italy so it isn’t actually that surprising to discover Anime action figures appearing here. And what a great job they’ve done by the looks of this fabulous Goku I found on a market stall the other day, outdoing even Irwin and Jakks in turns of sculpt and articulation.

This is Goku in his Super Saiyan 4 transformation, as he appears in the anime-only sequel to Dragon Ball Z – Dragon Ball GT – you won’t see this Goku in any of the original Dragon Ball manga comics.

Kenner Super Powers: Firestorm!

Andy over at Action Figure Blues wrote a great review of two recent DC Direct Brightest Day figures – Mera and Firestorm. This has inspired me to take a look back at another classic Firestorm figure from one of my own absolute favourite vintage action figure lines – the Kenner Super Powers.

Kenner’s utterly cool version of Firestorm first appeared in 1985 as part of the second series, and was closely based on Al Milgrom’s designs in the comic book. Compared to other DC Comics characters in the Super Powers line, this character was somewhat of a new kid on the block back then,

Samurai Don – The Foot-fightin’ Film Star from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III!

By the time everybody’s favourite reptiles had appeared on the big screen for the third time in 1993 in the unimaginatively entitled movie Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III, TMNT fever was maybe waning a little since its frenzied heyday of the late eighties. Certainly, this live-action movie suffered from poorer quality costumes – Jim Henson’s amazing Creature Shop had been involved in the previous two cinema outings and was missing from this production – although, with an adventure which saw the turtles transported back in time to ancient Japan, how could the tie-in action figures be anything other than awesome?! Regardless of the quality of the movie, the accompanying Playmates Toys 5-inch TMNT action figures were extremely cool.

Neo Lord - the Neosapien Super Warrior from Exosquad

Neo Lord – Neosapien Super Warrior from Exosquad!

I confess that when I found this ugly-looking bruiser in a flea market recently I didn’t immediately recognise him and needed to do some sleuthing on the Internet to put a name to his gnarled face – Neo Lord, one of the Neosapien Warriors from the 1995 Playmates Exosquad action figure series.

Originally launched in 1993 as spin-off toys for the Japanese anime-inspired Exosquad cartoon series created by Universal Cartoon Studios, like all self-respecting toy lines the Exosquad action figures and vehicles came packaged with fully fledged back stories which helped to expand the entire Exosquad universe lore.

Deluxe Darth Maul by Hasbro

When Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace, the first film in a series of patchy prequels to the original Star Wars trilogy, hit movie theatres in 1999, a global wave of disappointment was felt resulting in a huge backlash against director George Lucas amongst die-hard fans. One character, however, seems to be standing the test of time and in spite of his precious few minutes of screen time, has acquired a cult, uber-villain status – Darth Maul.

Certainly, the climatic fight scene which pits Darth Maul against Obi-Wan Kenobi and Qui-Gon Jinn is one of the high points in The Phantom Menace,

Dracula – Mini Monsters by Remco

Halloween is almost here so what better way to mark the occasion than with an absolute classic horror film action figure from what has to be one of my favourite vintage lines – the Remco Mini Monsters.

This version of the most famous vampire of them all, Count Dracula as played by Bela Lugosi in the 1931 film Dracula, was issued in 1980 as part of Remco’s 3 ¾ inch action figure series. These figures may have been small, but they really were perfectly formed with all six Universal Monsters – Dracula, the Wolfman, Frankenstein, the Mummy, the Creature from the Black Lagoon and the Phantom of the Opera – bearing extremely accurate movie likenesses.