Debs – Page 15 – Vintage Action Figures

Sea Shark Diver from the Fisher-Price Adventure People

Kenner’s 3 ¾-inch Star Wars action figures turned the world of movie tie-in toys on its head and became one of the world’s most popular collectible lines ever. Before those toys were even a twinkle in the eye of a Kenner executive, however, the very first 3 ¾-inch line of action figures and vehicles was launched in the US in 1975 and went on to influence all those that followed – the Fisher Price Adventure People!

These sturdy little figures were clearly designed to encourage kids’ fascination in exciting jobs and just about every adventurous occupation you could think of was covered during the decade that they were in production – there were racing drivers, skydivers and pilots, to name but a few, as well as several different divers like this chap here with the Tom Selleck ‘tache.

Kenner Super Powers: Hawkman!

Any regular readers of this blog will know that my big collector’s crush of the moment is on the vintage Kenner action figures known as Super Powers. Produced for a mere two years from 1984 until 1986 when the line folded after only three series, these 4-inch action figures starring DC Comics superheroes with built-in power action features, are still hugely sought after by many toy fans. Let this post serve as a warning – buy just one of these figures and you’ll soon find yourself wanting each and every one of them!

Kenner released this impressive Hawkman figure, for example, in its initial 1984 first wave of Super Powers.

Ovion from Battlestar Galactica: Insect enemy from the TV space saga!

With this 1978 Battlestar Galactica action figure of Ovion, Mattel managed to pack six points of articulation into a 3 ¾ figure. Of course, when the figure in question is an alien bug with four arms and two legs, they clearly had a head start on the articulation front! Sadly, the neck is firmly one piece with the torso, although with all those limbs I’m sure kids at the time had lots of fun with this one.

Ovion appeared as part of the first series of figures, which was launched to tie in with the original 1978 Battlestar Galactica sci-fi TV show and was a clear attempt to ride the tail of Kenner’s success with their Star Wars line.

Lion-O from ThunderCats

There’s been some very excited blogging throughout the Internet over the last few days ever since the Cartoon Network screened a preview of the all new ThunderCats at WonderCon. Produced by Warner Bros. Animation, the new series is due to hit small screens this summer and will see the old heroes Lion-O, Cheetara, Panthro and Tygra back in re-imagined versions and darker story-lines. What better time, then, to dig out a vintage ThunderCats action figure of Lion-O from the original 1985 TV series that followed the adventures of everyone’s favourite humanoid cats from another planet!

Secret Wars: Spider-Man

Whilst Super Powers will probably remain my first choice as winners in the great superheroes action figure stand-off during the mid 1980s, when the mighty Mattel joined forces with Marvel to produce the Secret Wars line in direct competition with the DC Comics branded Kenner Super Powers product, I have to admit that I’m growing to like the Secret Wars figures more and more.

Bright colours, solid sculpts and accurate comic-book costumes and likenesses made these figures popular at the time and if you can pick up a figure that has survived with its paintwork intact like Spider-Man here, they make fine display pieces for any vintage collector today.

Pulsar: The Ultimate Man of Adventure

It wasn’t really until I had unwrapped this recent on-line purchase from his bubble wrap and held him in my hands that I fully appreciated the sheer scale of Mattel’s classic 1976 action figure – Pulsar aka The Ultimate Man of Adventure. Measuring 14 inches tall from the top of his head to his chunky clip-on boots, he positively towers over his contemporaries like Action Man or his most obvious rival on toy store shelves, Kenner’s hugely popular Six Million Dollar Man figure of Steve Austin, a pip-squeak at 12 inches.

With Kenner wiping the floor with the competition with sales of the Bionic Man, Mattel certainly pulled out the big guns when they released Pulsar in reply. Whilst Steve Austin had a peel away rubber arm that revealed his bionic gubbins, Pulsar’s entire torso was made of clear plastic to reveal his internal organs! Sounds pretty gross, doesn’t it? Open the Velcro on his stylish two piece jumpsuit, press a panel in his back and watch as his lungs and heart pump simulated blood through his arteries and veins. A solidly built toy, my Pulsar’s heart and lungs still pump just fine, although after over thirty years, the red goo that was used for blood has congealed and no longer flows.

Raphael, as seen in TMNT: The Movie!

When Mirage Studios relaunched the animated TV series Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles in the early noughties and needed somebody to create tie-in action figures for the new millennium, Playmates Toys – who had created the first waves of TMNT action figures in the late 1980s – stepped up to the mark once again and created a huge assortment of often quite ingenious Turtles.

Likewise, when in 2007, the Imagi Animation Studios made the fourth Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie – TMNT – created entirely using CGI effects, rather than live-action footage, it was Playmates who released a line of tie-in action figures with excellent CGI movie likenesses.

Mego Superman: Putting the Super into the World’s Greatest Super Heroes!

We can rebuild him, we have the technology is a phrase we know and love from old The Six Million Dollar Man episodes, but if you’re a collector of vintage Mego 8-inch action figures the expression could easily apply to any toy you are hoping to restore – it is by no means uncommon to come across loose uncarded vintage figures that have been cobbled together with spare limbs from various different figures or restored with repro parts and accessories. Late in the run of their World’s Greatest Super Heroes series even Mego started producing a few oddities of its own, putting random heads on bodies which might explain this Superman gem I picked up the other day in an online auction.