Debs – Page 18 – Vintage Action Figures

Masters of the Universe 1984 Buzz-Off figure by Mattel

Buzz-Off – Heroic Spy in the Sky!

Ever since the news was first announced at the 2010 San Diego Comic Con earlier this year that Mattel would be issuing a Buzz-Off figure in December as part of its Masters of the Universe Classics toy line, the buzz (ahem!) about this figure got louder and louder! It became immediately clear from online forums that the humanoid bee from the race of Bee People was an immensely popular character from the original MOTU line, so with release of the new figure now imminent, let’s take a timely look back at the vintage version.

Boba Fett - 1979 vinatge action figure by Kenner

Legendary bounty hunter Boba Fett!

I say the legendary Boba Fett, for there can be no doubt that some vintage action figures acquire a kind of cult status and become must-haves in a collection. Boba Fett – everybody’s favourite bounty hunter and man of few words – has always seemed to fit that role perfectly! He is hardly a rare figure and was available from his first appearance as a The Empire Strikes Back movie tie-in, right up to, and including, the Droids animation line, but he is just so perfect in his detailed moulding and paintwork, with four different extra colours added to the grey body, that he stands out on a shelf and ends up being the star attraction!

Mobile Suit Gundam RX-78-2

It’s always fun hunting down vintage action figures on market stalls or in thrift shops, but this snap-together Gundam model kit proved more of a challenge than most. I spotted the limbless and headless torso first, in a box of mostly broken toys and it took a lot of painstaking rummaging around before I managed to gather and assemble all his parts! With hands and feet and even shoulder pads detached, I was incredibly satisfied to have at least found all his body parts, if not all his accessories – he’s missing a shield, his bazooka and beam sabers, not to mention the beam saber handles on his backpack, which have snapped cleanly off.

He has the power! Battle Armor He-Man

Love him or hate him, there’s no doubting that the star of last week’s post – Arnold Schwarzenegger in the guise of Terminator – is a tough act to follow. …

Terminator 2 - Hidden Power Terminator by Kenner

Hasta la vista, baby! Hidden Power Terminator

Way before he became the 38th Governor of California and acquired the scary power to actually terminate people in real life, Arnold Schwarzenegger was a humble body-builder turned Hollywood actor, who made some great action movies like Terminator and had the kind of jaw-line, body sculpt and dramatic delivery that made him already seem like a 1:1 scale talking action figure!

In recent years, NECA has issued some awesome T2 action figures for the adult collectibles market, but the 5½-inch vintage line produced by Kenner in 1992 to tie in with the original release of James Cameron’s sequel to the Terminator – Terminator 2: Judgment Day – were also extremely good.

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban Mini Collection

Harry Potter and the Mattel Mini Collection Figures!

The countdown to the release of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows is well under way with Part 1 of the film about to hit cinema screens across the globe in just over a week’s time! Harry is all grown up now in this grand finale, so I thought it might be fun to take a look back at an action figure when Harry was younger, and quite literally, in the case of this figure, much smaller! Small, but nevertheless, perfectly formed with an excellent movie-likeness of Daniel Radcliffe and six points of articulation – not only the standard points at the neck, shoulders and hips, but also a fun extra with a moving flap that allows his wizard’s gown to sweep up behind him and looks great when displayed.

Masters of the Universe 1986 Tung Lashor figure by Mattel

Do I hear hissing? It must be Tung Lashor!

You’ve really got to hand it to Mattel, the creators of He-Man aka Masters of the Universe action figures, in their ability to come up with some of the greatest character names of any toy line ever! There was Moss Man (who was covered with moss – what else?!), the onomatopoeic names Buzz-Off and King Hiss, and of course, those wonderful made up words – Grizzlor, Skeletor and Roboto. This particular 5-inch MOTU action figure from Series 5 in 1986 is called Tung Lashor, probably one of the best of the worst linguistic puns of the series.

The Phantom of the Opera – Mini Monsters by Remco

So here it is folks! The final post in our Halloween series for 2010 and one of my favourite horror film action figures and another Universal Monster movie classic – The Phantom of the Opera as played by Lon Chaney. Issued as part of the Mini Monsters line by Remco in 1980, this 3 ¾ inch action figure may be small, but it has one of the single best movie likenesses of all time. It features one of the earliest of the Universal Monsters – so early, in fact, that the 1925 version of The Phantom of the Opera, was a silent horror film. Chaney’s intentionally horrific, self-applied make-up, has been perfectly reproduced in this figure – a flattened nose, flared nostrils and jagged teeth in a mask-like deformed face. It’s an absolute gem of an action figure!