Debs – Page 7 – Vintage Action Figures

Uncanny X-Men: Cyclops with Laser Light Eyes!

Long before Simon Cowell launched his reign of terror over TV networks the world over, in the 1980s our Cyclops here was already part of a very different X-Factor team in the Marvel Comics X-Men spin-off comic book series of the same name. One of the mutant X-Men since the very first issue in 1963, the Stan Lee / Jack Kirby creation is one of the most enduringly popular characters of the entire X-Men universe, so when Marvel relaunched the X-Men in 1991 Cyclops was swiftly incorporated back into the original team.

Don’t call me Prune Face!

Many of the minor characters in the original Star Wars trilogy suddenly found themselves labelled with brand new politically-correct fancy names in the extended Star Wars Universe when complicated back stories were invented for even the smallest characters with only split-second screen time. Take good ole Prune Face here, for example, who we are now informed is a Dressellian resistance fighter from the planet Dressel whose real name is “Orrimaarko”. Still can’t place him? Next time you’re watching The Return of the Jedi if you look very carefully you’ll spot him sitting in the background amongst a couple of similarly wizened companions during the Rebel conference room scene. Just be careful not to blink…you may miss him!

Merry Christmas from Santa Gizmo!

As a special exception I couldn’t resist featuring a brand new action figure for Christmas this year. I’m a huge Gremlins fan – it’s my favourite Christmas movie – and this NECA Santa Gizmo figure is a wonderful addition to any Gremlins collection!

Released as a Toys ‘R’ Us Exclusive this 7 inch special edition Gizmo figure is a perfect movie-likeness to how Gizmo appeared in the original Joe Dante Gremlins movie released in 1984. LJN Toys created a wonderful vintage figure at the time, but this NECA release, like all their recent Mogwai figures, is probably the best ever. Check out the moving eye mechanism that adds extra realism to this figure!

The package includes Christmas-themed accessories – a Santa hat, Candy Cane, and Trumpet so you can replicate in your own home the scene where Gizmo plays under the Christmas tree!

Happy Holidays and a Merry Christmas!…Back in the New Year with more Vintage Action Figures!

Johnny Apollo Astronaut – the Movable Spaceman by Marx!

It’s an amazing thought, yet when toy making giants Louis Marx & Co. first launched the Johnny Apollo action figure in 1968, man had yet to land on the moon! Astronauts, of course, were all the rage, with the Soviet Union and the US neck and neck in the Space Race, with our Johnny here named in honour of the US Apollo program which would succeed in putting the first humans on Earth’s Moon the following year in 1969.

Molded in heavy, highly detailed, white poly-plastic, Johnny Apollo was so solidly built that it is still possible to find loose figures in excellent condition almost 44 years after his initial release.

Camo-Armor Turtleflage Venus – The Vanishin’ Vixen!

When Michael Bay, producer of the forthcoming Ninja Turtles movie, announced earlier this year that in the revamp Donatello would now be a female turtle named Donatella, Internet forums were quickly filled with angry comments from die-hard fans…until people noticed the date and realised that this news had been nothing but an April Fools’ Day hoax!

But what is it about girl turtles that seems to upset folks so much!? As it happens, “Donatella” if she had ever happened, would not have been the first attempt to introduce a female turtle into the gang. As a last ditch attempt to squeeze every possible drop out of the declining TMNT franchise in the late 1990s, Saban Entertainment produced a short lived live action TV series for Fox Kids – Ninja Turtles: The Next Mutation – which introduced a female mutant turtle called Venus de Milo (aka Mei Pieh Chi), named, of course, after the ancient Greek statue. Clearly, however, many fans were disturbed by the sight of a girl turtle with the slightest hint of breasts under her shell. Whether the presence of Venus was really to blame or not for the cancellation of the show in 1998 after only a short run, nowadays poor Venus seems to have been completely expunged from the list of characters in the TMNT universe on their official website.

Nikto – Skiff Guard from ‘Return of the Jedi’

One of the things that has made Kenner‘s ground breaking 3 ¾ inch Star Wars action figures so popular with fans of both the original movie trilogy and also vintage action figure collectors today is the company’s unstinting attention to detail even with the most minor of characters in the Star Wars universe, some with the merest blink-and-you’ll-miss-it split second of screen time!

Nikto here, who was first released just in time for Christmas 1983 as part of the Sears Exclusive Jabba the Hutt Dungeon playset alongside Klaatu and 8D8, returning later the following year as a Return of the Jedi carded figure, is one such character.

Ivanhoe: The World’s Greatest Super Knights by Mego

Whilst legendary toy makers Mego are probably most famous for their 1970s 8-inch line of comic book characters the World’s Greatest Super Heroes, some of their most highly collectible figures today are a very different range of swashbuckling literary and historic heroes – The World’s Greatest Super Knights!

Ivanhoe here, was released alongside the Black Knight, King Arthur, and his knights Sir Galahad and Sir Launcelot, in what was a spectacularly detailed series of beautifully made action figures.

Trouble and Stryfe! The Uncanny X-Men villain from Toy Biz X-Force line

Marvel super villain Stryfe, leader of the Mutant Liberation Front and sworn enemy of team X-Force, first appeared in 1990 in issue #85 of X-Men spin-off comic The New Mutants. In the final issue #100 readers were in for a huge surprise when he removed his helmet and revealed himself to be none other than his own enemy the mutant Cable! Confused yet?!

As Toy Biz explained on the back of the packaging for this 1992 Stryfe action figure:

Stryfe is the mysterious evil mutant who could be Cable’s brother – or perhaps even Cable himself! No one knows the truth about this fearsome warrior, and anyone who came close to finding out learned never to do it again!