Debs – Page 2 – Vintage Action Figures

Armored Daredevil by Toy Biz!

In 1993 Marvel Comics decided to revamp Daredevil‘s costume and kit out Matt Murdock in a snazzy new armored costume in the “Fall From Grace” storyline. This wasn’t such a bad idea in theory – Daredevil may be the “Man Without Fear”, but surely a little protective gear isn’t cheating – nobody thinks any less of Batman because he wears a Batsuit after all! Daredevil fans loved the old look, however, and by October 1995 he was pictured on the cover of issue #345 back in his red leotard and holding the tattered remains of the armored costume.

The Man in Black…Darth Vader!

During 1978 to 1985 Kenner created over 100 action figures based on characters in the original Star Wars movie trilogy. These 3 ¾ inch Star Wars action figures became legendary and are enormously popular as collectibles even to this day.

But for the fledgling collector, where to begin? Concentrating initially on the first twelve releases – known as “12-Back” figures because the original packaging cards featured a picture of all 12 characters in a row on the back of the card – is certainly a great place to start.

Storm Shadow…Train hard, fight easy!

Hands down one of the best things about the immensely popular 3 ¾ inch G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero line has to be that Hasbro invented a satisfying back story which included a fantastic range of villainous bad guys for the G.I. Joe Team to fight in the shape of the Cobra Command.

Storm Shadow aka Thomas S. Arashikage here, however, is one of only a few characters whose allegiance has shifted back and forth over the years and who has been issued as both a member of team Cobra and a member of team G.I. Joe.

Captain Simian and the Space Monkeys

Sometimes we need a little help from our friends, so big thanks are in order for Twitter follower @happymonkeyshoe who helped me identify this cosmic monkey when I sent out a tweet for help recently! I’d spotted him on a market stall in Rome, but hadn’t the faintest idea who he might be – thanks Dyl, for introducing me to the world of Captain Simian and the Space Monkeys!

The only clue to be found on this 5-inch chunky monkey is a copyright line which reads © 1995 HEI & MPI – which I assume stands for toy distributor Marco Polo Imports – although UK toy designers Bluebird Toys actually created these figures, with Mattel handling US distribution in 1996.

Jelly baby, anyone?! Tom Baker as Doctor Who’s Fourth Doctor

The BBC television science-fiction series Doctor Who, which will celebrate its fiftieth anniversary next year, owes its longevity in great part to a very clever device the writers dreamt up decades ago – when the Doctor is close to death he can regenerate into a brand new body. This has allowed a series of completely different actors to play our hero over the years, from the 1960s when William Hartnell as the First Doctor changed into the Second Doctor played by Patrick Troughton, right through to the present day and Doctor number Eleven as played by the rather wonderful Matt Smith.

Whilst Tom Baker, the Fourth Doctor may not be the very first Doctor I remember – that honour goes to his predecessor Jon Pertwee – the wonderfully eccentric and flamboyantly dressed Baker is certainly the Doctor I recall best from my childhood.

He IS the Law! G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero

After unleashing Dreadnok uber-villain Zanzibar from Hasbro’s G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero line a couple of weeks ago, let’s redress the balance by taking a look at one of the G.I. Joe Team good guys – the Military Policeman known as “Law”.

First released as part of the sixth series in 1987 Law was one half of the team “Law & Order”, with his sidekick being a mean-looking Alsatian K-9 police dog – code name “Order”. As his original G.I. Joe filecard warns: You don’t want to mess with him and that dog of his! I picked this Law up loose recently and Order was nowhere to be seen, but am still delighted with my find – he’s a classic and certainly my favourite of the 3 ¾ inch versions of Law.

It’s Ol’ Blue Eyes himself…Squid Head!

If poor old Walrus Man was a rare example of a Kenner Star Wars action figure which saw the toy company cutting corners on movie-likeness accuracy in the design, their work on Squid Head shows just how good they could be when at the very top of their game. Making his first outing on the Return Of The Jedi 65 back cards in 1983, this may be a later figure in the Star Wars original trilogy figures, but he’s certainly on my list of must-haves thanks to the sheer attention to detail.

And if don’t remember him from the movie…? Don’t feel bad – you may well have blinked when he appeared as an extraterrestrial extra seen in the background when Luke enters Jabba the Hutt’s palace!