Vintage Blog | Vintage Action Figures

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.

Tarzan…King of the Fast Food Jungle!

I’ve been a vegetarian for almost all of my adult life so it’s been quite some years since I’ve eaten a burger or stepped inside a McDonald’s restaurant, and as a result have never really been a collector of the ever popular McDonald’s Happy Meal toys and action figures. They do seem to turn up in bargain bins and on market stalls pretty regularly, however, and I inevitably find them hard to resist!

A stroke of marketing genius, Happy Meal toys have been getting kids to drag their parents into the fast food chain for decades, with Disney heavily involved with the company as a means to promote its latest films during the 1990s, until they abruptly ended that relationship in 2007.

Don’t get this action figure wet! It’s Gizmo from Gremlins by LJN!

The 1980s were a wonderful time for the comedy horror movie, and two of my absolute favourites from that decade were released on the very same day on June 8, 1984 – Ivan Reitman’s Ghostbusters and Joe Dante’s Gremlins. Those pre-CGI times were something of a heyday for animatronics and puppetry workshops, and the marionettes created for Gremlins still look impressive to this day.

Gizmo the Mogwai here, may have looked cute and cuddly, but if three golden rules – never expose it to bright light; never get it wet; and never, ever feed it after midnight – were broken, it would spawn a brood of downright evil offspring capable of wreaking havoc!

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.

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.

Evel Knievel by Ideal

For anybody who was a child in the 1970s and watched his death-defying leaps over buses and other mind-bogglingly risky motorcycle stunts on television, Evel Knievel was nothing short of a legend and an iconic figures that seems to define that era. My sister and I were huge fans, yet this 6-inch Evel Knievel action figure by Ideal Toys never made it into our toybox as kids, so I was really pleased to track one down recently online.

As well as the sheer lunacy of some of the daredevil stunts that Evel Knievel attempted, he was also famous for the number of bones he broke in some of his more spectacular crashes.

Laurence Fishburne as Morpheus in The Matrix Reloaded by McFarlane

Nobody could argue that Sideshow Collectibles haven’t raised the bar in recent years as far as action figures created exclusively for the adult collectors’ market goes, with their staggeringly good movie likenesses and attention to detail.

In today’s economic climate, however, there’s still plenty of room for companies such as McFarlane, who also manage to render celebrity sports stars’ or actors’ likenesses brilliantly, but at a more affordable price for the average collector. In creating action figures that often have limited articulation, their “action” figures sometimes border on the edge of being considered display figurines, but there’s no arguing with the beauty of a figure such as this version of Laurence Fishburne as he appeared as Morpheus in the The Wachowski Brothers’ 2003 sequel to the hugely influential The Matrix – The Matrix Reloaded.

Diecast Black Condor Jetman by Bandai

I don’t have many diecast action figures in my collection, but whenever I happen upon one on a market stall I almost always have to buy it right away – a small toy with metal parts is always surprisingly heavy in the hand and makes it feel nicely solid and instantly appealing.

Little did I realise, however, when I found this 1991 Bandai action figure of Gai Yuki aka Black Condor from the early 1990s Japanese television series Choujin Sentai Jettoman (Birdman Task Force Jetman) recently, that Gai Yuki’s name would suddenly be in the news again.