Vintage Blog | Vintage Action Figures

Goku from Dragon Ball Z

The collection of Japanese Anime action figures is very much a sub-genre within action figure collecting as a whole and I certainly wouldn’t profess to having anything other than the slightest passing knowledge of the subject. Having said that, however, I know a handsome looking action figure when I see one, so this impressive sculpt of Dragon Ball Z hero Goku immediately caught my attention when I saw him on a market stall in Rome recently. Curiously, Japanese animation TV series have always been enormously popular in Italy – far more so than in the UK where I was born and raised – so it isn’t that surprising to discover Anime related merchandise here, although this particular figure was a spectacular find!

Vintage Matchbox Pee-wee Herman action figure

I know you are, but what am I?!… Pee-wee Herman!

Love him or hate him, if you were alive in the 1980s you can’t have missed American comedian Paul Reubens in the guise of his alter-ego Pee-wee Herman. Star of Pee-wee’s Playhouse, an enormously successful and groundbreaking Saturday morning television show for kids in the US, worldwide audiences were first introduced to him via Tim Burton’s debut film Pee-wee’s Big Adventure, which turned the road movie on its head and Pee-wee Herman into a cult favourite.

The last couple of decades have been a bit of a roller coaster ride for Reubens, both professionally and personally, but finally, Pee-wee Herman is back with a hit show on Broadway starring all the old Playhouse gang, so to celebrate (as I love Pee-wee to bits) I thought it would be fun to look back at this vintage Matchbox Pee-wee Herman action figure that was issued at the height of Pee-wee mania in the late 1980s.

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.

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!

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.

Johnny Depp as Jack Sparrow in Pirates of the Caribbean

Shiver me timbers! It’s Jack Sparrow!

As film producers and toy manufacturers are well aware, you simply can’t keep a good franchise down! With Johnny Depp sharpening his cutlass once more this summer and reprising his role as Captain Jack Sparrow in the fourth Pirates of the Caribbean movie, On Stranger Tides, I thought it might be interesting to take a look at one of the action figures that accompanied the last outing At World’s End. Orlando Bloom and Keira Knightley may have finally jumped ship, but with Ian McShane as Blackbeard and Keith Richards as Captain Teague on board I’m sure the new film will be great fun!

C’mon, let’s save the world…with Ryan Steele from VR Troopers!

Virtual reality may have been all the rage in the early 1990s, but I confess I was just too darn old to have been into the hit live action TV show VR Troopers when it aired from 1994 – 1996, so I didn’t instantly recognise this vintage Ryan Steele action figure when I found him recently – I just assumed, mistakenly, that he was one of the Power Rangers. This is a forgiveable mistake for the uninitiated, though, given that VR Troopers was very much a sister show to the very similar Mighty Morphin Power Rangers series, with both coming out of the Saban Entertainment stable.

Meet Raider, a diecast Shogun Warrior by Mattel

Happy New Year! Here’s a great thrift market find I stumbled upon recently to kick off a new year of action figure blog posts. I don’t usually collect vintage diecast figures, but when this 5-inch Shogun Warrior caught my eye I suddenly understood the popularity of these Japanese robots – the sheer weight of the metal when held in the hand lends a certain authority to the figure which is very appealing.

There were four different Shogun Warriors action figures: Dragun, Mazinga, Poseidon and this one – Raider.