1970s | Vintage Action Figures

Action Jackson is my name, bold adventure is my game!

Whilst it was Hasbro who first coined the phrase “action figures” for military dolls aimed at the boys’ market in the late 1960s with their G.I. Joe line, and in particular Palitoy’s UK version known as “Action Man”, the legendary Mego company also earned a place in action figure history in the early 1970s with their own short-lived adventure hero line – Action Jackson. Selling well only briefly, and ultimately a commercial failure, these 8 inch figures with a wonderful range of costumes, were soon superseded by Mego’s phenomenally successful World’s Greatest Superheroes figures. I personally love Action Jackson, however, and he remains a firm favourite with vintage Mego collectors to this day.

Lieutenant Starbuck from Mattel’s Battlestar Galactica

Light years before the name “Starbuck” added an “s” and became synonymous with caffè latte, the world’s most famous Starbuck was the fictional first mate of the Pequod, the whaling ship at the heart of Herman Melville’s novel Moby-Dick. In fact, it was in homage to this literary character, that our Lieutenant Starbuck here, the protagonist of the cult 1978 sci-fi television show Battlestar Galactica, was named, although the gambling, womanising, and cigar smoking Viper starfighter pilot, and the Quaker first mate on the Pequod, could not have been more different!

Popeye and Olive Oyl Bendees by Amscan

Before super-heroes donned their capes and took over the world of the comic books, another kind of hero inspired a generation – Popeye the Sailor! In fact, he recently celebrated his 84th birthday, having first graced the pages of the King Features comic strip Thimble Theatre way back in 1929. Over the years he has appeared, not only in print, but also in cartoon shorts and full length movies on the small and big screen, and his face has been used to endorse just about everything from oatmeal to – what else?! – canned Popeye Spinach! His girlfriend Olive Oyl is even older, having been a Thimble Theatre main character for 10 years before Popeye wandered into her comic strip life.

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.

Colonial Warrior from Mattel’s Battlestar Galactica

Don’t worry if this character isn’t familiar to you. His face isn’t likely to ring any bells with even the most die-hard fans of the original Battlestar Galactica TV series from 1978 either! When Glen A. Larson’s short-lived sci-fi show was launched as a somewhat blatant attempt to rival the small screen success of Star Trek, and in the clear hope of cashing in on the cinematic box office success of Star Wars the previous year, Mattel won the license to produce the tie-in action figure merchandising. Whilst their 3 ¾ inch figures offered up recognisable characters from the show such as Lieutenant Starbuck and Commander Adama, their 12 inch hero was this chap, a generic “Colonial Warrior” who had never appeared in the show.

He IS the greatest! Muhammad Ali ‘The Champ’ by Mego!

“Floats like a butterfly, stings like a bee,
The greatest sports action figure is Muhammad Ali”

I’m a huge admirer of Muhammad Ali and a massive fan of Mego’s vintage 8-inch action figures from the 1970s, so this Ali meets Mego action figure has always been a must-have item for me. I finally managed to track one down at a fair price in an online store recently and have had it in my possession for only a short time, but I became instantly smitten the moment I unrolled him from the bubble-wrap packaging. He really is fantastic!

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.

Mego Lion Rock World War II Japanese Fighter Pilot by Polistil of Italy

The great Mego Corporation initially balked at the idea of creating a series of World War II themed figures in the 1970s – after all, this would have meant entering into head to head competition with Hasbro’s military G.I. Joe Adventure Team action figures in the US – but they liked the idea enough to try it out across the Atlantic, handing the reins to European distributor Lion Rock. The resulting series of 6-inch figures released by various different European toy companies saw some truly wonderful toys, works of art in their detail which remain popular in the world of Mego collectibles.

Charting the history of some of the greatest military battles – “Storie delle grandi battaglie” – the Italian figures like this Japanese Fighter Pilot here, were issued by Polistil;