Since first starting this blog almost fifteen years ago there has been a huge amount of change in the Star Wars universe. The generation of kids who grew up watching the prequels – episodes I to III – are now adults and the action figures they played with back in the day have officially crossed that magical albeit arbitrary line of twenty-years, the minimum requirement to becoming ‘vintage’. Meanwhile, many of the Generation X-ers who derided the prequels so much, are now revisiting them. Hating Episodes I-III was the cool thing to do, right? Maybe it took a series of even more divisive sequels in the shape of J.J. Abrams’ The Force Awakens and The Rise of Skywalker, and Rian Johnson’s The Last Jedi – episodes VII-IX for those of you who are still counting – to provoke a prequel reappraisal. And there is nothing quite like a powerful injection of nostalgia to kick-start a Renaissance!
Decades: 1980s
Ghostbusters Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man …signed by Sigourney Weaver!
I recently had the very good fortune of attending the European première of the brand-new Ghostbusters movie, Afterlife (or Ghostbusters: Legacy as we call it this side of the pond here in Italy). It was my first time back in a packed cinema since the pandemic, so this gathering of fans felt like an extra special experience. Shown as part of the Alice nella Città children’s film festival on the opening night of the Rome Film Fest, it was a spooktacular affair, with screenwriter Gil Kenan, who co-wrote the screenplay with director Jason Reitman, in attendance to introduce the screening. I won’t reveal any spoilers here, other than to say that this Ghostbusters fan left the theatre happy with an unapologetically nostalgic film that skilfully passed on the torch to a younger Stranger Things generation of viewers.
Indiana Jones, the daring archaeologist and world adventurer of the movie Raiders of the Lost Ark!
Harrison Ford seems to have an incredible knack for being cast in cult classics – his portrayal of Rick Deckard in Blade Runner alone would have been enough to ensure him enduring cult status. Most recently, of course, the entire planet has been focussed on his reprisal of the role of Han Solo in JJ Abram’s billion-dollar-grossing sequel to the original Star Wars trilogy – Star Wars: The Force Awakens – an appearance which saw him reclaim his crown as Hollywood’s highest earning actor. Personally, I’ve got a soft spot for yet another much beloved embodiment of a different George Lucas creation – Indiana Jones – so when I spotted this vintage 1981 Kenner 12 inch Raiders of the Lost Ark action figure at a toy fair recently, I just had to add it to my collection!
Wonder Woman the Amazing Amazon – Kenner Super Powers
The Super Powers Collection by Kenner remains one of my favourite 1980s toylines. These perfectly designed vintage figures were so well constructed that some thirty years after they first hit toy store aisles their secret built-in “super power action” features almost always still work. Wonder Woman has long been top of my list of must-have figures in the line so I was thrilled when I tracked one down in full working order recently. She was missing her Magic Lasso accessory, but this particular vintage part proved very easy to reproduce. In DC Comics lore the original lasso was forged by the god Hephaestus from the Golden Girdle of Gaea. Thankfully our prop merely required a quick trip to the local haberdashery for a short length of thin gold cord, which was then looped around itself and tied with a knot, to create a home-made Lasso of Truth. For display purposes it’s extremely hard to tell the difference from the original part.
Grrr…it’s Grizzlor! The Hairy Henchman of the Evil Horde
Mattel’s hugely successful 1980s action figure and TV franchise Masters of the Universe is looked upon with great fondness by many toy collectors today and has proved enduringly popular. I’m writing this post having just returned from a collectors fair in Rome, Italy and can confirm that those chunky, swivel-hipped 5 ½-inch action figures were certainly an ubiquitous presence at every stall. I should confess that as a child from an earlier generation, I’ve always been a little bemused by the whole He-Man Universe and slow to succumb to the appeal of this line. From time to time a random figure will pique my interest, however, like this ugly little fella Grizzlor. (And as every collector knows, that’s a slippery slope to a full time action figure addiction!)
Green-haired General Madine variant figure
When Kenner issued General Madine as part of its first wave of Return Of The Jedi 65-back carded figures in 1983 the resulting action figure followed the company’s hit-or-miss track record of movie-likenesses, with only a vague resemblance to the actor Dermot Crowley who played him on screen. Instead of Crowley’s fair beard and hair, Kenner opted instead for a thick grey Kenny Rogers-style beard and mane! This turned out to be of little concern, however, when sadly for Kenner – not to mention Crowley – most of General Madine’s scenes during the Battle of Endor never actually made it past the cutting room, with only a brief appearance in the rebel briefing room scene hitting the big screen, meaning that back in the day the General Madine figure didn’t exactly fly off toy store shelves. It was later “sold-off” in Return of the Jedi bargain 2-Packs with other remaindered figures such as the Biker Scout.
The Emperor – The Dark Side of the Force
It’s a strange thought now, looking back at the original Star Wars trilogy, but Darth Sidious aka Dark Lord of the Sith, the biggest baddie and antagonist of the entire series, didn’t have any live action screen time until Return of the Jedi in 1983 (although a hologram did make a flickering appearance in the earlier The Empire Strikes Back). The archetype for hooded evil, Emperor Palpatine was played by Ian McDiarmid, who has had the very good fortune to reprise his role in all three of the prequels, which chart the character’s devious political career from Senator, to Supreme Chancellor, and eventually Emperor. Back in the 1980s, however, when Kenner still held the keys to the action figure toy chest, he was simply known as The Emperor.
Heroic Human…Robot…Monster? It must be Man-E-Faces!
Masters of the Universe, Mattel’s hugely successful action figure line of the 1980s, has proved enduringly popular. Big sellers back in the day, these figures can still be found loose on flea markets for a fair price, like this classic Man-E-Faces 1983 figure (dated stamped 1982) from the second wave of Heroic Warriors from the Original Series, which I picked up just the other day.
Almost all the figures in this line came with a built in power punch action – twisted at the waist and then released, the torso will swivel round at speed, and land a hefty punch – yet this particular figure went one better.