1990s | Vintage Action Figures

Uncanny X-Men: Cyclops with Laser Light Eyes!

Long before Simon Cowell launched his reign of terror over TV networks the world over, in the 1980s our Cyclops here was already part of a very different X-Factor team in the Marvel Comics X-Men spin-off comic book series of the same name. One of the mutant X-Men since the very first issue in 1963, the Stan Lee / Jack Kirby creation is one of the most enduringly popular characters of the entire X-Men universe, so when Marvel relaunched the X-Men in 1991 Cyclops was swiftly incorporated back into the original team.

Camo-Armor Turtleflage Venus – The Vanishin’ Vixen!

When Michael Bay, producer of the forthcoming Ninja Turtles movie, announced earlier this year that in the revamp Donatello would now be a female turtle named Donatella, Internet forums were quickly filled with angry comments from die-hard fans…until people noticed the date and realised that this news had been nothing but an April Fools’ Day hoax!

But what is it about girl turtles that seems to upset folks so much!? As it happens, “Donatella” if she had ever happened, would not have been the first attempt to introduce a female turtle into the gang. As a last ditch attempt to squeeze every possible drop out of the declining TMNT franchise in the late 1990s, Saban Entertainment produced a short lived live action TV series for Fox Kids – Ninja Turtles: The Next Mutation – which introduced a female mutant turtle called Venus de Milo (aka Mei Pieh Chi), named, of course, after the ancient Greek statue. Clearly, however, many fans were disturbed by the sight of a girl turtle with the slightest hint of breasts under her shell. Whether the presence of Venus was really to blame or not for the cancellation of the show in 1998 after only a short run, nowadays poor Venus seems to have been completely expunged from the list of characters in the TMNT universe on their official website.

Juggernaut with Power Punch – the Unstoppable X-Men Villain!

The brainchild of legendary comic book writer Stan Lee, and artist Jack Kirby, Juggernaut aka Cain Marko first appeared during the Silver Age of Comic Books in X-Men #12 published in 1965. When Toy Biz issued this 5-inch Juggernaut action figure as part of the Evil Mutant subset of characters in the first series of its hugely popular Uncanny X-Men line decades later in 1991, the villain was riding a surge of new notoriety thanks to the 1990s X-Men animated television show. Indeed, he got his own showcase episode in 1993 entitled The Unstoppable Juggernaut, and that same year Toy Biz reissued this figure with a fresh lick of paint, switching his reddish boots and midriff for a brighter shade of orange.

Trouble and Stryfe! The Uncanny X-Men villain from Toy Biz X-Force line

Marvel super villain Stryfe, leader of the Mutant Liberation Front and sworn enemy of team X-Force, first appeared in 1990 in issue #85 of X-Men spin-off comic The New Mutants. In the final issue #100 readers were in for a huge surprise when he removed his helmet and revealed himself to be none other than his own enemy the mutant Cable! Confused yet?!

As Toy Biz explained on the back of the packaging for this 1992 Stryfe action figure:

Stryfe is the mysterious evil mutant who could be Cable’s brother – or perhaps even Cable himself! No one knows the truth about this fearsome warrior, and anyone who came close to finding out learned never to do it again!

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.

X-Men Super-Villain Sauron with Savage Attack Wings!

When Marvel Comics launched a new super-villain in 1969 to do battle with the X-Men, writer Roy Thomas and artist Neal Adams found themselves with the tricky task of inventing a monster that would pass the strict rules of the Comics Code Authority, a 1950s body that still censored depictions of horror or violence in comics and even banned the use of centuries old legendary figures such as vampires and werewolves. Necessity, as they say, is the mother of invention, so Thomas and Adams brilliantly skirted regulations by creating Sauron – alter ego of Karl Lykos – based on a Pteranodon, a prehistoric flying reptile from the Pterosaur family. Whilst werewolves were strictly off-limits, were-Pterosaurs apparently were just fine!

Speed Surfing Silver Surfer by Toy Biz

Long before the name “Silver Surfer” was adopted as the Web’s favourite nickname for elderly Internauts, this alien superhero graced the pages of Marvel Comics, first appearing in the Fantastic Four issue #48 in March 1966. Of course, the Silver Surfer never actually required anything as ordinary as waves in the ocean to surf, when with his cosmically powered flying surfboard-like spacecraft he could surf the universe faster than the speed of light!

Before taking a brief blogging break in August I wanted to leave you with a vintage action figure with a summery feel, so who better than the Surfer here as he appeared in this Toy Biz edition from 1992? Whilst surfing may not yet be an Olympic discipline, with the recent inclusion of snowboarding in the Winter Games maybe we’ll see surfing in the Summer Games one of these quadrennials!

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.