1990s | Vintage Action Figures

Deluxe Darth Maul by Hasbro

When Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace, the first film in a series of patchy prequels to the original Star Wars trilogy, hit movie theatres in 1999, a global wave of disappointment was felt resulting in a huge backlash against director George Lucas amongst die-hard fans. One character, however, seems to be standing the test of time and in spite of his precious few minutes of screen time, has acquired a cult, uber-villain status – Darth Maul.

Certainly, the climatic fight scene which pits Darth Maul against Obi-Wan Kenobi and Qui-Gon Jinn is one of the high points in The Phantom Menace,

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.

Thunderbirds are go! It’s their evil nemesis The Hood!

Every great cult television show – and naturally, tie-in toy line – needs a dastardly foe who will try his utmost to ruin the plans of the good guys and prevent the heroes of the show from stealing the limelight through their daring deeds. Last time we looked at Captain Troy Tempest, the handsome hero from Stingray, so I thought it might be fun to follow that up with a villain from another absolute classic Gerry and Sylvia Anderson marionette TV show – The Hood from Thunderbirds.

Thunderbirds, alongside the two feature length marionette movies Thunderbirds Are Go and Thunderbird 6, is quite possibly the most popular of all the Supermarionation shows, even inspiring a live action feature film in 2004.

Captain Troy Tempest from Stingray by Matchbox

Stand by for action! It’s Captain Troy Tempest from Stingray!

As promised in my last post, here’s another vintage action figure found at a flea market on my recent trip back to the UK, and like the Doctor Who collectible featured last time, this is a piece of UK television memorabilia from another cult show – Captain Troy Tempest, James Garner lookalike and the dashing hero of Gerry and Sylvia Anderson’s marionette masterpiece Stingray. The voice actors may have all been American – a ploy to ease overseas sales of the show – but the rest of the production was entirely British.

Set in the year 2065 at the headquarters of the World Aquanaut Security Patrol (WASP) in Marineville, the ‘Stingray’ of the title was actually a state of the art submarine piloted by none other than our Troy here. First transmitted on ITV way back in 1964 and 1965, it may be hard for the younger generation of kids who have known nothing but CGI, to really appreciate the impact of those shows.

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.

Mobile Suit Gundam RX-78-2

It’s always fun hunting down vintage action figures on market stalls or in thrift shops, but this snap-together Gundam model kit proved more of a challenge than most. I spotted the limbless and headless torso first, in a box of mostly broken toys and it took a lot of painstaking rummaging around before I managed to gather and assemble all his parts! With hands and feet and even shoulder pads detached, I was incredibly satisfied to have at least found all his body parts, if not all his accessories – he’s missing a shield, his bazooka and beam sabers, not to mention the beam saber handles on his backpack, which have snapped cleanly off.

Terminator 2 - Hidden Power Terminator by Kenner

Hasta la vista, baby! Hidden Power Terminator

Way before he became the 38th Governor of California and acquired the scary power to actually terminate people in real life, Arnold Schwarzenegger was a humble body-builder turned Hollywood actor, who made some great action movies like Terminator and had the kind of jaw-line, body sculpt and dramatic delivery that made him already seem like a 1:1 scale talking action figure!

In recent years, NECA has issued some awesome T2 action figures for the adult collectibles market, but the 5½-inch vintage line produced by Kenner in 1992 to tie in with the original release of James Cameron’s sequel to the Terminator – Terminator 2: Judgment Day – were also extremely good.

Creature from the Black Lagoon by Burger King

Regular readers to this blog may recall that as a vegetarian and somebody who hasn’t stepped inside a McDonald’s for a couple of decades, I’m not usually a collector of fast food toys…unless, of course, I happen across one at a flea market, as I did with this Creature from the Black Lagoon recently. As a Universal Monsters film fan I couldn’t resist this action figure, which was issued by Burger King in 1997 alongside equally accurate movie-likenesses of Dracula, Frankenstein and the Wolf Man – all my concerns about the influence of these very toys on childhood obesity flew momentarily out of the window!