• Home
  • TV & Movies
    • Star Wars
    • Battlestar Galactica (1978)
    • Indiana Jones
    • Star Trek
    • Planet of the Apes
    • The Real Ghostbusters
    • The Six Million Dollar Man
    • Universal Monsters
    • Doctor Who
  • Comic Book Heroes
    • Kenner Super Powers
    • Mattel Secret Wars
    • Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
    • The Uncanny X-Men
    • Spider-Man
    • Batman
    • Superman
    • The Incredible Hulk
  • Mego
  • MOTU
  • G.I. Joe
  • Transformers
  • Wrestling

Vintage Action Figures

Reviews of collectible action figures inspired by comic books, TV shows and movies from the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s

  • Facebook
  • Twitter

Green-haired General Madine variant figure

February 8, 2015

General Madine by Kenner

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.

General Madine with green hair
General Madine with green hair
Dermot Crowley as General Madine
Dermot Crowley as General Madine

In spite of his fleeting appearance in the film, however, the former imperial officer and rebel leader General Crix Madine went on to become a favourite amongst fans of the extended Star Wars universe, with a detailed back story, which evolved through the novels, making this vintage figure perennially collectible.

The figure also provides plenty of grist for the variant collector’s mill with several major variations in paint ops existing. General Madine was produced with heads molded in either grey plastic with flesh paint added to the face areas, or flesh-coloured plastic with the beard and hair painted instead. Bizarrely, as with my Madine here, some figures were produced with a distinctly sage green, rather than grey, paint ops on the hair and beard.

Left leg: ©LFL 1983 - Right leg: MADE IN TAIWAN
Left leg: ©LFL 1983 – Right leg: MADE IN TAIWAN

The second major variation with this figure lies in the limbs. Most figures were molded with grey limbs, which were then painted black on the gloves and boots, while figures from Taiwan used black limbs, with the grey trousers and blue and grey sleeves painted over the top. Sure enough, checking the COO and copyright information on the back of the legs on my figure, “MADE IN TAIWAN” runs downwards on two lines on the back of his right thigh, with some minor scratches on this loose figure revealing the black mold under the grey paint op.

Inevitably, my loose General Madine has mislaid his Rebel Battle Staff accessory, but he’s still a great vintage find nevertheless and a fine addition to any Star Wars collection.

Collect them all…you KNOW you want to!

  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)

Filed Under: Vintage Star Wars (1977–1989) Tagged With: General Madine, Return of the Jedi

Action figure search

Recent Posts

  • Ghostbusters Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man …signed by Sigourney Weaver!
  • It’s Clobberin’ Time with The Thing by Mego!
  • Up, up and away! Comic version 12-inch Superman by Mego
  • Remembering Princess Leia Organa
  • Indiana Jones, the daring archaeologist and world adventurer of the movie Raiders of the Lost Ark!
  • Stunning C-3PO sixth scale figure by Sideshow Collectibles
  • It’s Alive! The Monster Frankenstein from Mego’s Mad Monster Series
  • Wonder Woman the Amazing Amazon – Kenner Super Powers
  • Grrr…it’s Grizzlor! The Hairy Henchman of the Evil Horde
  • Ming the Merciless – The evil emperor of Mongo by Mego

Archives

Copyright © 2009-2023 · VintageActionFigures.net · All trademarks and copyrights on this page are owned by their respective owners. Comments are owned by the Poster and opinions expressed are those of the Poster and do not necessarily represent the views of VintageActionFigures.net · Please read our Privacy Policy, GDPR Compliance Statement, Affiliate Disclosure and Cookies Policy - We know...Zzzz!!