I recently returned home to Rome from my summer holidays in the UK visiting friends and family. I managed to pick up a few action figure bargains in flea markets, but also made some exciting discoveries in my parents' loft! As a kid back in the 1970s my younger sister had some pretty cool action figures. I vaguely remembered her having owned a Batman and Robin and a Planet of the Apes figure, so had been itching to send Dad up into the attic for some time to check if they were produced by the … [Read more...]
Lando Calrissian: Show me your teeth!
When today's toy manufacturers launch a new action figure with myriad variations it's hard not to smile ruefully and picture the board meeting in which that decision was made and to hear the Kerching! of the cash register ringing in one's head as collectors scramble to add every version to their set. It's fun, therefore, to look back at vintage action figures with genuine oddities or variations depending on their country of origin or for reasons which are hard to explain. Kenner's Star Wars … [Read more...]
Skatin’ Raphael
Before taking a bit of an August blogging break I wanted to leave you all with a summery action figure, so what better than Skatin' Raphael dressed up with all his sporting gear? When Playmates Toys relaunched their Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles line in 2003 to coincide with the all new animated series they produced some truly wonderful and highly inventive action figures – robust articulation, impressive attention to detail and masses of exciting accessories for children to lose down the back … [Read more...]
Creature from the Black Lagoon – Mini Monsters by Remco
I'm a huge fan of classic Universal Monster movies and consequently have a real weakness for any Universal Monsters action figures I happen to find. Luckily, these film characters have been revisited by toy manufacturers time and time again over the years and there are plenty of them out there for collectors to get their fangs into! The Mini Monsters line is one of my absolute favourites – at 3 ¾ inches these were small, but perfectly formed, action figures that actually carried strikingly … [Read more...]
Two-Face from Batman: The Animated Series
After our look at the Super Powers Robin last week, let's stick with the Batman theme, but this time take a look at one of his greatest enemies – the crime boss and terrifyingly insane Two-Face. As fans of DC Comics will know, once upon a time Two-Face was Harvey Dent, the District Attorney of Gotham City, and fought crime alongside Batman. The horrible disfigurement he suffered during a trial when acid was thrown over the left side of his face, however, pushed him over the edge, his … [Read more...]
Kenner Super Powers: Robin!
Scrolling back through recent posts I realised that this website is a little light on Batman, so let's fix that right away with a look at his erstwhile sidekick Robin as he appeared in the first series of Kenner's wonderful Super Powers action figures from 1984. This 4-inch figure was a superb version of The Boy Wonder - given his more mature nickname The Teen Wonder on the packaging - and like the other figures in the line had his very own Super Power. Wait, I hear you cry, Dick Grayson may … [Read more...]
Raiders of the Lost Ark: Toht
One of the secrets of the success of many movie spin-off toy lines is surely not only the popularity of the hero, but also that of the nemesis. Kenner's wonderful 1982 series of 3 ¾ inch action figures - Adventures of Indiana Jones in Raiders of the Lost Ark – is a case in point, where Indiana Jones has several seriously bad guys to face down during the film as he struggles to block Nazi efforts to get their hands on the Ark of the Covenant. I'm assuming that anybody reading this post has … [Read more...]
It’s Showtime with Kenner and Beetlejuice!
There are some action figures that seem to divide collectors straight down the middle – you either love them or hate them – and the 5 inch Kenner Beetlejuice action figures from 1989 seem to fall into that group. I personally adore these figures and have no idea why some collectors gripe about them, as they look good, feel good and have some fun interactive extras. The most eagle-eyed readers have probably already spotted the most obvious interactive element with these figures – the heads on the … [Read more...]
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