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 … [Read more...]
Maximilian Schell is Dr. Hans Reinhardt – The Black Hole by Mego
The Black Hole, Walt Disney’s 1979 sci-fi blockbuster, with its multimillion dollar state-of-art special effects and a star-studded cast featuring such notables as Ernest Borgnine, Anthony Perkins and Maximilian Schell, was clearly intended to be the studio’s answer to Star Wars. That was the plan, anyway. Instead the film has become one of those forgotten movies to which the epithet “cult” is often applied. My own memories of the movie were very dim, so I watched it again on DVD recently, … [Read more...]
Time for some Prehistoric Pizza with Cave-Turtle Don!
It’s been slow start to 2014 on the vintage action figure collecting front - I've come away disappointed and empty handed from several recent forays to markets stalls and my usual haunts. Choice figures from decades past seem to be getting harder and harder to find...But then, unexpectedly, I found a couple of gems at a new flea market this week. I never pass up the chance to add a new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles figure to my collection, however silly the guise, so this Donatello draped in furs … [Read more...]
May the Force be with you this Christmas!
A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away....Chewbacca, with Han Solo along for the ride, is heading back home for Life Day, the Wookie equivalent of Christmas. Don't remember this from the movies? Believe it or not, this scene was actually filmed! But not for the big screen. The Star Wars Holiday Special was televised at the height of Star Wars mania in 1978. Directed by Steve Binder of the Elvis 68 Comeback Special fame, the Christmas television special took the now legendary characters from … [Read more...]
Meet a ‘Return of the Jedi’ Hero – Nien Nunb!
When Kenner started out on its 3 ¾ inch Star Wars action figure adventure in 1977 the popularity of the movie caught the toy company by surprise. It would be unthinkable today, where a marketing frenzy surrounds every film released with a potential toy franchise, but back then Kenner were so unprepared that they were unable to deliver any Star Wars action figures to toy stores in time for Christmas! The solution they came up with would become the stuff of collector legend - Kenner pre-sold empty … [Read more...]
Spider-Man: Mego Pocket Super Heroes
Kenner rightly deserves its place in toy making history for popularising the 3 ¾ inch figure through its vintage Star Wars line of the 1970s and 80s, with the huge success of the movie franchise proving to be a massive marketing lucky break for the company. The Mego Corporation definitely deserves a nod as the very first pioneer of the 3 ¾ inch scale, however, with their Comic Action Heroes line launched way back in 1976, and its revamped series three years later known as the Pocket Super … [Read more...]
Universal Studios Monster Turtles starring Leo as the Wolfman!
During the late 1980s and early 1990s Playmates Toys invented some wonderfully imaginative scenarios for their Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles action figures with endlessly creative variations. These weird and wonderful figures seem to divide collectors straight down the middle, but love 'em or hate 'em, there's absolutely no denying the sheer quality of the designs. As a Universal Monsters movie fan, the 1993 first wave of Official Universal Studios Monster Turtles, which saw our reptilian heroes … [Read more...]
Green Frankie aka Frankenstein’s Monster
With Halloween nearly upon us I thought it would be a great time to share another vintage figure from my Universal Monsters collection. I'm a huge fan of these classic horror movies produced by Universal Studios during the 1930s, movies which turned actors such as Bela Lugosi (Dracula), Lon Chaney, Jr. (The Wolf Man) and Boris Karloff (The Mummy and Frankenstein), into legendary Hollywood figures. Whilst the Remco Mini Monsters are the focus of my movie collection, I can never resist buying just … [Read more...]