The legendary Medieval outlaw Robin Hood has been a hugely popular figure in English folklore for centuries. Armed with bow and arrow and sword, he would steal from the rich to give to the poor, and then head back to his hideout in Sherwood Forest with his band of fellow “Merry Men”. With love interest in the shape of Maid Marian, and the Sheriff of Nottingham as his arch enemy, the story of Robin Hood has been a perennial favourite with Hollywood filmmakers since the early days of silent … [Read more...]
The Undertaker aka Big Evil by JAKKS Pacific
The collection of wrestling action figures is a thriving sub-genre of the hobby, and whilst these figures have never been the focus of my own collection, I've always admired them from afar. Never one to resist a well-made figure in a bargain bin, this 7-inch WWE JAKKS Pacific figure caught my eye some time ago, but I confess lay forgotten until I happened upon a spoof news story recently - Ben Affleck to portray The Undertaker at WrestleMania 30 – which after I'd finished chuckling, … [Read more...]
Princess Leia in combat poncho on Endor
This blog has been running a little low on girl power recently, so let's fix that right away with a truly wonderful vintage figure from Kenner's legendary 3 ¾ Star Wars line – Princess Leia Organa sporting her Endor combat poncho. It's a staggering thought today, but of the entire list of 93 characters immortalised in the original Kenner line, Princess Leia is the solitary female. As if to make up for this, besides her iconic white robed figure as she appeared in Star Wars, Princess Leia was … [Read more...]
Davros, lord and creator of the Dalek race – by Dapol
I am back in Rome after a relaxing summer break visiting family and friends in the UK, so thought I'd kick off a new season of blog posts with a distinctly British vintage figure. My August trip happened to coincide with some major geek news from Blighty: the BBC finally revealed that Scottish actor Peter Capaldi will take on the coveted role of The Doctor in its legendary sci-fi TV series Doctor Who, when current Doctor Matt Smith hangs up his bow tie later this year. It's a big year for the … [Read more...]
Holographic Cobra Commander
Ever since picking up a translucent vintage TRON Warrior action figure earlier this year I've been keeping my eyes peeled for more figures from the series whenever I rummage through bargain bins of loose figures at flea markets. When I spotted this 3 ¾ inch fella cast in blue translucent plastic, for a joyous split second I thought I'd found a TRON Flynn figure, only to quickly realise my mistake once I held the figure in my hands. No matter - it was clear that what I'd found instead was a cool … [Read more...]
Remembering Bruce Lee
On this day back in 1973 Bruce Lee, the greatest martial arts icon of them all, died at the shockingly young age of 32. Tragically, after a string of Hong Kong movies - Lo Wei's The Big Boss in 1971, my personal favourite, Fist of Fury the following year, and his self-written and directed Way of the Dragon (also 1972) - at the time of his death he was on the edge of finally enjoying global super-stardom with the Warner Brothers' produced Enter the Dragon, the last movie he would complete in his … [Read more...]
The Palace Guard formally known as Klaatu!
I seem to have added quite a few aliens from the original Star Wars trilogy to my vintage action figure collection this year, particularly henchmen of Jabba the Hutt seen fleetingly in the palace scene and the various guards riding the desert skiffs in the Sarlacc Pit Battle scene in Return of the Jedi. Whilst these figures may have enjoyed only split seconds of screen time, they were still important players in the imaginary Star Wars universe created by kids back in the day. Bewilderingly, … [Read more...]
Action Jackson is my name, bold adventure is my game!
Whilst it was Hasbro who first coined the phrase “action figures” for military dolls aimed at the boys' market in the late 1960s with their G.I. Joe line, and in particular Palitoy's UK version known as “Action Man”, the legendary Mego company also earned a place in action figure history in the early 1970s with their own short-lived adventure hero line - Action Jackson. Selling well only briefly, and ultimately a commercial failure, these 8 inch figures with a wonderful range of costumes, were … [Read more...]