Hasbro | Vintage Action Figures

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 figure from the legendary Hasbro G. I. Joe: A Real American Hero line. But who was he? The hooded face and details on his torso made the Cobra Commander a likely candidate, but which version?

Storm Shadow…Train hard, fight easy!

Hands down one of the best things about the immensely popular 3 ¾ inch G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero line has to be that Hasbro invented a satisfying back …

He IS the Law! G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero

After unleashing Dreadnok uber-villain Zanzibar from Hasbro’s G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero line a couple of weeks ago, let’s redress the balance by taking a look at one of the G.I. Joe Team good guys – the Military Policeman known as “Law”.

First released as part of the sixth series in 1987 Law was one half of the team “Law & Order”, with his sidekick being a mean-looking Alsatian K-9 police dog – code name “Order”. As his original G.I. Joe filecard warns: You don’t want to mess with him and that dog of his! I picked this Law up loose recently and Order was nowhere to be seen, but am still delighted with my find – he’s a classic and certainly my favourite of the 3 ¾ inch versions of Law.

Zanzibar the Pirate… so nasty the other Dreadnoks hate his guts!

Every toyline of action figure heroes needs bad guys to fight against and the G.I. Joe Team had the Cobra Command. A dastardly bunch, they hired the even meaner Dreadnoks as mercenaries to do their dirty work, and as action figure villains go, they just don’t get nastier than Dreadnok member Zanzibar. First released as part of the sixth series of Hasbro‘s hugely popular G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero toyline in 1987, he was packaged exclusively as the pilot of the Dreadnok Air Skiff toy and was issued with three useful accessories – a handgun, hammer and spear. According to his G.I.Joe file card this guy was “so nasty that the other Dreadnoks hate his guts!”

You better watch out…Darth Vader is coming to town!

‘Tis the season to be jolly, so here’s a look back at Hasbro’s Holiday Edition Darth Vader action figure that was a StarWarsShop.com exclusive back in 2005. Essentially the same figure with eight points of articulation which had been issued as part of the Original Trilogy Collection in 2004 and earlier still as part of the Toys ‘R’ Us Star Wars Saga multipacks in 2003, this Darth Vader had one major difference which you may just have spotted – a head-to-toe Santa-style coat of red paint!

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,

Give me the truth before I take it from you! Barricade from Transformers

The countdown to the release of the third Transformers live action movie – Transformers: Dark of the Moon, or more simply Transformers 3 as it’s being trailed here in Italy – is well underway! Megan Fox may have jumped the franchise (or, if you believe the gossip columns, been pushed out by director Michael Bay), but Shia LaBeouf is still hanging on in there, looking all grown up in this movie and ready to be dragged back into the Transformers’ war…again! These CGI epics may have their detractors, but I’ve always enjoyed them so couldn’t ignore this 3 ¾ inch Barricade action figure from the first 2007 Transformers movie when I found him on a thrift stall recently.

Crazylegs from the G.I. Joe - A Real American Hero line

Crazylegs – G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero

Whilst many vintage G.I. Joe action figure collectors concentrate on the original 12 inch figures, there are also armies of equally passionate fans of the 3 ¾ inch G.I.Joe figures which first hit the toy market in 1982. The smaller, relaunched figures were issued with all sorts of gadgets and even a back-story involving the never-ending fight between the G.I. Joe Team (the good guys, obviously) and the Cobra Command (the bad guys). Hasbro eventually developed these figures into the G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero line.