LJN | Vintage Action Figures

Don’t get this action figure wet! It’s Gizmo from Gremlins by LJN!

The 1980s were a wonderful time for the comedy horror movie, and two of my absolute favourites from that decade were released on the very same day on June 8, 1984 – Ivan Reitman’s Ghostbusters and Joe Dante’s Gremlins. Those pre-CGI times were something of a heyday for animatronics and puppetry workshops, and the marionettes created for Gremlins still look impressive to this day.

Gizmo the Mogwai here, may have looked cute and cuddly, but if three golden rules – never expose it to bright light; never get it wet; and never, ever feed it after midnight – were broken, it would spawn a brood of downright evil offspring capable of wreaking havoc!

Remembering MJ…Michael Jackson – Superstar of the 80s – by LJN Toys

Sooner or later every toy blogger must face the million dollar question when it rears its ugly head – is that an action figure…or is it a DOLL?! Reis O’Brien provides what is possibly the last word in the action figures versus dolls debate over at About Action Figures, and by his standards, our Michael Jackson here teeters dangerously on the edge of doll-dom – to make things worse, LJN Toys, whose wresting figures and Thundercats lines are 100% in the action figure camp, even used the D-word in their television commercials for this Michael Jackson figure! With the second anniversary of MJ’s untimely passing coming up this Saturday 25 June, however, I thought this would be a great occasion to look back at this wonderful piece of Michael Jackson memorabilia, issued at the very peak of his career in 1984.

Lion-O from ThunderCats

There’s been some very excited blogging throughout the Internet over the last few days ever since the Cartoon Network screened a preview of the all new ThunderCats at WonderCon. Produced by Warner Bros. Animation, the new series is due to hit small screens this summer and will see the old heroes Lion-O, Cheetara, Panthro and Tygra back in re-imagined versions and darker story-lines. What better time, then, to dig out a vintage ThunderCats action figure of Lion-O from the original 1985 TV series that followed the adventures of everyone’s favourite humanoid cats from another planet!