It wasn't really until I had unwrapped this recent on-line purchase from his bubble wrap and held him in my hands that I fully appreciated the sheer scale of Mattel's classic 1976 action figure - Pulsar aka The Ultimate Man of Adventure. Measuring 14 inches tall from the top of his head to his chunky clip-on boots, he positively towers over his contemporaries like Action Man or his most obvious rival on toy store shelves, Kenner's hugely popular Six Million Dollar Man figure of Steve Austin, a … [Read more...]
Secret Wars: Falcon
One of my favourite action figures from the vintage Mattel's Secret Wars 4 ½ inch series featuring superheroes from the Marvel Universe is, without a doubt, the Falcon. He may not have actually featured in Marvel's tie-in Secret Wars limited series of comics, but fans seem more than happy to overlook that detail when faced with an action figure that looks this good!The Falcon had, however, starred in his own 4 issue miniseries from November 1983 to February 1984, so maybe the powers that be … [Read more...]
Secret Wars: Captain America
2011 looks set to be another great year for superhero action movies – Thor, Green Lantern, yet more in the X-Men and Transformers sagas, and the hotly awaited Captain America: The First Avenger, starring Chris Evans (no stranger to Lycra after his turns as Johnny Storm in the Fantastic Four films) will all be hitting the big screen this year. Superhero flicks, of course, bring with them a slew of merchandising and a deafening kerching! as the tie-in products fly off shelves...or gather dust if … [Read more...]
Harry Potter and the Mattel Mini Collection Figures!
The countdown to the release of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows is well under way with Part 1 of the film about to hit cinema screens across the globe in just over a week's time! Harry is all grown up now in this grand finale, so I thought it might be fun to take a look back at an action figure when Harry was younger, and quite literally, in the case of this figure, much smaller! Small, but nevertheless, perfectly formed with an excellent movie-likeness of Daniel Radcliffe and six points of … [Read more...]
What’s that smell? It’s pine scented Moss Man!
The Internet is fairly buzzing this spring with news of the latest Mattel release in the Masters of the Universe Classics toy line - Moss Man. So here's a timely look back at the vintage version of that figure...If there were a prize for the most bizarre action figure attribute then surely whoever thought up Moss Man's gimmick for Mattel with their 1985 Masters of the Universe 5 inch figure would win hands down! As if the the furry coating over what was essentially a green repaint of the … [Read more...]