TV shows | Vintage Action Figures

Captain Troy Tempest from Stingray by Matchbox

Stand by for action! It’s Captain Troy Tempest from Stingray!

As promised in my last post, here’s another vintage action figure found at a flea market on my recent trip back to the UK, and like the Doctor Who collectible featured last time, this is a piece of UK television memorabilia from another cult show – Captain Troy Tempest, James Garner lookalike and the dashing hero of Gerry and Sylvia Anderson’s marionette masterpiece Stingray. The voice actors may have all been American – a ploy to ease overseas sales of the show – but the rest of the production was entirely British.

Set in the year 2065 at the headquarters of the World Aquanaut Security Patrol (WASP) in Marineville, the ‘Stingray’ of the title was actually a state of the art submarine piloted by none other than our Troy here. First transmitted on ITV way back in 1964 and 1965, it may be hard for the younger generation of kids who have known nothing but CGI, to really appreciate the impact of those shows.

Vintage Matchbox Pee-wee Herman action figure

I know you are, but what am I?!… Pee-wee Herman!

Love him or hate him, if you were alive in the 1980s you can’t have missed American comedian Paul Reubens in the guise of his alter-ego Pee-wee Herman. Star of Pee-wee’s Playhouse, an enormously successful and groundbreaking Saturday morning television show for kids in the US, worldwide audiences were first introduced to him via Tim Burton’s debut film Pee-wee’s Big Adventure, which turned the road movie on its head and Pee-wee Herman into a cult favourite.

The last couple of decades have been a bit of a roller coaster ride for Reubens, both professionally and personally, but finally, Pee-wee Herman is back with a hit show on Broadway starring all the old Playhouse gang, so to celebrate (as I love Pee-wee to bits) I thought it would be fun to look back at this vintage Matchbox Pee-wee Herman action figure that was issued at the height of Pee-wee mania in the late 1980s.

The Real Ghostbusters Super Fright Features: Egon Spengler

It’s been an another exciting week for Ghostbusters action figure collectors, and in particular, fans of the character Egon Spengler, with a new 6 inch Mattel figure closely resembling actor (and co-writer of the original movie) Harold Ramis hitting the company’s online store and selling like the proverbial hot cakes. I thought it might be fun, therefore, to take a look back at a vintage Egon Spengler from Kenner’s phenomenally popular line of spin-off action figures from the cartoon TV series The Real Ghostbusters.

At 5 inches tall and with only 5 points of articulation, The Real Ghostbusters action figures saw Kenner at the top of their game with line after line of clever, interactive toys produced between 1986 to 1991.

Winston Zeddemore – The Real Ghostbusters Super Fright Features

The Real Ghostbusters Super Fright Features: Winston Zeddemore

Of all The Real Ghostbusters action figures in the Super Fright Features toy series, in which the heroes of the long-running TV animated show sport wacky space suits and looks of terror, Winston Zeddemore – played by Ernie Hudson in the movie and voiced by Arsenio Hall in the cartoon – is probably the most imaginative of the lot!

There’s a lever on the action figure’s back which makes his head disappear – only to reappear when a flap then opens in his chest, to reveal a giant screaming Winston head, complete with tongue hanging out! Whilst this 5 inch action figure by Kenner is described as having 5 points of articulation the extra “fright feature” more than makes up for any other limits in movement.

Who you gonna call? Ray Stantz and The Real Ghostbusters!

Until the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles burst upon the action figure scene and won the hearts of flaky kids everywhere who instantly, en masse and seemingly across the entire planet, dropped what they were playing with and started nagging their parents for one of those four adolescent reptiles, Ghostbusters figures ruled the roost.

The Real Ghostbusters action figures were produced by Kenner under license from Columbia Pictures and were based on the animated television series, which was in turn based on the smash hit 1984 film starring Bill Murray and Dan Ackroyd – Ghostbusters.