Life was good at the Ponderosa Ranch in the mid-60’s. Bonanza was the most-watched program in the USA, the Nevada mountains were still pristine and…
Browsing: Action Figures
Few science-fiction concepts were as durable as the one that fueled Planet of the Apes. The success of the first Planet of the Apes film in…
In 1977, Martin Abrams of the Mego toy corporation was in Japan negotiating with a company called Takara for the right to produce a version…
Starting in 1972, the cream of the crop from DC and Marvel comics worlds joined Mego’s 8″ range of poseable, clothed action figures. The original…
“Mattel’s Man in Space!” Space exploration was the dream of many a young mind in the late 1960s, and Major Matt Mason helped bring some…
Gabriel Toys introduced the Lone Ranger toyline in 1973, creating a vast array of action figures, horses, and playsets based on the successful radio, movie…
Ideal Toys, the major manufacturer of Evel Knievel toys, got their start in the Knievel business in 1972 when they released the first Evel Knievel…
The Bionic Woman was a spin-off of another bionic-themed prime time hit, The Six Million Dollar Man. In the dramatic opening credits of the show,…
Director George Lucas passed up an extra $500,000 in director fees when he made Star Wars (1977) in exchange for retaining control of merchandising and licensing…
In 1968, the Colorform company made a bold attempt at cracking the action figure market with a set of seven bendable rubber “Outer Space Men,”…
With a change of clothes and mask, Captain Action could alter his identity into some of the mightiest heroes on the planet. The basic 12″…
The Mego company got its start as an importer of toys and household novelties but in the early 1970s, they began production on an action…
Action figures had many faces in the early 80s – the blonde brawn of He-Man, the buzz-cut ruggedness of G.I. Joe – but few were as…
If there was ever a television series that demanded a toy line for its merchandise, it was The Six Million Dollar Man. This classic series…
Big Jim was a poor cousin of GI Joe, so kids could still afford him on a newspaper delivery boy’s salary. The 9.1/2 inch Jim had a…
The G.I. Joe story began in 1963 when a marketing man approached the Hasbro toy company with the idea of creating a poseable soldier to…
He may not have looked as space-ready as Major Matt Mason, but don’t let Billy Blastoff’s cherubic little face fool you. This kid packed the…
The 1/6th scale Action Man was another product imported to the UK from America, where he was launched under the name GI Joe by Hasbro…
What??? A boy playing with a doll??? Are you insane? These weren’t dolls, they were ‘Action Figures’. There’s a big difference . . . Dolls…