Action Figures From the 70s Through the 90s
The Earthworm Jim franchise started as a video game on the Sega Genesis and Nintendo SNES platforms in 1994. A television cartoon followed shortly thereafter. The following year, Playmates Toys, along with Shiny Entertainment, released an action figure line based on the game and cartoon. The action figures were more closely related to the cartoon characters than the video game characters. The cartoon itself ran for two seasons. The game …
“Come to Middle-earth, A world beyond the furthest reaches of your imagination” In 1978, Ralph Bakshi released The Lord of the Rings, an animated film that covered books one and two of the legendary J.R.R. Tolkein trilogy. While the story and characters were well developed the quality of the animation was poor. Toy maker Knickerbocker purchased the rights to develop an action figure line to try and ride the coattails …
With the success of He-Man, and the associated cartoon and action figures, Mattel decided in 1985 to introduce a new line of action figures based on Filmation’s animated series Princess of Power. It was a strategic decision to try and lure more young females into the action figure market and thereby increase Mattel’s action figure customer base. It was a good idea and was, for the most part, successful. The …
A Journey That Begins Where Everything Ends. That was the tag line for Disney’s 1979 production of The Black Hole. The movie itself wasn’t bad but it was nowhere near the success that Star Wars was. That didn’t stop Mego from jumping at the chance to license the action figures for the movie though. They’d been beaten by Kenner for the Star Wars figures and they weren’t going to let …
The Clash of the Titans was a pretty good commercial success when it was released in 1981. It was Ray Harryhausen’s, the master of stop motion effects, last special effects gig and he didn’t let his audience down. While the character development and storyline perhaps left a little to be desired the creature special effects were awesome for their time. The Kraken, Medusa, Charon and Calibos were all very creepy. …
Kenner released three Star Wars “Three Pack” sets in 1978. This is the Villain set which includes a Stormtrooper, Darth Vader and a Death Squad Commander. It has the long play logo and white price sticker area at the top right corner that the original 12-back cards also have. The card back shows all three trio sets from Kenner. They include the Villain set, Hero set, and Android set. These …
After the success of Star Wars in 1977 came a movie two years later that would scare movie goers to no end. It was the 1979 release of Alien starring Sigourney Weaver and directed by Ridley Scott. Alien was a blend of horror and sci-fi and with a R rating was a step up from the PG rated Star Wars. Leveraging the success of the movie Kenner came out with …
Birds are an important part of the Masters Of The Universe character set and Zoar was the falcon for the Grayskull team. The bird began as a pet for He Man, but eventually came to represent the essence of the Sorceress. Depending on if DC Comics, Filmation or the minicomics were involved, the falcon Zoar is different in each case. Mattel made an incarnation of the falcon in the early …
