We Had That

1975 MEGO Star Trek "The Keeper" action figure! The Mego toy company had great success with their 8" Star Trek line upon its release in 1974.  The original 1974 release included four crew members: Captain James T. Kirk, First Officer Spock, Dr. Leonard "Bones" McCoy, and Chief Engineer Montgomery "Scotty" Scott, plus one bad guy; a Klingon.  Shortly after the first five figures were released, Mego added Lieutenant Nyota Uhura to the mix.  They even created a new backing card to include Uhura upon her release. Captain Kirk and The Keeper by MEGO Because the Star Trek figures sold so well, Mego expanded the line to include four new, alien figures in 1975: The Gorn, Neptunian, Cheron, and The Keeper.  The new aliens were inspired by a mix of characters from the TV show and characters from the cartoon, but their design was also influenced by Mego's desire to keep things cheap.  As a result, Mego decided to re-use as many parts as possi...

"Red" looks out over the marsh. Adventure People Set #307 Wilderness Patrol The Fisher-Price Adventure People were first available in 1975.  These extremely durable 3 3/4" action figures and toys were very popular throughout their run from 1975 to 1985.  Even through the rigors of play, Adventure People and their vehicles were so well made that a large number of them are still around today in good condition.  They are also some of the earliest 3.75" action figures on the market and were even used as the base figure for many of the Kenner Star Wars prototypes. My childhood Adventure People Set #307 "Wilderness Patrol" Fisher-Price created many popular sets for the Adventure People line ( see my post on the Cycle Racing Team set #356 here! )  Even though I only had a few sets as a kid, I was familiar with many of the other sets because most of the kids I knew had at least one or two of them that were different from the ones that I had.  One po...

1985 Wave 2 Kenner Super Powers Martian Manhunter Martian Manhunter's first appearance was in Detective Comics in November of 1955.  This is considered by some to be the beginning of the Silver Age of comics (although the redesign of The Flash from Showcase #4 in October of 1956 is the more common starting point for the Silver Age).  In March of 1960, the first appearance of the Justice League of America included Martian Manhunter as one of the seven original members (along with Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, Aquaman, and The Flash) in issue #28 of The Brave and the Bold.  Throughout the Silver Age, Martian Manhunter and his alter ego, Detective John Jones, appeared regularly as the backup story in Detective Comics.  Martian Manhunter was also often a featured character in the Justice League of America comic book.  He appeared in several other DC comic books throughout the years as well.  However, when Kenner released this figure in 198...

Two of my childhood toys: My old Rock & Roll action figure riding the RAM! In 1982, I loved GI Joe toys!  Getting my first two GI Joe figures (Short Fuse and Grunt) was a major event in my childhood.  At the time, I couldn't imagine cooler figures that the first wave of GI Joe: A Real American Hero.  I also loved the file cards and the comic books.  For the most part, I was much more interested in the action figures than the vehicles, but several exceptions to that rule were vehicles found in the first wave of GI Joe. The box for my 2nd childhood RAM My first GI Joe vehicle was the Rapid Fire Motorcycle (or "RAM" for short).  It was (and still is) easily one of my favorite toy vehicles ever.  Some elements of the design and the removable 20mm Gatling Cannon on the side may have been a little bit silly for an otherwise fairly realistic military toy line, but by wave 2, reality had been thrown out the window.  In comparison to the later w...