Action Figure Overview: Golden Girl and the Guardians of the Gemstones - Vultura (Galoob, 1984)


Vultura from the "Golden Girl and the Guardians of the Gemstones" line (Galoob, 1984)

Mattel had phenomenal success with their Masters of the Universe line starting in 1982.  In 1984,  Galoob's sword and sorcery line 'Golden Girl and the Guardians of the Gemstones' was released to serve as a companion series to The Masters of the Universe, but targeted towards girls.  Mattel's own "She-Ra" line would serve essentially the same purpose shortly after and, in the long run, achieve much more success.  However, despite Mattel's application for the She-Ra trademark being filed about a week before Galoob's application for the Golden Girl trademark (She-Ra trademark filed on Oct. 23, 1984 vs. Golden Girl trademark filed on Nov. 2, 1984), Golden Girl was able to beat She-Ra to the stores.

Teela (Mattel, 1982) - Vultura (Galoob, 1984) - She-Ra (Mattel, 1985)

At about 6" tall, the Golden Girl figures were slightly taller than the female Masters of the Universe characters Teela and Evil-Lyn, but they were clearly designed to go along with the Masters of the Universe figures.  There is a very common and understandable misconception that Golden Girl was a knock-off of Mattel's Princess of Power (She-Ra) line of action figures.  However, as I mentioned above, the Princess of Power toy line and cartoon didn't arrive in stores until after Golden Girl's debut.  Princess of Power was unique at the time because it was not at all common for the manufacturer of a boy's toy line to create a parallel line for girl's, but Golden Girl was even more unusual because it was practically a girl's line parallel to another company's franchise!

Vultura without her cape and accessories (Galoob, 1984)

The basic premise of the Golden Girl and the Guardians of the Gemstone line was this: Golden Girl and her fellow Guardians of the Gemstones had great strength and were skilled warriors due to the power of the precious gemstones they guarded.  Their goal was to protect the kingdom of Argonia and keep the gemstones safe from the forces of evil.  Her allies in this task were Prince Kroma, Saphire, Rubee, Jade, & Onyx.  Although Golden Girl presumably faces other enemies, the toy line and books dealt only with  the evil Dragon Queen and her minions Vultura, Moth Lady, Wild One, and Ogra.

Vultura: Sorceress of the Evil Claw!

Vultura was an evil sorceress in league with the Dragon Queen.  According to the information on her package, Vultura (sorceress of the Evil Claw) is wicked and mean.  She is a strong member of the Dragon Queen followers.  The "clutch" of her evil claw and her mastery of the strike are to be greatly feared.  She spends long hours sharpening the claw with her tools of witchcraft.  But will she be able to clutch the precious Gemstone away from Golden Girl and the Guardians of the Jemstone during the Evil Forces invasion of Argonia?

Vultura with her accessories: spear, crown, shield, belt, glove, comb, & cape (Galoob, 1984)

The Golden Girl figures had articulation at the shoulders, neck, and hips like Teela and Evil-Lyn from the Masters of the Universe line, but they had brushable hair like She-Ra and her crew.  Additionally, the Golden Girl figures could also bend at the knee.  Each figure came with a comb, a fabric cape, a shield made of metal, a crown or helmet of some kind, and a weapon.  All of the figures except for the two male characters also came with a belt.  Vultura's accessories included the gold comb that came with every figure, a silver spear, a black & silver, metal shield with a red gem in the center, and a dark blue & orange "Claw" glove. Her belt was a dark blue that's so dark it's almost black.  Her crown was silver.  Her reversible cape was red on one side and black on the other.

The original package for Vultura (Galoob, 1984)

Although Galoob tried to go all out with the Golden Girl line by creating a multitude of products (11 figures, 27 outfit sets, 4 tents, 2 horses and chariots, 1 palace playset, numerous books, a board game, a calendar, child size Halloween costume, pretend play weapons, a coloring book, and a Colorforms set), it was no match for the Princess of Power cartoon.  Action figures in the 1980s seemed to need a cartoon or movie to build enough momentum to sell in the kind of quantities that would allow for multiple waves of figures.  From what I understand, there may have been a Golden Girl cartoon in the planning stages, but if that's true, it never materialized.  There was also a second Golden Girl wave planned and one of the figures reportedly even made it to retail in Europe complete with a wave two box, but sales of wave one simply weren't good enough to keep the line afloat.

Vultura with her cape reversed

Did you know about Golden Girl and the Guardians of the Gemstones as a kid?  Did you collect them in the 1980s?  Do you collect them now?  Tell me below in the comments!

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Comments

  1. Weird Fantastic Toy AdventuresJuly 17, 2020 at 10:00 PM

    Cool! I never knew about this line of toys! She looks like she could be a wrestler!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. We Had ThatJuly 18, 2020 at 1:01 AM

      Wow, I'd never thought of that, but you are totally right!

      Delete
  2. Kevinjames58102November 14, 2020 at 12:34 AM

    Hello.. i dont know how to get a hold of you but awesome blog.... and was just letting you know i put up all my golden girl collection of figures on ebay minus prince kroma.

    ReplyDelete

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