Action Figure Overview: Buck Rogers - Draconian Guard (Mego, 1979)
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| Buck Rogers in the 25th Century: Draconian Guard action figure (Mego, 1979) |
When Star Wars came out in 1977, it caught the world unprepared. The movie was a hit and, even though Kenner had purchased the license to produce Star Wars toys, they weren't ready in time for the massive demand. For the next few years after Star Wars, all sorts of Science Fiction movies and TV shows were being approved in Hollywood in an attempt to catch lightning in a bottle with another similar franchise. "Buck Rogers In The 25th Century" was one such project. Mego rolled the dice on a 3 3/4" line of figures (as well as a 12" line of figures) in hope of similar success to Star Wars.
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| Draconian Guard: standing around and missing a thumb! |
Unfortunately for Mego, the Buck Rogers line of action figures wasn't the phenomenal hit they had wanted. Still, those of us who thought these figures were cool as kids were lucky that we got them at all. Not only that, but Mego had enough faith in the line that nine figures were released in the first (and only) wave! The figures also had a much wider range of movement than the Star Wars figures of the day. Where Star Wars figures could only move at the neck, shoulders, and hips, Buck Rogers figures had the same movement at the neck, plus a wider range of motion at the shoulders and hips, plus joints at the knees, elbows, and waist!
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| Collect All 9 Buck Rogers action figures! |
The Character "Buck Rogers" had been around since 1928, but Star Wars' success allowed a new generation to meet a very distinctively 70s version of the iconic hero in the form of a TV Move and two seasons of a TV Show. Buck was surrounded by plenty of cool supporting characters as well: human, alien, and robot! One that I liked quite a bit was the Draconian Guard. In terms of character, they were nothing very different from any other army of laser-gun wielding space guys, but their uniforms stood out as being particularly unique...and I mean that in a good way!
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| Draconian Guard (Mego, 1979) |
The Draconian Guard served in a variety of positions for Emperor Draco from guards to space pilots. Their fighters, called Draconian Marauders, were pretty cool. Although they looked a little bit like a brown airplane, they had a taller than typical cockpit which helped to distinguish them from other spaceship at the time. In the TV Movie, you could see these guys in a lot of the shots and I was glad that someone made an action figure for them!
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| Emperor Draco and his Draconian Guard |
The Draconian Guards looked very cool to me. Their uniforms had elements of Japanese design that contributed to their unique look. Even though the Draconian Guards didn't do much on the show besides fly spaceships and get blown up or beat up by Buck Rogers, I still thought they were some very cool figures. I would have liked to have had a few of them so that they would have felt a bit more like an army, but since I never even completed the entire line of Buck Rogers figures, I'm glad that I had the lone Draconian Guard that I did have!
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| Draconian Guards - presumably shooting at Buck Rogers! |
As with many Buck Rogers figures, my Draconian Guard lost a thumb in a childhood battle...which made him pretty evenly matched with several of my other Buck Rogers figures. These characters were never as important to me as Star Wars (and later G.I. Joe), but they made their way into my childhood adventures for years and I was glad to have them!
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| My childhood Buck Rogers figures minus Tiger Man who, sadly, didn't survive |
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