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Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves
"Sheriff of Nottingham" (Kenner, 1991)
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Starting with their Star Wars figures in the late 1970s, Kenner was a key player in the action figure arena for more than a decade. In addition to the classic space toys, they also created toys for The Six Million Dollar Man, Super Powers, M.A.S.K, & Ghostbusters as well as the less popular, but still very cool toy lines for Silver Hawks, Centurions, Gargoyles, & Raiders of the Lost Ark! That's a great record of releases, but not everything Kenner released was equally cool.
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| "I'll get that Robin Hood!" |
In 1991, Kenner got the license for the Kevin Costner film, Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves. If you were alive in 1991, you absolutely could not avoid the film's theme song by Bryan Adams: Everything I Do, I Do It for You. The movie was a box office smash, but Kevin Costner's acting was was not his best. In fact, he beat out both Andrew Dice Clay and Vanilla Ice to win the Golden Raspberry for Worst Actor of 1991. However, Alan Rickman, who played the Sheriff of Nottingham, was praised for his performance in the movie. Rumor has it that director Kevin Reynolds walked off the project because the studio kept wanting to cut Rickman's scenes down to avoid his stealing the show from Costner.
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The Sheriff with his cape, necklace, and sword!
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Regardless of the movie itself, Kenner's line of action figures is a famous example of putting almost no effort into a project. Almost every part in the line came directly from a previous toy line. Many of the figures various parts were pieced together from Super Powers pieces and the majority of the vehicles and the Sherwood Forest playset were barely changed from Kenner's Return of the Jedi Ewok accessories.
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“You are just like your father, lazy & arrogant.”
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There were a total of 8 figures in the line (10 if you count the two different versions of Robin Hood's head). Today, I'm going to take a look at The Sheriff of Nottingham figure. It has been pointed out that the figure doesn't look much like Alan Rickman, but that's no surprise when you consider that he was made entirely of parts from other figures. His arms were modified Super Powers Green Arrow arms, his legs and torso are modified versions of the Super Powers Lex Luthor, and finally, his head is a repaint of the RoboCop figure "Chainsaw."
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Lex Luthor, Sheriff of Nottingham, Chainsaw, & Green Arrow
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Unlike the Super Powers figures, the Robin Hood figures didn't have an action feature or joints at the knees. Kenner seemed to cut costs in just about every way possible on these figures. The Sheriff of Nottingham did come with a cape, a necklace, and a sword. Although the accessories made him feel a little bit more worth the price, they didn't do much to make him look like the character from the movie and all of the capes, cloaks, and shirts in this line were very cheaply made, so most of the figures that saw any play at all are missing the cloth goods. It seems like I vaguely remember seeing these figures at K.B.Toys in the closeout bins in the early 90s, but I'm not positive that memory is correct. I didn't have any interest in the figures at the time and, to be honest, I became interested in the line more for their connections to Super Powers and Star Wars initially, only growing to appreciate them in their own right later on.
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| Carded Sheriff of Nottingham (Kenner, 1991) |
On a positive note, the package art on these figures is actually quite nice! Each card features a photo of the character that the action figure represents and a pretty cool logo from the movie at the top. On the back of each card, we can see the figures offered in the line as well as the vehicles and playsets. Another plus about collecting this line is the prices for the figures are pretty much the same in 2021 as they were in 1991. I picked up the entire line on the card for around $5 each. Loose figures with their accessories are more expensive, so I've been picking them up on damaged and open cards to put together a loose set too. The vehicles and especially the Sherwood Forest playset are more expensive, probably because of the Star Wars connection. For me personally, I just wanted a set of the figures, so the prices of the other pieces didn't really concern me...but that Sherwood Forest playset certainly is nice!
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The Sheriff is on the attack!
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Did you have any of the Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves action figures as a kid? Do you have any of them now? Which character is your favorite? Tell me in the comments!
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Alan Rickman was on some talk show at the time and had the carded figure with him and expressed his disgust with it. I wan to say it was Arsenio Hall's show.
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