We Had That

  Star Wars Nikto action figure (Kenner, 1984) Just like most of the boys I knew in the early 80s, I was a huge Star Wars fan!  Kenner's action figures from Star Wars and The Empire Strikes Back were easily my favorite toys during the late 70s and early 80s.  There for a while, I'm pretty sure I had every Star Wars figure that Kenner released!  I spent hours creating adventures for these amazing action figures!  In 1982, the GI Joe "Real American Hero" line started showing up in toy stores and my interest became divided between GI Joe and Star Wars with GI Joe probably getting more of my attention because they were new and therefore more exciting at the time. My childhood Nikto action figure Still, when the first figures for Return of the Jedi started showing up in 1983, before I had even seen the movie, that got my attention and Star Wars was on my mind again.  Seeing the new figures and the photographs on the packages made me speculate about the upcoming ...

  Sectaurs: Zak and Bitaur (Coleco, 1985) The seed for the idea of Sectaurs started way back in 1978 when Tim Clarke made a hand puppet Fly for a Halloween party.  People at the party loved it.  A few years later, when coming up with ideas for toys, Tim brought out the puppet again.  It was suggested that action figures could ride on the puppets and sketches were made for some characters which would eventually be developed into the 7" Sectaurs figures and their flying companions that came out in 1985. Four Sectaurs: Night Fighting Dargon, Zak, Mantor, & Skito I don't remember much about Sectaurs from my childhood.  I probably saw a TV commercial for them, but I don't even remember that.  I only know for certain that I had two Sectaurs.  I'm positive that one of them was Mantor and I'm 95% sure that the other one was Waspax...mainly because it really seems like I had his flying companion, Wingid.  I also distinctly remember selling both figures...

Cobra C.L.A.W. (Hasbro, 1984) When G.I. Joe re-launched in the 3 3/4" scale in 1982, I thought they were the most amazing toys that I had ever seen!  When I saw the first wave figures and toys on the shelves, I wanted every G.I. Joe piece that Hasbro made.  Waves two and three seemed just as appealing; although I have to admit that I didn't play much with the S.H.A.R.K. and the Deep Six figure sucked.  The G.I. Joe Slugger and Cobra A.S.P. didn't see much action at my house either.  But in 1984 the Cobra C.L.A.W. was a definitely "Must Have" vehicle for me!  It was one of the vehicles from wave 3 that I played with a good bit!   How many Cobra Troopers does it take to launch one of these things? The C.L.A.W. (or Covert Light Aerial Weapon) was a Cobra air vehicle that could either be piloted by a person or controlled remotely like a drone.  When piloted by a person, there wasn't much protection for the pilot...not that Cobra really cared much abou...

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 ...

Golden Girl and the Guardians of the Gemstones (Galoob, 1984) Mattel released the original Masters of the Universe toys in 1982.  Although they were popular upon their release, the final push that turned the franchise into one of the biggest in history was the Filmation cartoon "He-Man and the Masters of the Universe" which debuted in September of 1983.  For the next few years, He-Man was absolutely unstoppable!  His popularity led to many imitators.  Other toy companies were manufacturing buff, squatting, almost nude 5.5" action figures in the sword & sorcery style that walked very close to the line of trademark infringement.  Because professional wrestling was also popular at the time and many of the wrestlers were running around in nothing but shorts and boots just like He-Man, there were also many different lines of wrestling action figures produced in a similar style as well.  It was really no surprise.  When 12" G.I. Joe was the top sell...

G.I. Joe!  Cobra Saboteur, Code Name: Firefly (Hasbro, 1984) G.I. Joe was a groundbreaking 12" tall military action figure created in the 1960s.  Although the construction and size of the figure remained primarily the same in the 1970s, he grew out his hair and beard and shifted his focus from military to adventure for the first half of the decade.  In 1976 & 1977 he shrunk down to become a not-so-popular 9" action figure called "Super Joe."  After a few silent years, G.I. Joe returned in 1982 as a 3 3/4" action figure; the new standard size thanks to the popularity of Star Wars figures! G.I. Joe Wave 3: Firefly, Cobra Saboteur (Hasbro, 1984) The 1982 "Real American Hero" re-launch was a huge hit and that's when I showed up for the party!  I was instantly sold on these new 3 3/4" action figures right from the beginning and picked up everything I could from Wave 1 & 2.  By the time Wave 3 came out in 1984, I was 100% into G...

Super Powers Collection - Green Lantern (Kenner, 1984) Although Green Lantern first appeared in All-American Comics in 1940, it wasn't until he was re-designed as the costumed identity of test pilot Hal Jordan in 1959 that he began wearing the costume we usually saw in the 1980s.  This second version of Green Lantern didn't just fight criminals on earth, he also became involved with the Green Lantern Corps to protect the galaxy from evil.  Green Lantern's power comes from his ring, which can temporarily create anything that the wearer can imagine.  Only those with the strongest will are chosen to be members of the Green Lantern Corps.  The rings are re-charged by lanterns which are given to the bearer along with the ring.  In March of 1960, the first appearance of the Justice League of America included Green Lantern as one of the seven original members (along with Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Martian Manhunter, Aquaman, and The Flash) in issue #28 of The...