We Had That

Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves "Sheriff of Nottingham" (Kenner, 1991) 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. "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 G...

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Street Showdown #DPD79 (Mega Bloks, 2015) I started picking up the Mega Construx figures because of the Masters of the Universe releases, which I think are great!  Since then, I've been more aware of the Mega Construx and Mega Bloks sets, so when I saw this Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles set (still sealed in the original box) for $5, I picked it up without hesitation!   TMNT Street Showdown Box DPD79 This set is the Mega Bloks "Street Showdown" set # DPD79.  It's one of a series of sets that goes back to the original black & white Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles comic books prior to the cartoon and original action figures and it's full of nods to TMNT history.  The set contains two figures, Raphael and Casey Jones, and the "Second Time Around" second-hand store.  The Raphael figure has a metal shell, which is kind of cool.  He comes with his typical pair of Sai as well as one throwing star.  Casey Jones comes with a go...

Comic Action Heroes presents The Joker! (Mego, 1976) In the 1970s, Mego brought many of our favorite comic book characters to life with their 8" World's Greatest Super Heroes line.  Since they were having so much success, they decided to branch out into other scales as well.  One of their lines of Super Heroes was the smaller scale Comic Action Heroes line which gave Mego the ability to offer a variety of vehicles and playsets that would have been too large for the 8" scale.  I've seen copyright dates for both 1975 and 1976 for these figures, but from what I understand, their actual first release was in 1976.  The figures continued through 1977 and were given new, straight legs in 1978 and re-branded as "Pocket Superheroes." Two pages from the Mego 1976 mini catalog packaged with the toys I thought these guys were great!  I know as a kid I had Batman, Robin, 2 slightly different Superman figures, Shazam, and Aquaman (the only one of my originals that I still...

Vintage G.I. Joe "Swivel-Arm" Scarlett (Hasbro, 1983) In 1964, GI Joe became the first doll for boys...I mean "Action Figure."  Hasbro was extremely careful to make sure that GI Joe was never called a "doll" because in the 1960s, the idea of boys playing with dolls was 100% not ok.  The plan worked and throughout the 60s and 70s, GI Joe was a huge seller.  However, Hasbro did make a few missteps along the way.  One of the biggest was the Action Nurse released in 1967.  Apparently, it was ok for boys to play with male dolls if they were called "Action Figures," but no matter what you call it, a female "Action Figure" was still a doll in 1967.  Hasbro learned from their mistake and never released another female character for the GI Joe line for the rest of the 60s and 70s. "Swivel-Arm" Scarlett with her Crossbow With the relaunch of GI Joe in the 80s, Hasbro reluctantly included a female figure in the line and the character of S...

The goblin Red Cap from The Spiderwick Chronicles (Irwin, 2007) In 2003, "The Field Guide," the first book of The Spiderwick Chronicles,  was released.  The basic premise of the series is that a young boy moves with his family into a creepy old house and discovers a book chronicling the world of fairies, goblins, and other mythical creatures which leads him to discovering the creatures first hand.  Numerous books were released in the successful series and in 2008, Nickelodeon Movies produced a film based on the books.  All four figures from The Spiderwick Chronicles movie toy line: Jared Grace, Hogsqueal, Red Cap, and Mulgarath Due to the success of the books and the expected success of the movie, Irwin acquired the license to manufacture a series of action figures that would be based on characters from The Spiderwick Chronicles Movie.  The series included four figures: Jared Grace, Hogsqueal, Red Cap, and Mulgarath.  Although the movie did very well, ...

Phantom Starkiller: The Cosmic Ghoul Warrior! Near the end of 2019, I picked up a few random Super7 ReAction figures which included an awesome yet mysterious green, skeletal creature.  After some quick research, I learned that he was called Phantom Starkiller!  At the time, I didn't look up much more than the name, but I did notice that there were several color variations of the figure.  Over the last few months, I had become more curious about this random mystery guy, so last week, I really started digging in and researching the history of this dude.  It turns out that the character first came into existence back in 2013 as a very limited run (25 pieces) custom figure created by Peter Goral under his "Killer Bootlegs" company. Phantom Starkiller (Super7 - 3rd Edition "Lich Green" 2019) In July of 2013, Killer Bootlegs released a San Diego Comic Con (SDCC) limited edition run of 25 "Phantom Starkiller: The Cosmic Space Ghoul Warrior" 3.75" action ...

Fisher-Price Adventure People "Safari" set #304 The Fisher-Price Adventure People were first available in 1975.  For the next 10 years, this line of well-made 3 3/4" action figures and toys prospered in toy stores.  The Adventure People also paved the way for dozens of other 3.75" action figure lines.  Not only did they heavily influence the design of Kenner's Star Wars figures, but the original prototypes for the original 12 Star Wars figures were constructed from Adventure People figures.  Because they were much more durable than many of the 3.75" action figures that followed, many Adventure People figures can still be found in good condition making most figures and sets very affordable! Adventure People Safari Mom Pets a Zebra! One of the first sets released in 1975 was the Safari set #304.  With a total of 19 pieces, it was the largest of the initial releases and one of the largest sets in the entire decade-long run of the Adventure People ...

GI Joe RAH: Cobra Rifle Range Unit (Hasbro, 1985) From 1982 through 1984, I loved GI Joe toys!  I think I had every figure and vehicle for the first three waves.  I picked up every issue of the comic book and I sometimes watched the cartoon.  By the time the fourth wave hit the shelves in 1995, I was still a big fan, but no longer a completist when it came to these real American heroes.  Don't misunderstand, I was as at maximum excitement to finally have action figures of the Dreadnoks!  I had been reading about them in the comics and just thought they were the greatest.  Even with the fourth wave, I picked up almost all of the figures, but the vehicles and such just didn't grab me as they had before.  I did have the Bridge Layer (although I honestly don't know why) and the awesome Snow Cat!  I must have never seen the Cobra Night Landing raft in stores because that's definitely a piece that I would have liked.  However, for some reason,...