#920 LARGO TOYS - THE LEGEND BRUCE LEE vs BATTLING MARTIAL WARRIORS (Around 1987)

Yet another company that has disappeared leaving no trace at all on the internet. Probably because it disappeared long before the common use of Internet was established and nobody has written anything yet.

What seems clear to me is that LarGo is probably a Hong-Kongese company with its headquarters in New York, so, officially, it is an American company, but the production was made in Hong Kong and the kind of toys they produced were very typical of those years, could be classified as novelty toys. Remember that Bruce Lee was American and Hong-Kongese. Also note that he died in 1973 and this toy was made later.

Apart from this series, about which we will talk next, they also made play-role weapons set for Rambo or Silverhawks, the kind of blisterpack with a gun, a knife, a compass and a couple of bits more that can be found not in toystores but in fairs and popular events. Both series mentioned seem to be built with an official license, they are not bootlegs or knock-offs, they look 100% legal.

This Bruce Lee series is the only series with action figures I have found on the Internet. They also had one line with plastic figures, some kind of beast-warriors that ride giant insects called Stingers and Wings, and a subline of The Legend of Bruce Lee, also with PVC plastic, static figures.

Finally, I have seen pictures of a Robotech robot character, but I am unsure if it hat some action feature, or if it was articulated.

Back to the figures, the blister pack is very nice. It shows a very well designed logo and a picture of Bruce Lee. It is also kind of original because it includes two figures placed left and right, leaving some space in between.

The first figure is Bruce Lee, with black trousers (real cloth) and naked torso. It comes with one accessory or weapon. The face is well casted, this figure really looks like the martial artist.

The second figure is an unknown character with moustache. This figure comes with black trousers and black and red kimono shirt. It also comes with a bo. I assume this character is a bad guy, maybe THE bad guy, since is the only figure I have seen in this collection other than Mr. Lee, although it sometimes comes in an all-black outfit. The moustache and his angry gesture also goes in this direction.

The figures come with articulations on waist, neck and arms, but the legs are fixed.

The weapons are not very realistic. Unfortunately, the nunchuck from Bruce Lee is made of yellow plastic, but well, it is a toy from the 80s and for kids, not for adult collectors. And despite this, I love these figures.



The importer of these figures for Spain was again Hisinsa, that during the late 80s brought us lots of bootleg figures in this style.

FACTS and FIGURES:

• Name: BRUCE LEE and UNKNOWN CHARACTER
• Toy Line: THE LEGEND BRUCE LEE vs BATTLING MARTIAL WARRIORS
• Year: Around 1987
• Company: Largo Toys (U.S.A. / Hong-Kong)
• Size of the figures: 14 cm (5,5'')

#919 SCALE MODEL SPORT MOTORCYCLE - KAWASAKI Z-SERIES? (1983)

This is a plastic motorbike made in Hong-Kong by an unknown manufacturer, but imported to Italy by a company called R.M.G.

With that name, it is kind of difficult to trace back which company is that. It is copyrighted in 1983 and labelled as "Scale Model Sport Motorcycle". At first sight I thought it may be a Mercury knock-off (same scale and detail level, much worse quality), but now I think it is just a motorbike made in the same scale.

Regarding the quality, note the orange part on one side should be over the exhaust pipe, and not below it.

The motorbike seems to be a Kawasaki (that´s what the sticker says) and it definitely looks like some early 80s models from the Z-series, like Z750, Z500, and so on, but the exhaust pipes are kind of strange. I haven´t found any Kawasaki with this kind of seemingly inverted pipes, they all have rather low ones.

Maybe during the production, they run of the proper exhaust pipes and mounted those from another model, or maybe there were only just one model for all motorbikes? I am not sure if many of these motorbikes have survived to this day. I would say any motorbike removed from its package has certainly been damaged or destroyed by play. The plastic parts, like the brake levers, race number holder, mudguards and so on look so fragile, that I cannot imagine that a played motorbike is still 100% complete.

Anyone has one of these new and in a box? How many models were made?
Which is this R.M.G. misterious company? Too many questions. In any case, the motorbike is a curious toy, looks nice in it box and deserves being in this blog.

FACTS and FIGURES:

• Name: SCALE MODEL SPORT MOTORCYCLE (KAWASAKI Z-SERIES)
• Scale: Around 1:32
• Year: 1983
• Company: R.M.G. (Italy) / Unknown Manufacturer (Hong-Kong)
• Size: approx. 7 cm