#440 HOOK – PETER PAN (AIR ATTACK) and CAPT. HOOK (MULTI BLADE) (1991)

These are my only two Hook figures. They were made by Mattel in 1991, and I saw them around 1993 or 1994 in toy stores in Spain. I never had any, but I recently spotted two cheap figures and bought them. I enjoy discovering a new line, even when I know I won’t buy any other figures, just to get a feel of how good the toyline was, the quality of the figures, their paintwork, the accessories, the action features and so on.

I of course remember the film Hook by Steven Spielberg, which at the time was a great success. I saw it once or twice, didn’t like movies very much those days… but many other people I know were very keen on it. The figures seem to have arrived a bit late to Spain, since in the 1993 Christmas catalogue from Toys ’r Us the figures are displayed for the first time. They seem to be more expensive than other action figures at that time, since they costed 995 pesetas (6 Euro). A Hasbro WWF figure costed exactly the half of it.

Ok, now to the figures: they’re made in good quality plastic, but have poor articulations (5 points of articulation). Compared to the G.I.Joes from Hasbro they might seem rather poor, although Peter Pan also has joint articulations on his shoulders. Accessories are ok, action features are also ok, general appearence is very good, but it is not an excellent toy.

The figure of Captain Hook has a sword hidden under his arm. The sword can be pulled out very easily. If hidden, you can make him fight with his hook, or attach one of the two accesories to it. The other hand can take a small pistol.

The toy line had several waves of figures although all of them seem to have been released in 1991… some figures are really expensive and hard to find, while others (these two for example) cost almost nothing. The figures seem to have been especially popular in Germany and center Europe.

Durability is also a nice to have factor in toys. Figures are quite sturdy, robust, but the trick-backpack from Peter Pan is not working very well anymore. The backpack is really a zip line. Attach the hook somewhere, and let the figure slip down.

 

Last (and least) the guy who sold me the figures put the accessories inside of this nice tin box with Tom and Jerry. It is a Spanish box which originally had candies inside. The brand of this candies was “hit”, and I haven’t seen them since many years, I am not sure if they still sell them. The tin seems to be from 1989.

Caramelos Hit (Pamplona, España)

FACTS and FIGURES:

• Name: PETER PAN AIR ATTACK and CAPT. HOOK MULTI-BLADE
• Toy Line: Hook (Wave 1)
• Year: 1991
• Company: Mattel (U.S.A.)
• Size of the figures: Around 12 cm