#1062 HOOK - SWASHBUCKLING PAN and LOST BOY RUFIO (1991)

Slowly and with great difficulty, I managed to get and complete further figures of the Hook toyline. It is a minor toyline that includes many accessories and small pieces that are very hard to find. Maybe not very expensive but scarce. And with the current shipping costs it “hurts” to pay to get them. I have to wait for certain opportunities and/or combined shipping which only happen rarely.

I'll start with Rufio. This character is one of the lost boys and also one of the coolest figures on the first wave, because it came with a windsurf-skateboard minivehicle, whose sail part can also be used as a delta-wing or something similar. This accesory looks great and is a lot of fun to play with it.

That sail part has a sticker on it which is sometimes damaged. The figurecan be attached to the board by means of pegs that fit in its feet and stays firmly on it, so you can play jumps and other stunts. The figure itself is mostly black, but has nice paintwork details in red.

 

I bought this figure in its blister, but the packaging was in very bad shape. Later I got another figure, complete, in good shape and with its original cardboard, so I decided to resell the blister and keep only the loose figure. This was the blister.

The second figure today and the second figure of Peter Pan that I show in this blog is also quite cool. It carries a green and black outfit, which is not it´s most iconic one, but still looks nice, and includes a sword that the figure handles and sweeps in the air as you twist the body of the figure. That is its action feature. It also includes a scabbard for it (not practicable, it is just a piece of plastic) and a small knife. The accesories were attached to a plastic frame or sprue, although, this one is nicely done and resembles wood. I guess some imaginative children found an use for it after removing the accesories.

  

Both figures belong to the first wave from 1991, which is the only one still affordable and broadly available in second hand markets. Have presented other figures in the past, but I still have more to show. See you next time!

FACTS and FIGURES:

• Name: SWASHBUCKLING PAN and RUFIO (LOST BOY) (Ref. 2849 & 2818)
• Toy Line: Hook (Wave 1)
• Year: 1991
• Company: Mattel (U.S.A.)
• Size of the figures: Around 12 cm

#1058 MOTU NA – ARTILLA/WEAPONSTRONIC and STAGHORN (Ref. 1639 and 5804) (1991)

It is a long long time since I talked about this line for the last time, so it is now time to take out some of these figures and take nice pictures of them. We have selected this time Artilla and Staghorn, two characters from the third wave of the toyline, still easy to find, and not especially expensive, although rarer than other figures from wave 1 and 2. If you are looking for them carded, then, they may be worth a lot of money.

Artilla / Weaponstronic (Ref. 1639):

I put these two together because they are kind of difficutl to play with. Artilla has a strange position of the legs, and a lot of weight on the upper part of the body, so if the figure has been played with and the legs are a bit loose, it is very difficult to pose in a given position. Also the position of the arms is not the best choice. 

On the positive side, the figure came without accessories, or, said in another way, integrated on the body or head. The action feature is cool, no complaints about that. The missile on the left hand is not detachable, it is more like a ram that only goes a few centimeters out of the fist. The weapon on the right hand is only hidden below and has to be turned to the front, and, finally, the head rams to the front, but, again, only 1 centimeter more or less. The character is also quite cool, as a robotic master of weapons and technical helper (maybe a mechanic) of He-Man´s team.

Staghorn (Ref. 5804):

Staghorn is also less poseable than the average figure, as his legs are bent on the knees and also the arms are bent on the elbows. If he is wearing his mask, then in is even less poseable, as it interferes and crashes with his arms or the axe accessory. I do not quite follow what is the intention behind that action feature. According to the backcard, the spikes of the accessory are intended for hand to hand/close range fights, both for attack or defence. Maybe the intention, if I interprete the text on the packaging correctly, was that the mechanism could lift an enemy figure and throw it into the air.

In this case, the design is also OK, Staghorn could be some kind of ogre, as there were many in the original He-Man cartoon series or comic books, only with a futuristic twist, as everything in this toyline has.

So, not the best designs, but they look nice in the shelves with the rest of the team.

FACTS and FIGURES:

• Name: ARTILLA/WEAPONSTRONIC and STAGHORN (Ref. 1639 and 5804)
• Toy Line: He-Man (also New Adventures of He-Man) (Wave 3)
• Year: 1991
• Company: Mattel (U.S.A.)
• Size of the figures: 14 cm

#1009 BUCKY O’HARE – BUCKY O’HARE and AL NEGATOR (1991)

I am not collecting this line specifically, but, as I have two more figures with their accessories that I got in exchanges and in lots I bought, I have decided to make a new entry with these two nice characters from the toyline created by Larry Hama.

The first one is Bucky O’Hare himself, the main character of the series and one of the nices figures in the collection. I already and extensively talked about him in a previous netry, so this time I am focusing on the figure. It has the usual 5 points of articulation, plus the two ears, which is kind of peculiar. The figure came with an orange pistol that can also be attached to his belt, and cloak, that, for some reason I forgot to photograph. I has nice bright colours, but I miss at least one more colour applied to his uniform, and it is all red with some yellow and silver details. With one more colour, it may have looked much better.

Al Negator (Al Garto in Spanish) is one of the bad guys, some alligator with an astronaut outfit and also with a pistol, this time a green one. It can also be attached to his back, to carry it easily. This figure has 6 points of articulation, the usual 5 ones plus the tail. The figure has also 4 basic colours.

The figure in their blisters have been available for a long time, but now they are starting to scarce and the prices are going up. Maybe it is our last chance to complete this collection for very little money before it definitely goes up. Several year ago, I had the chance to buy all  figures at 5 euro each new in their blister cars, but I decided to get only one. That was the time when I was starting this blog. 

FACTS and FIGURES:

• Name: BUCKY O’HARE and AL NEGATOR
• Alternate Names: Al Garto (Spanish)
• Toy Line: Bucky O’Hare (Wave 1)
• Year: 1991
• Company: Hasbro (U.S.A.)
• Size of the figures: 12 cm approx.

#957 PIATNIK – AUTOS, EXOTISCHE TIERE & TIERBABIES (HYPO BANK PROMOTIONAL) (Around 1993)

 

Here a set of promotional card sets given by an Austrian Bank in the mid 80s. Bank giveaways are very common, they were made by millions and given to children in the International Savings Day (31st October) or some other occasion. However what is interesting for me is that the banks gave card sets on old coins, an adult hobby, although back in the days, some children were also brought into collecting coins by their parents. Today it is a rare hobby among young people.

Apart from that rare coin set, the most popular references were usually chosen by the banks: animals, cars... sometimes they chose a country-specific set, like animals from the Alps. Not a big variety in these.

The three sets shown in this entry have the same back design and the same boxes, but the title card from “Autos” has a different desing than the other two. Maybe this deck was older and Piatnik made a better offer for it, maybe they just got rid of some title cards on stock for this order, we will never know.

The year of the promotion is calculated after the cars in the Autos deck, I think the deck must be from 1991, maybe 1992, I think the newest cars depicted were released in 1990.

AUTOS + 2 Mini Puzzles

EXOTISCHE TIERE (This set was also presente in its "TIGER" version, see #337) + Zaubertrick

TIERBABIES:

FACTS AND FIGURES:

• Name: AUTOS, EXOTISCHE TIERE & TIERBABIES (HYPO BANK PROMOTIONAL)
• Year: Around 1991
• Company: Piatnik (Austria)

#925 CORGI JUNIORS and HOT WHEELS! - FORD MUSTANG, FORD SIERRA, RAYGO RASCAL 600 and JAGUAR XJR12 (1981, 1983, 1989 to 1995)

In the last years, I have found several Hot Wheels cars that I already had as Corgi Juniors. They are at first sight identical, so I was wondering how many of these are out there and what is the story behind them.

We already commented in previous entries that Mattel bought Corgi Toys in 1989, and sold it again to a management buyout in 1995. With this purchase, all casts from the Welsh company passed to Mattel.

During this period (89-95) Hot Wheels seems to have released 16 different models with their own marking on the base, some of them identical to the Corgi Juniors models, other with slight modifications and improvements in the casting. Some models were previously unissued, others were simply better casted. I cannot really see many improvements comparing one model with the other... But it is a curious thing havin the same cast with two different brands in their bases. There were other similar cases in the die-cast world.

The wheels were also changed in some models for another one more modern looking (like the Mustang below), some of these wheels models still look great, but other doesn´t. At the time, this change was a great thing.


For more info, the chapter devoted to Corgi models sold under Hot Wheels! brand can be read in Mac Ragan's book Hot Wheels Cars HERE.

The models presented in this entry are:

Ford Mustang Cobra – Orange version from 1981, white version with American flag is probably from the late 80s. Reference number 104A.

Hot Wheels! model from 1989 to 1995. Note the better looking wheels.

Ford Sierra 2.3 Ghia – Yellow version from 1983. Reference number 129A.
Hot Wheels! model from 1989 to 1995. In this case, with low quality wheels, shared with other brands and not very good looking. Maybe a later re-release?

UPDATE1 (Nov/2019): This Sierra was a gift from a friend. Marked Corgi, good looking in this elegant colour

Raygo Rascal 600 – practically identical to each other. Corgi Reference number 44A. Hot Wheels! model from 1989 to 1995. Sorry I could not take the pictures together, I am not sure if I have the Corgi version or not.

Jaguar XJR12 by Corgi, mid to end 90s. This final model is a Corgi Juniors model with Hot Wheels tampographies. Curious. I guess it is also available with Hot Wheels base. Again with the "less beautiful" wheel type.

UPDATE2 (AUG/2020): Another Ford Sierra, unmarked in the base.

UPDATE3 (June/2024) What about this Ford Mustang Cobra without any manufacturer information? Same as the previous Ford Sierra.

FACTS AND FIGURES:

• Name: FORD MUSTANG COBRA (104A), FORD SIERRA 2.3 GHIA (129A), RAYGO RASCAL 600 (44A) and JAGUAR XJR12
• Scale: Approx. 1:64
• Year: 1981, 1983 and 1989 to 1995
• Company: Corgi (Great Britain) and Hot Wheels! (U.S.A.)
• Size: approx. 6 cm