#1015 MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE – JET SLED (1986)

Time to go back to Masters of the Universe. The series is so popular today, that I am starting to loose interest in it. There are several modern toylines, tv series, publications and merchandising available, but I still remain interested in the vintage line and the He-Man New Adventures one only.
 
This toy is the third battle accessory after the Megalaser and the Stilt Stalkers, both presented many years ago in this blog. The Jet Sled was missing, or more precisely, I was missing the backpack part, which is the fragile part of the pack.

As the Stilt Stalkers, the Jet Sled can be carried in the back of the figure, when it is not is use. When in use, it can be used as an autonomous flying object (some kind of drone), or it can carry one figure/pilot that is fitted to the Jet by its feet. Unfortunately, the hands do not fit very well in the handles and it looks somewhat not great, when you are using a figure with it.

It also has two mini missiles on the wings, that can be removed with some effort. Sometimes they are missing. The wheels are also slightly fragile, but most wings are in good shape, as it was, and is, a sturdy toy.
 
FACTS and FIGURES:

• Name: JET SLED (Ref. 2084)
• Toy Line: Masters of the Universe (Wave 5)
• Year: 1986
• Company: Mattel (U.S.A.)
• Size of the figures: approx. 16 cm

#922 HE-MAN - ROCKET DISK POWER PACK and TURBO TORMENTOR (1989)

This month I am joining many other Masters of the Universe fans worldwide to celebrate the 35th anniversary of this great toyline in Spain. A friend of mine with a few other colleagues is writing a book about this topic that will be published soon. The title is "Yo Tengo el Poder: La Historia de los Masters del Universo en España", haven't you heard about it yet? Visit their Facebook site for all information regarding this topic, and don't miss the release!
 

The New Adventures of He-Man started with a big set of figures and interesting vehicles in sizes ranging from small (Bolajet / Shuttle Pod) to huge (Starship Eternia). But that first wave also included two small accesories sold in blisterpacks, whose price was approximately the same than the price of a figure in a single pack. My Rocket Disk blister is tagged for 1.100 pesetas (6,60 euro), but I doubt this was its retail price, seems a bit too high for me. The price tag does not look very professional, so maybe it comes from a reseller or small toy shop.

Masters of the Universe, the vintage line, also had some battle accesories, but, again, not many considering the length and the number of references in the complete collection.

Well, the two accesories made for the He-Man toyline were the Rocket Disk Power Pack for He-Man or whoever heroic warrior was around and the Turbo Tormentor for Skeletor or any of his friends. These were small and cute backpacks that could be attached by means of a plastic harness to the figure and that had some shooting/firing function.

The Rocket Disk Power Pack could launch discs similarly to the Blaster Hawk from 1985, only in a much smaller scale. Each blister included 3 orange disks, that could be carried along: two in a special compartment, and the third one "loaded", ready to be fired by activating the corresponding trigger. The design is simple, but includes some kind of laser cannon on top to make it slightly more interesting (otherwise it would look just like a box).

The Turbo Tormentor also launches discs, but these fly like a propeller. The blister pack included two disks, either in bright yellow or in greenish yellow. The launcher is located at one side of the figure, with the tip over the shoulder. The backpack has again a slot where one of the disks can be carried, while the second one is loaded. The design is kind of more elaborated, not just because of the unsymmetric way to carry it, but also because the launcher looks like a futuristic cannon (not like a box).

The propeller stuff is a classic feature seen in many toys through the years, and a specially funny one.

While the first accesory commented in this entry was available worldwide, the Turbo Tormentor was an euro-exclusive item. I do not know the reason behind it, and it doesn´t seem to be due to law restrictions or safety regulations about shooting toys (there are later toys with this same feature available). Then why?

Many collectors claim that the mechanism behind the Turbo Tormentor never actually worked correctly, so maybe, after Mattel checked that this was actually happening, decided not to distribute this reference in the United States... it is also a possibility since it is also something that already happened before with Darius. Another posibility is that the propellers are actually too fragile and break easily, like Hasbro claimed when they recalled Roadblock v4. Despite being an European only release, the prices for this item are low or even very low, being very easy to find carded even today (30 years after its release). Same happens with the Rocket Disk accesory, it is also very easy to find.

Another comment... like the bubbles of the figure´s blister cards, these two accesories also carried sometimes the sticker promoting the "new" masters of the universe toyline, but the two carded toys I own unfortunately do not carry them.

Read more about Masters of the Universe in these links!

All Masters of the Universe stuff

Masters of the Universe (vintage collection)

He-Man: New Adventures

FACTS and FIGURES:

• Name: Rocket Disk Power Pack (Nr. 3533) and Turbo Tormentor (Nr. 3531)
• Toy Line: He-Man (also New Adventures of He-Man) (Wave 1)
• Year: 1989
• Company: Mattel (U.S.A.)
• Size of the figures: 14 cm, backpacks are maybe 4 or 5 cm wide

#564 G.I. JOE – MOTORIZED ACTION PACKS, SERIES 1 (PART 1) (1987)

An interesting concept, which is present in many important action figure lines that include figures and vehicles, is the “small vehicles”. These are normally quite simple and, I would say, cheaper to produce than the figures themselves. They are normally priced as a single figure, and mostly sold in blister cards like the figures.

Who knows if G.I.Joe took this concept from Masters of the Universe (see for example #188)… the action packs are small, can be carried as a backpack, and have a wind-up motor that can be triggered on/off by a switch.

There were two series made of this, the first one consisted of 8 machines, 4 for G.I.Joe and 4 for Cobra and/or Dreadnocks. The second series, next year, counted only 4 small vehicles. Today I want to show a few of the first series, and I will complete it sometime, when I can take good pictures of the other machines I have.

The motorized action packs were:

G.I.Joe:

• Anti-Aircraft Gun
• Helicopter
• Radar Station
• Rope Walker

Cobra:

• Earth Borer
• Mountain Climber
• Pom-Pom Gun
• Rope Crosser

All of them were packaged in a blister card with a generic card, and included were a sheet of instructions in the “blueprint” style and a sheet of stickers. There were no filecard or whatever at the
back, only small pictures of all the available items.

Radar Station (G.I. Joe)
Guest Starring: Mainframe

Helicopter (G.I. Joe)
Guest Starring: Astro Viper v2 (yes, I know it is a GIJoe vehicle, but I took the pictures with the wrong figure)

Mountain Climber (Cobra)
Guest Starring: Firefly v2

FACTS AND FIGURES:

• Name: MOTORIZED ACTION PACKS HELICOPTER, RADAR STATION and MOUNTAIN CLIMBER.
• Alternate Names: Aparatos de Acción (Spanish), Engins d’Action (French)
• Toy Line: G.I.Joe (wave 6)
• Year: 1987
• Company: Hasbro (U.S.A.)
• Size of the figures: 3 ½¨ or 8 cms.

#238 BIG JIM – ADVENTURE GEAR: COW PUNCHER, JUNGLE GUIDE & SCUBA DIVER (Ref. 7435) (1975)

 Big Jim's "Adventure Gear"

Apart from figures and the vehicles, Big Jim also had a great number of accessories and outfits. There were several types of sets that didn’t include any figures; for example, the “Action Sets”, or the “Mission Packs” (both carded or boxed).

Among all sets, the most simple and cheaper to buy were the “Adventure Gear”. The difference between “Adventure Gear” and the rest of accessory sets is that they didn’t include any clothes, they mostly comprised plastic accessories, that are cheaper to produce than the outfits. This way, Mattel covered a wider price range, from one of these sets to a big vehicle or playset.

They were sold carded, and the cards were all the same, so this way they could be p roduced even cheaper. Some of this sets were also available as “action sets” with some extra clothes, so it might be a bit confusing when looking for names, references, years of release or when trying to identify loose pieces and bits.

I am presenting here three sets I own. Some websites say they were released in 1974, other in 1975, The most complete website to see all outfits seems to be www.bigjimforum.com , most Big Jim references are pictured there.

As said in the title, the references I own are:

Cow Puncher: includes hat, belt, rifle, boots and lasso

Click here to see this item in its original package.

Jungle Guide: includes hat, axe, rifle, boots and leather pouch

 

Click here to see this item in its original package.

Scuba Diver: incluyes flippers, mask with cable (not in the picture) and tank with harness

Click here to see this item in its original package.

FACTS and FIGURES:

• Name: ADVENTURE GEAR (Ref. 7435)
• Toy Line: Big Jim
• Year: 1975
• Company: Mattel (U.S.A.)
• Scale: 1:8

#188 MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE – MEGALASER (1986)

This is the second MOTU accessory I show, so most about these is already said in the entry#94. This time I can expand the previous article with some pictures of the Megalaser, including pictures of this accessory MOC (Mint On Card).

The first three accessories we mentioned (Jet Sled, Stilt Stalkers and Megalaser) were sold carded, just like the figures, in packages of the same size and colours (these that were released in the 6th wave were sold boxed). The bubble was obviously different, and adapted to each item. This is the only collectable I own “carded” from the Masters of the Universe line and I have it also loose from my childhood days. My father bought it for me some time by the end of the 80s.

The Megalaser comes in four parts: a two pieces red armour, a black belt that also  attaches to the armour and the gun, that fits in a peg of the armor, over the right shoulder. The next few pictures should show that clearly.

Since I won’t be able to show any carded figure, maybe it is interesting to pay attention to the front of the package. It has the MOTU logo in blue over a red background of exploding stones. The new figures/accs. in each wave carried the word “new!” at the upper left corner. This package seem to be the American version, and is therefore written in English. It is very important to pay attention to the subtitle of each figure or accessory, that you know what you were buying and which affiliation does it have. This was specially helpful for parents, since the names are more difficult to remember than the descriptions. Parents are more likely to remember that they once bough the “Human Periscope” as “Mekaneck”, mostly when Mekaneck is mixed up with other figures with similar names and similar colours and looks.

Front of Megalaser's card

The Megalaser is a “Heroic wind up beam blaster”, for a child this name sounds great, although it really describes its mechanism. The Megalaser works winding up the small blue wheel at the top of the gun, what makes the other blue parts (two cannons plus two edges) move.

Back of Megalaser's card

Megalaser's illustration (cardback, detail)

Megalaser's instructions (cardback, detail)

Megalaser's catalogue (cardback, detail)

At the backcard, there’s a great illustration, which is unique to each reference, short instructions about the features of the figure/accessory, and a short catalogue of other references available at the same time.

The dioramas show Clamp Champ (our “official” accessory tester) with Roboto in a jungle expedition. Both figures and the Megalaser make a team with great firepower.

FACTS and FIGURES:

• Name: MEGALASER (Ref. 2083)
• Toy Line: Masters of the Universe (Wave 5)
• Year: 1986
• Company: Mattel (U.S.A.)
• Size of the figures: approx. 16 cm

#94 MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE – STILT STALKERS (1986)

Along with the figures, the creatures, the vehicles and the great playsets, the Masters of the Universe line is not complete without a few battle accessories released through the lifespan of MOTU. 
 

If we do not consider the weapons pack from 1984 (a packet of regular repainted weapons), these Stilt Stalkers were the first accessory to be launched in 1986. Along with it were released the Jet Sled and the Mega Laser, which will be shown in future articles.

After them, in 1987 were the Scubattack, the Tower Tools, and the Cliff Climber release. Some people consider the Beam-Blaster and Artilleray from 1987 as an accessory, but I see it more like a vehicle.

After that, the line was cancelled in 1988, so no more items belonging to this category were released. I do not know how well they sold, I can just remember they were sold carded and they were not much cheaper than the figures, and in comparison, a new figure has much more playing possibilities than these accessories.

I prepared some time ago these two pictures showing the Stilt Stalkers. As you can see, the stilts are armed with a gun in one of the hands, some kind of visor in the other hand, plus a rocket launcher and a radar dish on the feet.

Additionally a special harness is included. This part allows to carry the stilts on its back, and fits each figure with the “classic” torso. 

FACTS and FIGURES:

• Name: STILT STALKERS (Ref. 2082)
• Alternate Names: ZANKOR (Spain)
• Toy Line: Masters of the Universe (Wave 5)
• Year: 1986
• Company: Mattel (U.S.A.)
• Size of the figures: approx. 16 cm

#67 ACTION TEAM – UN FRIEDENSTRUPPE SPECIAL-AUSRÜSTUNG (Ref. 6342 73) (1970)

I wanted to continue somehow the previous article, since I finished it with a catalogue image, in which this item is also displayed. The catalogue was printed by Schildkröt to promote the Action Team line in Germany. This set was sold in many different countries and many different versions. Each version is therefore “exclusive” of that land, that's why I'm just talking about the one made by Schilkröt.

The german version bag is obviously printed in German, with the Action Team logo and the words: “Action Team Ausrüstung” (Action Team Equipment). It is no ordinary soldier equipment, but U.N. Blue Helmet (Peace Troops’)­ equipment, because in Germany it is always important to reduce the military component of anything, specially if it’s a toy.

That’s why the helmet, which in other countries is a dark green one has been replaced by the blue in the picture with the UN sticker. Note that the catalogue image does not display the actual item, but some other panoply. This is because that picture was taken for American or British catalogue and Schildkröt probably changed the set after the catalogue was made.

The rest of the contents are very similar from land to land, and includes:

• Bag with strap
• A pair of black boots
• UN blue helmet
• Campstove
• Flask
• Mug
• Radiotelecommmunications set
• Lunchbox (2 parts) with knife, fork and spoon
• Binoculars
• Lebel revolver
• Shovel
• Dagger
• 6 Grenades
• Stirling submachine gun with strap and cartridge

Some of these items are still bagged... I didn't want to remove them from their original plastic bags.
In this picture of the actual set sold in toy stores can be seen that at least one version of this panoply included exactly those accessories. I think I got this image from some Ebay ad.

Especially curious is the radio set:

FACTS and FIGURES:

• Name: UN Friedenstruppe special-Ausrüstung (ref. 6342 73)
• Toy Line: Action Team
• Year: 1970
• Company: Schildkröt (Germany)
• Size: approx. 12 cm (bag)