#969 CAPTAIN PLANET – HOGGISH GREEDLY and DUKE NUKEM (1990)

Captain Planet, I think I already said this, was one of the TV series I recall watching with more interest back in the early 90s. I also like the action figures by Tiger a lot, but they are difficult to get complete, since most characters came with several small pieces that went lost most of the time. The most difficult part to be found in many figures is the human-sized ring that was intended to be worn by the boy or girl playing with the figure. All five planeteer children characters had one (the four elements Earth, Water, Air, Fire, plus a fifth element referred to as Heart) which they used to invoke the Captain Planet. The Captain himself had another ring that he always wore.

Having said that, I present today two complete figures, none of them have difficult accessories, quite the opposite, those huge parts are not easily lost, so these two figures are kind of easier to find complete than the rest of the figures. 

In a previous entry I presented Dr. Blight carded, now I present two more villains from series 1: Hoggish Greedly and Duke Nukem.

Let’s start by Hoggish Greedly, a great figure. It is a human with a face that resembles that of a pig. Not a great metaphor, but you quickly realize this guy is one of the bad ones. It comes with a backpack that could be filled up with water and a gun connected to it by means of a hose. By pressing the backpack, the gun shoots a water beam. To dig in the pig resemblance, the backpack is also decorated with a pig logo. 

   

 

It is maybe worth commenting, that the character is depicted as big and fat, something common to another villain named Sly Sludge, and this could lead to mistakes as they are different characters. I wonder why they are both overweight, and why the planeteers are all fit. I guess today they would have been more careful when doing the character design, as this could be interpreted as insulting. Leaving this aside, this is a great figure, I would have wished nicer accessories or some action feature, but the sculpt, the concept and the colours are very good.

Duke Nukem is maybe even better, as it is some kind of radioactive man with a very particular and attractive look. In the TV series, he has the superpower of firing radioactive blasts from his hands. In this first version, the gesture on his face is quite menacing, but in the second version, with Hawiian shirt, looks nicer, as he becomes a good guy and helps Captain Planet in some of his missions. The second version is much more difficult to find, as it is an European exclusive.

It has a glow-in-the-dark feature, which is something very valued in action figures, but came without accessories.

 FACTS and FIGURES:

• Name: HOGGISH GREEDLY and DUKE NUKEM
• Toy Line: CAPTAIN PLANET and THE PLANETEERS (Wave 1)
• Year: 1990
• Company: Tiger Toys/Kenner (U.S.A.)
• Size of the figures: Around 16 cm

#846 TOYS FROM THE PAST - MUSEUM (IX)

See more of these entries here: http://toysfromthepast.blogspot.com/search/label/TFTP

See you next month!

Important notice: The items on display are NOT for sale.

 

 

 

 

#389 CAPTAIN PLANET and THE PLANETEERS – CAPTAIN PLANET and DR. BLIGHT (1990)

This TV series started in 1990, and although it was never among the most popular, it was a lot of fun. Ecologism, care for nature and opposition to everything that could be pollutant, was becoming something ordinary. People started being conscious about the need of taking care of our planet, and from this new sensibility, appeared new TV-series and toylines. Another famous one was th
e Trash Bag Bunch. Children were shown the risks of pollution, and what to do in order to take care of nature.

The toyline consisted of two dozens of figures and a few vehicles and playsets. Each figure was sold in blister packs, some of them included one or more accessories. They were released first in 1990 by Tiger Toys in the U.S., although in Europe, the distribution was made by Kenner, and in Canada by Grand Toys. The most notable figures were the Captain Planet (in many different versions), the five planeteers (some of them also in two or more versions) and a few villains, each of these figures had a particular feature or some gimmick, some for example glew in the dark, other produced cold sparks, or had some featured move. Together they make a small and nice collection, although some models are very rare and costly. The figures in the first wave, can be found for almost nothing, they were manufactured in big batches and sold in many European countries, apart of the United States and Canada, but from the second wave on, things get more complicated.

I only have a few figures from this collection, but only these two are complete, I also have some planeteers, and I wish I could complete them some day. Then, I’ll show them. The first one is the Captain Planet himself, the second figure is still carded and is Dr. Blight with MAL the computer.

The carded figure allows me to show the nice packaging, with the action figure depicted in a small square, and also with a short file card of the character on the back. The rest of the figures in wave 1 are shown in two rows, and there is even room for one environmental piece of advice.

I wish there was something like a list of released toys somewhere, but this collection is really a big exception, since there is not much to be found worldwide about them. That’s why I will try to fix it myself. No guarantee on completeness!

FIGURES in WAVE 1 (1990)

• Captain Planet “Flying” (Red boots and gloves)
• Captain Planet “Colour Change” (Blue boots and gloves)
• Wheeler
• Gi
• Mai Tai
• Linka
• Kwame
• Verminous Skumm
• Duke Nukem
• Sly Sludge
• Dr. Blight with MAL
• Hoggish Greedly

VEHICLES and PLAYSETS in WAVE 1 (1990)

• Geo-Cruiser
• Eco Cycle
• Eco Sub
• Sludge Dump
• Skumm-O-Copter
• Toxic Cannon

OTHER FIGURES (WAVE/YEAR OF RELEASE UNKNOWN)

• Captain Planet “Artic” (White chest)
• Captain Planet “All American” (Stripes in chest)
• Captain Planet “Light and Thunder” (Rays in chest)
• Captain Planet “Pollution Armour” (Pink removable armor)
• Captain Planet “Power Commands” (Golden chest)
• Captain Planet “Exploding Meteor” (Golden body)
• Captain Planet “Tornado” (Blue chest, silver body)
• Wheeler (Eco commands)
• Wheeler (Grappling hook)
• Wheeler (Tread pack)
• Wheeler (Sparking Action)
• Linka (Eco commands)
• Link (Parachute)
• Ma Ti (Rescue pack)
• Ma Ti (Rescuemobile)
• Argos Bleak
• Commander Clash
• Duke Nukem

OTHER PLAYSETS (WAVE/YEAR OF RELEASE UNKNOWN)

• Planeteer Copter
• Eco Jailer
• Crystal Matrix
• Detention Center
• Air Rover
• Duke’s Exploding Reactor
• Toxic Trap
• Garbage Cannon Truck
• Exploding Garbage Cans
• Nuclear Reactor

THE NEW ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN PLANET (1994)

• Captain Planet “Anti Radiation Armor” (Same as “Pollution armor” in red and yellow with black armour)
• Captain Planet “Firestorm” (Same as “Tornado” in red and yellow)
• Captain Planet “Thunder and Lightning” (Same as “Light and Thunder”, in black with silver chest)

A reader of the blog nicknamed 3D2B has a nice blog with the most exhaustive listing of Captain Planet toys. Please check it here: https://planeteernotes.wordpress.com/13-toys-games-educational-tools/

His first comment will be deleted now, because it contains personal data.

FACTS and FIGURES:

• Name: CAPTAIN PLANET and DR. BLIGHT
• Toy Line: CAPTAIN PLANET and THE PLANETEERS (Wave 1)
• Year: 1990
• Company: Tiger Toys/Kenner (U.S.A.)
• Size of the figures: Around 16 cm