#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

#1039 BRAVESTARR – MARSHALL BRAVESTARR (1987)

There is not much I can say about Bravestarr which has not been told already one hundred times. We all know more or less what this toyline (and the corresponding cartoons) is/are about, and which the characters that were made into a figure are.

I do not collect this specific figures, but as I usually get many figures in lots, exchanges, flea markets and so on, I have come through them many times. I have a couple of figures and many accessories, and I decided to keep this one, as 1) is complete, 2) is the main character of the story, also the one that gives name to the series, 3) I have very few figures in this size. As it usually happens, once you have a figure, you want more, and I’d really like to complete Tex Malone/Tex Hex or get more characters for my collection.

And maybe the size is its most interesting feature, as these were completely out of fashion at the time. Mattel was about to discontinue Masters of the Universe and needed something new. G.I. Joe was among the most popular lines of the day, and the Ninja Turtles were about to appear. That is why these figures were so amazing when you saw them in 1987, they were different from everything else. Of course, Action Man came before (and also after), or many other action figures had this size (or even bigger) before, but most children were not aware of this. 

Unfortunately, the toyline didn’t make it very well, and there were not many references made. Probably it was the price, and also the concurrence from the actions figures mentioned above. It was a hard time for new figures, especially being not compatible with the other toylines. However, Mattel did a good work and gave this toys great action features, nice packaging, cool accessories, vehicles and playsets, not to forget that paperwork that imitates a newspaper.

The figures, may look a bit bulky and not so well articulated today, but they are still very cool. They are also very sought after collectables, especially since 5-7 years. Before that, it was common to see them boxed for sale on eBay or similar websites.

In this entry, I am presenting the main character Marshall Bravestarr, a Native American with superpowers when he calls upon the power of spirit animals: the strength of a bear, the eyes of the hawk, the speed of a puma and the ears of a wolf. The figure came in a box with a window and included the following accessories: vest, cowboy hut, rifle, gun (called neutra-laser pistol, that can be attached to his right leg) and two pieces of kerium, the mineral that was extracted in the planet New Texas. The kerium is an energy source and it is one source of conflict between the evil characters and those representing or standing with the law. All characters came with one or two pieces of this transparent red material.

The figure has a button on the back that is used to lift its arm, as if it was a gunfight duel in the Wild West, and is articulated with swivel arm, although there is no hips articulation and the legs’ one could be improved. I took some pictures outside, and I think they are great.

And last but not least, a VHS tape with adventures from was the very first tape I rented on a videoclub, maybe around 1991 or 1992.

FACTS and FIGURES:

• Name: MARSHALL BRAVESTARR
• Toy Line: Bravestarr (Wave 1)
• Year: 1987
• Company: Mattel (U.S.A.)
• Size of the figures: 25 cm approx.

#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

#990 AMERICAN GLADIATORS - FIGURES FROM WAVE 1 (1992)

I recently wrote a very long article about this Mattel figures (and also the ones made by Hornby and other companies around the globe) in the free online magazine Figuras En Acción, so this time, I will just write a few notes about the toyline.

The toys were planed and made in 1990, after the first season of this contest was aired, and before the second one started, and were sold starting in the second season. Although the toyline was originally planned to have 5 gladiators of each sex plus the two male contenders, it was shortened before launching it, and as a result, only four male gladiators and one female gladiator (and the contenders) were made. All were available in single blister packs except the blue challenger which was sold only in combination with Laser. Laser was also available single-carded, maybe the fifth gladiator, Thunder, which was planed but was never released was intended to replace one of these two Lasers.

 

The toys presented in this entry are:

 

LASER (1663) will be shown in combination with the Blue Challenger below.

 

NITRO (4002)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 GEMINI (4015)

 

 

TURBO (4017)

 

 

RED CHALLENGER (3995)

 

BLUE CHALLENGER vs. LASER (3970)

 

 

 

The series was a major sales failure, and even today you can find many figures in their original packages for sale.

The figures were intended to be played together with some playsets which were sold apart and that reproduced more or less accurately the events of the TV program. I have the Joust, which I will show some other time, and I must say, it is a lot of fun to play with.

FACTS AND FIGURES:

• Name: LASER (1663), NITRO (4002), GEMINI (4015), TURBO (4017), RED CHALLENGER (3995) and BLUE CHALLENGER vs. LASER (3970)
• Toy Line: American Gladiators
  
• Year:1992
• Company: Mattel (U.S.A.)
• Size of the figure: Around 10 cm tall