In
terms of sci-fi movies and collectible toys, 1979 was a banner year.
Movies
such as Star Trek: The Motion Picture, Alien, Buck Rogers in the 25th
Century, The Black Hole and Moonraker premiered that year, and
every title on that list also saw memorable toys produced by Mego Corp.
I
collected toys from all those sci-fi franchises, but never had the full line of
Moonraker action-figures, alas.
Still,
I vividly recall seeing these 12.5” -tall action figures on the shelves at Toys
R Us and wishing for them.
Recommended
for children three and over was this action-figure of Roger Moore as James Bond,
described here as “The World’s Greatest
Secret Agent…Legendary Commander 007.” On
the box is emblazoned the legend: “Action-packed
Spy Adventures in the Fabulous Realm of Space.”
The
most amusing facet of the action-figure, however, is that Bond wears a (loose) bow
tie over his space suit.
Other
figures in the “fully articulated, fully poseable” line included Holly
Goodhead, the menacing Jaws and Drax. I remember seeing all of the figures in
stores many times, save for Drax, and to this day, Jaws fetches a pretty penny
on E-Bay.
What
makes this particular Bond toy special and memorable to me is that Moonraker
represents the first occasion since the 1960s, I believe, that James Bond
action-figures were mass produced and widely available. This is the first time, in other words, Bond
was in toy stores in his 1970s Roger Moore persona.
I
also had a Moonraker model kit in 1979, which, of course, was merely a space shuttle
model with special decals.
John you are so right. Being a boy in 1979 was heaven with Star Trek: The Motion Picture, Alien, Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, The Black Hole and Moonraker.
ReplyDeleteSGB
I liked these 12.5 inch Mego figures from the late 70s/early 80s, but I didn't collect many of them because the heads had a weird tendency to turn geeen. I'm amazed my Killer Kane and Tigerman still look human after all these years.
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