Monday, February 16, 2015

At Flashbak: Plastic Also-Rans? The Weird but Awesome Sci-Fi Action Figures of the 1970s



My latest article at Flashbak remembers some of the more odd-ball action figures of the 1970s sci-fi boom.



"The great age of action figures arguably began in the seventies with toy companies like Mego and Kenner introducing a generation of kids to figure lines from popular films such as Planet of the Apes (1968) and Star Wars (1977) and from such TV shows as Star Trek (1966 – 1969), The Six Million Dollar Man (1973 -1978) and The Bionic Woman (1976 – 1978).

Yet some toy companies found themselves bereft of these lucrative licenses and endeavored instead to manufacture alternatives to these hit toys. 

The results were often odd, bizarre even, but also, in the final analysis, unforgettable. Here are a few of those great but strange toys from the disco decade..."


1 comment:

  1. In 1977, SPACE ACADEMY/JASON OF STAR COMMAND would have succeeded at merchandising if their action-figures were STAR WARS scale. They should have made the spaceships too.

    SGB

    ReplyDelete

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