Sunday, November 06, 2016

At Flashbak: They're Not What They Appear to be (Enemy 'V' Visitor Action Figure; LJN)


This week at Flashbak, I remembered the Enemy Visitor Action Figure, from V (1983).




“Back in 1983 Kenneth Johnson's science fiction mini-series V was event television. It aired over two nights on NBC in May, and everybody was buzzing about the scene in which the leader of the alien Visitors, Diana (Jane Badler) devoured a gerbil.

It wasn’t long before LJN had an action V "Enemy Visitor" action figure on the market.  This 12-inch alien soldier was the embodiment of Visitor evil. He hid beneath a human face and sun glasses while wearing his red space Nazi uniform. He was also armed with a laser weapon.

Designed for ages four and up, the Visitor figure's box came emblazoned with the legend "THEY'RE NOT WHAT THEY APPEAR TO BE!

A graphic below the figure revealed that youngsters could "unmask the Visitor to reveal his lizard face," and made note of his "extendable [forked...] tongue."  

On the back of the box, LJN noted: "The Visitor keeps his true identity hidden behind a human face.  Unmask him and reveal the lizard creature!"  It reports too that "The Human Mask is worn whenever you want to disguise the Visitor's true identity.  To remove the mask, grasp one corner between your thumb and forefinger and gently pull off."

The box also suggests: "To make the Visitor's tongue move in and out, push the hidden button on his back." 

Yes, you could actually extend the figure’s forked tongue by pressing a lever on the back of his neck.”

Please continue reading at Flashbak.  

1 comment:

  1. I have one of these whose job is to threaten Barbie with an alien abduction! Great post!

    ReplyDelete

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