1978 Mattel Shogun Warriors Godzilla

In the 70s, cable television brought the Japanese Godzilla movies to a whole new group of young fans that hadn't had much exposure to the monster before.  I remember it always being a pretty big deal when the Denver station would run a Godzilla movie.  I didn't have cable but a friend up the street did.  So, I got to watch a bit of Godzilla here and there at his house.  

Mattel brought Godzilla over to the US as a toy in their large-sized Shogun Warriors line.  It seemed a little bit out of "left field" to have a big green monster as part of a line of toys that we knew, exclusively, as a robot line of toys.  Although it seemed a bit odd, it was still really cool to see a huge Godzilla toy on the toy shelves.  He didn't seem to have as many features as most of the other Shogun toys but that almost didn't matter because he was GODZILLA.

 Godzilla is a bit shorter than the other toys in the line but if he had been in scale and also the full 24" tall, he would have needed a much bigger box than the rest of the line.

Godzilla features articulation at the shoulders, wrists, hips, and tail.  He looks like he'd have neck articulation but the visible seam is just part of his construction and doesn't allow for any head movement.  Godzilla is made of the same type of "shampoo bottle" plastic as his robotic brothers but seems to have a hard plastic head.  This may be due to it needing to house the mechanism for his "fiery breath" tongue.  More on that in a second.

Godzilla, despite NOT being a robot still has a couple of action features.  His left fist shoots off at the press of a button (further up on his forearm) and actually packs quite a wallop.  He also has a lever on the back of his head that extends his "ugly tongue" as one 1978 COMMERCIAL puts it.  Another COMMERCIAL called it a "blast of fire."  It's basically a silk-screened piece of pliable plastic but is still a fun feature.  Other than wheels on the bottom of his feet (like all Mattel Shogun Warriors), that's about it for features.  

                                     

Interestingly enough, instead of using the superior Popy version of the same toy and importing it to the US like the other Shoguns, Mattel opted to create their own Godzilla with a much less intimidating look than his Japanese counterpart.  He's definitely a "softer" Godzilla than the Japanese toy.

                                     

 At any rate, this US version of Godzilla is a still a fantastic toy and provided hours of fun for the kids that had one.  I didn't have one as a kid but enjoyed looking at the Godzilla box on the toy store shelf.  I picked this one up last year and I'm very glad I did.  He makes a very nice addition to my growing Shogun Warriors collection.

Now, I just have to decide if he's "friend or foe."  As the commercial puts it, It's up to me to decide.

Hasbro GI Joe Adventure Team

As I work my way back through my favorite toys of childhood, I find myself once again fascinated by GI Joe and the impact he's had on the toy world and culture, in general. I have a new appreciation for the open-ended "non-licensed" property of GI Joe. The 12" GI Joe vintage line is the kind of line that seems to have disappeared, for the most part, from modern toy store shelves. It's wasn't based on a licensed movie, TV show, or comic yet it prospered on the idea of giving kids enough to trigger their imaginations... to carry out their own adventures with the toys.

The first GI Joes were 12" military figures (these were the very first true action figures). There were four basic figures available (Action Marine , Action Soldier, Action Pilot, and Action Sailor) and they all utilized the same headsculpt with different colored eyes and hair. Uniforms, weapons, and vehicles could be purchased to supplement the basic Joes. Hasbro used the basic razor and razor blades marketing strategy... and it worked. A child might buy or receive a figure but would then spend more money on items to be used with the figure. While I have a somewhat detached love for the first, military Joes (they were before my time), the GI Joe Adventure Team was MY GI Joe, growing up. The Adventure Team was introduced in 1970... right about the time I started really playing with toys as a child. I only had a couple of the AT Joes as a kid before moving on to such things as Mego Superheroes, Evel Knievel, and the Six Million Dollar Man (these licensed properties had a huge draw on me at such a young age) but I loved the Joes I did have. I never had any of the accessory sets or vehicles but enjoyed playing with the figures, all the same. In fact, my first "GIJoe" wasn't even a GIJoe, at all. You see my Dad wanted to buy me a GI Joe for my birthday but couldn't find one to purchase. So, on my birthday, I opened a Ken doll dressed in a GI Joe Marine Dress uniform (there you go, Bubba, have a field day).

The GI Joe Adventure Team was basically an upgrade of the military GI Joe figures. Hasbro took each of the four military figures, added flocked hair and beards, added a shoulder holster and pistol, and a giant AT medallion around their necks. Their uniforms were even identical to the ones used for the military figures. As America became embroiled in Vietnam, the idea of playing with toys based on war became less and less popular with the American public. So, Hasbro, in a brilliant move, transformed their military Joe line into an adventure line full of heroes that would rescue animals and search for lost treasure. They became more like Indiana Jones and less like Audie Murphy (you youngins will have to look that one up)... although, Indiana Jones wouldn't actually appear on the pop culture scene for another 11 years or so.

Many great vehicles, playsets, and accessories accompanied the release of the Adventure Team and the line continued to grow and prosper until 1976 when competing licensed toys (like The Six Million Dollar Man) and high oil-prices made the line no longer profitable.


In the past few months, I've started to acquire more of the original, vintage AT GI Joes and am excited to finally bring more AT reviews to Yesterville. So, stay tuned, as I post on some of the individual vintage AT Joes and even some of the more recent AT replica figures. It's a fun line that harkens back to a simpler time for many of us when playing with our GI Joes in the backyard with a buddy or two was about as much fun as you could have with a toy line.

Mego Micronauts Baron Karza

The Micronauts were a toy line that debuted in the US in 1977. Like Shogun Warriors (from Popy), they were created by a Japanese toy company (Takara) and imported by a US toy company for sale in the States. In Japan, the line was called "Micro Man" but Mego Corp. renamed the line "Micronauts" and sold it in the US.

The Micronauts were a bit ahead of their time. They were a fully-articulated line of 3 3/4" inch figures that pre-dated Hasbro's 3 3/4" articluated GiJoe line by 5 or 6 six years. Although most of the figures were around 4 inches tall, there were some larger figures in the Micronauts universe. The subject of this post is one such figure. This is Baron Karza. He was kind of the "big bad" of the Micronauts line. Although Mego didn't really provide much story for the toy line, Marvel Comics produced a series of comics that did flesh out the story of the Micronauts.

Baron Karza is about 6" tall and uses a fairly unique mechanism for his articulated sections. Magnets. His shoulders, neck, and hips are all magnet joints that can be pulled apart and then put back together... in crazy configurations, if desired. Baron Karza's magnets also allowed him to be combined with a black magnetic horse toy called Andromeda to create a Centaur version of Karza.


This example belongs to my younger brother (but currently resides in the Yesterville Archives). As a kid, I didn't have any Micronauts because they were being sold alongside Kenner's brand-new Star Wars toy line. Consequently, my allowance usually went to something Star Wars while my brother tended to be a bit more "open" to other toy lines. As an adult, I can now see just how cool this line of toys was. These toys seem to have a nice, quality build to them that you just don't see all the time. Baron Karza is a fairly heavy, solid-feeling figure with loads of play value.



Like Shogun Warriors, Karza has projectile fists that shoot off at the touch of a button. Also included with the Baron were two large cone-shaped missiles and several small 1/2" red missiles (not shown...long gone). Both kinds of missiles could also be shot from Baron Karza's wrists or the missile port in his stomach. There was even a missile storing attachment included that could be carried on Karza's back and a pair of non-firing "missile silo" arms.

The good Baron with a smaller, more-typically sized Micronaut, Pharoid.

For information on the Micronauts Time Traveler (similar to Pharoid but the most recognizable figure in the series), please see Iok's (from That Figures) excellent post on the figure and the Micronauts series, in general:

MICRONAUTS TIME TRAVELER

The Micronauts were an insanely cool toy line that truly stood out on toy shelves in the late 1970s. They really had a unique look and unique set of play features that set them apart from other toys.

Karza looks awfully Vader-esque, don't you think? Coincidence?

Kenner Six Million Dollar Man Critical Assignment Legs

This is the Six Million Dollar Man Criitcal Assignment Legs set from Kenner, produced in 1977. This was another add-on set for the Bionic Man figure... similar to the Critical Assignment Arms set that I've reviewed previously.

Despite Steve Austin's legs being bionic (robotic) in the television show, the Kenner 12" action figure only featured bionics in his right arm. With this set, kids playing with Bionic Man figures everywhere could finally have bionic features in their figures' legs, as well.


This set features two legs (naturally) that both perform unique bionic "actions."

The left leg is an "exploding leg." It features flesh-colored panels that hide the true nature of Steve Austin's powerful appendages. When the appropriate button is pressed, "Pow!!!" the panels explode off the leg. According to the back of the box, this function is to simulate a "bionic malfunction." Ouch.


The right leg features two opening panels. The panel in Steve's thigh opens to reveal wires and bionic circuitry. The panel in his shin provides the necessary tool to perform bionic surgery on Steve's leg, should he need it. It features a small blue hook that aids in pulling the wired panels from Steve's thigh... kind of like a mini Operation game without the lights and buzzer.



This set also features a pair of white shorts. In his regular, red standard-issue pants, it would be difficult to play with the features in Steve's new legs. The shorts allow adequate access to the various parts and panels in the legs. Cool beans.

I didn't have this set, as a kid. I picked this one up close to this past Christmas on Ebay. However, I did have the Critical Assignment Arms as a kid and did always want to add this set to my Six Million Dollar Man. So, it was great to finally add this set to my collection. I still think it's pretty neat that Kenner would produce add-on sets like this that would allow kids to add new features to their figures without having to buy an all-new figure. I guess Kenner really did care. After all, that WAS their slogan.

Kenner Star Wars Large Size Jawa (12" Scale)

This is Kenner's Large Sized 8" Jawa from 1978. He's the last of the twelve that I'll be reviewing on Yesterville. Maybe I'll have to set up a Star Wars Large Sized "family photo" as a finale to finally finishing all the Large Sized Star Wars figures.



One of the great things about the original Star Wars trilogy was the fact that George Lucas didn't feel like he had to explain everything... or give us a glimpse under every helmet or head covering. Who was under the Stormtrooper helmets? Who knows? What does Boba Fett look like? Is he human? Who knows? This was part of the fun of Jawas, too. As a kid, it was pretty fascinating to see Jawas for the first time in Star Wars. Those covered faces, strange voices, and light-up eyes were pretty startling. I always wondered what their faces looked like and if those lights were actually their eyes... or lights that they needed to see with. Who knows?

Kenner's Jawa is a pretty basic figure. He has swivel shoulders, swivel thighs, and swivel wrists. He's really not too different than his 3 3/4 inch counterpart. I am glad that Kenner included bandoliers that could be worn over his cloak this time, though, instead of being sculpted underneath the cloak.

I found this Jawa many years ago at a comic convention, as well. I would always make it my yearly goal to add one more 12" vintage Star Wars figure to my collection each time I attended a comic book convention.

A complete Jawa should include his brown cloak, rubber bandoliers (one piece), and his blaster.

Ooootini!!!

Kenner Star Wars Large Size 12" Ben (Obi-Wan) Kenobi

This is Kenner's 12" Large Size Ben (Obi-Wan) Kenobi from 1978.

Before the Star Wars prequels, we knew that Ben Kenobi had a past as "Obi-Wan Kenobi" but we still pretty much always referred to this character as "Ben." If I'm not mistaken, Luke even refers to him as "Ben" during the entire old trilogy.

At any rate, I have to give Kenner credit for producing a large scale figure of the "old wizard" we know and love. Maybe I'm off base here, but it seems like companies would have shied away from producing toys based on older actors. Perhaps, the runaway sales of all the smaller Star Wars figures gave Kenner the freedom to say, "What the heck!"

Like other characters in the line, Kenner produced a nice likeness to actor, Alec Guiness. He looks older and wise without looking geriatric.


The only time I saw this guy for sale back in the 70s was at a small hardware store that had a very small toy department (our major sources of toys were Kmart, Labelles, and a mall store called Clown Town). We used to ride our bikes to this hardware store to see what new Star Wars action figures might be on the shelf. They only had one of the Large Sized action figures for the longest time... and that was a Ben Kenobi. He sat on the shelf for, what seemed, years. This store also kept an air-popper popcorn popper on the front counter with a well-stocked bowl of buttered popcorn for customers to enjoy. Free popcorn and other things like Wacky Packs and Cracked magazine were other reasons my buddies and I made frequent visits to this hardware store.


I picked this guy up in a trade with a very good friend back in the 80s when collecting Star Wars action figures wasn't near the top of our priority lists. An offer was presented to trade Ol' Ben for a couple of comic books and the deal was made. Ben had a taped up, busted leg and was missing his lightsaber. I've since replaced the leg and given Ben back his weapon "from a more civilized age."

Ben has the standard articulation for the human figures in the line... swivel hips, swivel shoulders, swivel neck, and very limited "click" articulation in the knees.

A complete Ben Kenobi should have his white tunic (with black neck and chest insert), brown robe, two rubber brown boots, and his yellow lightsaber.