Author Topic: Your First Action Figure (Any Line)  (Read 3408 times)

Offline Brian

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Your First Action Figure (Any Line)
« on: April 11, 2018, 01:41 PM »
Sometimes the memories can get a little fuzzy, but do any of you remember your first figure for your favorite lines? It seems like those toys/characters always hold a special place. Here's mine to the best of my memory:

Star Wars: Chewbacca (and I think Obi-Wan as well) - I remember getting these from friends of the family, who had a son around my age who was one of those kids who had almost everything. They shared the Star Wars love with these two figures. I don't remember if it was birthday or Christmas.

G.I. Joe ARAH: Duke - My first Joe was a birthday gift from one of my best friends, and the "Joe" kid of our class. He and his brother had a treasure trove of Joe stuff, and had a lot of fun playing at their house. Duke went on many a solo mission for awhile, but I remember thinking the fact that you could put in his backpack, binoculars, and helmet was pretty rad.

He-Man: He-Man and Battle Cat - Basically all my He-Man stuff came from my parents. I didn't get a ton of toys as a kid, but they must have saw something special with the MOTU stuff because I also ended up getting Grayskull, Snake Mountain, the Attack Trak, etc.

Transformers: Sideswipe - in my Easter basket one year. My first Transformer, and even though it isn't large, it was my biggest one as a kid.

Super Powers: Batman and Robin - Together, for my birthday. I remember asking a lot for these and the Batmobile leading up to my bday, never did get the Batmobile but hope to track one down eventually.

Secret Wars: Spider-Man

Thundercats: Panthro
« Last Edit: April 11, 2018, 02:18 PM by Brian »

Offline Dave

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Re: Your First Action Figure (Any Line)
« Reply #1 on: April 11, 2018, 01:47 PM »
I still remember it fairly well for Star Wars.

It was the summer of 1978 and we had just seen the movie for the first time (with King Kong in a double feature) at a drive in down the road. 

I walked in the door to my house one afternoon to see my three siblings playing with a Landspeeder with Darth Vader and a couple other figures from the 12-back collection.  I immediately joined in and they lost interest.  I claimed them as my own and now own an absurd amount of Star Wars toys, including all of those original figures from the summer of 1978 that my siblings opened that I never had the pleasure to personally open.

« Last Edit: April 11, 2018, 06:09 PM by Dave »

Offline Scockery

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Re: Your First Action Figure (Any Line)
« Reply #2 on: April 11, 2018, 05:31 PM »
Luke Skywalker from Star Wars (I think)

Snake-Eyes (1982) from GI JOE (Not reading the file card, I assumed he was the villain)

Mer-Man from Master of the Universe (Probably still my fav MOTU character)

Brawn from Transformers (though, not a huge Transformers fan)

Joker from Super Powers

Offline Diddly

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Re: Your First Action Figure (Any Line)
« Reply #3 on: April 11, 2018, 10:37 PM »
ETRL Thomas the Tank Engine: Thomas

Power Rangers: Not sure, probably Red Ranger

Batman TAS: "Turbojet" Batman and Ninja Robin

Spider-Man TAS: Spider-Man with launching web missile

Star Wars: POTF2 Vader and Pilot Luke
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Offline Muftak

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Re: Your First Action Figure (Any Line)
« Reply #4 on: April 12, 2018, 10:28 AM »
Star Wars: R2-D2 (This was before I saw the movie in '78, when the figures first showed up in the store. My older brother who had already seen it got Luke.)

GI Joe: Destro (I loved his chrome head, and he was a bad guy for my Star Wars figures to fight. Later I would buy lots of Joes (especially Cobras) to fill out my Star Wars adventures as the 80's wore on. Eventually my friends and I wound up cracking them all open and mixing/matching parts to make our own superhero characters out of them. For all the Joes I owned, I never played GI Joe.)

MOTU: Trap-Jaw (I had avoided this line the first times I saw it in the store, but once I saw the commercial for Trap-Jaw I really wanted to play with him. From there I started watching the cartoon, and for 1983-84 this was my go-to toyline, snuggled right between the death of Star Wars and the beginning of Transformers. He-Man and I were never "exclusive," but we had a great affair. I even invented a subline called "Cat Island" that was a story about where Cringer/Battle Cat and Panthor came from, and included a whole bunch of other cats like Cringer's love interest, his best friend etc etc. I drew pictures, and wrote stories about Cringer's return to the island to stop evil Panthor, and how hard it was for him because without He-Man he couldn't turn into Battle Cat and instead had to handle it as himself. My first fanfic!)

Transformers: Windcharger & Hound (I saw the Decepticon cassettes in the stores first, and was really intrigued by them but didn't have enough money. My younger brother got Windcharger and he was the first one I got to transform. Once I had watched the cartoon miniseries, I really wanted to play with them. My mom worked at a department store and happened to be taking care of the toy section the day the big Autobot cars first showed up, and she called me from work and asked me which one I wanted--my immediate reply was Hound because of the impression he had left on me from the miniseries. This became the toyline that took me to my teenage years when I started to transition from "playing" to "collecting." I remember getting Powermaster Optimus Prime and realizing I was too old to play with him, but I still appreciated it as a toy. Ah, to be a teenager, such a confusing time...)
« Last Edit: April 12, 2018, 11:29 AM by Muftak »

Offline efranks

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Re: Your First Action Figure (Any Line)
« Reply #5 on: May 18, 2018, 11:52 PM »
I'm a little fuzzy on when exactly some of the toys were released, so I may have had them around the same time but sort of in order:

Six Million Dollar Man/Bionic Woman: I had both Steve and Jamie. I had the extra legs set for Steve and his Bionic Transport and Repair Station. I think there was also a backpack with a real radio in it.

Fisher Price Adventure People: I had several sets including things like the Rescue Truck, Safari, Wilderness Patrol, and the Cycle Racing Team. There were more, I had quite a few of them and they were great toys.

Mego Superheroes: I know I had Spider-Man and Superman. I thought I remembered having the Batmobile but I think it must have been a friend's or one of those false memories.

Star Wars: Luke, R2-D2 and C-3PO with a Landspeeder. I got them as a gift from my mom but I don't know if it was a birthday or something else. I got the rest of the original 12 from my sister and I thought that was an Easter gift but that would have been before my birthday so memory is a little fuzzy on that.

G.I. Joe: That was Flash and the FLAK and I think I bought that with my own money. I had a couple other 82 straight arm figures like Short-Fuze and a COBRA Soldier but missed on most of them until the swivel arm releases.

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