Back in the 70s it was a crazy time for toys. The various manufacturers out there were just coming up with some of the coolest product ever: Six Million Dollar Man and Bionic Woman, Mego superheroes and Star Wars to just mention a few.
Of course whenever there is greatnesss there is also failure. What I am about to show is something that I am a bit on the fence about. On the one hand I think it is really cool… but only because of the fact that it is such a spectacular FAIL of stupendous proportions.
Feast your eyes on this puppy.
Made by Kenner in 1974 this is the 9″ Steve Scout doll.
Seriously people, I know the 70s was supposed to be a more wholesome time than say today but really. What kid ever said, “Mom, I don’t want that G.I. Joe with the Kung Fu grip or the Steve Austin, no… I want that boy scout doll”? The answer is NONE. Not even one, not even as a joke and anyone who tells you different is fibbing. Who was ever going to buy one of these? The best I can think of is a grandparent who lived down in Florida, you know one of those who lives for the early bird special and never gets to see the family very often. I can imagine them wobbling around the local Sears & Roebuck and thinking, “Didn’t whats-her-name’s kid just join the boy scouts?… thought so. Let’s send the little beggar one of these for Christmas they are bound to love it.” Truth be known they didn’t, not for even one moment!
This line is interesting because they were very PC, specially given that it was the 1970s. How so? Well meet Steve’s scouting buddy, Bob. Hi Bob!
You could expand the world of these figures with various playsets, of which there were well over a dozen. Here are a few to give you a taste of the kind of fun they could have.
This set, “Lost in the high country” contains a bunch of gear that any boy scout would need. But many of the sets seem quite unlikely, particularly if you were a scout yourself. I personally do not remember seeing any of these kinds of things when I went out into the woods camping.
A pack-mounted signal launcher?
A metal detector?
A boy scout issue snow mobile?? Hell no! I guess I never was on the Rescue patrol on Crystal Glacier so maybe that is why.
In 1975 there was a second wave of figures. These were some more friends for the troop to join them on their numerous scouting adventures.
Here is Craig Cub and also Dave Cub.
Perfect ethnic balance is restored once again, excellent.
If you look in the lower left corner of the boxes you can see that you could also buy the boys tents as well as the amazing climbing tower which stood a whopping 30″ tall. This was part of the High Adventure Scout Base playset.
This set is quite rare, probably due to its limited popularity when it was released and also the fact that it is so huge.
The dolls themselves vary in price day to day. Given the limited interest you must bide your time and wait for the best price. The African American characters are the rarer members of the set. The scouts will typically set you back at least $50-75, but that could easily pass $100. The Cubs are a lot tougher to track down than their older companions and as a result their price is even more variable. I am guessing the market for the Steve Scout line is mostly limited to those few people who actually had the toys as a kid (poor things). Anyway most of them didn’t ever get around to buying either Dave or Craig. “Enough is enough Grandma, I want a real toy for Christmas this year… give me Oscar Goldman godammit!” OK maybe not quite like that but you know what I mean.
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I feel bad for the poor kid who found these dolls under his tree on Christmas morning. The accessories are kinda cool though. How did they not make the companion Girl Scout doll?
Wow, the Scouts may be lame but I doubt Mr. Austin ever had a back mounted hovering signal disk accessory! Those Adventure Packs were pretty sweet!
Didn’t we play with certain toys because we could not do those events in real life? We played with knights because we could not fight dragons in real life. We played with Han and Luke because we could not blast stormtroopers in real life.
What kind of kid said, “gee, i dream of being able to join a common social organization and go on mandatory camping trips. But since that is so unreal and fantastical, i can pretend with my scout Steve doll.”
One of my favorite comments ever. Perhaps you should have a guest writing spot. Let’s talk