Everyone knows, or should at least be embarrassed that they don’t, that the most major thing scheduled for the 25th century is a big pile of butt kicking courtesy of one Mr. Buck Rogers. Sure other stuff is bound to happen in that one hundred year block of time, it is a big galaxy after all, but in my opinion it all pales in significance.
That being said I am always excited to add new pieces to my Buck Rogers stash I mean it is bound to be worth a fortune four centuries from now.
Anyhoo at the recent Mego Meet that I attended in West Virginia I found a couple of gems. They were actually a couple of figures that I had my eye on since they were released back in 2010. Check this out.
It is an 8″ Mego-style figure of one Captain Buck Rogers. This is a fully articulated figure which has been splendidly decked out in a fabric outfit with a wide selection of plastic and vinyl accessories.
This figure is awesome… seriously.
Just look at the head sculpt, it looks remarkably like the actor Gil Gerard who held the role on the late seventies sci-fi classic TV series, Buck Rogers in the 25th Century. I love that show, corny I know, still I think it is great though.
Buck is not the only character to be produced I mean what is a good guy hero type without a bad guy to battle against? The answer is not much at all.
Meet his evil nemesis… Tiger Man (boooooooo!)
Manufactured by newcomers to the toy field, ZICA out of Kentucky, all I can say is WOW!
The level of detail on Capt. Rogers was great but they knocked it out of the park for Tiger Man here, seriously. It is almost hard to believe that this is just an 8″ figure, how they achieved it is quite an accomplishment. Just look at the tiger tooth necklace, believe it or not each one of those fangs was individually placed on to the thread.
The sword can be removed from the scabbard and the pistol taken from its holster once the strap is unbuckled. I love this kind of thing. Each figure even comes packaged with a baggie containing interchangeable hands in various poses allowing for even more display options. In my book it is small touches like this that move toys from OK to amazing.
As if that was not enough…
… they came packaged in these heavy duty window boxes. The top easily slips off to allow access to the figure within. Held securely in place with twist ties you can remove these no problem thereby letting you take this awesome figure out for display, and of course play-, purposes. I hate it when toys are packaged in such a way that if you want to get a closer look you have to destroy the packaging. It then becomes a debate over open or not open which seems pointless given that the manufacturer could easily design the piece to allow for either. The fact that many don’t is just plain rude if you ask me.
The cherry on top of the cake is that this set of figures runs just $50 and at $25 a piece I think that is an unbelievable value. I lucked out and managed to get my pair for just $40, sweet.
I sincerely hope they produce the rest of the characters shown on the back of the box. Killer Kane and the Draconian Guard look really cool and all of these guys appeared in the original Mego lines produced back in the seventies (click here to see for yourself). I am of course most excited by the addition of Hawk. What a terrible character he was, but he has never been released before so even better.
Before I go I thought I would show you another Buck Rogers piece I picked up not too long ago.
At 10″ tall this is the not too often seen Halloween candy bucket. Produced by A.J. Renzi, a Massachusetts company, it is in the same vein as the Hulk one I showed you a while ago.
The sides of the pail have embossed images of Twiki (which is a terrible likeness by the way) and a starfighter which has been labelled as “space ship” for some reason.
Not worth a ton of money, say $20, but it is a cool nostalgia item and if you are a sci-fi fan like me it is a great display piece.
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Great figures, but where’s the Erin Gray as Wilma Deering figure?
Wow, I have indeed not seen that Buck Halloween caddy before. Pretty cool!
Gary, I’m right there with you. Where’s the Wilma Deering figure? And, David, I agree with you. Hawk is at once terrible and awesome.
Apparently, I am very agreeable today. Pass the Kool Aid. It is my turn to drink.