It's time for the start of another feature, and this time the theme is that there is no theme. This will be a line up of the odds and ends of the toybox, and I'm starting with a perfect storm of offenders, what I call "pilot" figures. I use this as a general term for articulated figures that were not sold on their own, but included with vehicles and playsets as pilots, drivers, or general crew, and then very possibly lingered on without identity or purpose after the toy they came with was lost, broken or forgotten. Whatever their origin, these were the most mysterious and least respected of vintage figures. They were the sidekicks, the hostages, the bystanders COBRA and the stormtroopers gunned down. They were the figures you dropped in boxes, bins and carrying cases with your less used figures, then never quite remembered putting there. They were the ones that got thrown in to a trade for something else, the ones the other kids made fun of, the ones the comic book store wouldn't take. But in your heart you still loved them, and when they were gone you would still wonder what it was you had lost.
Of this genre of figures, I count as the best and purest examples are those included with the Robotix sets. Building toys were the source of many pilot figures, but these are the only ones to come to my attention that are on the "standard" 3.75-4 inch scale. Overall, they are of good enough quality and detail that there really isn't a lot to be said about them. Their size and science-fictional style made them easy to integrate with Star Wars and GI Joe figures, and also made it easy to assume they were part of some relatively high profile action figure line. I personally believed for ages that the pair in my possession were Robotech figures. In fairness, before you throw those rocks, I only ever saw or owned one figure actually from the line. Here's a closeup of the pair:
Meanwhile, the most prolific producer of pilot figures was surely Fisher Price, who notably started before action figures had been established as a market in their own right. The Adventure People line featured some of the first fully-articulated plastic action figures, both as add-ons to vehicles and playsets and sold on card. The toys were innovative enough that other manufacturers simply ripped them off; the lore even tells that Kenner tried out Star Wars designs using Adventure People figures as a reference My one encounter with the line was when I received the Deep Sea Diver figure, which was something like a midway point between a playset and a separately sold figure. It came in a box I still vaguely remember, along with a rubber octopus, a buoy that attached to the diver's helmet and a treasure chest I remember filling with coins, plates and goblets from Playmobil sets. Here's a pic of the diver with the octopus, and a bonus pic of the figure without the helmet, which I still can't resist trying to remove.
Fisher Price inevitably did a science fiction subline, which could be considered a Star Wars ripoff but in this case is more like turnabout/ fair play. I'm somewhat surprised I didn't have any of these, though I saw them in the wild occasionally. Shortly before starting this essay, I finally bought one of the figures from this line, an astronaut that looks more like a robot or deep sea diver. Like the diver, his left hand is shaped to hold an accessory but turned sideways, a pose that may have originally been intended to fit with holding a steering wheel or gear shift. He also shares with the diver a head that clearly has far more detail than can actually be seen. Here's pics of the astronaut with Bossk and another in our line up. the Construx guy.
Construx building sets, also by Fisher Price, was yet another major source of pilot figures. The one shown here can be taken apart and featured interchangeable helmets. I tended to view him as a robot rather than a man, which (for once) didn't make him a lot more interesting. I also have/ had a more conventional figure included with some Construx sets, a generic but well-made man in a blue sort of uniform about 3 inches tall. My first recollection of that little guy was finding him stuffed in the accessory compartment of a Kenner Darth Vader carrying case. For a very long time, I played with him occasionally without any idea what he was. In hindsight, this was more strange than it sounds, as I am now reasonably satisfied he would have come with a boat set I'm sure I received no earlier than my 7th birthday, the time when my memories go from hazy to clear. I had planned to make him the centerpiece of this collection, but unfortunately, I had no luck when I actually went looking for the figure. While I have by no means lost hope, I have let his turn wait for another day.
Meanwhile, pilot figures got a boost from two relatively late lines, Dino Riders and Starcom. These were made at a scale only a little larger than "army men", undoubtedly to keep the vehicles, sets and creatures they came with at an affordable size. In overall quality, they rival even the Robotix figures, with the further edge of 7 points of articulation to those stalwarts' 4. However, the Dino Riders never seemed to reach the mark set by Star Wars, GI Joe, or the emerging TMNT brand, while Starcom would be remembered as a notorious failure. I never got any Dino Riders toys, I suspect because they were more expensive than other dino toys that kept me just as happy, but picked up one of their weird villain/ alien figures many years later. As for Starcom, I traded for a single figure a friend had lying around sometime in later elementary school, and never really cared about getting any more of the line. Here's some pics of this pair with other figures, including the Arco/ Rogun bots and the Truckstop Queen.
"Sorry, but we live on 2 different scales. Also, I already have a boyfriend, and he's a Wampa."
Now for last and to me the best. Soon after the Adventure People hit the scene, Tonka produced a line of "Play People" action figures to go with their larger vehicles. In researching for this piece, I found out they were sold separately or in pairs, but I believe that the ones I played with all came with vehicles, particularly a van/ camper set I still have around. I am sure there were at least two or perhaps three, including what I took for a woman in an orange suit that was already fading to a peach color. Any figure that would match is long gone. What I do still have is a helmeted driver I call "Carl" that I now know was included with a 1979 race car set. Here he is with a pair of Husky Helper figures that probably should have been in this group all along.
Looking at him now, he's better than I remembered. I was particularly impressed to find that the head can turn as well as going up and down, where most figures could only do one or the other.
I have absolutely no memory of this guy with the race car, which probably would have been given to my older brother if we ever had it at all. What I do remember is that I once tried to trade him at a comic book store, only to be turned down. I then had a further misadventure where I lost him at a restaurant while having lunch after. At that point, I was determined enough to look until I found him, and took him home again.
Some time after that, I was playing with the Husky figure shown here on the right, which is in fact undoubtedly the most heavily used figure I own. At one point, I intended to make the second Husky his sidekick, and started an adventure that would have introduced them to each other. However, the arch villain (played by Bossk) got an overwhelming advantage so early even the other Husky couldn't save the day. Then, by the wonders of retconning, Carl came to the rescue, and got both his name and super powers in the process. Soon enough, it was Carl who went with Husky on most of his adventures, until I practically forgot I had tried to get rid of him. Such is the power of the imagination, and the generic action figure.
Here's the links for this installment:
This Old Toy guide to Construx and Adventure People figures, as well as just about anything else Fisher Price related.
A BattleGrip overview of Play People, short but by far the best I could find on the subject.
Toy Galaxy's videos on Starcom and Dino Riders
There's Kate again. She's so tall.
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