Toy Review: Fisher Price Adventure People X-Ray Man and X-Ray Woman

1982 rolled around, and I was in the golden age of my toy-loving childhood.  This was smack in the middle of  the Star Wars merchandising revolution, Mego was importing the Micronauts from Japan (called Micromen there), Masters of the Universe was hitting its stride, and Transformers was right over the horizon.    In the middle of all this was Fisher Price - that venerable old toy maker - trying to figure out how to capture the hearts of boys everywhere in the midst of all that Sci-Fi glory.  Luckily for them, they had gotten in on the ground floor of the small action figure market that was just beginning to surface.  For sure, many people will remember Star Wars as their gateway into collecting 3-3/4 inch action figures, but Fisher Price was ahead by a couple years on Kenner, releasing their first Adventure People set in 1975.

However, Star Wars was not without its influence on the figures that came later.  Fisher Price did venture into Science Fiction land with a variety of Adventure People toys.  Mostly, these were sets that included vehicles and figures to go along with them.  The themes of these sets were always non-violent, and mostly focused on exploration, with some occasional meetings with alien beings.  Two of these are the subject of today's review - the X-Ray Man and X-Ray Woman.

Released in 1982, these two figures were packaged as individually carded toys, and were not included in any sets.  They are actually recolored figures of male and female wetsuit divers, and this kind of re-use of molds was not uncommon in the Adventure People line.  Both had hard plastic transparent green torsos, clear green  vinyl arms and legs, and solid green heads.  I suppose the idea of being able to see through their skulls might have been considered to be somewhat scary to kids at the time.  

The eyes were just simple yellow dots, and the chests were printed with some form of robotic controls.  

I think I can honestly say that their hair represents the only instance in which I might appreciate the color periwinkle.  I guess androids like puffy hair.

The torsos were really quite transparent, though the vinyl was a bit more cloudy.

Almost all Adventure People figures are sculpted with the left arm and hand turned so as to be able to grip a steering wheel.  The left legs are usually made so that the toys look as though they are beginning to take a step forward.  These designs gave the figures a sense of dynamism that the actual articulation lacked.  The heads are on a nice ball joint that allows them to look at their toes, but sadly, the arms and legs are on simple swivel joints.

Stepping outside for a moment, you can really see how these figures react in bright light.

These two were very cool additions to the Adventure People space sub-line.  I remember having a lot of fun with these, especially given that with their size and styling, it wasn't at all a stretch to place one of these in an X-Wing and go zooming around the room.  Good old simple toys that fired up the imagination were just my cup of tea - in 1982 and today.

Toy Review: Popy GB-42 Mechanic Lightan (2007 Bandai reissue)

It's time to revisit one of my very favorite toy lines with another of Bandai's reissues of the wonderful early 80s's Golden Warrior Gold Lightan toys.  In my very first review, I gave an overview to the main character, Gold Lightan, a giant golden robot whose alternate form is that of a pocket cigarette lighter.  Yup, it was 1981, and I guess smoking was still pretty darn common, so perhaps a lighter would have been an adequate disguise.  We all know the tobacco industry has been trying to hook kids for years.  Maybe they were busy luring Japanese youth with huge fighting robots and chogokin toys?

Anyway, the subject of today's review is a subsequent Lightan toy, Mechanic Lightan.  Reissued by Bandai in 2007, this toy was originally one of Popy's releases in its GB Chogokin line.  Mechanic Lightan served in an assistant role in the original television series, acting as a repair bot for the rest of the Lightan team.

In lighter form, Mechanic is a bit shorter than his big brother Gold Lightan, but is wider and stouter.  The toy has greater weight, as there is less hollow space inside.  You'll see why in a bit.  This lighter has a rounded top, but still retains the signature "crystal cut" surface that also adorns Gold Lightan.  There are quite a few seams and some hinges visible in this mode.

A look at the underside reveals the GB-42 code, and an indicator that this is a reissue, rather than an original.  No matter, it's purported to be a faithful reproduction.  You can also see many more seams here as well.  This is where we'll start his transformation to robot mode.

Flipping some of these panels open reveals three wheel pods with a total of four wheels.  Most of the toy is heavy diecast metal, and these wheels are made of the same stuff.

Mechanic Lightan sits upright on these wheels quite well, and he rolls freely on them.

A simple flip of the lighter's top and the robot's head is exposed.  The plastic is a deep metallic blue with silver and yellow accents.  Note the red plastic button on top of the head and the spring-loaded support arm for the top.  It's like the supports on the hoods of many modern cars!

Pressing the red button pops open Mechanic Lightan's chest.  Hidden inside are a variety of moving parts.

Swinging the chest panels all the way out to the sides, one can then fold out two manipulator arms.  These red plastic parts are mounted on silver chromed extenders.

One use for these arms is as firing missile launchers.  These utilize very small missiles that can be fired when the button on top is pressed.

Opening the chest up allows you to get at Mechanic Lightan's array of tools.  These are, amazingly, also made of the same gold diecast from which most of the rest of the toy is constructed.

There's a flat-head screwdriver, drill bit, Phillips head screwdriver, and then a socket wrench.  Each is about three quarters of an inch high.

Each can fit in the missile launcher's opening in place of a missile, thus allowing Mechanic Lightan to make needed repairs.

The blue carrying compartment can even be tilted forward to allow for easier access to the tools.

Mechanic Lightan's got quite a lot of features and gimmicks, and his weight is substantial due to copious amounts of diecast metal.  He's fantastic hand candy and a lot of fun to play with.  A reproduction piece like this is certainly aimed at the adult collector's market, but this is a real honest-to-goodness toy.  I love these guys!

Toy Review: Tonka Gobots Loco

Anyone who was a fan of boys' toys in the 1980's will know of the Gobots.  Usually, they will tell you that Tonka's Gobots were the poor cousin of Hasbro's Transformers toys.  In many ways, they would be correct.  The Gobots never had the same level of popular appeal, and generally the Gobots toys were seen as less complex compared to the Transformers.  Yet, there were quite a few of us who loved both lines and owned quite a few of these "lesser" toys. 

The Gobots were released from between 1983 and 1987 (and the rights to the Gobots name was later actually acquired by Hasbro in 1991).  Like how Hasbro imported Takara's designs for the  Transformers toys, Tonya similarly marketed Bandai's Machine Robo toys as the Gobots in the USA.  These were usually figures around three inches tall, made of hard plastic and die-cast metal, often with chrome accents, along with simplistic transformations.  This simplicity was all part of the charm, though, as these toys could be changed during actual play.  These were toys that were perfect for rough play and for carrying around in a pocket.  Tokya provided a set of factions so that kids could make their favorite characters battle it out, but I personally never much paid attention to all that.  The toys were fun, and that was what I cared about.

The subject of today's review is Loco, a glossy black steam engine that folds out into a robot.  In this case, "folding" is a fairly appropriate term, as that is basically what Loco does in order to change forms.  Firstly, here's Loco in robot mode.  The torso and head are black-painted die-cast metal, and and make Loco fairly heavy for its size.  My toy has seen a fair amount of play, and so the various corners have been roughed up a bit over the years.  The arms and legs are black-molded plastic, and chrome accents are present on the lower legs, as well as the face.  Some crisply-printed stickers give him some greater detailing.

A side view affords a better glimpse of the chromed wheels, as well as red-chromed accents on the legs and sides of the head.

Loco's kind of a formal-looking gent.  His legs evoke straight-legged suit pants.  A little bit of gold paint adds that extra-classy touch.

To begin the transformation to train mode, set Loco in a neutral pose.

Push the arms in at the sides like so.

Next, begin to fold the legs up at the hips.

Flip Loco over and you've got a cool little steam engine!  He's only about two inches long in this mode, and there are some small wheels underneath to allow Loco to roll along.

There's plenty of detail in this small package. 

The Gobots were good old classic toys, and Loco's a great example.  Loads of fun from the era when transforming was the main gimmick that a robot might feature.  Yeah, Loco's not a Transformer, but it's pretty sweet nonetheless.

Toy Review: Fisher Price Adventure People Alpha Interceptor

It's time for something a little different.  Today's review is of a nearly thirty-year old Fisher Price toy.  From around 1974 and for the following decade, Fisher Price produced three inch sized figures and playsets under the "Adventure People" line.  This line had no particular focus, starting with early sets like "Rescue Truck", "Daredevil Sports Plane", and "T.V. Action Team."  These toys hit the street before Star Wars action figures did, and were the first such toys that I could remember.  Eventually, though, Fisher Price had to get on the space bandwagon, as Star Wars was just steamrollering its way through the toy market, and those who didn't adapt were going to be left in the dust.

So, a few years later, one birthday, I opened up a present to find inside the Fisher Price Alpha Interceptor.  Unusually, I was completely surprised by this toy, never having seen it in any catalog at any point (yes, this was quite a long time before the Web, and obsessive fan-boys poring over Internet toy rumors).  I had a few of the other space Adventure People sets, and I was extremely happy to have received this one as well.  Tearing into it, I noticed that it was being sold as an "Adventure Kit."  In this case, all that meant was that it didn't come completely assembled already.  One had to grab a phillips-head screwdriver and put a very small number of parts together.  Still, that and adding stickers made it more than just a fun toy to play with.

The Alpha Interceptor was a medium-sized space vehicle, with a slick design.  Unlike many contemporary space-toy makers, Fisher Price actually managed to avoid recycling space toy ideas that were floating around a decade before.  As nice as the Major Matt Mason toys were, in a post-Star Wars era, that design sense was just no longer fashionable.  The toy featured a main ship body, and a smaller patrol-type craft that could separate from it.  

The cockpit could seat the single male astronaut figure that came with the set.  Note the positioning of the arms and hands on the figure.  This was pretty standard for Adventure People  action figures, and it allowed them to grip control sticks or steering wheels in the various vehicles the figures came with.  

The designers went out of their way to add interesting little bits of detail here and there like this recessed engine compartment.

Normal for the day were stickers like these that added to the look of the toy.  Nowadays such a toy would feature these graphics printed directly on the plastic surface, but not so then.  This particular one was likely "factory applied," but most of the rest needed to be placed on by hand.

Quite a few thrusters adorn the rear of the vehicle.  It was definitely built for speed.

I remember feeling as if I could use the Alpha Interceptor along with my Star Wars toys.  The design seemed perfectly in-line with them.

The underside is where you can see the screws I've mentioned above.  Despite the model-like need to assemble the parts, this was definitely a toy, with rigid plastic and built for rugged play.

Here's the smaller patrol craft separated from its larger carrier.  In the above photo, you can see also that the smaller craft was able to rotate 360 degrees when seated inside.

Cockpit details were many, but were left unpainted or adorned with stickers.

If you were lucky, you'd manage to get the stickers on nice and straight.

A neat feature that Fisher Price added was a simple space walk tether made of stiff, but flexible plastic.  It had a + shape at the end designed so that each point of the shape could be inserted in a hole on the surface of the vehicle. 

The other end of the tether could be inserted into the back of the astronaut.  This gave a fairly convincing impression of the astronaut floating in space.

The astronaut himself is a standard "three and three quarters" sized poseable action figure.  Articulation is limited to shoulder and hip joints to allow the figure's limbs to move forward and back.  Having arms positioned to drive a vehicle is pretty cool - at least when actually in the vehicle - but they look somewhat awkward otherwise.

The transparent helmet faceplate cannot be removed or opened, so there is no possibility of head movement.  The ends of the binocular-like protrusions originally had gold chrome accents.  Sadly, this specimen is lacking in bling.

Silver painted gloves and black accents have seen better days, but this only means this toy actually got played with!

It's hard to tell, but the soles of the boots were painted silver as well.

The astronaut's backpack had some gold and silver chrome accents as well.  These ones have fared a bit better, and the big printed three is perfectly intact.  Generally, vacuum-metalized plastic doesn't hold up too well to prolonged handling, but I think most kids would agree that it looks pretty cool.

Some older Adventure People toys got awfully loose at the joints, but our astronaut still can hold a pose and stay stable in it, even if all he's doing is sitting down.

Unfortunately, as a collector wanting to go back and maybe pick up a few old sets for the sake of nostalgia, the Adventure People toys are quite expensive these days.  Sets that probably went for about fifteen to twenty dollars in the mid 70s are now sold for more than a hundred dollars on Ebay.  Ah well, maybe one day I'll tire of robots and monsters enough to trade them in for a few more of these.  Hmmm, probably not, but it sure is nice to have this little bit of my childhood waiting there for me and my kids in my toy room.  I remember the Adventure People with great fondness, and thank my loving parents for a nice birthday surprise that I still remember to this day!