Evel Knievel
Along about 1976, every boy wanted to be Evel Knievel. But since you couldn't, the next best thing was to have the bendable Evel Knievel figure on his motorcycle with that little ramp thingy you revved up to get Evel to roll off down the road. I never had much luck getting my Evel Knievel to travel very far. Usually two or three feet was about it, then ole Evel rolled over on his side. I actually wish I still had one of these things today.
I'm talking the original G.I. Joe from the 1960s and early 1970s, not those little plastic pieces of garbage that fought Cobra in the 1980s. No, none of that science fictiony stuff. I'm talking the real deal, when Joe was the all-American hero soldier. Joe stood a solid 12 inches tall and you could get all kinds of different weapons and clothes and other garb for him. He even had some cool vehicles. My favorite version of G.I. Joe was the one with the beard, pictured below.
Other than maybe the original Star Wars action figures, The Micronauts were the first real science-fiction type figures I remember on the market. They came in a bunch of different sizes, styles and colors. My favorite was the big bad guy, Baron Karza, pictured below. One thing great about The Micronauts was that with all their different styles, it was fun to try and collect as many of them as you could.
The Shogun Warriors were like giants, standing at 2 feet tall. That's big for a kid! They came in plastic, often fired some kind of missiles or other weapons and came in a bunch of different styles and colors. I had three of these monstrosities and they were the coolest ever for a kid back in the '70s. Who else had their own giant robots?
Every boy wanted to be Steve Austin, the Six Million Dollar Man. The TV show was that popular. And the toys sold by the truckloads, I'm sure. While Steve Austin was the main action figure, there were also a handful of others, such as Bigfoot, Oscar Goldman, Fembot and Maskatron. You could even look through Steve's fake glass eye as if you were using his bionic eyesight. Loads of fun.
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