orguss01 Posted May 23, 2004 Share Posted May 23, 2004 Hey guys , me and my bro were just talking about how DOPE the 80's were, aside from the fact that we were about to get nuked.. but any way the topic of these little figures came up, They were similar in size to the old M.A.S.k. figures ( the variable vehicle serries) 2-3.5" but they were army dudes, they had guns, minimal articulation, Not G.U.T.S., they were not solid blobs of plastic...if anyone can help me i just would like to know what they are called...we did a search for 80's toys but the sorting is rdclus, so i thought some of my fellow 80's kids out there could help.. thanks guys. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Hingtgen Posted May 23, 2004 Share Posted May 23, 2004 Most people would tell you to check yesterdayland.com, but they're gone now (which truly sucks, they had every 80's toy---they were like x-entertainment, but done seriously and as a true reference source) More details? Colors, materials, etc? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zeo-mare Posted May 23, 2004 Share Posted May 23, 2004 hi i was looking all over ebay and other places for anything similar, do you have any other reference's you can give up , were they standard army? futuristic? what little quirks did they have that made them stand out among the other toys in your mind? The only other toy i could think off with little figures I think was called StarCom they had little magnets in their feet they were little soldiers as well, if i recall Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Damaramu Posted May 23, 2004 Share Posted May 23, 2004 Was it perhaps Eagle Force??? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JsARCLIGHT Posted May 23, 2004 Share Posted May 23, 2004 Holy CRAP! Eagle Force rules! I thought I was the only person that remembered those!!! I had a bunch of them, as they were around before GI Joe came out. When GI Joe came out I started collecting them instead as they where better toys but DAMN! Eagle Force! Yet another reason Mego was the king of the toy isle... ... until those damn upstarts Hasbro and Kenner came in with their licensed toys... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Damaramu Posted May 23, 2004 Share Posted May 23, 2004 Hehe...yup, I remember Eagle Force quite well. My friends and I used to play with them all the time....until GI Joe.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Opus Posted May 23, 2004 Share Posted May 23, 2004 I always looked at those, but I never actually bought any. I remeber they had a really cool mountain/base playset thingy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Knight26 Posted May 23, 2004 Share Posted May 23, 2004 I had the whole Eagle Force collection as a kid, they were so cool, especially the vehciles, plus they were great army builders, just swap heads. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bandit29 Posted May 23, 2004 Share Posted May 23, 2004 Ya I had those figures lol. Weren't they mostly made of die cast? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Golden Arms Posted May 23, 2004 Share Posted May 23, 2004 sky commanders, wind raiders, dino riders ???? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Knight26 Posted May 23, 2004 Share Posted May 23, 2004 yeah they were diecast with rubber heads Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ewilen Posted May 23, 2004 Share Posted May 23, 2004 Most people would tell you to check yesterdayland.com, but they're gone now (which truly sucks, they had every 80's toy---they were like x-entertainment, but done seriously and as a true reference source) I don't know if this would help, but it might: http://www.archive.org/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
orguss01 Posted May 24, 2004 Author Share Posted May 24, 2004 (edited) OH YEAH THATS THEM!!! Damaramu is THE MAN That is them, my brother had me thinking i was trippin.... i was like """yeah they were army guys about the size of MASK dudes.... and they had AK's, UZI's and sh-t!!! When I told him i think they were die cast , he started to laugh and said "you wish" HA now i can sleep... ahhhhhh sh-t! another line to follow on Ebay ,.. Thanks 80' s kids I love you guys.. I LOVE MACORSS WORLD What is the sacle on these guys anyway?? Hey guys found this ...take ya back ..EAGLE FORCE!!!!!!!!! Edited May 24, 2004 by orguss01 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Agent ONE Posted May 24, 2004 Share Posted May 24, 2004 Big Bro is my favorite http://www.evilface.com/eagleforce/bigbro.htm It reminds me of the movie, GI Bro... "If you're a Kraut, he'll take you out!" Originally titled: "Quel maledetto treno blindato (1977)" http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0076584/ He was like a 70's 'Ho beatin' pimp' who runs through a tropical jungle killing nazis... which of course, makes perfect sense. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wolfx Posted May 24, 2004 Share Posted May 24, 2004 (edited) Well...anybody has a 80's 90's toys website? I'm still looking for that toyline which has the plastic statues and has transforming tanks/gunboats etc. Still can't find it for the life of me. The toy soldiers....one side was white/off-white and brown details while the other side was back with red details. Edited May 24, 2004 by wolfx Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blaine23 Posted May 24, 2004 Share Posted May 24, 2004 Yet another reason Mego was the king of the toy isle...... until those damn upstarts Hasbro and Kenner came in with their licensed toys... Eagle Force was awesome... But never let it be said that Mego didn't know licensing. All the DC and Marvel characters, Tarzan, Planet of the Apes, Chips, Dukes of Hazzard... Mego had all the cool licenses... they just ran a crappy company and failed to innovate quick enough. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JsARCLIGHT Posted May 24, 2004 Share Posted May 24, 2004 But you have to admit that 1978 changed the toy world forever. All my toys until that point were, for lack of a better word, dolls. They had cloth clothes, fuzzy beards, tons of accessories and were huge. The toy world turned on it's ear with the dawn of "action figures". That was also the point where toys transitioned from imagination driven to license driven. Some companies like Kenner went from nothing to kings of the toy isle in one year... not because of their innovations or designs but because of their licenses. Mego made a lot of mistakes but they were still victims of the "Brave New Toy World" that dawned. Licensed toys before 1978 were there yes but they were not the whole kit and kaboodle. Post 1978 almost every wildly successfuly toy line has been a license... and it has only gotten worse as time has gone on. Nowadays it all about what license you have and not about what innovations you can make. Most companies opt to just purchase a license rather than spend time developing and risk loss on a unique property. Those that do risk their own inventions sometimes hit it big but most of the time they rot on the shelves. It all comes back to kids today wanting what they see on TV and not necessarily wanting good toys. But none of that has to do with Eagle Force... which still rocks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blaine23 Posted May 24, 2004 Share Posted May 24, 2004 But you have to admit that 1978 changed the toy world forever. All my toys until that point were, for lack of a better word, dolls. They had cloth clothes, fuzzy beards, tons of accessories and were huge. The toy world turned on it's ear with the dawn of "action figures". That was also the point where toys transitioned from imagination driven to license driven. Some companies like Kenner went from nothing to kings of the toy isle in one year... not because of their innovations or designs but because of their licenses. Mego made a lot of mistakes but they were still victims of the "Brave New Toy World" that dawned. Licensed toys before 1978 were there yes but they were not the whole kit and kaboodle. Post 1978 almost every wildly successfuly toy line has been a license... and it has only gotten worse as time has gone on. Nowadays it all about what license you have and not about what innovations you can make. Most companies opt to just purchase a license rather than spend time developing and risk loss on a unique property. Those that do risk their own inventions sometimes hit it big but most of the time they rot on the shelves. It all comes back to kids today wanting what they see on TV and not necessarily wanting good toys.But none of that has to do with Eagle Force... which still rocks. What you're saying is totally true, however, Mego really didn't fall victim to licensing problems. Really where they failed was marketing. Basically it really started with He-Man. The prepackaged toy and cartoon made this huge impact because of the direct marketing to afterschool TV. GI Joe, Transformers, etc... all followed suit. All of a sudden, it was way uncool to have a toy that didn't have a cartoon, a comic, and a million other tie-ins. Kenner was essentially just like Mego. A toy company with a good license, but Mego wasn't able to use it's position as the largest toy company at the time to follow the new trend and keep up with Hasbro, Mattel, etc. I'm with you on how much that sucks, though. Bearded soldiers rule. So do metal erector sets and when kids made things out of legos that didn't involve Harry Potter or Star Wars. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JsARCLIGHT Posted May 24, 2004 Share Posted May 24, 2004 Marketing is in the same bag as licensing to me... I'm a marketing person, I work with the license to make the product. So when I said "License" I also meant the marketing that follows behind it. It is too easy to market a licensed product anyway as you generally sell based on the license. Harry Potter, Star Wars, GI Joe... they sell themselves. Erector does not, you have to "push" Erector. I bet if Eagle Force had had a TV show and a blitz it might have been the rival of GI Joe... but then again Star Wars was sort of the opposite of GI Joe. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
do not disturb Posted May 24, 2004 Share Posted May 24, 2004 mego made cool batman toys.....i wish i had them now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blaine23 Posted May 24, 2004 Share Posted May 24, 2004 Marketing is in the same bag as licensing to me... I'm a marketing person, I work with the license to make the product. So when I said "License" I also meant the marketing that follows behind it. It is too easy to market a licensed product anyway as you generally sell based on the license. Harry Potter, Star Wars, GI Joe... they sell themselves. Erector does not, you have to "push" Erector. I bet if Eagle Force had had a TV show and a blitz it might have been the rival of GI Joe... but then again Star Wars was sort of the opposite of GI Joe. I'm with ya. I took your original post to mean that Mego didn't have good licenses, when the majority of what they did was built on some incredible licenses - like the World's Greatest Superheroes. When else has one company made both Marvel and DC comic characters? Pretty much never. However, now that I understand what you meant - there's still no reason to run around saying "you have to 'push' Erector"... it just sounds perverted. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ewilen Posted May 24, 2004 Share Posted May 24, 2004 1978, what was I doing then? Ah yes, I had just learned about wargaming, and any remaining interest in toys or models was now being directed to boxes full of cardboard chits, multipage rulebooks, and paper boards. I didn't return to the toy fold until recently, and what do I see: so many licensed toys which are made to look good on the shelf and create an almost unbearable sense of "must have", but which really have very little play value. I'm thinking of those all those semi-static figures which punch their fists or make a sound when you press a button. Many of those are probably fine for adults who want something to display, but I doubt they hold kids' interest very long. I remember spending entire afternoons on GI Joe adventures or Best of the West shootouts with my friends. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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