I’ve said basically said all I have to say about Captain Planet before but I was thinking about “one-off” figures (figures where I didn’t have a lot of the whole series) I owned back in the day and it popped into my mind again. So Tiger (of Tiger Electronics fame) made these figures? Interesting…
Flying Captain Planet
As told previously, I only owned two Captain Planet figures: the flying version of Captain Planet himself (with the “flying” feature basically amounting to a button that triggers his arms to spring up above his head as you hold him by a string) and then one of his arch-enemies Duke Nukem. Captain Planet is one of the worst superheroes ever and I’m not even talking about his goody-two shoe personality that would make even Superman roll his eyes– I’m talking about the mullet. I hated mullets then, I hate mullets now and I don’t like my superheroes with mullets. Which I guess you already logically assumed when I first stated that I hated mullets.
Even the world's greatest superhero couldn't pull it off.
These figures were just odd. They stood a good bit taller than most action figures of the day. They easily dwarfed G.I. Joe and they made Ninja Turtles, He-Man and various Marvel & DC figures look like their little brothers. You just couldn’t do anything with them unless you had the whole line of figures. Though looking back, I suppose you could have pretended they were a race of giants.
In addition to their awkward side they couldn’t bend their at the elbows or the knees! That’s always a disappointing lack of vision on the part of toymakers. I don’t want my figures permanently posed to look like they’re trying out for the role of the Mummy or Frankenstein’s Monster. If it wasn’t for K-Mart’s ‘Buy 1, Get 1 for a Penny’ sale, I wouldn’t have these two Captain Planet figures sitting in my apartment today.
Duke Nukem
I have to admit that given the limitations of articulation, Duke Nukem was still a decent figure. He fit well into the giant monster role amongst the rest of my figures and he was glow-in-the-dark! He was still pretty worthless when it came to my using all my action figures as wrestlers!
Tags: 1990s, Action Figures, Captain Planet, Captain Planet and The Planeteers, Toys
Wow, I actually had that Duke Nukem figure. At least he could be used with other figures without looking too out of place. I also had Wheeler, with his sparking action. Try as I might, I could never start a fire using him..