Arnold Schwarzenegger's 1993 film Last Action Hero will probably never go down in history as one of his better movies. The film itself was written to be a parody of action movies of the era, but unfortunately the joke was lost on the majority of movie goers. Many saw it as a poorly written action film that said farewell to Schwarzenegger's career as the top action star he was in the 80's.
Preparing for the film to be a huge success, Mattel licensed the rights to produce a line of toys. It turned out to be a poor marketing move. With the film a flop, it left several toys on pegs which were eventually moved to the clearance isle.
As far as action figures go, they weren't bad. The sculpts were pretty spot on for their time, and the packaging was rather eye catching, done in the same artistic style as the movie poster itself.
Seven figures were produced including one variant. Out of those seven figures, four were based off of Schwarzenegger's character, Jack Slatter. The one variant being another Jack Slatter figure, which was packed with either black or white handcuffs. Each figure came packed with an incredible amount of accessories - Though they didn't necessarily pertain to the film.
The figures produced were;
Axe Swingin' Ripper
Dynamite Jack Slater
Evil Eye Benedict
Heat Packin' Jack
Hook Launchin' Danny
Skull Attack Jack
Undercover Jack (Black and White Handcuff Variants)
Two vehicles were also produced, Evil Eye Roadster and Slater's Convertible. Each vehicle came in a medium size rectangular box, also depicted with fantastic artwork.
The film may have been a flop, and on the first release, the figures may not have impressed many either. However, from a collector's standpoint, these are far from the worst figures we've ever seen. In fact, with regards to accuracy in sculpting, they're pretty good. They're definitely worth a second consideration for action figure collector's looking to purchase something new.
Join us next time when we take a look at Our Gang!
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I absolutely love this movie! I remember getting all of the Burger King cups when the movie was in theaters. I never saw them in stores back in 93'. Now I'm going to have to look out for these toys!
ReplyDeleteThis is definitely a set of figures that we appreciate more today than we did when the movie first came out. They're a great toy line for any collector's collection.
ReplyDeleteOh I agree. The movie might have done poorly, but I always loved it as it mixed the typical action movie of the 80's with a bit of fantasy elements. I just watched it again yesterday & was thinking of the un-tapped potential of the toyline. With these figures, you can take any other movie toy figures of a similiar size/scale & play together with them, having the villains be here because of Benedict. I have to track down these figures now, I imagine there's not a lot of people to fight against for them as the general populace didn't care for the film.
DeleteHmmm....I wonder if Mattel's Demolitin Man figures are the same scale? That'd make for a cool cross-over!
Thanks for the comment. They are indeed the same scale as Demolition Man. You can check out our post on that here;
Deletehttp://thetoybox1138.blogspot.com/2013/03/demolition-man-mattel.html
There was also a large talking figure of Arnold in this toyline!
ReplyDeleteI did get a complete dynamite Jack Slater for a dollar the other day! He's pretty cool! Now, I came across this toy ad of some un produced figures and a playset. What do you know about it? https://youtu.be/qCQr4CkK70Y
ReplyDeleteNot much I'm afraid. This isn't a line that has been on my radar for some time now.
DeleteWHOA! Never saw that commercial before and it's crazy to me they would make a commerical for products they never released. Whiskers, Evil Eye Benedict w/Attack Dog and that cool Play set all looked to be nice additions to the line.
DeleteIncase my last comment didn’t go through. There was a variant for evil eye benedict. One with his case open and one closed. Also 2-3 figure gift set boxes were made. Check eBay last action hero gift sets. Good luck getting the convertible
ReplyDeleteThanks for the heads up. Time to go on the hunt.
DeleteThey also had an evil eye Benedict toy, same as the one pictured but his case is closed and came with a small sheet of eye stickers. Plus 3 different gift sets. One is the hero gift set which included jacks convertible and dynamite Jack, the other evil gift set included Benedict’s roadster and figure. The last was the heroic 3 pack that came with 3 Jack figures. I have them all except the heroic 3 pack.
ReplyDeleteThanks. I'll have to see if I can track those down.
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