Bucky O'Hare (Hasbro)

"Did you say, Bucky?"

"I said, Bucky"

"BUCKY O'HARE!"

How many similarities can you find between G.I. Joe and Bucky O'Hare? Think hard, there are a lot.

Yes, they were both comic books. Yes, they were both cartoon shows of the eighties. Yes, they both had their own video games. Now for one you probably didn't know. They were both the brain children of Larry Hama.


Hama created Bucky O'Hare initially to be a star in his own comic book series. While the series was mildly successful, it did't survive the dramatic changes that took place within the comic book industry in the early 80's.

It wouldn't be until 1991 until the cartoon series was brought to life by Sunset Animation Studios, bringing the series to both the U.S. and U.K. in the form of Saturday morning cartoons that the series would catch a break. Like all Saturday morning toons, you can't have a cartoon without a toy line. After all, one could easily argue that the shows were nothing more than half hour long commercials for the toys.

Most of the major characters represented in the show were produced and released by Hasbro that same year along with two vehicles (one for each side - bad/good guys). While the toys sold fairly well, it is rumored that Hasbro themselves were the cause of the eventual tanking of the line.

"Toad Air Marshall" action figure not only sold poorly, but was shipped in higher quantities than other figures, like Bucky. Stores would order a case of toys and the more popular (less in quantity) figures would sell first, leaving the shelves filled with Toad Air Marshall, and no room/desire for stores to order more Bucky figures. This translated to poor action figure sales, and no second wave of figures.

Perhaps the most memorable "item" to spawn from the Bucky O'Hare series was the Konami arcade machine which allowed players to control Bucky, Jenny, Deadeye or Blinky in a format similar to the arcade games based on Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles or The Simpsons. Perhaps to satisfy fans, and bring closure to the series, the plot of the arcade game allowed players to achieve final victory over the toads by releasing an energy called the Interplanetary Life Force contained within KOMPLEX. This last hurrah to the series also featured the original voice cast.

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