Wednesday, June 05, 2013

Collectible of the Week: Clash of the Titans Action Figures (Mattel; 1981)



In 1981, Mattel acquired the license to the epic Ray Harryhausen fantasy film, Clash of the Titans, and produced a nice line of 3-inchaction figures and toys based on the stop-motion spectacle. 

Today, many of these toys -- particularly the Greek mythology-inspired “monsters” or “beasts” -- are worth a pretty penny and considered collectors’ items.


In terms of the action figures, Mattel produced Perseus -- Harry Hamlin’s character -- described on his card as “The Hero Son of Zeus,” and the film’s secondary villain, the deformed, devil-like Calibos (“Lord of the Marsh.”) 

It also produced Thallo (“Captain of the Guard”), and Charon (“The Devil’s Boat Keeper.”)  I had all of these figures, except for Charon.  I still have them in my home office, sharing a shelf with figures from Captain Power, Mork and Mindy, The Black Hole, and Dune.

Mattel also manufactured a Clash of the Titans set featuring Perseus and Pegasus (“The Winged Horse), and best of all…the monstrous destroyer of cities, the Kraken.  I remember being in fifth grade and wanting that Kraken toy more than anything, but I never managed to get my hands on one.



I don’t know that these Clash of the Titans figures were all that successful commercially, but they came with nice accouterments (like gold shields and swords), and I always hoped for a second release featuring action figures like Medusa, Bubo, Andromeda, Zeus, Poseidon, and so on.  

4 comments:

  1. Wish I still had mine. I was one of those kids who played with his toys till they broke and lost all their accessories.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous11:18 AM

    As a boy in '81, I never purchased these Mattel Clash Of The Titan toys, however, I can see why all the other kids did. These action figures are great. I was still into the Star Trek The Motion Picture, Filmation Flash Gordon and Buck Rogers In The 25th Century action figures in '81.

    SGB

    ReplyDelete
  3. If they would've made a Medusa action figure, my allowance couldn't have disappeared fast enough.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Oh man, I wanted these toys sooooo badly when I was a kid. This was one of my favorite flicks for the longest time. Pegasus looked so darn cool. I always thought there was a Medusa figure... but that must have been wishful thinking. I actually saw a Calibos figure in a toy bin at the doctor's office about seven or eight years ago. A little boy was having him beat up on a little push bear. I think I did a triple take just to make sure I was seeing the figure. It was pretty beat up, but still in one piece and still identifiable as Calibos.

    ReplyDelete

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