Though I hadn’t seen the movie yet, I desperately wanted an Indiana Jones figure when I was 11, simply because he looked like a badass.
The leather jacket. The bullwhip. The satchel. (Okay, it’s a murse.)
I was too afraid to watch Raiders of the Lost Ark because I had seen one of those face-melting ghosts in a trailer, so I left the adventures of Indiana Jones to my imagination.
In 1982, Kenner released a line of Indiana Jones action figures and playsets that looked pretty cool. I would have started collecting them, even without having seen the movie, but there was one problem:
I could never find the toy of Indiana Jones himself.
At least, not the version of Indy in his iconic gear. Stores were always sold out of him—well, they did have the version of Indy disguised as a German soldier, but that wasn’t really Indiana Jones.
If I couldn’t get the main character, why would I want to start collecting figures of secondary characters like Bald German Mechanic or Baron Von Meltyhead?
Therefore, I decided to pass on Raiders toys. I mean, why buy a German Mechanic figure if I couldn’t find an Indy to kick him in the Nazis?
A few years later, I finally saw Raiders on VHS, loved it, and regretted never having bought the toys. I searched everywhere for them, but all I could scrounge up were Sallah and the aforementioned Indy in German Soldier Disguise, on clearance at Kay-Bee Toys at the Los Cerritos Center mall.
When Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom came out in 1984, LJN released three figures that were pretty terrible.
Indy (below, right, with removable hat, machete, whip, and satchel) looked like Bob Crane with short lower legs. Sadly, it would be the only action figure I’d have of the dashing university professor for years.
The LJN line also included Mola Ram (above, left), with removable headpiece, staff, and dagger (which I can’t find), and a Thugee Guard (above, center), with pickaxe, saber, and a button on its back for some arm-swinging action.
The back of the cards promised two more figures to come—Willie Scott and Short Round—but alas, those never materialized.
Never truly satisfied with the LJN Indy figure, I embarked on a quest for my own holy grail: the 12” Indiana Jones figure by Kenner that had been released in 1982 and quickly disappeared from store shelves.
I had seen one at a friend’s house and coveted it like a lusty heathen. It had a real leather-ish jacket. A bullwhip. A pistol. And it actually looked like Harrison Ford.
It didn’t come with a murse, though.
I finally found a mint-in-box specimen at a toy show in Anaheim in 1989, after Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade came out. Paid a premium for the then-seven-year-old toy, but it was worth it to me.
I carefully removed it from the box but kept the box. Loved everything about it.
Except for the hat.
For some reason, Kenner gave Indy a floppy felt hat that could not retain the shape of his fedora. It was frustrating to see the globetrotting archaeologist looking more like Gilligan in a dirty bucket hat.
If adventure has a name…
I found a brown, flocked, plastic cowboy hat for dolls at Michaels and used that as a substitute for the years Indy spent on a shelf at my parents’ house. Unfortunately, leaving it out on a shelf all these years allowed the sun to bleach some of the plastic. His left hand now has a gangrenous, pale green tint.
Even with the release of Hasbro’s Indiana Jones line in 2008, I still think that this 1982 Kenner Indiana Jones 12” figure is the best plastic rendition of the character—even if it did come with a floppy hat.
I put it back into the box to try to sell it for charity last Christmas, but there have been no takers so far, so I guess I get to enjoy it for a little while longer.
This toy is now 38 years old. It’s probably older than half of my Facebook friends.
Did you collect any Indiana Jones toys? Which ones? Share your stories in the comments!
