Kenner / Toltoys Indiana Jones Figures
Nothing screams “Buy Me!” more than a sticker telling you about a fabulous free toy you can’t get. While those lucky little sods stateside were sending off three POPs (Proof of Purchase) by the truck-load for their “Free Belloq”, little Aussie kids were only allowed to dream about ever owning the famed French archeologist the German’s called Bellosh.
Kenner’s Indy line was famous for completely stuffing up the case ratios in the release of the first four figures, heaps of Tohts and Cairo Swordsmen and bugger-all Indys and Marions.
I have a mate who recalls standing in Adelaide’s largest toy store searching through an entire wall of Tohts and Swordsman for either of the other toy and coming up empty. The figures were not re-ordered by the retailers in the quantities hoped, and the line died a slow death after a second release of five new characters.
The sluggish sales were likely the reason Toltoys opted out of printing their own cards, so we received the US versions with a corrective sticker attached telling us not to send of POPs to the US, although I wonder how many Aussie kids did? Tears before bedtime if they did!
So here we are all these years later and Indy is back on the big screen, and the first four Kenner Indy figures with the Australian sticker attached are now among of the rarest and most sought-after variations in the Indy collecting world.
The Marion Ravenwood shown here is the only completely sealed version found to date I believe. The Cairo Swordsman isn’t pictured, hopefully one of the Toltoys Mafia will send me a pic after reading this 🙂
Cheers!
Will
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