Who was your first action figure?

[Burtonnut]

Since I started collecting in 2011, which is the same year I became a fan (born in '88), I wanted to know who was the first character they've ever gotten?

Here's what mine dealed with: My mom had bought random action figures for my older brother at various yard sales when we were younger and some of them I've never even seen, but thought they were cool (I bought Grizzlor and She-ra off of him months ago for $5 each). Now years later, when I became a fan, when I went into the basement, I found these: Battle Armor Skeletor, Beastman, Tung Lasher, Rio Blast, Zoar, Screetch, Two-Bad, and the road ripper.

My first one was actually a female character I didn't know who it was at the time, but my brother I guess gave it to me because it was pink (who I found out later it was Scratchin Sound Catra). I made her a good guy in my games.

My first one I bought off of Ebay when I started collecting was Orko because if I was going to start collecting He-man action figures I wanted to get my favorite character first (sorry Skeletor, but Orko gets 10 more points for being adorable). I only paid $5 for him.

My first action figures for Christmas, which I picked out, were Man-At-Arms, Teela, and Beastman. There was a whole bunch, but I wanted to get Man-At-Arms and Teela because of the whole father/daughter thing, plus Orko might need some company. My mom thought Man-At-Arms looked like a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle.

[AdultCollector]

Great story time thread Burtonnut!

My parents bought me He-Man toys as a kid. I still have a picture or two of me playing with them. Years later I found myself out of work and trying to make ends meet. On top of my job search, I wanted something that would make me some extra money, even when I started working again. I decided to run an experiment of starting a small Ebay business in my off hours. I purchased collections of vintage He-Man figures on Ebay and pieced them out, selling the figures individually, right back on Ebay.

At first I was able to make a nice profit, which I put back into the 'business' by purchasing more materials, a scale, packing tape dispensor, etc. I had lots of Excel files and figures to calculate out how much each 'lot' of figures were worth. In the end I made a few bad purchases and broke even, deciding it wasn't worth the effort. What I got out of it was a reeducation and introduction to my early childhood passion. The Classics figures came out. I promised myself I wouldn't buy any, but ended up caving and resolving to buy only He-Man and Skeletor. Then one day my friend gave back a display case I had bought for him as a gift, and suddenly I had an excuse to buy a dozen of them! Two more display cases later and I have the whole set!

I bought up some vintage vehicles and playsets to display them with, and lately I've been picking up some of the same vintage figures I used to sell on Ebay, but now I'm keeping them for my own personal collection. The first vintage figures in my new collection were He-Man and BattleCat, which I searched a long while for on Ebay because I wanted them to be in super mint condition. Now I'm collecting some of the commemorative figures for a MOC collection, and I'm even buying the comic books and coloring books! Where will it end!

[Megalodon]

My first one back in 1981 was Zodac...Always thought he was cool and could have been good or evil...

[RATKING]

Not MOTU I'm afraid! It was Perseus from Clash of the Titans, with Pegasus! Still have him! My dad got him for me for xmas when I was maybe two? He was a stand in for Hercules from the old cartoon show, my favorite at the time! Come to think of it, that show had a LOT in common with Filmation He-man... and Roger Sweet did some work on Clash of the Titans toy line... weird.

[He-bro]

My first action figure was a Big Jim, but as for MOTU it was Skeletor.

[HarryCanyon]

84 when i was 3 was Beast-Man then Stratos as i collected many others

[He-Dad]

The first action figure I remember getting was actually a set of Firemen. My grandpa built me a fire house and they had beds and blankets, pillows, a fire pole, and metal trucks. Around that time I also got a Luke Skywalker and a He-man. Over the course of time I had a huge collection of both....however He-man slowly fell the the wayside and Star Wars took over. I actually continued to collect Star Wars till about 2005. Got back into He-man after my son got excited about it watchin an old home movie of me getting Snake Mountain from Santa. That brought me here and into MOTUC and the rest is history (as is a LOT of my money!)

[JafariStew]

I remember having Getter Robo G aka "Dragun" as my first "action figure/die-cast Shogun Warrior," followed by a vintage Boba Fett which I bought at the now long defunct "Spags" dept store, followed by more Star Wars figures (X-Wing Luke, etc.), when MOTU came out in late 1981, my brothers & I received a handful of figures we had never seen before for X-mas, the He-Man Battle Cat 2-pack, Stratos x 2 (both red/blue variations), Skeletor, Beast-Man, & the Battle Ram! What A X-mas! I was hooked ever since!!

[Bowhead Whale]

My very first MOTU was Panthor. I bought it back in 1986, in late Kmart.

[Adekis]

With the caveat that I'm eighteen years old, I'll share the story of my first MOTU figure. My first ACTUAL figure was "Detective Batman" from the Kenner series, but my first Master of the Universe was from my Grandma's.

See, my Dad was born in the sixties, but I had a couple older cousins that Grandma had gotten a few eighties toys for, including a Yellow Voltron Lion, a Decepticon (I still don't know which one) and a couple Masters of the Universe.

These were Buzz-Off and Sy-Klone, but I had no way of knowing that at the time, so they were Giant Bee and Captain Saturn respectively.

Giant Bee was a bad guy, and Captain Saturn was a good guy. They led their armies of toys against each other, mostly composed of Civil War Soldiers and Cowboys and Indians that WERE from my Dad's childhood, with the one-armed Dracula and his Giant rubber Snake as the impartial arbiter of the fights, the Decepticon and the Go-Lion as Giant Bee and Captain Saturn's lieutenants, respectively, and a Legion of Batmen that Captain Saturn and Giant Bee had to team up to defeat. Personally, I think that'd make a pretty interesting episode of MOTU, Sy-Klone and Buzz-Off fighting a Legion of Batmen, but I digress.

Good times. It was only years a few years later that the MYP He-Man started airing on Cartoon Network, but I didn't see it very much, and I still never made the connection between Giant Bee and the Buzz-Off, King of Andreenids on the show, because Giant Bee had a much rounder head than the pointy Buzz-Off. During this time, I bought an Orko and a half-hour video tape that came with it. I was enthralled by He-Man and Skeletor and the others.
This lasted as long as it took the show to get canceled, which culminated in the timing of me meeting my first great love, Superman comics, which my Grandmother had in abundance.

A couple years ago I went on a massive archive binge of MOTU minicomics and fanfiction and I recognized my childhood toys from Grandma's then. Sy-Klone and Buzz-Off, though not my favorite Heroic Warriors, will always be my first.

At least as Captain Saturn and Giant Bee, anyway.

[He-bro]

With the caveat that I'm eighteen years old, I'll share the story of my first MOTU figure. My first ACTUAL figure was "Detective Batman" from the Kenner series, but my first Master of the Universe was from my Grandma's.

See, my Dad was born in the sixties, but I had a couple older cousins that Grandma had gotten a few eighties toys for, including a Yellow Voltron Lion, a Decepticon (I still don't know which one) and a couple Masters of the Universe.

These were Buzz-Off and Sy-Klone, but I had no way of knowing that at the time, so they were Giant Bee and Captain Saturn respectively.

Giant Bee was a bad guy, and Captain Saturn was a good guy. They led their armies of toys against each other, mostly composed of Civil War Soldiers and Cowboys and Indians that WERE from my Dad's childhood, with the one-armed Dracula and his Giant rubber Snake as the impartial arbiter of the fights, the Decepticon and the Go-Lion as Giant Bee and Captain Saturn's lieutenants, respectively, and a Legion of Batmen that Captain Saturn and Giant Bee had to team up to defeat. Personally, I think that'd make a pretty interesting episode of MOTU, Sy-Klone and Buzz-Off fighting a Legion of Batmen, but I digress.

Good times. It was only years a few years later that the MYP He-Man started airing on Cartoon Network, but I didn't see it very much, and I still never made the connection between Giant Bee and the Buzz-Off, King of Andreenids on the show, because Giant Bee had a much rounder head than the pointy Buzz-Off. During this time, I bought an Orko and a half-hour video tape that came with it. I was enthralled by He-Man and Skeletor and the others.
This lasted as long as it took the show to get canceled, which culminated in the timing of me meeting my first great love, Superman comics, which my Grandmother had in abundance.

A couple years ago I went on a massive archive binge of MOTU minicomics and fanfiction and I recognized my childhood toys from Grandma's then. Sy-Klone and Buzz-Off, though not my favorite Heroic Warriors, will always be my first.

At least as Captain Saturn and Giant Bee, anyway.

Great story, I love it.

[ROD-MAN]

My very first action figure was He-Man himself. I was sick in the hospital with pneumonia, and my mom showed up with him. The nurse took away his weapons and chest piece, which is crazy because I was 2 at the time. My main interest up until then was the ERTL Dukes Of Hazzard line.

[Leckske]

Cool stories!

My first action figure was Moss Man. (Still my favourite btw)
I remember taking him to school and showing him off to my buddies. My teacher placed him on top off a massive chalkboard for the whole day

Man the 80's were awesome!

[SunDevil]

Okay, I want a Captain Saturn action figure! 4H, get on it!

My first MOTU were He-Man and Zodac. I usd to visit my dad in Texas for a few weeks every summer (parents divorced when I was 2 in 1976. Summer of 1982, I'm in Houston (side note - these trips were not all that pleasant) and not having a good time. But one of the things I always loved about those visits was going to Toys R Us, basically an alien place where I lived the rest of the year in Missouri. For a while, I actually thought that TRU in Houston was the ONLY ONE! I only got to go once a year!

So I remember that TRU trip, I head straight for the action figure aisle...and there is just this SEA of red cards all the way to the ceiling or so it seemed to my then-8-year old self. Having so many to choose from, I wanted them ALL (well, all 8!) but only had money for 2. Yes, I had to bring my own money at 8 years old when I visited. I picked He-Man because he was the main guy and then Zodac because...well, I don't know why! Beastman became my favorite bad guy later that year (orange gorilla ftw!) but I got Zodac first that summer.

Then Stratos became my favorite good guy - flying grey gorilla ftw!

As I began my MOC/MIB vintage collection a few weeks ago, I knew those first series guys would be hard to get but I've had a shot of nostalgia everytime I add another MOC/MIB item. Even Rio Blast, who I never had as a kid but is now on of my favorites! Space cowboy! The package artwork is just incredible and the cast of characters unrivaled by any other line besides GIJoe but Joe doesn't have talking orange and grey gorillas!

[prob off]

my first post
my first MOTU was Trap Jaw. i was probably 4 years old. i still have it and is probably my favorite piece that i have. it's pretty beat up, you can still see the dirt around his eyes. Trap Jaw started it all for me.

[nintendo2600]

My first Heman figure IIRC was Skeletor. After that I opened Heman and pretty much the rest of the first wave of figures that Xmas morning. I got a bunch of WWF wrestlers that xmas too...lol...

[Thrashor]

I was too young to recall, but I always had He-Man and Skeletor so I'll say those chaps.

[norse_sage]

My first action figure period was Blackstar.
My (to my recollection) second action figure and first MOTU action figure was Man-e-Faces, as He-man was out of stock that day. He-man however was the second MOTU charather I got, Skeletor being the third. After that, I don't remember who I got and in what order. Think Castle Grayskull and Battlecat might have been next.

[Whiplash7]

The first that I remember were Star Wars figures. Back when there was only one movie. I got Vader, C-3P0, and Chewbacca on my 5th birthday. I also got a gray tonka van, that they all drove around in. I still have the figures, but regrettably the van has been lost in antiquity.
My first motu was He-Man, followed by Skeletor later the same day. In the 8-back era.

[Colder Soldier]

My first action figure IIRC was indeed He-Man in 1982. I was 3.

[Clawful Ofit]

My first figure & MOTU were one in the same. Clawful! I was very young, born in 82. I remember being in the cart, that god awful brown & orange Woolworth's floor tile still sticks out. My mom had 2 figures, which one of was to be my first "big boy toy".

Hmm do I get this GI Joe, or do I get the flippin' awesome crab guy who is twice as big and has a comic? LOL well it wasn't that simple, but Mom veered me toward Clawful. If for no other reason than he had less small parts to take away.

That started it all. I've taken breaks from He-Man, but always loved the characters. Still have my Clawful & he's at the front of my display, even though I own a minty fresh one.

Fun fact with being young & mostly remembering images, not text/words from the comics & shows, it was 2001 before I realised that his name wasn't "Awful Clawful" (a name my mother gave him).

I love that silly Muppet.

[Merrrrrrrman]

Mer-Man. he was the only figure that really pulled me in when I saw his picture on the card back. I remember visiting either a Toys R Us or IGA and discovering the Masters of the Universe figures for the first time. I thought Skeletor looked cool, but when I saw the image of the Ocean Warlord, I decided I needed that figure....of course, like many of us, I was disapointed when I saw the figure...with his Cat-noggin. But he's still and always will be my favorite character. He's the only Classics figure I picked up to date.

Still love the Filmation version the best, wish there was a figure version of him!

[iron_pride]

My first AF ever was Trap Jaw. Followed by Man-E-Faces.......then Battle Armor Skeletor, then Battle Armor He-Man, Buzz Off, Evil Lyn, Man-At-Arms and Beast Man. I loved that Trap Jaw. My dad's riding lawn mower was his base of operations, while He-Man's base was in a tree with a hollow spot. I can remember Blackstar eventually joining the ranks, with two of the Remco Bad Guys (from Sarge team and the Bad Guys). Got Blackstar and the Remco's on a trip to the big city looking for Mer-Man which I wanted very badly. Oh the days of building castles and forts with concrete blocks, using anything we could find to make good environments. Nothing like the backyard battles of 1982-1986. I love these story telling threads so much. Brings back such great memories.

[Matthew L. Martin]

I might have had some Star Wars figures beforehand, but my memory's unclear. The ones I remember owning as my own (I'd played with other kids' at preschool) were Man-at-Arms, Skeletor and Castle Grayskull, which I received for Christmas in 1983 when I was 4. (He-Man followed with my fifth birthday a month later, along with a videodisc of the Filmation cartoon, which I had no idea existed until then.)

[Benedict Judas Hel]

Who was your first action figure?

I don't really remember but I'm going to say it was more than likely a 12" Mego Spider-Man with spider-line or a Kenner Star Wars Darth Vader.