I had Best of the West Marx figures as a kid but I don't think I had a Johnny Apollo.
The design got around though.
Here's Marx's Kennedy Space Centre Astronaut. Is it that much different to Johnny or the same?
Mexico had its own Plastimarx brand of Johnny's too.
Here's Jane Apollo.
The box art has a much more inflated suit to the toy version. I do like the artwork.
Did you have a Johnny or Jane Apollo?
Its the same toy, there was a white and an orange suited version of Johnny, but basically the same sculpt. Jane usually wears a blue suit. I have the two Johnnies, but still looking for Jane. The vehicles are fabulous, but there wasn't the same breadth of accessories as Matt Mason. The good thing about Johnny is that he is moulded in tough pvc plastic, so he can take the knocks, whereas Matts wire armatures inside his rubber body ultimately broke. Johnny is a shade taller than Matt too, so he isnt really backwardly compatible with Mattel toys, whereas Matt and the boys can easily fit in the two vehicles. Bill
ReplyDeleteI had the UK variant; Mark Apollo and his space crawler as a kid. When compared to its Matt Mason inspiration, its notable for several things... It was considerably cheaper, came complete with a spaceman and the designers gave it a pressurized cabin with transparent windscreen. This means Mark could remove his helmet and have a coffee and sandwich as he trundled across the inhospitable Lunar surface!
ReplyDeleteMoonbasers can dig through this blog's excellent archives to read my Jane Apollo adventures!
I had Best of the West figures but no Apollo. I'd have loved one.
ReplyDelete