Buck Rogers

Buck Rogers is another of Mego’s failed lines of licensed toys. Although the show proved fairly popular and ran several seasons, the toys never really took off, which leaves modern Buck Rogers collectors paying rather high prices for collectibles from the TV show.There were a variety of different products created for the Buck Rogers line. The common 3 3/4 inch figures, the much less common and unpopular 12 inch figures, play sets, miniatures, and games.The 12 inch figures are similar to the 12 inch Black Hole and Star Trek dolls. They feature removable clothing and weapons, and can be easily found boxed. Like all Mego dolls, boxed Buck Rogers 12 inch dolls frequently suffer from the asphyxiated gray face as you can see in the picture. They also frequently come with broken rivets. Despite their problem, I find the big guys rather cool, especially the Tiger Man and Twiki toys.

The 3 3/4 inch plastic figuresare far more common. They feature Mego’s articulated body style, with joints at the elbows, knees, shoulders and hips. You can still find carded Buck Rogers figures for around $20 to $30 apiece.

The card art on these figures is far more appealing than some of the toys themselves. The card fronts all feature this montage of images from the TV series pilot, though, so once you have one carded figure, that’s really all you need unless you’re a completist.

Gang's All Here
 

The ships and play sets for the Buck Rogers line were also pretty cool and very easy to break. Because of the toy line’s relative unpopularity and the fragile plastics, ships like the Draconian Marauder and Buck’s Starfighter are difficult to come by.

Another ship, the Laserscope fighter, was also created for the line, but was not based on anything in the show. The same ship was repackaged for the Black Hole toys as well. One of the hardest to find Buck Rogers ships is the land rover which only appeared in the pilot episode of the series.

 

Corgi made die cast miniatures of the Starfighter in the series. This Starfighter is one of several variations. This one is of the larger variety, has retractable yellow wings, fires a missile and is relatively rare. A smaller, more common version has the same retractable wings, a blue cockpit, and no missile.

In an attempt to capitalize on the TV show’s ratings, Milton Bradly released a board game as well. Aside from the box art, there isn’t actually much of interest for this item as the game itself is lame and the board graphics and playing pieces seem very much like an afterthought.

The Star Searcher is one of the rarest of all Mego Buck Rogers toys. It is actually just a repackaged Micronauts Star Defender, which is mighty cool toy in its own right, but something about the Buck Rogers packaging just makes it cooler. The ironic thing, of course, is that season 2 of the show actually takes place on board the starship “Searcher.”

I’ve been looking for one of these for years and someone finally sent me a shot of the box. I’ve never seen the insides, so I don’t know if it is at all different from the Micro version.

5 thoughts on “Buck Rogers”

  1. Hi. I have an authentic Buck Rogers toy box in good shape from 1952 or so. It’s a big regular sized toy box made of wood with a padded top with Buck Rogers drawings on it. I can’t find another one anywhere to determine a price..or if it’s worth anything at all.

    Can you give me an idea? Thanks.

  2. Can anyone help me find out if my Buck Rogers toy box (from the 50’s) is worth anything?

  3. I would suggest checking eBay or Google for a site that may have Buck Rogers memorabilia. Buck Rogers items, especially vintage usually ascend in value depending on condition and if the item is complete. Lastly, there is a collector magazine called The Toy Shoppe that would probably be helpful. In it are ads for various Vintage dealers you may be able to contact for more information. Good Luck !

  4. Loved my Starfighter, but it was not rugged as mentioned. Cockpit and lower wings did not hold up. Then again it did see alot of use.

  5. I had the rarer starfighter shown above. However, the resale value of mine was ruined forever when, in a fit of pre-pubescent anti-safety-nazi rebellion, I borrowed my dad’s hacksaw and sliced off the bar between the prongs at the front. The resulting machine was unique, if lethal.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.

Classic toys and ephemera from the 70s