Zorro 1966 & Renegade Sam Cobra

Zorro is based on the Disney show starring Guy Williams who was also the father from Lost in Space.  Very exciting pose between Zorro and his horse Tornado.  I am especially happy with the way the name plate turned out.

What really strikes an Aurora collector is the number of parts which are shared between the White Stallion, Zorro and Tornado and The Lone Ranger and Silver.  

Original box:

 My built up

Johnny West Corner

Sam Cobra, Renegade Bad Man

San Cobra was first issued in 1972 and remained with a black body and black accessories even during the Johnny West Adventures year.  The back story on Sam goes back to the James West figure which was never released.  Sam had some really cool accessory items.  His belt buckle held a derringer disguised as ornamentation.  He had a rifle barrel disguised as a pool queue, a handcuff key hidden in his hat, a break apart derringer hidden in a pool ball.  If some of this sounds familiar, you would only need to watch a couple of the early episodes of the Wild Wild West to see from where the inspiration came.  The body and accessories for Sam Cobra would have originally been released as James West with the addition of the Maddox head.  The head for this renegade was from the Silver Knight, a set of Marx figures which I do not collect.  

The silver derringer in his belt buckle is from a later accessory issue just because I think it looks good.  I have his black one in the accessory box.

My only real complaint regarding this figure is the accessories are made from a plastic which is neither hard like the previous hard accessories, which results in warped pool cues, and not actually soft vinyl, which results in most of the belts being broken next to the buckle and the carpet bag breaking.  The key is the hard piece, but good condition belts are getting harder to find.

Captain Kidd 1966 and Geronimo

Captain Kidd was the second and last of the Pirates series.  Built ups I have seen show a really nice figure with a great base.  I keep hoping to run into one for a price I am willing to pay.  On the other side of that coin, Atlantis Models did say they were going to re-pop a Captain Kidd after the Blackbeard, so there is always hope.

Original box:

Johnny West Corner

Geronimo

Geronimo is the only other figure from the entire series based on an historical personality.  He is by far the most common Indian figure.  There are plenty of them available in excellent condition.  He came with a complete set of 36 Indian accessories plus an additional yellow headband.  As with all of the male Indians, the ermine tails which hang from each side of the feathered headdress are the hardest to find pieces.  

Blackbeard 1966 & Fighting Eagle

Blackbeard was the first kit in the Pirates Series.  The series may not have sold well as there were only two kits released.  The base is awesome, but with it being primarily dark shades of wood, it enhances the figure rather than drawing attention away from it.  I really enjoyed this build.  A re-pop of Blackbeard is currently available from Atlantis models.

Original box:

My built up

Johnny West Corner

Fighting Eagle

Fighting Eagle is the toughest to find of the Indian figures.  He was first released in 1967, was probably not made in 1969 - 1972, and then came into the line again in 1973-1975.  My Fighting Eagle came with a really odd shield.  If anyone has any information regarding the shield I would really appreciate knowing about it.

In the really real world, Mohawk Indians were from the area of New York.  Why Fighting Eagle would have been in Arizona I have no idea.  Perhaps the fan speculation was correct and he was the mate of Princess Wildflower, who many speculate to be the daughter of Chief Cherokee.

Jesse James 1966 & Bill Buck

Jesse James is still on my want list.  The figure is actually a slightly re-tooled US Marshal with a completely new base.  I really like this kit and would love it if someone re-popped it.  Barring that, I will keep looking and maybe I will run up on one for a price I am willing to pay.  The base really sells this kit in my opinion.  The figure is nice but the base is great.  I will include a picture of the Marshal below.

Original box:

 Marshal built up (NOT MINE)

A window ad from Aurora from 1966

Johnny West Corner

Bill Buck

Frontier Scout Bill Buck was only available for about a year from 1967 to sometime in 1968.  Bill is the last of the Fort Apache Fighters cavalry figures.  He is one of the two hardest to find figures.  Bill and Jed Gibson seem to alternate being the highest priced of the collection.  Bill is a Daniel Boone head on a caramel body which was originally designed for Jesse James.  Bill has a partial set of Daniel accessories and some of the cavalry accessories, although the cavalry accessories are dark brown instead of black.

The Witch 1965 & General Custer

I would argue this is by far the most outstanding of all the bases designed for the Aurora monster models.  Everything from the wall, cages, cauldron...it is all well detailed and tremendous fun to paint and build.  The Witch herself is a work of art and everything else supports her.  This is the first of their monster kits not related to a monster movie.

Original box:

The ladies were actually advertised together on comics:

My built up:

Johnny West Corner

General Custer

General Custer was released in 1967 along with the other three Fort Apache Fighters.  Perhaps I should mention Marx had found great success with their playsets based on popular themes of the time.  One of their most successful, which was released in various combinations from the 1950's to the 1970's was Fort Apace.  When it came time for 11 1/2" of western cavalrymen, Fort Apache Fighters was an obvious name for the group.  

Along with Jane, Johnny and Geronimo I have found him to be one of the four most commonly available figures.   I am sure everyone has their own story, but I have found the cavalry rifle strap to be the most difficult accessory piece to find for the three regular cavalry figures.   I happen to have a box with this figure simply through luck again.  

Munster's Living Room 1965 & Captain Tom Maddox

The Munster's Living Room is one of the really fun kits.  Although the furniture selected is not completely authentic to the series (the coffin in the series was a telephone booth) it is still a really fun build.  I have seen  modelers get all kinds of creative on the walls and other details.  When I finished this one, I asked my wife what she thought of it.  She said "Oh, that is entirely too cool for you to own.  That one is mine.  Put it right there on that shelf and run along."  I wonder if I will ever get it back?

Original box:

My built up:

Johnny West Corner

Captain Tom Maddox was first issued in 1967 and was also a part of the Fort Apache Fighter Series.  The back story on this one is that the head was designed to be James West from the Wild Wild West TV series.  The negotiations broke down at some point, and James West was never released.  Somewhere I have Thunderbolt Gear Manual that says he is for Johnny West, Chief Cherokee, Jesse James and James West.  I have no idea how long the horse was released with that manual identifying two figures which were not released.

Superboy 1965 & Zeb Zachary

The adventures of Superman when he was a boy.  Like I said in another post, all the kids were out having adventures.  This adventure even included a pet dog and a small space dragon.  This is a really fun kit to build.  Over the years I have seen all kinds of variations on the dragon's paint scheme.  

The original box:

Comic Scene box:

My built up:

Johnny West Corner

Zeb Zachary

Zeb was released as part of the Fort Apache Fighters line and was issued only from 1967 - 1969.  I always thought of Zeb as the bugler, probably because of the pursed lips.  I dress him in less gear than the officers, but I do use the bedroll on him.  Not on the others because I never knew an officer to carry his own pack so to speak.  I don't hang a sabre on him either.  This is the same body as Captain Maddox and Marx history has it the head was originally made for the Jesse James figure, which was not released.  

Zeb is hard to find today and if you do find one it is going to set you back a few coins.  He is third on the list of most expensive and hard to find United States figures.

Batman - 1965 & Janice West

The Caped Crusader.  The Dark Knight Detective.  One half of the Dynamic Duo.  More than a year before Batmania would sweep the nation by storm, Aurora released the model kit of Batman.  This was Batman.  Not THE Batman, just Batman.  The kit was released during the time he had just stopped cutting the tape when a new shopping center was built in Gotham City.  In the comics,  DC had just recently put the yellow circle around the bat on his chest and Robin would not go off to college for another 4 years (which in the real world would have been an entire High School career, but Dick Grayson had been in school since 1940!).  

The original kit has the word Batman on the tree and an owl nestled on the top.  The logo and the owl were eliminated for the Comic Scene release.  My built up is a CS release.  This kit has been released numerous times over the years and you can still get one in some edition for a reasonable price.  This one was also highly touted in the comic ads of the time.

Coming soon ad:

Real ad for the kit:

Original box:

Comic Scene box:

My built up:

Johnny West Corner:

Janice was the fourth kid and she was also first released in 1967.  She has brown hair.

Bride of Frankenstein 1965 & Josie West

I fell in love with this kit the first time I saw it on the store shelf.  Aurora again went all out on the base.  Mine is actually the Polar Lights re-issue, which is cool because the lab equipment is made from clear plastic.  The original Aurora kit did not include clear plastic parts.  

Original box:

 My built up:

Johnny West Corner

This is my Josie.  Josie was first issued in 1967.  While I am not that fond of the kids, out the them I them I think this would be the one I like the most.  it think it is because she reminds me of my youngest daughter.  I was able to complete both of the girls recently when some accessories from Scott at Stewart's Attic.  What are the chances of buying two girls, one of each, and both have the watch and are missing their purses?  I know, right?

Dr Jekyll as Mr Hyde 1965 & Jay West

Love the kit, even though I felt obligated to add to the base.  The base was fine as Aurora made it, but the cupboard really adds to it I think.  Although I am not sure why drinking something which makes you practically choke yourself to get it down struck this guy as a good idea.  This story is probably where all those super-heroes who gave themselves powers got the idea.  

Original box:

My built up:

Johnny West Corner

Jay West

The blond son.  Jay was first issued in 1967.  The children are 7 1/2" tall btw.  I guess it makes sense to have kids in the mix, cause with shows like Rin Tin Tin, for example, kids were having adventures in the wild west all the time.  Plus, in the 60's, books like Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn were required reading.  

Godzilla's Go-Kart 1965 & Jamie West

The last of the Monster Rods from Aurora.  This one also works for me.  I like it almost as much as a Weird-Oh.  This one looks to me like more thought and time went into the design than on the first four.  

Odd thing about this one, Polar Lights did a re-issue in the late 90's so you would think you could pick one up for about the same cost as the other 5, about 10 to 20 bucks each.  Not this time.  Apparently you can't poke fun at the big guy when he has a movie coming out, because Polar Lights had to recall and store/destroy (depending on the reporter) their run of this kit by order of the copyright holders.  There were a couple of Godzilla movies getting ready to come out and they did not want a joke kit hurting them in the box office.  Godzilla 2000 did ok, but the decision to have PL pull the re-issue of the kit means one will cost you anywhere from $50 to $100.

Original box:

My built up:

Johnny West Corner

Jamie West

The West family had four children to help the run the Circle X Ranch.  I am not that fond of the kids, but I know they have a lot of fans among the Johnny collectors.  Jamie is the brown haired boy and was first issued in 1967.  Not sure why, but the boys had soft plastic pistols and knives, instead of the hard plastic included with the adult figures.

King Kong's Thronester 1965 & 2nd Jane West

OK, I actually like this one.  I think it is because no one was trying so hard to make it over the top "funny."  I feel like it is somewhere between the Weird-Ohs and Ed "Big Daddy" Roth's Rat Fink line, this one really works for me.  

The original box:

My built up:

Johnny West Corner:

Jane West (2nd version)

This Jane was first issued in 1967.  This is my favorite figure of all time.  I really don't know why, I just know I like her.  I think maybe it is because she looks like she could partner with Johnny and run a ranch.  This is the second Jane with the kinder, gentler face for the 90's.  The 1890's that is.  I do not personally believe in the Johnny West Jeep, and as long as I do not believe in it and do not own one, it does not have to exist for me :)

I prefer to think of my Johnny West collection being somewhere between the 1870's and 1890's.  

I have a Best of the West box for this one.  This is the box that came with the figure.  The mustard soft gear was replaced with cream for this figure.

Mummy's Chariot 1965 & 1st Jane West

The Mummy's Chariot was a difficult build for me.  Not sure why, but mine just did not want to go together for me.  I eventually got it together and I, of course, based the paint scheme on the box art.  I sometimes wonder if I went back and re-painted them with, for example,  black tires and some silver/chrome, etc would I like them better?  I have never arrived at an answer, but I do continue to contemplate the idea.

The original box:

My built up:

Johnny West Corner:

Jane West (1st issue)

Johnny's wife was the next figure in the line.  This is the first version, with the smirk and the mustard soft gear and was issued only in 1966.  Even though I am not a box collector, I have a Vargas box for this one.  The box is the actual box that came with the figure.  Yep, it is beat up a bit and stained, but it came with the figure and I didn't pay a lot of extra money for it.  My kids are gonna be so upset someday when they try to sell this stuff on ebay.