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1975 Excel Toys Catalog – Legends of the West- Military Legends

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    Museum Robot
    • May 9, 2007
    • 5788

    1975 Excel Toys Catalog – Legends of the West- Military Legends

    Excel Toys was yet another of those toy companies that mainly existed to serve the dime store and discount chains in the 1970s. Although they also seemed to be catering to the gift shop industry as well. Their main output tended to be action figures with a quality very similar to what Mego was doing. […]
    The post 1975 Excel Toys Catalog – Legends of the West- Military Legends appeared first on PS.


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  • Falstaff13
    Persistent Member
    • May 28, 2008
    • 1251

    #2
    Especially considering they were aiming for a dime store market, Excel did a great job with these lines (and the Grant and Lee work fairly well with the western line anyway). The LOTW stand up well next to Gabriel's Lone Ranger line, just as, a few years later, I played with the 3.5" Legends of the Lone Ranger--and later Gabriel's Zorro--alongside Empire's Legends of the West. I personally loved the line, especially the smaller version. When Empire took over (and there is some overlap in the years that Excel was still making toys but Empire added the line, so I've always been curious about that), it really expanded. Excel's Little Legends of the West couldn't bend at the knee (although they were well made figures, they were limited in stance and poseability), so Empire allowed the introduction of horses (always good for a cowboy line), the (very rare) Frontier Town, and the many great wagons. The box art alone for these sets was gorgeous. I have tracked down a couple of the Excel playsets, and they are pretty cool. They were especially economical as three packs of figures for the time.

    As I also commented on a FB post, I also think the original Excel line is surprisingly progressive. As a western line, it's not surprising to feature Native characters, but it has both male and female in it (Cochise might make more sense than Pocahontas, but still), and there were four women overall, plus, as you point out, Deadwood Dick struck quite a chord.
    Hugh H. Davis

    Wanted: Legends of the West (Empire & Excel) and other western historically-based figures. Send me an offer.
    Also interested in figures based on literary characters.

    Comment

    • Earth 2 Chris
      Verbose Member
      • Mar 7, 2004
      • 32498

      #3
      I don't think I've ever seen any of these in person, and honestly I haven't seen much online about them either. I really need to look into these, considering how much I love Gabriel's Lone Ranger output.
      sigpic

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      • PNGwynne
        Master of Fowl Play
        • Jun 5, 2008
        • 19444

        #4
        It's a pleasure to see these, it's much more expansive that I could he guessed from browsing ebay, I wasn't sure of the scale and did not know of female figure.

        I've always wanted to customize an Annie Oakley, now I can research Excel's version.
        WANTED: Dick Grayson SI trousers; gray AJ Mustang horse; vintage RC Batman (Bruce Wayne) head; minty Wolfman tights; mint Black Knight sword; minty Launcelot boots; Lion Rock (pale) Dracula & Mummy heads; Lion Rock Franky squared boots; Wayne Foundation blue furniture; Flash Gordon/Ming (10") unbroken holsters; CHiPs gloved arms; POTA T2 tan body; CTVT/vintage Friar Tuck robes, BBP TZ Burgess Meredith glasses.

        Comment

        • publiusr
          Museum Super Collector
          • Aug 23, 2015
          • 193

          #5
          Kids need toys like these today.

          Comment

          • Werewolf
            Inhuman
            • Jul 14, 2003
            • 14616

            #6
            Originally posted by Earth 2 Chris
            I don't think I've ever seen any of these in person,
            Same, I've only seen these in pictures.
            You are a bold and courageous person, afraid of nothing. High on a hill top near your home, there stands a dilapidated old mansion. Some say the place is haunted, but you don't believe in such myths. One dark and stormy night, a light appears in the topmost window in the tower of the old house. You decide to investigate... and you never return...

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            • monitor_ep
              Talkative Member
              • May 11, 2013
              • 7362

              #7
              I have never heard of this line, but I was 4 years old when they came out. If I had seen them when I was playing with figures I would have thought I would have picked up some. I did use AJ Cowboy as Shame so one would think I would have used the Cowgirls as his molls.
              Visit my wiki site:

              Comic Books in the Media

              To view my custom works of both JLU and Megos go to:

              Monitor_EP Deviantart page

              Action Jackson Road Trip log

              Comment

              • Makernaut
                Persistent Member
                • Jul 22, 2015
                • 1546

                #8
                Deadwood Dick was a literary character of the time, but the real life man was Nat Love. He claimed he got the nickname from the literary character in the dime novels. I looked up the box for these and the packaging for his figure explains a little of Nat Love's real story (and gives his real name) but doesn't mention the literary character as the origin point. The box does say the nickname was given "after winning a great many shooting contests", but his biography says it was after winning a rodeo competition in Deadwood on July 4th, 1876. (not that I look for historical accuracy, just though the real story was a wee bit cooler)

                Very cool line all around and I wish I would have seen these as a kid so I wouldn't have had to mix The Lone Ranger with Johnny West. These would have been far cooler than that.
                Last edited by Makernaut; May 25, '22, 4:16 PM.

                Comment

                • apes3978
                  Permanent Member
                  • Nov 19, 2005
                  • 4901

                  #9
                  Originally posted by Makernaut
                  I wish I would have seen these as a kid so I wouldn't have had to mix The Lone Ranger with Johnny West.
                  I did that too...

                  Comment

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