Indiana Jones 2008 Action Figures
Two words come to mind when you first see the new line of Indiana Jones action figures from Hasbro: Star Wars. And that’s a good thing. Either in an act of synergy or luck of them winning the likely bidding war, by choosing Hasbro, Lucasfilm practically guaranteed that these figures would be of the classic 3 3/4″ variety and not the increasingly common 5″ or 6″ sizes. And, frankly, as they have shown with their mostly excellent new “Anniversary” line of G.I. Joe figures, this is a great time for Hasbro to relaunch a figure line of this size, thanks to years of development of the Star Wars and pre-Sigma 6 Joes. The Indiana Jones line, encompassing original film (Indiana Jones and the) Raiders of the Lost Ark and the new film, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, takes some inspiration from both Star Wars and G. I. Joe, but leans more heavily on the somewhat less articulate Star Wars line. (More on that later.) (Click here to see the rest of the article plus pictures.)
Around 1997 and 1998, there were few surer bets in U.S. television syndication than Xena: Warrior Princess and Hercules: The Legendary Journeys - especially the former. Actually a Hercules spinoff, Xena’s more serious (and yet still occasionally campy) atmosphere gained a whole new fan following. As the show took off, advertisers clamored to sign up, production values soared, and so did the price tag of goodies that were minted to impress stations carrying the series. At the time, I was working for a UPN station in Green Bay that carried both shows, and Universal had the spare dough to blow on lavish stuff like a bi-weekly CD-ROM of photos and promotional material for new episodes (most syndicators, including Paramount, just sent out print materials and B&W photos), or this letter-opener.