I came across this cool-looking old ad recently and wanted to take a minute to talk about it.
I first saw The Karate Kid movie at my cousin Tim’s house. My uncle Ernest had a VCR before we did, and most days he would go to the local video store and rent a movie to watch. I’ve loved this movie since the very first time I watched it at his house. I would go on to use my G.I. Joe figures to emulate the action I saw in the movie, but the whole time I wished I had actual Karate Kid action figures to use instead.
The Karate Kid was an obvious choice to get an action figure line. From the overwhelming success of the movie at the box office, and the movie’s action-based premise, action figures based on the movie were a logical progression.
I’m actually surprised that it ended up being Remco who picked up the license as I would have thought a bigger company would have scooped it up considering how well the first movie performed. But no matter, as it looks like Remco did a fine job.
As you can see in the ad, figures were made to allow you to recreate scenes from both movies, as Daniel and Miyagi are ready to rumble in Okinawa, and at the bottom of the ad is the playset and figures I would want from this line…the All-Valley Karate Championship set!
In all, a total of seventeen figures and five playsets were produced, making it a robust line of toys to be enjoyed by young karate enthusiasts everywhere, and a line I certainly wish I had gotten to take part in.
Unfortunately, I never owned any of these figures or playsets, nor do I remember even seeing them or playing with them at any of my friend’s houses. It seems this was just one of those toy lines that I was never destined to enjoy.
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