Fisher-Price Adventure People Astro Knight Action Figure Fisher-Price, 1979
Day #2,434: June 30, 2022
Astro Knight Yellow Variant
Adventure People Action Figures
Item No.: Asst. 392 No. 379 Manufacturer:Fisher-Price Includes:n/a Action Feature:Clips in glider (not included in mine) Retail:$1-$2 Availability: ca. 1979 Other: Also available with a glider
Back in the 1970s before Star Wars or Micronauts came out, Fisher-Price had its own roughly 3 3/4-inch scale action figures called Adventure People. They were closer to Playmobil at first - mundane, real-world outdoor adventurers, news teams, cars, and relatively normal stuff, followed later by some space stuff that played nicely with Star Wars. A 1979 release, I first encountered this Astro Knight in a neighbor's toy box as a kid, and I had no idea what it was. It's a weird figure - a blue variant also exists. And both of them would make great Imaginext designs.
The 3 1/4-inch figure is short for the line, and isn't quite like the others. There's a jointed neck, but the legs won't budge and the arms can swivel outward - it's a weird one. This well-loved figure has had its paint bashed up pretty good, but perfectly mint Adventure People seem to be scarce unless you pay for a packaged one. I'm not sure why, as this one lacks a glider and can't get shoved into a vehicle because he can't sit. But he does look like something that came out of the wake of Star Wars nearly 43 years ago.
The durable figure's sculpt is pretty simple - you can seem some buttons on his gloves, the boots are ribbed, and there is some bulky, angular armor. The helmet is particularly notable in the green visor and unusual shape which looks a lot more like some Transformers heads (which would come several years later) than much else on the market at the time Had Fisher-Price put this figure out in muted dull colors, I could see parents or kids confusing it for a Star Wars guy at a flea market. After all, off-model figures weren't as jarring back then - the class of 1979 from Kenner were all a bit off.
The torso is pretty nifty in that they painted some red stripes on a pretty plain vest. More markings are on his back, some of which look similar to the X-Ray Man and X-Ray Woman figures that would come out around the same time. While the X-Ray people were basically just aquatic adventurers repainted and retooled, the Astro Knight is a unique sculpt of some sort of space hero with nifty card art and, as far as I know, no known backstory. Onell Design homaged this guy with its Retro Altrovos [FOTD #1,939] figure in 2018, and Disney cranked out a somewhat familiar B-R72 [SW FOTD #2,822] in 2020. Transformers Drag Strip has a similar coloration.
Carded samples of this guy are not too expensive - some sold on eBay for as little as $14 - with loose, played with ones (like mine) selling for less. The glider versions are a bit more expensive - but supposedly the clip-on glider (the figure has a unique groove on his back) flew like a champ. For a figure of that age, it's pretty affordable - but nobody cares about these things. I should have gone back and got a few when they were cheaper, but isn't that what we always say? I like him, and I'd love to see Fisher-Price attempt something like these again. Simple, cheap, and fun 3 3/4-inch figures are sorely lacking in today's toy market outside copies of copies of Chap-Mei's stuff in drugstores and whatever Fisher-Price is doing with Star Wars. I'm not saying you should run to eBay and buy one of these but it's something you might enjoy if you're an adult of a certain age.
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