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Buck Rogers in the 25th Century
1979 – 1980

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Mego launched their Buck Rogers in the 25th Century toy line in 1979, based on the movie and television show from the same year. The line included a primary 3.75 inch series, along with a 12 Inch series as well. The 3.75″ series featured nine figures, five vehicles and the Star Fighter Command Center.  The 12″ series included all of the 3.75″ characters, minus Ardella and Wilma Deering. This was a popular line for Mego, and sold well before coming to an end in 1980.

For more information about Mego’s Buck Rogers in the 25th Century line, see bottom of the page for a complete summary.

Mego released nine figures in total for their 3.75 Inch series of action figures for the Buck Rogers action figure line from 1979-1980. Included were Ardella, Dr. Huer, Draco, Killer Kane, Draconian Guard, Tiger Man, Twiki, Wilma Deering and the man himself, Buck Rogers.

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Buck Rogers (1979-1980): 3.75 Inch Playsets

Mego released only one playset for their 3.75 Inch Buck Rogers 3.75 Inch action figure series with the Star Fighter Command Center playset. A Draconian Fortress playset (that was identical to the Star Trek Mission to Gamma VI playset) was proposed, but never made it to production.

Star Fighter Command Center

Market Value:
Boxed $600 – $800
Loose $125 – $175

Star Fighter Command Center
Accessories: Two Floor Plastic Command Center Playset, Radar Screens, Control Console, Crew Chairs, Railing, Cardboard Landing Pad
Years Released: 1979
Difficulty To Find: Rare – Rarely seen in any condition on the secondary market
Notes: This Star Fighter Command Center Playset was the only playset released for the 3.75 Inch line, and it was made up of vacuum-formed plastic. This made the set very flimsy and subject to tearing. All computer consoles and chairs were made of the same flimsy plastic material, so you can understand that a complete boxed version of this particular set is very hard to find on the secondary market, and will command top dollar due to very limited production numbers. In all the Command Center came with a two level deck with radar screens and railings, Cut-Out landing and launching pad, and a Landing Control Console.

Buck Rogers (1979-1980): 3.75 Inch Vehicles / Accessories

Mego released five vehicles for the Buck Rogers 3.75 Inch line. A series of additional vehicles were proposed, which would be re-brands of various Micronauts vehicles, but the Star Searcher was the only one that made it to market.

Draconian Marauder

Market Value:
Boxed $300 – $400
Loose $90 – $120

Draconian Marauder
Accessories: Retractable Front & Rear Landing Gear, Cockpit, Decals
Years Released: 1979-1980
Difficulty To Find: Moderate Difficulty – Takes patience and appears less often
Notes: The Draconian Marauder is a very cool looking ship, and it gave the Star Fighter an enemy ship to fight with, kind of like the Tie Fighter to the X-Wings from Star Wars. It featured a laser action sound that was activated by a small button. It also had retractable landing gear on the front and back of the ship with a wicked looking cockpit and decals.

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Land Rover

Market Value:
Boxed $800 – $1,000
Loose $150 – $225

Land Rover
Accessories: Cockpit, Moving Treads, Laser Cannon, Sound Feature, Decals
Years Released: 1980
Difficulty To Find: Rare – Rarely seen in any condition on the secondary market
Notes: Unlike the Laserscope Fighter, The Land Rover actually did appear in the movie and had a cameo in one of the television episodes as well. Not to mention, this is the only land vehicle, which was sorely needed by the Buck Rogers toy line. The Land Rover had a sound feature that would allow you to hear the laser cannon shoot, as well rolling treads to go on the ground.

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Laserscope Fighter

Market Value:
Boxed $200 – $275
Loose $85 – $115

Laserscope Fighter
Accessories: Ship, View Screen, Cockpit, Wing Handles, Sound Feature, Decals
Years Released: 1979-1980
Difficulty To Find: Moderate Difficulty – Takes patience and appears less often
Notes: Ah yes, the Laserscope Fighter. This was a valiant attempt by Mego to create something different for fans, which is evident by the fact this never appeared in the movie or television series. The concept was that a figure would lay in the cockpit and line up a shot on an enemy ship with the special “Laserscope”. This one is the most common of the Buck Rogers ships but it’s still not easy to find.

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Star Fighter

Market Value:
Boxed $400 – $500
Loose $110 – $160

Star Fighter
Accessories: Retractable Landing Gear, Cockpit, Front Cones, Rear Cone Rockets, Rear Stabilizers, Decals
Years Released: 1979-1980
Difficulty To Find: Moderate Difficulty – Takes patience and appears less often
Notes: The coolest and most desired vehicle or item from the Buck Rogers toy line has to be the Star Fighter ship. This was the main fighting craft for Buck and Wilma to zoom around and instantly became a fan favorite. It should be noted that the front and rear grey cones tend to become missing on loose versions, and boxed versions are now highly desired by collectors.

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Buck Rogers (1979-1980): 12 Inch Basic Figures

In addition to the nine 3.75 Inch figures, Mego also released seven different figures in their 12 Inch format for the Buck Rogers line from 1979-1980. Sadly, we did not get a 12 Inch version of Wilma Deering or Princess Ardella, but we did get Dr. Huer, Draco, Draconian Guard, Killer Kane, Tiger Man, Buck Rogers himself and a Walking Twiki.

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Buck Rogers (1979-1980): 12 Inch Vehicles / Accessories

Mego did not release any vehicles or accessories for their 12 Inch Buck Rogers action figure series.

By 1979, Star Wars had taken the toy industry by storm and all the other toy companies across the globe were just trying to catch up by finding the next big thing. Mego toys had famously passed up the opportunity to make toys based on the Star Wars movie, so they were desperate to find their own powerhouse science fiction franchise. After already snatching up licensing deals with Logan’s Run, Space 1999, Disney’s The Black Hole and Star Trek the Motion Picture, Mego now signed a license to produce toys based on the new Buck Rogers in the 25th Century movie and television show, which was released in 1979. Of course, Buck Rogers had been around since 1928, but this was a new take on the classic hero. The Buck Rogers movie was released in March of 1979 and turned out to be fairly successful with a lot of buzz around it. Enough so that a television series followed later that year in September of 1979. This also translated over to the merchandising items for the movie as well, with children all over the country wanting anything with Buck Rogers on it. The legend goes that Mego took the license on as a favor to a marketing executive who had done business with Mego in the past. This line sold very well and I’m sure that whatever the reason was, Mego was very happy they ended up with the Buck Rogers toy license.

The Buck Rogers toy line actually featured two different action figure lines with a classic 12 Inch series, along with a new 3.75 Inch series as well. The 3.75 Inch series was the main line and featured nine figures in total. One strange thing about the action figure line was that all the figures were based on the Buck Rogers movie and not the very successful television series. This meant that characters such as Ardala, Kane, and Tiger Man were only recurring characters in the show, and Draco never even appeared again after the movie. The 3.75 inch line included all of the main characters from the movie, Draco, Kane, Tiger Man, Ardella, Draconian Guard, Dr. Huer, Twiki, Wilma Deering and of course the man himself, Buck Rogers. Also released for the 3.75 Inch line was the Star Fighter Command Center and five different vehicles, the Star Fighter, Draconian Marauder, Land Rover, Laserscope Fighter and the elusive Star Searcher. For the 12 Inch line, Mego produced seven characters, including all of the 3.75 inch characters, minus the females, Ardella and Wilma Deering, which was a real shame. Mego’s head sculpts for the 12 inch figures are actually quite nice with a lot of attention to details and likeness, but the 3.75 Inch line suffered the typical paint jobs that other Mego lines endured at the time with a lot of paint fading. The 3.75 inch figures are fairly easy to find on the secondary market but the ships are becoming harder and harder to find in their original box.

The packaging for the 12 Inch and 3.75 Inch lines of Buck Rogers were very similar, and they definitely fit the theme of the line with a great action portrait of Buck and Wilma with all the other character portraits around it. The 3.75 inch was the basic blister pack carded Mego design with the figure inside of a bubble on the right side of the package and the previously described Buck Rogers artwork on the left. The classic Buck Rogers in the 25th Century show logo was across the top of the blister pack. The name of the each character is actually on the bottom left side of the card in small white letters. The 12 inch versions featured the same artwork and portraits on the left, with the figure to the right side of the box. The logo was once again across the top of the packaging. There was a large sized window also on the right side over the figure, where you could see inside. The Buck Rogers action figure packaging was actually very attractive and definitely attention grabbing on the toy shelves.