Moonraker

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Moonraker – 1979

Mego was looking for the next “Star Wars” action figure success story, so they began cranking out sci-fi toy lines in the late 70’s with Buck Rogers, Black Hole, and Star Trek: The Motion Picture. In 1979, the latest entry in the James Bond franchise, Moonraker, took our favorite British spy to space, so Mego jumped all over it. The movie was a hit at the box office, so it seemed logical that toys from the movie would also do well. They were wrong! The 12 inch figures just didn’t catch on with kids, and quickly disappeared from store shelves. As a result, the proposed 3.75 inch Moonraker line never materialized.

For more information about Mego’s Moonraker line, see bottom of the page for a complete summary.

Moonraker (1979): Basic Action Figures

Mego released a total of five figures for their Moonraker line in 1979. Three of them, James Bond, Drax and Holly were released worldwide, while the other two, Jaws and James Bond in Space Suit were European exclusives and difficult to find on the secondary market nowadays.

Drax

Market Value:
Boxed $130 – $180
Loose $60 – $85

Drax
Accessories: Black Shirt, Grey Pants, White Shoes
Years Released: 1979
Difficulty To Find: Moderate Difficulty – Takes patience and appears less often
Notes: Hugo Drax was portrayed by French actor, Michael Lonsdale in the Moonraker movie. Drax was the Bond villain for this installment and planned to poison all humans on Earth, then repopulate the planet from his space station. Seems kind of strange, but many evil plans are. The Drax figure is a great likeness of the character with a nice movie accurate costume as well.

Holly

Market Value:
Boxed $130 – $180
Loose $60 – $85

Holly
Accessories: Red Dress, White Boots
Years Released: 1979
Difficulty To Find: Moderate Difficulty – Takes patience and appears less often
Notes: Dr. Holly Goodhead (yes, that was her name in the movie) was portrayed by Lois Chiles in Moonraker. She was a scientist on loan from NASA working at Drax Industries, but later revealed to be a CIA agent. Mego did a pretty good job of capturing her general likeness. The red dress and white boots she comes with were fine, but I don’t actually recall seeing her in this outfit from the movie.

James Bond

Market Value:
Boxed $90 – $120
Loose $40 – $60

James Bond
Accessories: Silver Space Suit, Silver Boots, Pocket Squares, Arm Bracers
Years Released: 1979
Difficulty To Find: Moderate Difficulty – Takes patience and appears less often
Notes: This was the first James Bond action figure since Gilbert’s run of Sean Connery Bond figures back in the 60’s. The figure is a pretty good likeness of Roger Moore, but the head sculpt does suffer from discoloration as does other 12 inch Mego’s at the time. 007 comes dressed in his silver space suit that comes with clunky white pocket squares and arm bracers. This was actually a nice looking figure and is the most commonly found one from the Moonraker assortment.

James Bond (Deluxe with Space Suit)

Market Value:
Boxed $500 – $700
Loose $125 – $175

James Bond (Deluxe with Space Suit)
Accessories: Silver Space Suit, Silver Boots, Pocket Squares, Arm Bracers, Helmet, Space Pack, Chest Plate, Belt
Years Released: 1979
Difficulty To Find: Hard to Find – Occasionally listed, and usually sells quickly
Notes: This figure of James Bond was essentially the same figure as the normal released version, but with the added space gear of a helmet, space pack, chest plate and belt. The Deluxe James Bond figure was an exclusive that was only available overseas in select European markets, making this a tough find nowadays.

Jaws

Market Value:
Boxed $260 – $360
Loose $100 – $140

Jaws
Accessories: Blue Shirt, Blue Pants w/ Suspenders, White Shoes
Years Released: 1979
Difficulty To Find: Hard to Find – Occasionally listed, and usually sells quickly
Notes: Jaws (portrayed by Richard Kiel) was one of the more memorable Bond villains to appear in the film franchise. In fact, he was so popular that the ending of “The Spy Who Loved Me” was altered so he could return in Moonraker. The figure sculpt does a decent job of capturing the character’s likeness with a nice movie accurate costume. Due to production delays, this figure was only released overseas as a European exclusive.

Moonraker (1979): Accessories

Mego did not release any toy related accessories for their Moonraker action figure line in 1979.

Moonraker (1979): Unproduced Items

Mego originally planned to release a 3.75 inch action figure line to compliment their 12 inch line, as was the standard in other lines such as Black Hole, Buck Rogers and Star Trek: The Motion Picture. Due to slow sales of the 12 inch line, Mego never released the 3.75 inch figures and accessories, and chose to scrap the entire line.

The Moonraker 3.75 inch line was planned to include three different vehicles that would be paired with various figures. The Jet Boat, from one of the movie chase scenes, would include two unannounced figures. The Moonraker Helicopter was a re-purposed Bat Copter from the Comic Action Heroes line, and it would have included a James Bond figure. Finally, the Moonraker Shuttle would also also include two unannounced figures. It’s a shame these vehicles didn’t get released because I would’ve loved to see a Mego space shuttle in a 3.75 inch scale.

The Moonraker action figure line by Mego featured five total figures from four different characters from the movie. There was Drax, the main villain; Holly, the Bond girl; Jaws, the popular henchman; Standard issue James Bond, in his silver space suit; and finally a Deluxe James Bond, that included a few new accessories that made up a fun looking astronaut suit. The clothing and costumes were well made and seemed to work well with the figures, but the stand-out for this line were the fantastic looking head sculpts. The figures all suffered from the standard Mego head discoloration that 12 inch Mego’s suffered at the time, but they were all really nice work . It should be noted the Deluxe James Bond and Jaws figures were both European exclusives, and can be tough to track down nowadays.

The packaging for the Moonraker action figures was eye catching and definitely catered to the movie itself. Each figure was released in an open window box with the figure on the right hand side. The overall color scheme was black with a yellow colored Moonraker logo along the left side of the box. Also n the left side of the box was an illustration of James Bond in his space suit, that mirrored the movie poster. The character’s names were underneath the figures window box in yellow lettering. All figure sets shared the same back design. The exception to the packaging design was the European exclusive Deluxe James Bond figure, which came in an all blue package. The Moonraker toy line did not sell particularly well at the time, and Mego ended up losing money on the licensing deal. These figures can be a bit challenging to track down nowadays on the secondary market.

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