The Merchandise GuideFigures
Compiled by Martin Willey
The Merchandise Guide
UK 49p US 96c - $1.99 1976
Two figures with parachutes- Koenig in uniform and astronaut - each released in two different packs.
The Koenig figure was released with two versions of the head- one larger than the other, with no neck.
"Official Space 1999 Parachutist", "Realistic floating action!
No 6347 (both designs)
Two designs, each figure 12 cm tall with yellow & red striped plastic parachute:
Blister card 19 x 27 cm, crude art of astronaut & Eagle with inset photo of Koenig.
Trade catalogue photo.
For Year 2 each had new, different, blister packs, titled "Fly 'Em High!", subtitled "parachutist & launcher". A flash promised "super sling-shot action". The uniformed figure had art of Koenig in his orange jacket; the astronaut had art of an astronaut (based on a pose from The Exiles) and the Metamorph Eagle with boosters.
See other Azrak-Hamway (ahi) toys. Thanks to Gordon Moriguchi for image
US 1976
"Official Space 1999 Walking Spaceman", "Battery Operated"
With blinking light and radiation sound
Grotesque Frankenstein-proportioned astronaut which waddles along on huge yellow feet (with wheels). The face in the cylindrical helmet is vaguely Koenig; the chest pack is fairly accurate.
Sold in a square box illustrated with astronauts from Ring Around The Moon (Helena being dazzled as Koenig reacts), a small Eagle and, on the front, Ahi's standard pictures of Koenig and Bergman. The small Eagle on the rear picture is unusual, showing two red stripes either side of the door.
See other Azrak-Hamway (ahi) toys.
UK £2.25, later £2.49 1975
UK toy company Palitoy (owned since 1964 by the US conglomerate General Mills) dominated the UK action figure market with their "Action Man" figures, based on Hasbro's "GI Joe" figures. They also licensed figures from other US companies, taking Mego's superheroes and "Star Trek" figures, and later Kenner's "Star Wars" figures. In 1975 Palitoy licensed "Space: 1999", preventing Mattel from releasing their figures in the UK. The "Space: 1999" Palitoy figures used 8 inch bodies from Mego's range (in 1974 they had released selected figures from Mego's "Star Trek" range, and reused the figures). In the US they are sometimes erroneously called Mego figures.
All cat no. 22830. Figures 20 cm tall, posable with joints in neck, waist, shoulders and hips, elbow and knee, wrist and ankle. The figures likenesses were approximate. Alphan figures have yellow belt with small red plastic commlocks; Koenig and Paul in white (not beige) uniforms, Alan in a red (not orange) spacesuit.
Blister card 23.5 x 21.5 cm with photo of Alpha and inset art of the head/shoulders of all 5, on front and back. "From the most spectacular space series ever".
Back of card
Palitoy catalogue (in a Mego collector's guide). Alan Carter has an Alphan uniform, but he was only released with the astronaut costume. The figures have elastic belts, not the yellow plastic belts of the final figures, and no commlocks.
Pictures thanks to Gordon Moriguchi. More photos
The Palitoy figures were manufactured in Coalville, Leicestershire, but by 1982 the factory stopped production, and in 1985 the company collapsed. Some bagged figures exist which are probably factory or warehouse leftovers, some with missing accessories, some with different costumes altogether.
Many of these bagged Palitoy figures have a price sticker (£1.60) for "Pramland of Leigh", a nursery and toy shop in Wigan. Other bagged figures have since appeared, one being the Frank Beech Toy Shop in Hollywell, North Wales.
These figures probably date from the 1980s when the warehouses emptied their stock. There are 3 "Starmen 1999" figures here (Alan Carter, Paul Morrow, Zantor); the Koenig and War Games alien may have been sold in this format as well, considering they are on the card art.
The artwork on the card top is from the 1977 Annual cover, with the inset alien heads reversed from the original Palitoy packaging.
The Frank Beech Toy Shop figures. The Hollywell shop closed in 2009 after 70 years, leaving a vast amount of unsold toys; this stock was sold at auction in 2015, and these figures appeared on ebay in 2024. All three figures wear Carter's spacesuit, none with a belt or commlock; Carter gets blue shoes. The "Starmen" price here was just 99p; the ebay prices in 2024 were £1,801 (Koenig), £895 (Alan), £655 (Paul).
The Alan Carter figure was also sold as a racecar driver, Pitstop Pete ("pilots any scale vehicle!"). Neither of these Starmen or Pitstop figures have commlocks or helmet, and the Pitstop is missing a belt. Both also have different coloured boots to the standard Palitoy figure. In contrast, the Paul Morrow figure is complete with belt and commlock.
US, Germany 1975 Individual prices from $1.99 to $3.33
Mattel released Koenig, Helena and Bergman figures, the Moonbase Alpha Control Room and Eagle 1 Spaceship and Flying Eagle (vertibird)
"Exciting TV Characters From Moonbase Alpha!" Each 22 cm (9 inches) tall. Torso and legs hard plastic, head & arms soft plastic, jointed at neck, shoulder, hips & knees (the bodies were reused from another Mattel range, the 1974 Sunshine Family dolls, rather than their more realistic Big Jim range from 1972). Polyester uniforms, each with plastic belt, commlock and stun gun (very accurate) plus soft plastic slippers. The likenesses are poor and quite doll-like. The hands cannot easily hold the stun gun or commlock.
The card art is good, each of the 3 characters having unique art featuring the applicable figure, but the Zython has the Koenig art.
|
"Commander Koenig" no 9542 Light brown uniform, dark brown sleeve & collar. 
|
|
"Professor Bergman" no 9543 Dark brown uniform, light brown sleeve & collar. |
|
"Doctor Russell" no 9544 Bright orange-red uniform, light orange sleeve. 
|
|
"Zython" no 9875 The packaging for Koenig, Russell and Bergman did not feature Zython. The figure was released later, although the copyright date is 1975. It is a very rare, even as an unboxed figure. 
|
The commlock ("Communicator-Computer" on the packaging) and stun gun are reasonably accurate.
Mattel was making big changes in 1975 to bring it back to profitability. Some of the product lines produced towards the end of the year had very limited runs- including "Zython". Mattel sold many of their figure molds to Cispa in Mexico. Mattel's "Big Jim" line of action figures, cancelled in 1976, became Cispa's "El Squadron Lobo". Zython became one of the baddies, "Nocton", "el amo de las tinieblas" (the master of darkness, appropriately for a glow-in-the-dark figure). Nocton was taller at 10 inches.
This advert is for a competition in the German comic Zack (1978 issue 12, thanks to Patrick Zimmerman). It includes Zython, proving the figure was released in Germany (333 of them were prizes in this competition).
Blister pack 16 x 30 cm. Fair artwork shows applicable character in foreground, other 2 behind, Moon, explosion & Eagle in background. Back of pack is blue and white, showing 3 characters: description "Action figures stand nine inches tall. They can sit, stand and they're posable. They wear Space 1999 uniforms with Stun Gun and holster, plus communicator-computer which clips to the belt."
The Zython pack added "Zython wears outer space costume, his head glows in the dark!"
Below: original head moulds in metal and plastic.
The Koenig and Bergman figures can be seen in the 2005 comedy film The 40 Year Old Virgin starring Steve Carrell as a character who collects such action figures.
A playset was produced for the figures by Mattel. The three Alphan figures were also available in the Deluxe version of the Playset. Mattel also produced the Eagle 1 Spaceship and the Flying Eagle.
US $3.98
"Character Identified 3 dimensional rotation moulded vinyl". There were two figures, each pocket money banks.
Tim Heald's book "The Making Of Space: 1999" credits the "Burvel Toy Corp", which has no known references. Some of the 1999 figures have a sticker crediting "Animals Plus, Brooklyn N.Y. 11232", a company active between 1975 and 1980 which produced other plastic figure banks.
Pictures by Gordon Moriguchi
US 1976 $14.95
Also DELUXE SET including three 9" action figures
Mattel released Koenig, Helena and Bergman figures, the Moonbase Alpha Control Room and Eagle 1 Spaceship and Flying Eagle (vertibird)
'Starflash (TM) Computer lights up! Console for "reading out" Moon Base data! TV screens for "monitoring" vehicle launchings!'
Play set designed for the Mattel figures, including plastic 24 cm tall pedestal (the "Starflash (TM)" computer) with a flashing light and attached chair, another plastic chair and small table, a vinyl floor and wall mat (18" x 30" x 11", i.e. 44 deep x 76 wide x 28 cm tall) and stickers. The walls may be in silver gray or dark gray.
"Unassembled. Battery and action figures not included".
Inside the "Starflash computer" column is a cylindrical "screen", made of plastic, which has nice colour art of the Moon and a galaxy, plus two black & white photos of Eagles. The stickers include 9 colour photos (for the TV screens), showing various Year One effects (Eagles, the breakaway explosion, the Missing Link city, the Dragon, Satazius).
The computer and seats look nothing like Space: 1999 because they are recycled from the control console in Mattel's 1967 Matt Mason "Man in Space" series Space Station. The vinyl mat featured panels loosely based on the original Year One computer designs, though comprising no real recognisable set.
Box, 35 x 31 x 9 cm, features yellow logo and art of the set including Koenig, Helena (in red uniform) and Victor (in brown uniform); an annotated diagram of the set in on the back, in blue.
A 14 x 28 cm instruction sheet, folding out to 42 x 28 cm, details construction.
Box
Labels
Play mat
Instructions
The DELUXE SET was identical but included the Mattel figures of Koenig, Helena and Bergman. The box art is identical but the subtitle "Control room & launch monitor center" becomes "Deluxe set", and a blue box bottom right states "With Three 9" Action Figures!". The back of the box is more different; the art contains the three Alphans (Koenig and Helena in the same poses as the front art, Victor still seated but moved around).
A variation box for the Deluxe set has a yellow starburst centre-left with the text "Deluxe Set With Three 9" Action Figures!"; otherwise the box front and back is a standard non-deluxe box.
The Mattel 1976 dealer catalogue listed small (3 inch high) action figures. The spacesuited figures appear to be identical to those in the Mattel Eagle 1 Spaceship model; they may not have ever been commercially released. This may be because of the financial difficulties of Mattel at the time.
The figures are:
In February 2010, two figures in uniforms (Koenig and Bergman) were sold on ebay for $898.88. These came from a Mattel employee and seem to have been prototypes.
In 2014, the "Crew set" box was listed on ebay, but withdrawn before sale (apparently a private sale). The crew set actually has the title Alpha Crew, with the same serial number (9570). The box had a sticker "Unapproved sales sample".
These figures are fixed to base stands. The base has a lever which makes the figure swivel, perhaps at the waist, or the whole body; the illustration isn't clear. The box states that Koenig has a "laser rifle", while Russell and Bergman have a stun gun and "communicator computer" (sic). In this box there is no rifle, stun guns or commlocks.
3 action characters from Moon Base Alpha!
Move lever!
Make 'em move!
Arms can be posed!Alpha crew set contains: Commander Koenig in space suit with helmet and laser rifle, Doctor Russell and Professor Bergman in Space: 1999 uniform with Stun Gun and Communicator Computer. Action bases included.
Available separately. Collect 'em all!
Commander Koenig
Commander Koenig (space suit)
Doctor Russell
Doctor Russell (space suit)
Professor Bergman
Pilot (space suit)
Japan
Separate resin figures. 1/12 scale, 15 cm tall. See Century 21 #10 p33.
Teru Yamada also produced an Eagle Transporter, the boosterised Eagle and a Moonbase Alpha
UK, due October/November 1998 but released late 1999. Price £25
1:9 scale (about 20cm tall). The model moulded with facial features and a clear (tinted) helmet visor.
Copyright Martin Willey