The Planet of the Apes Action Figures Identification Tool with Pictures

Even though the novel made some waves, the true impact of the Planet of the Apes was felt years later in 1968. 20^th Century Fox adapted the basic premise of the novel into a feature film starring Charleston Heston as the time-displaced astronaut, George Taylor.

After waking from his near-light-speed space voyage, Taylor found himself in an alien world dominated by apes. As he discovered that the humans of the planet were treated as slaves, he found sympathetic souls such as Dr. Cornelius and Dr. Zira. He also bonded with a fellow slave, Nova. As he escaped to the Forbidden Zone with the help of Cornelius and Zira, he discovered the tragic truth as he discovered the remains of the Statue of Liberty. The Planet of the Apes was a future version of Earth that emerged after a terrible nuclear war.

The follow-up to the first movie, Beneath the Planet of the Apes, appeared in 1970. While Charleston Heston returned as George Taylor, he was not the central character. Instead, James Franciscus took over as the new main character, John Brent. Like Taylor, Brent was another astronaut who unfortunately traveled and crashed into the Planet of the Apes.

Rather than repeat the original tale from a new character, Brent knew from the beginning that he was in the year 3955. However, he did not originally think he was on Earth. Moreover, he tangled with more than the dominant Ape species. He also dealt with psychic post-nuclear-holocaust human mutants that could influence others into extreme violence. The film ended with Taylor dying, hitting the activation switch to a doomsday bomb that completely devastated the entire planet.

The death of Earth was not the end of the series, for it returned in 1971 with Escape from the Planet of the Apes. Shortly before the Doomsday weapon went off, Cornelius, Zira, and Dr. Milo escaped by traveling back in time to the 20th Century. This led to them having to deal with a world dominated by humans who wished to study them. As the researchers learned that humanity had been treated as slaves and experiments by the Apes, hostilities rose. Meanwhile, Zira hoped to safely give birth to her child. While Zira did not survive the movie, she was able to hide her infant away by switching it out with another newborn born from a normal ape, Heloise.

The importance of Zira’s infant became apparent during the 1972 follow-up, Conquest of the Planet of the Apes. As he was hidden in a Circus, Zira’s son, Ceasar, grew up with a close relationship with humanity. Meanwhile, the world around him began to take on apes after a plague eradicated the cat and dog population. Unfortunately, Caesar’s peaceful life came to an end after he made an outburst, revealing that he could speak.

This event led to Casear being held in an encampment where he was meant to blend in with the other apes. As he became tired of the treatment of his fellow apes, he took up arms against the humans and led a violent revolt. Despite feeling justified in the violence, he eventually decided that he should remain humane and show some mercy.

The final film in the original series was the Battle for the Planet of the Apes, which came out in 1973. In the years between this movie and the last one, a nuclear war has devastated the human species. Thus, it followed Caesar and his fellow apes as they settled in as the dominant species of the planet. Still wishing for peace on the planet, he taught both his wife, Lisa, and son, Cornelius, to be tolerant of the species.

Unfortunately, the remnants of humanity, especially the radiation-scarred mutants, made peace difficult. These former humans were actively aggressive toward the ape society. Thus, Caesar had to defend his people while hoping for a day when the apes and humans could live in peace. The movie’s ending revealed that, 600 years later, the followers of Caesar’s teachings still hoped for this peace.

The film series’ success brought in many more projects, including comic books. The first Planet of the Apes comics came out in 1970. Gold Key created a comic adaptation of the second movie’s plot. Soon after, Marvel picked up the license. From 1974 until 1977, Marvel’s Curtis Magazine label published 29 black-and-white issues. Then, Marvel ran an 11-issue-long full-color series that ran from 1975 to 1976. These comics adapted the plots of the first two films. From 1974 until 1977, UK Marvel created 123 issues with even more Planet of the Apes stories.

The Planet of the Apes also received some television adaptations in the 1970s. First, there was a live-action series in 1974. Then, there was an animated series in 1975.

As the first two films of the Planet of the Apes series began popping up on television in 1974, 20^th Century Fox initiated a “Go Ape!” campaign. This included several marathon screenings of all the movies at various theaters. During this time, the son of Mego CEO, Marty Abrams, introduced his father to the series. This led to Mego picking up the license, which took it away from AHI, Azrak-Hamway International.

Even though the Planet of the Apes was Mego’s first crack at a movie license, they succeeded with flying colors. Similar to Mego’s other action figures, the standard toys in the line were 8” articulated figures that wore cloth outfits. They began the toy line in 1974 with action figures of Cornelius, Zira, Dr. Zaius, a Soldier Ape, and an Astronaut. This first wave also included a Treehouse and a Village play set. Furthermore, there was a remote-controlled horse called the Action Stallion.

As the television series was kicking off, the 2^nd series of Planet of the Apes toys focused on those characters. Thus, Mego introduced action figures of Galen, Alan Virdon, Peter Burke, General Urko, and General Ursus. There were also new play sets and vehicles including the Forbidden Zone Trap, The Fortress, The Catapult and Wagan, and The Battling Ram. This series also introduced 5” bend and flex figures. Unfortunately, the cancelation of the television series signaled to Mego that the Planet of the Apes craze had come to an end. Thus, they left the line with only two series of toys.

At the height of the Go Ape craze, many companies licensed Mego’s Planet of the Apes toys across the world. Palitoy and Bradgate brought the toys over to the UK Market. Meanwhile, Bullmark released the toys to Japan. Cispa brought the toys to the Mexican market, with several of their takes. Then, Parkdale Novelty released the line to Canada while TalToys brought it over to Australia. Baraveli licensed the toys for the Italian market. Then, there was Pash, a company from Spain that only released the Soldier Ape to their toy lines.

Decades after Mego’s Planet of the Apes toy line left store shelves, Hasbro picked up the license. They began their era in 1999 with a series of collector’s edition 12” action figures including characters of Gorilla Seargent, Gorilla Soldier, Taylor, and Zira. They followed up these four toys with a wave of 6” figures of Dr. Zaius, Commander Taylor, Gorilla Sergent, Gorilla Soldier, and Cornelius. This second wave also included new 12” figures of Commander Taylor, Cornelius, Dr. Zaius, and General Ursus.

Soon after, a new incarnation of Planet of the Apes, directed by Tim Burton, debuted in 2001. Marvel Comics accompanied this film with a comic book adaptation. Meanwhile, Hasbro transitioned their Planet of the Apes toy line to feature characters from the film. These action figures included characters like Ape Commander, Ari, Daena, Limbo, Pericles, Krull, and Thade on a horse.

As the 2001 film was poorly received, it did not lead to any sequels. Thus, fans had to wait years for the next era to begin. Luckily, when a new reboot series began in 2011, it successfully kicked off a new series. This reboot series began with Rise of the Planet of the Apes. It was soon followed by the 2014 film, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes. Then, there was War for the Planet of the Apes in 2017. Yet another film in the series is slotted to appear in 2024: Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes.

This new era brought new options for other collectibles, including comic books. Boom! Studios picked up the license in 2014. Thus, they created several new comics for the series.

Meanwhile, NECA began introducing new Planet of the Apes toys for the new reboot series. The company also produced classic figures that featured characters from the original films. Then, Super 7 began including Planet of the Apes toys in their Reaction toy line. Most of these figures were around 3 ¾” tall, except for ones like Lawgiver. Sideshow Collectibles also created 12” action figures, such as the one that featured Slave Brent.

Recently, Mego has resurfaced with a line of classic toys. Like their original toy line, they produced 8” action figures with 14 points of articulation.