Golden Girl!

If you’ve been following these articles by me on Retro-Daze, then you know that I have been trying to build a collection from the 1985 line of action figures by Galoob known as Golden Girl. I once felt that this interesting line of warrior women was a knock off of She-Ra, but I have since found the error of my ways because Golden Girl is an enticing line to start collecting. Prices range in a variety of ways from somewhat expensive to pretty affordable which is nice. Collecting should be fun and relatively inexpensive. Once you start selling off body organs to buy an action figure though, it loses some of the fun.

My first introduction to Golden Girl was many years ago when the line was still on shelves, albeit the clearance section. I was in it deep with She-Ra and her friends from the Great Rebellion, but I also found the Golden Girl figures to be quite interesting. In a word they frightened me somewhat. They seemed tougher, more grown up, than She-Ra. As if they were the group of gals that would rough She-Ra and her friends up good. Of course I sided with She-Ra, but I never forgot about Golden Girl and the Guardians of the Gemstone. Through the years I certainly paid attention to them on various fan sites and of course eBay. It was only a matter of time before I caved and gave in to collecting this very interesting line.

Here we have (in package) Golden Girl, the main hero of the Golden Girl line. The action figure comes packed in a box with a nice shaped window displaying Golden Girl and some of her accessories. The logo is very “barbarian” with the metallic effect and sharpening of the letters; almost as if the letters are blades from one of Golden Girl’s weapons. The illustration to the left is a nice rendering of the warrior woman. She is in a battle pose, ready to jump into a war with the evil Dragon Queen or some other force of evil! Her sword is also a waved blade or, as I just recently found out, a flamberge. (I never knew!) How cool is that? Although, don’t let this image fool you. There are some similarities to the Princess of Power toy line that lead to further confusion about which toy line borrowed from the other. I have heard hush-hush rumors that have insisted that Galoob created and released Golden Girl in stores first and Mattel borrowed heavily from the line to create She-Ra, meanwhile word on the street has long held that Mattel had She-Ra trademarked before Galoob released Golden Girl. It is all so fascinating, and if anyone has any official word on these factoids, please share!  

This closer image of Golden Girl shows off the very nature of these action figures. Simple straight rooted hair rests on her head with a very harsh facial feature. She has heavy makeup on which lends a heavy metal vibe to the warrior woman look. A large sweeping cape covers her body. Underneath is a golden armor with strappy boots. Articulation-wise these warrior women were built more along the Masters of the Universe line than the Princess of Power series. Their legs have a soft rubber feel and are jointed at the hips to move like the original MOTU figures. The legs are also able to bend at the knee adding a nice twist to figures from that era. Other items aside from the cape were a gemstone shield (which can be worn as a necklace) a fancy comb, tiara, belt, and sword. I wanted to open her up to show off those items; however I am still apprehensive about taking Golden Girl out of her box. (For now)

Taking a peek on the back of the box reveals a vast array of images to collect! There is a lineup of the other figures to collect as well as rows of Golden Girl fashions to change the figures into. Below that is a fantastic play set along with some other items and details about Golden Girl. It’s all pretty impressive. There was a great deal of items from this line and though there are some clear similarities with the She-Ra line, Golden Girl actually had some interesting points of interest.

For example, while looking at the choice of Golden Girl figures to collect, we can see that there are two male characters (Prince Kroma a hero to the far left and Ogra a villain to the far right) and a smattering of evil female characters to collect too. She-Ra may have broken some rules with traditional girl’s toy lines by mixing action adventure with fashion and fantasy, but Golden Girl really sought to create a vicious barbarian world readymade for girls. This is a very interesting concept and one that has not been repeated often. (I can recall Xena, but that is really it.)

The Palace of Gems looks to be a very cool play set, one that is lacking all the shimmery golds and pinks of She-Ra’s Crystal Castle (although they sound similar in name) which is another interesting point in this line. There is a chariot and horse for “vehicles.” The whole line is something truly unique. A brief bio is below the picture explaining just who Golden Girl is and how she competes against the evil Dragon Queen. The image to the right also captures Golden Girl with all her accessories.

One last image is of the requisite fan club. Every old school toy line had a fan club. I miss toy fan clubs. This fan club came with some pretty cool stuff that I have yet to come across on the secondary market. The Golden Girl fan magazine sounds like a very cool item!

This is but a taste of what the Golden Girl line was all about. Most of you know I am a diehard She-Ra fan, but there is something so fascinating about both toy lines. They contained some similarities and differences that really set them apart as something unique for girls in a sea of Barbie. Toy lines consisting of warrior women wielding swords and flipping their rooted hair are completely out of the norm, but looking back on these fun retro toys is the perfect way to remind ourselves that once in awhile some toy lines can come along and bring some magic to one’s imagination. My imagination with Golden Girl may not have been evident when I was younger, but now as an adult I have created a very interesting world and story for these toys, which is always a fun thing to do.

Do you remember Golden Girl? Share your memories of this line and any other toy lines that gave you that sense of magic to fuel your imagination.