The best-loved action figures you might own from the 60s, 70s, 80s and 90s, now worth up to £60,000
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Are any of these action toys lurking in your loft?
- They were among the best-loved toys of the 60s, 70s, 80s and 90s
- You may remember playing with them as a child
- If you’ve held on to them, they could be worth a small fortune
They are the toys we loved playing with when we were young, but which may be gathering dust in the attic or being put through the wars by the children or grandchildren.
Most youngsters had a favourite action figure growing up, whether that was Action Man in the 60s and 70s or the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles in the 80s and 90s.
Some of those toys could be worth a small fortune today, with even well-loved action figures selling for thousands of pounds and the rarest unopened examples fetching tens of thousands.
The best example is undoubtedly the Star Wars merchandise, with a rare Boba Fett action figure selling for an astonishing £1.04 million in 2024, making it the most expensive toy ever sold at auction.
Below are seven of the other most collectable action figures from the 60s, 70s, 80s and 90s that you might remember playing with as a child, which could earn you a tidy sum if you held on to them.
Action Man
The UK’s answer to G.I Joe, Action Man first hit the shelves in 1966 and proved an instant hit with youngsters.
He is perhaps best known for his flocked hair and swivelling ‘Eagle Eyes’, though these features were both added in the 70s.
Action Man came in numerous outfits and had many accessories. Among the most valuable figures today are the sailor and the space explorer ones, which, even opened, can fetch hundreds of pounds.
A rare used Action Man sailor toy from 1971, listed for sale on eBay for £699.99
He-Man and She-Ra
He-Man and the Masters of the Universe, and its spin-off She-Ra: Princess of Power, were among the most popular children’s TV shows of the 80s.
The brother-and-sister superheroes often teamed up to defend Castle Grayskull from Skeletor or help the citizens of Etheria rise up against their oppressor Hordak.
A boxed Mattel He-Man action figure from the 80s is listed on eBay for around £8,500, while Netossa from She-Ra: Princess of Power is priced at over £2,000.
ThunderCats
ThunderCats was another huge 80s hit TV show, which pitted a team of humanoid felines led by Lion-O against the evil sorcerer Mumm-Ra.
In 2023, a boxed Lion-O and Snarf action figure set, with light-up eyes, sold for nearly £3,500.
A 1987 Lynx-O action figure, with a secret lever that moves its arms, is listed on eBay for more than £5,500, while a Ben Gali toy from the same show is listed for £3,200.
Transformers
Unlike most of the other action figures on our list, the Transformers toys actually came first, in 1984, with the TV series being produced later that year to help shift more of the action figures.
Transformers would go on to become one of the most successful franchises in TV and movie history.
The original G1 action figures can sell for huge sums today, with the Jetfire and the Pepsi Optimus Prime being among the most sought-after.
In 2019, an extremely rare Canadian version of Optimus Prime with a trailer reportedly sold for nearly £30,000.
Four years earlier, in 2015, a G1 Devastator gift set reportedly went for £59,600.
Evel Knievel
The daredevil motorcyclist’s death-defying stunts made him a global megastar during the late 60s and 70s.
Toymakers unsurprisingly decided to cash in, and the jumping, wheelie-riding action figures they produced enabled children to recreate his thrilling feats at home.
Today, a mint-condition 1975 Ideal Toys Evel Knievel stunt bike is listed on eBay for more than £3,000.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
Originally called the Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles in the UK, due to concerns the word ‘ninja’ was too violent, these sewer-dwelling, pizza-loving, Renaissance-inspired crimefighters were huge in the late 80s and early 90s.
Some of the early action figures are today worth a tidy sum.
Scratch, the mutant burglar cut, is often cited as the most valuable retro TMNT toy, due to how few of them were made. Unopened, the 1993 Playmates action figure can be worth upwards of £1,500, and even used Scratch toys are very valuable.
Action figures from the ‘Undercover’ series, featuring the TMNT heroes in disguise, are also very sought-after. A mint condition Undercover Leonardo is reportedly worth more than £5,000.
Rocksteady, Shredder’s mutant rhino henchman, who is one of the turtles’ fiercest adversaries, can fetch a fair bit of money too. A boxed 1988 Rocksteady action figure is listed on eBay for more than £30,000, though this price tag is probably somewhat optimistic on the seller’s part, with estimates elsewhere valuing the toy at closer to £300.
WWF
Characters like Hulk Hogan, The Undertaker and Randy Savage gained the World Wrestling Federation a huge following during the late 80s and early 90s.
The Hasbro WWF action figures made between 1990 and 1994 are highly collectable today, but the LJN toys that preceded them tend to be even more valuable.
However, it is the toys from the 1989 Wrestling Superstars series made by Grand Toys in Canada that can fetch the highest sums.
A carded Ultimate Warrior figure from that series is estimated to be worth up to £18,600, as is the Bret ‘The Hitman’ Hart figure from the same collection.
An extremely rare LJN Wrestling Superstars Hulk Hogan prototype, meanwhile, reportedly sold for the same amount in 2018.
What was your favourite toy when you were growing up?
If this article brought back happy childhood memories for you, you might enjoy our retro round-up of the best things you could buy with your pocket money in the 60s and 70s.