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Matchbox Fighting Furies figures were produced from 1973-1974 by Matchbox/Lesney Products. The two main characters, Cap'n Hook & Cap'n Pegleg, were produced and sold in stores in the USA and in Europe. The glow-in-the-dark Ghost of Cap'n Kidd figure was sold exclusively by Sears catalogs in the US (a black and white box), but was available in stores in Europe in a colored coffin box. Each figure had a button on the inner left side of their body which allowed for a sword slashing/knife throwing feature in the pirate series, and a gun-drawing action in the lesser-known Western series. The neatest accessory by far was the hollow Pegleg on Cap'n Pegleg's right side. He had a treasure map which actually was rolled up and hidden inside his leg! This in turn was capped off by a small "plug" to contain the map. This map, made of paper, and the plastic "plug" are probably the two most hard to find items in loose figures because they generally are lost. The map itself usually deteriorates in time. It was difficult to get out of the leg once inside and paperclips usually ripped it trying to get it out. If you are lucky, you hopefully will find Cap'n Pegleg with his map still hidden inside of his pegleg. The most difficult piece to find is a yellow ring on the right hand of each figure. This was really just a tiny plastic ring meant to keep the sword in the figure's hand while packaged. In addition to all of this, it should be noted that these sets also came in European boxes which were similar to the US editions, but had multiple languages on the box (English, German, French and Spanish). Other than that, the colors and accessories were generally the same. If you have any information, please feel free to contact me at: lmelogra@optonline.net
The strength of these figures was in their accessories. Their weakness however was Matchbox's attempt to enter an action figure market already dominated by Hasbro's GI Joe and Mego's various action figure lines. Thus, the overabundance of accessory sets led to multiple packaged accessory kits with the Cap'n Patch figure. He was no more than a cheap knock-off of Mego's Cpt. Patch figure, but his patch is on the other side of his face, and his body is a cheap Action Jackson with a backed stamped solely "Made in Hong Kong" unlike the more articulated and mobile Pegleg, Hook, and Ghost of Cap'n Kidd figures who were stamped "Lesney Products" and dated.
Each boxed Adventure Set or blister Action Pack contained a variety of accessories including swords, knives, coins, treasure, hats, coats, guns, etc... Each boxed adventure set also came with a small comic/instruction sheet inside. They are orange and white in color and are the size of a small brochure. These pamphlets gave a brief description of the adventures of Cap'n Pegleg and Cap'n Hook and how these accessories fit into their adventures.
There were 2 playsets that these pirates could adventure on. They were both called the Sea Fury, but were quite different. The standard version was sold in stores and was nothing more than a vinyl covered cardboard ship that doubled as a carrying case. The Sears mail order edition however was an ENTIRE sailing vessel with sail, above and below deck, and more. It is worth considerably more, and thus harder to find. These ships came with sticker sets to apply to these playsets.
The lesser-known Western series of Fighting Furies (not for sale in the U.S.) consisted of the same "pirates", but they were disguised this time as cowboys and an Indian (Crazy Horse). These too had accessory packs to further enhance the playability of the Western heroes.*Something cool just added!*: The Western figures hands were rbber and very similar ot Gi Joe's Kung FU Grip! Awesome! If you have any information, please feel free to contact me at: lmelogra@optonline.net
Matchbox also created the MAXX FX figure. It's printed right on the box, so it must be true - "Recreate all your favorite movie monsters with these authentically detailed body parts. Clothing and accessories help you quickly transform the mild-mannered Maxx into spine-chilling monsters". Unfortunately, they only made one figure (Freddy) and then dropped the line. Advertised characters (but unproduced) were Frankenstein, Dracula and Alien. It was made on a 9 inch Mego figure. If you have any information, please feel free to contact me at: lmelogra@optonline.net
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Info and Photo Credits: Greg Mason
Last Last Updated: June 22, 2006