No Wonder the Venus Space Probe is Rare
This 1978 Wards page explains a good deal as to why the Venus Space Probe from the Kenner Six Million Dollar Man line is so tough to find.
The one obvious reason is the line had run out of steam and buyers were now ordering lightly. The other reason might be that the Venus Space Probe was actually marketed all by it’s lonesome. It’s the sole SMDM piece in this Ward’s catalog, what fun is it, if you can’t get a doll to go with it? We all know the rest of the story, this piece had a limited run and is ungodly rare. I don’t collect Steve Austin and crew but I find the “Grail” in any line oddly attractive…..
I had one of these as a kid, didn’t have any of the other stuff from the line. I just used it as an “ultimate weapon” for the Empire during Star Wars playtime, it was bigger than anything except the Millennium Falcon, AT-AT, or a playset, and built tougher also. Lots of “space pinching” going on in Star Wars land. It also had an arm that could come out to knock things around and keep them in line. Hard to believe the new price was so cheap, but the dollar has lost gigantic chunks of buying power since then. I remember saving lunch money for months and months as a kid to get enough to buy one of the 18″ Alien figures, which was probably $20 or less.