Toy-Ventures: Kenner Venus Space Probe Plus Birthday Contest!
Toy-Ventures returns with a look at the Six Million Dollar Man’s final Toy foe, the Kenner Venus Space Probe AKA “Death Probe.” It is one of the rarest bionic toys out there. Also, it’s our 19th Birthday, so we’re having a contest!
#toyventures #kenner #bionicman
Topics Discussed:
Kenner, Bionic Man, Six Million Dollar Man, Maskatron, Steve Austin, Oscar Goldman, Death Probe, Bigfoot, Plaidstallions, Venus Space Probe, Rare toys, Toy-Ventures,
CONTEST TIME:
It’s Plaid Stallions 19th Brthday, so I’m having a contest and giving away fantastic prizes. To enter, merely comment on this post below to this question:
Who is your favourite Bionic character?
One entry per person, I will draw the winners this Friday May 9th.
Grand Prize
Grand Prize
The Grand Prize winner will receive a pack from the Plaid Stallions Shop, including a Tura Satana Action figure, A Set of wave 1 Lincoln Monsters, a copy of Knock-Offs, Toy-Ventures magazines and some vintage surprises from our vintage archives!
Runner Up Prizes
9 Runners up will receive a set of PlaidStallions Polyester Pals and a collector pin of your choice.
Good luck and thanks for 19 years of support!
Issue #13 of Toy-Ventures Magazine will feature the never-before-seen plans for the 1983 World’s Greatest Superheroes toy line and a cover featuring artwork specially commissioned for Mego’s catalogue, gloriously coloured by Robyn Adams, founder of the Mego Museum.
The Blood-A-Rama Shock Festival Pack
Toy-Ventures is our magazine; we’re an independent publisher trying to bring back print toy magazines; if you would like to support us, please check out the latest issue: https://plaidstallions.com/reboot/shop
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Max, the bionic dog.
Steve Austin
Mike Powers Atomic Man
The original and still the best… Steve Austin
The most memorable bionic character for me would be Bulletman from G. I. Joe. I remember him as a child. He was way different then the other 12 inch figures. I have him as a 4 inch figure.
Bigfoot
It has to be The Six Million Dollar man himself, Steve Austin! Who would have ever dreamed that a horrific accident could not only lead to the first man to have Bionic enhancements but also prepare him for a career in stunt work and bounty hunting? What are the odds? Only trouble is, it is virtually impossible to get his oddly sized action figure to fit in that sweet truck…
Bionic Bigfoot was and is my favorite. Great video. I actually am lucky enough to own a Venus probe with the box if anyone has a rocket , im missing it. Also, if you are interested in old catalogs, we have a bunch of non Christmas ones form the late 70s-80s. Thanks
Steve Austin! Still have the late 70s black & white comic in my crawl space somewhere.
My favorite Bionic character was always Jamie Sommers The Bionic Woman
Has to be Steve Austin…those shoes were legendary!
Definitely Steve Austin!
Oscar Goldman, for making administrators look cool!
My favorite bionic character used to be Steve Austin, then years later it was Jaime Summers but Kate Mason just inched her out. So, Kate Mason from the Bionic Showdown.
Jaime Sommers the Bionic Woman. Was born in 74, so I remember her show more.
Definitely Jaime Sommers followed up by the Fembots
Jaime Sommers, the Bionic Woman is my favorite!
Bigfoot – Andre the Giant o.g. version!
Steve Austin! Still have my fan club photos.
Bigfoot, always Bigfoot.
Max The German Shepherd Bionic Dog .
My favourite was Barney Miller, the Seven Million Dollar man! I always hoped as a kid he would show up on more episodes and accept his bionics.
BigFoot or is it Big Foot. are two called Big Feets? but you can never go wrong with Mr Foot
Undoubtedly Maskatron.
He was also a 12 inch imperial spy for star wars 12 inch adventures
Maskatron. Where else could a kid get a John Saxon action figure? Plus the toy has the plunger hand for all your Dalek suction needs.
I’m gonna have to say Colonel Steve Austin.
For me it will always be the Six Million Dollar Man Steve Austin action figure.
Steve Austin
Max!
My favorite bionic character without a doubt is Maskatron
Of course it would go to Col. Steve Austin. Second Max the bionic dog, I really didn’t like the Bionic Woman. I think that was because that series was syndicated to death. I do have a third, but they were not bionic but still cool. The Fembots, were always good for a close up.
Lastly just for a bit of fun, I was wondering what $6M in 1973 was worth today.
$43,216,081.08
My favorite Bionic character is The Bionic Woman! As a kid I loved to watch the series holding my Jaime Sommers doll and make her do all the things I saw Jaime do on the show. I even got to meet Lindsay Wagner twice, (and she remembered me the second time!).
Bigfoot all the way
Def. John Saxon/Maskatron. That scene where his face gets ripped off freaked me out as a kid, and it was really cool that the action figure had the removable face feature.
Loved Bionic Man. He tagged with my Action Man to fight fictional evil
Mine has always been Max. I always found the Bionic Woman to be a somewhat better show overall, and Max was absolutely the best part of it.
Bionic Bigfoot! But only the Andre the Giant version. Ted Cassidy was just silly looking in the costume.
I kind of want to say John Saxon’s character (Sloan?), because Saxon was THE 70’s villian in everything… but I have to go with bionic Bigfoot (“we call him Sasquach”). Bigfoot was also everywhere in the 70’s and I’m a monster guy, so yeah Bigfoot!!
Gotta go with the OG, Steve. And congratulations for 19 years. I was there every step of the way (seriously, check some of those old comments).
My favorite Bionic figure is Oscar Goldman. I just loved his exploding briefcase and his green, plaid sports jacket. If I could find a green plaid sports jacket in my size, I would definitely wear it.
Bionic Bigfoot is my favorite and has a special place in my heart!!
Bigfoot (played by Andre the Giant) even as a kid, I recognized that mug on the show before I was told it was him…
Callahan, Oscar’s secretary. She was cool and competent, offered great comic relief, and made for a great Fembot. And Jennifer Darling was completely crush-worthy as well!
I think it has to be Jaime Sommers! As a kid, the fembots, after losing their faces, scared the h3ll outta me!!
My favorite Bionic figure was Oscar Goldman. I liked his exploding briefcase and green plaid sports jacket. He was such a snappy dresser.
Steve Austin is definitely my favorite. I loved everything about the show and the toys as a kid. Playing Six Million Dollar Man was a critical part of first and second grade.
Definitely Steve Austin, the one and only 6 million dollar man.
Bionic Bigfoot. It was an insane direction in the show.
Such a vanilla choice I know, but my favorite character was always Steve Austin. He was my fave on the show and I loved playing with my figure as a kid, even though I couldn’t figure out why his bionic eye feature made everything look further away.
Steve Austin with the second release bionic grip.
My favorite bionic character was the Bionic Woman Sports Car. My five year old self continued to play with this thing way after the figures/dolls had disappeared from my toy box. The Bionic Woman Sports Car was like a James Bond spy car mixed with a Knight Rider K.I.T.T. before K.I.T.T. was ever conceived. I would pretend it could talk and needed it’s energy charged or repaired with my last remaining pegs and hoses. If anyone got in that it didn’t like, it would toss them out with the ejection seat at full speed and then run them over. However, nothing beat racing it down our steep driveway and watching it crash into our cheap metal garage door with a satisfying echoing thud as it bounced off ready for more.
Sasquach
Well, it would have ro be Max the Bionic Dog. While there was no toy for him I had this to-scale static, unposeable plastic German Shepherd to go with my toy line. Second is a tie between Oscar, with his briefcase & office/Electronic desk, and Maskatron, with his cool removable bionic modules & multiple faces. Congrats Brian on the whole shebang reaching 19 years old (it can now legally have an alcoholic beverage in Canada, lol). Cheers!
Congratulations on 19 years of brilliance! I will have to go with Steve Austin because he made tracksuits cool.
Rudy Wells was like the American “Q” from James Bond and was certainly my favorite
Oscar Goldman. Loved the exploding briefcase!
I always loved Steve Austin. definely my favourite (and the only toy from the line I own).
My favorite is Steve Austin I’ve got 3 figures in different outfits.
Steve is the heart of the line, but Masketron the coolest figure they made.
I don’t like to pick favorites, but if I have to it’s Max the bionic Dog
My favorite is Steve Austin. I remember playing with my 6 million dollar man figure as a kid and watching the show every week.
Loved Bigfoot!
I was going to say fembot but saw max in the comments and I have to go with that. I had the Duke 1/6 scale dog and his accessories (still do) and always had him stand in as Max.
Any of the characters played by Farrah Fawcett Majors (I think she was in at least 3 episodes as different characters).
Jaime Sommers! *swoon*
Steve Austin FTW!
Big foot
Bionic man
Steve and the Fred Sloan android are way up there but I’d have to pick Barney Miller, The Seven Million Dollar Man as my favorite bionic character. A great episode and one I find myself rewatching most often.
Bionic man doll was great had his loud speaker back pack
I of course, gravitated to astronaut Steve Austin, but I did like when Barney was Introduced as the seven million dollar man. “It’s wild, Steve….wild!”…Second up, though not bionic was William Shatner’s one-shot where he became so smart he burned out, but talked to dolphins before doing so.
Give me Maskatron. I love killer bots who are fashionable and handy with a plunger! Honorable mention goes to Fembot who creeps me out and probably wants revenge on me for not letting her go free, so she can go visit her boyfriend, Bobbybot.
Bionic Woman
Most definitely Bigfoot Andre the the giant version huge man of Andre and the channel Plaidstallions,brick man tooth toy ventures love it all
Col. Steve of course!
Has to be Steve Austin!
Tough to pick a favorite, but I would have to say Jaime Sommers – the Bionic Woman. Watching “Doomsday Is Tomorrow” and the Fembots episodes are some of my fondest childhood memories.
For the toys, I’m going to go with Oscar Goldman. I liked that jacket and the exploding briefcase packed with electronics was pretty cool. Also, for some reason, I liked the OSI headquarters playset more than the converting rocket playset that was meant for Steve Austin. I guess it foretold my future of sitting at a desk surrounded by computers!
I’m going to have to go with Bigfoot as my favorite character. Not only did I go for any sort of monster on TV back then, but it was also the only SMDM toy I ever actually owned from the line.
BigFoot! What’s not to love!
My favourite was definitely Steve Austin with the bionic arm with the bionic chips, pressing the button on his back & lifting the engine block gave me so many hours of fun & acting out some of the episodes with him from the series, & as an adult was my first action figure I bought when I started collecting.
It has to be The Six Million Dollar man himself, Steve Austin. This was the only figure I had growing up and I still have my naked childhood one tucked away (although I did pick up an unused boxed one years ago so I could display him in his decency!).
The show and figure were a big part of my childhood and I finally picked up the tracksuit Bionic Woman this year so that’s one more with my Maskatron to tick off the list.
Thanks Brian for all you do, Between this site, the youtube channel, the weekly Mego newsletter ect. you give give us all a prize each week and know that it’s very much appreciated
Maskatron!
Maskatron, although I would have totally bought a Barney Miller/Hiller Figure if they had one
Bigfoot. What can it be cooler than an Alien Sasquatch Robot?
My favorite is definitely Big Foot!
I would say Steve Austin. As a kid I remember jumping and running in slow motion, imitating the special effect sounds while chasing my little brother. Probably my fondest childhood memories since I got to watch these with my dad, who other than the Benny Hill Show, did not usually watch TV with us.
Maskatron!
I have to go with the guy I had as a kid. Col. Steve Austin. He has always been my favorite.
Steve Austin or super patriot from savage dragon
Jaime Summers. She turned out to be a much more interesting character than our Steve IMO.
Steve Austin I loved the bionic sounds and used them when playing in the yard.
Steve Austin is my favorite!
Colonel Steve Austin, The Six Million Dollar Man. I actually had the Biosonic version of Steve Austin. I liked the outfit, but the Biosonic arm was not as cool as the original.
Congratulations on 19 years of Plaid Stallions! Thanks for all you do. Keep on truckin’ and chooglin’ on!
My favorite would be Steve Austin, but I’ll always have a soft spot for Dr. Kromedome.
Steve Austin the $6 million man
Maskatron, baby!
Barney Miller the 7 Million Dollar Man
I was a big fan of Andre the Giant when I was a kid. So Bigfoot was my favorite character
Gotta go with Maskatron, with Bigfoot running right behind! Best of luck, everyone!
The 7 million dollar man always cracked me up, more money more problems.
The Andre The Giant Bigfoot was my favourite character for multiple reasons 1) The Six Million Dollar Man was my favourite show at the time 2) I was watching WWWF wrestling where Andre The Giant appeared live in shows in Ontario 3) The episodes with Bigfoot (and the only one with Andre) fascinated me 4) I really enjoyed my Bionic Man Cycle but always wanted the Bionic Man AND Bigfoot Dual Launch Drag Set which was hard to find at the time. I lived in the suburbs and Consumers Distributing stopped carrying the SMDM line as well as the larger department Stores I frequented.
My Favorite Bionic Character is Jamie Summers, but my favorite toy is Maskutron! I have 2! love it! I watched Bionic Woman more than Six Million Dollar Man, because i think i just missed Steve’s show due to my being too young, or maybe my mom wanted to watch something else when it was on. Back in the 70s we were a 1 TV Family. I had the Bionic Woman doll, the ugly green dress, and the Beauty Shop playsets. As a kid i loved that doll, but as an adult i look at her and think…is this really a man’s body??
The Seven Million Dollar Man!
Jamie Summers, the Bionic Woman!
As much as I loved Steve, I think my favorite character, both in-show and in the toy line, was Oscar Goldman. I don’t know why. I just thought he was cool. My choice was completely justified when I met actor Richard Anderson at a Wizard World show years and years ago and he turned out to be a truly kind and wonderful gentleman.
Thank you so much for the fantastic channel, website, and magazine, and all the best to you!
I’m going to go with Fembot. Happy birthday Plaid Stallions!
It’s gotta be Jaime Sommers,my first true love!!
Happy birthday,Mr.Stallions!
My favorite Bionic character is Col. Steve Austin.
Congratulations on 19 years and here’s to 19 more!
Hi Brian congrats on your 19th Anniversary. Boy does time fly!
My favorite character was and is Maskatron or tv version John Saxon. I still remember pulling back the wrapping paper and seeing him at Christmas. I was blown away. What an amazingly crafted figure with so much playability under the hood. Great contest idea and good luck all.
Colonel Steve Austin Has always been my favorite bionic character. I remember the first time getting the Six Million Dollar Man action figure I don’t remember the exact year if it was 76 or 77 but I do remember being in the backseat of my father’s station wagon and having just gotten the figure I remember opening it up in the car and peering through Steve’s ” bionic eye” Out the window and into the parking lot. I also remember getting one from my Aunt and Uncle for my birthday one year. I never did get the ” Venus Space Probe” toy back then, but I’m sure I probably would have enjoyed it if I had gotten it.
Maskatron!
Like classic Doctor Who/modern Doctor Who, my favorite classic bionic character is Jamie Somers, hands down. But I also really liked Kate Mason (Sandra Bullock!) as a character who actually had been confined to a wheelchair since she had been six because of a congenital disease and bionics gave her the ability to have a regular life again. As somebody who was born with a congenital heart defect and has had a heart transplant, I can identify with that! Also, when I had pacemaker I was technically bionic. Heheh!
Steve Austin, especially when he held out for OSI/The Federal Government to include a proper 70s mustache himself in the six million dollar price tag only to lose it later on (his choice)
Bionic Watermelon
Maskatron is my favorite. I like him most when he’s wearing the Mars mission spacesuit and Steve Austin’s face.
I guess I’ll go big feets
Has to be Steve. So many memories playing with the figure. He was always with me for years.
FEMBOTS
Jamie Sommers.
For the toys, definitely the Six Million Dollar Man: Steve Austin.
For the TV series I fell hard for Jamie Sommers: the Bionic Woman!
Love the site, keep it up!
My favorite character was Steve Austin. I still love the bionic women too. You just can’t beat the opening scene of the bionic man though.
My favorite has to be Max – or “Max Maximillian”, if you’re nasty
Maskatron, one of my all-time favorite toys and the one toy I wanted for Christmas as a kid and didn’t get (I fixed that about 20 years ago, when I finally bought one). But I was lucky to enough to get a Bionic Bigfoot in 1977, so all was not lost
Hands down my favorite bionic character was Maskatron. What a great toy with so many features!
My favorite was Oscar Goldman. The exploding briefcase as a great accessory for this figure.
Jaime Sommers is my favourite Bionic character.
Maskatron
Steve Austin, of course. I still have my action figure.
Jamie Summers, hands down.
Jamie Sommers, because of course she is
Max the Bionic Dog is my favorite bionic character.
Maskatron! You get Oscar, Steve, and John Saxon in one character! Congrats on sweet 19!
The only one I ever had… Oscar Goldman.
Congratulations on 19 toyetic years!
Steve Austin. My mom said I could have the action figure for my birthday, but not the Bionic Transport which she said was too expensive. While at the seaside, 4 months before my birthday, I found £10 on the ground and bought myself the Bionic Transport!
Bigfoot!
For sure John Saxon/Maskatron. I had the toy as well as a kid and loved pitting him against my Steve Rogers figure.
Because nearly no one else will mention it (and she appeared in the Austin Powers movies), the Fembot!
Definitely Bigfoot. Have always loved the show and Andre. Legends never die. R.I.P
Steve Austin is the obvious answer for good reason.
Bigfoot (especially the Andre the Giant version)
Maskatron. Only one in the line I never had. Still cool to this day!
Maskatron
Barney, The seven million dollar man, but he just couldn’t handle it!
Maskatron, John Saxon was incredible.
Maskatron. Or, more precisely, the horrible, nightmarish sound that accompanied the robot when it fought Steve. That sound and the possibility that my opponent’s face could fall off has given me pause whenever the opportunity to get in a scuffle has presented itself. Terrifying!
Masketron. Wish I still had that toy.
Jaime Sommers followed by Max the bionic dog.
Bionic Bigfoot! He brought out the best in the show, and brought so much play value to the toys. Thank you for all the amazing creativity and fun you put into Plaid Stallions!
Gotta go with Steve Austin, with Bigfoot and Maskatron close behind.
Maskatron!
Maskatron is the coolest by far, but only had Steve as a kid.
I have a soft spot for Max, the german sheppard. I’m a fan of animal sidekicks, so I was always stoked when I caught a rerun that featured Max.
Bionic Bigfoot, absolutely. Not only was he Bigfoot, but he was alien, and he was a robot! And he was played by Lurch, or the Hulk! And he was scary, or your buddy! You can’t get more totally awesome than that.
This is a tough question for me to answer since I loved that whole universe; I remember one fo my first crushes was on Jamie Somers, the Bionic Woman. At any rate, I suppose the one character who is my favorite and left an indelible impression on me would have to be the Death Probe/Venus Space Probe. I remember those episodes so vividly and that thing still causes a feeling of dread and fear in me.
My favorite character would have to be Bigfoot.
I love the robot face bionic Major. Ripping off a face and seeing a motherboard just screams that era, for me, almost as much as characters being trapped in quicksand.
Masskatron for sure. Spent many hours of my childhood with that guy.