What was the first video game related action figure ever made?

[phpworm]

Does anyone know? I can find that the term "action figure" originates in 1964, and that figures were primarily based on movies and anime as the market grew...

The term "action figure" was first coined by Hasbro in 1964, to market their G.I. Joe figure to boys who would not play with "dolls". - source (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Action_figure)

I also know that video games didn't really start becoming mainstream until arcades in the 70s:

...the first interactive electronic game with an electronic display in 1947, the first true video games in the early 1950s, and the rise of early arcade video games in the 1970s (Pong and the beginning of the first generation of video game consoles with the Magnavox Odyssey, both in 1972). - source (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Early_history_of_video_games)

But I'd really like to know, what was the first action figure based on a video game?

[game_player_s]

I think this is a rather fantastic inquiry.

As far as a video game originating "action figure", I'm going to throw out a guess of it being Pac-Man, as there were quite a lot of Pac-Man toys made back then. I recall my sister (older than I) having a wind-up Pac-Man that rolled around with mouth chomping action, which that wasn't a action figure persay, but I'm betting there were figures.

As for non-game originating characters with action figures, perhaps either Tron or G.I. Joe. Again hard to say, this is a really early time period we're discussing here. Hopefully others will weigh in on this subject.

[Spect3r]

I dont know which is the first one, but the oldest one i know of (and please notice that i am pretty much a newbie at these things) is the one based on the Batman game from 1989

http://necaonline.com/2014/07/batman-7-action-figure-1989-video-game-appearance/

[phpworm]

I'm going to throw out a guess of it being Pac-Man

Pac-Man is my guess as well, based on my understanding that Pac-Man was the first game ever made with an official mascot. That would make a lot of sense. I actually reached out to both Bandai and Hasbro, the oldest companies still operating that I could think of. I asked them what the earliest information they had on record was (pertaining to video games), no reply from Bandai, Hasbro said "Our suggestion would be to check the online toy and collectors forums for the information in question. Our archive is not specific enough for those details." lol

I also thought using archive.org might provide some insight, but they only go back as far as 96.

I dont know which is the first one, but the oldest one i know of...is the one based on the Batman game from 1989

I think this is probably the best place to start, people listing the oldest figures they know of. Thank you!

[game_player_s]

"Internet" Wasn't very accessible prior to 1996. Most people were still using local and regional Bulletin Board Systems (BBS) as there was no access fee for using such beyond your normal phone service usage rates, and literally any computer with a modem could connect to or host a BBS. CompuServe and Prodigy were both pricey options that required decent computer hardware to use and were the cheapest options for anyone to get a glimpse of the internet. True ISP access was mostly unknown and priced well beyond the reach of the average consumer as it was regarded as a corporate & institutional service.

Hasbro wouldn't have had anything to do with Pac-Man toys back then. The big players in that market were the Japanese toy makers; Bandai, Takara, and Tomy. Bandai and Tomy both sold toys directly in the American markets, but Takara had a licensing and distribution agreement with Hasbro. As I vaguely recall, the wind-up Pac-Man toy my sister had was made by Tomy. Also Kenner and Matchbox were both major producers of licensed toylines. Kenner was bought out by Hasbro in the 1990's, and Matchbox was aquired by Mattel in either the late 1990's or the early 2000's. Bandai and Tomy both still exist. Tomy and Bandai are your two best bets to check into for finding out about Pac-Man figures in the early 80's.

Matchbox produced, under license, the entire Robotech toy line for the North American market, which did include action figures. In Japan, season one of Robotech was the anime series "Super Dimension Fortress Macross", and I raise this point up as there was a "Super Dimension Fortress Macross" video game released exclusively in Japan for the Emerson Arcadia 2001 video game system, which from best of my understanding said game was released in 1983.

[phpworm]

Searching Ebay I found the wind-up figures by Tomy you mentioned, in addition to some vinyl figures by Coleco. Both have the dates 1980 and 1982 on them, and I'm not sure which was released first.

Tomy:
https://i.imgur.com/xEQg4L9.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/jUdPP4L.jpg

Coleco:
https://i.imgur.com/jfPFnQ8.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/uroO6YH.jpg

Interesting to think that one of these could be it, unless of course anyone knows of something released at the same time or even earlier?

[game_player_s]

Haha! Yes, that's it, that's the very same Pac-Man wind-up I recall my sister having! Wow though, I had completely forgotten that Coleco use to be a toy maker back in the 80's.

Just found this picture of two pages from a Coleco toy catalog.
https://2warpstoneptune.files.wordpress.com/2014/11/coleco-1983-5.jpg

Image source:
https://2warpstoneptune.com/2014/11/12/1983-coleco-catalog-tabletop-arcade-games-g-i-joe-and-more/

[phpworm]

Pretty sure I found an even earlier contender... This figure only has the year 1980 on it, made by Ben Cooper Inc, and matches the earlier design of Pac-Man represented on the arcade cabinet art.

https://i.imgur.com/Zyeq3Tq.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/5CQ0pDM.jpg

Also looking for anything released under the original name "Puck Man" but no luck... Can't rule out that there might be some obscure Japanese figure though.