Here's Luci

Growing up, my TV-viewing life revolved around George Reeves as Superman, Adam "Batman" West, Ron Ely's Tarzan, The CHiPs boys and Battlestar Galactica.  Unlike the Star Wars phenomena that was over in two-hours until a TV re-run (these were the days before Betamax, VHS, DVD, blu-ray and bit torrent piracy), BG was there, every weekend to satiate the demand for sci-fi storylines.  And what made BG so successful on the screen as it did in the figure line, was its colourful and eclectic array of characters, such as Lucifer. 

Lucifer the aciton figure looks more like a conehead dipped in toilet water or some deranged anti-Christmas decoration than the brightly-lit right-hand bot to Count Baltar from the series; the paint design lacking the sparkle and lustre of its small screen inspiration.  There's also the lack of articulation beyond moveable arms (which was also the case with the Cylons and Boray from the BG 4" line).  About all Lucifer can do is stand there and look ornamental, which isn't much more perhaps than he does on the screen.  Despite the limitations, Lucifer remains a highly sought-after collectible figure whose loose value is somewhere in the vicinity of $35-$40 being somewhat scarce.  MOC will fetch six-fold that figure, demonstrating the premium placed on this otherwise rather static figure.

But I'm sounding like a Lucifer-hater, which isn't the case.  It's just that I never owned this figure as a kid, always wanted one, and when I finally did snag my very own, he didn't quite live up to my long-awaited expectations.  He can't really interact with Baltar or throw haymakers at Apollo (oh yeah, that's right, they didn't make an Apollo action figure, wtf Mattel?), so what does he do exactly?  Elementary - you simply impersonate Jonathan Harris' voice in robot speak while he casually laser-beams Lt Starbuck into submission.  Either that or you can always pretend he has a vice-like mind grip on Adama that causes him to turn on Starbuck.  There's infinite possibilities.  An action figure doesn't need all the bells and whistles to fulfil the action quotient, it's the imagination that brings it to life.

So I've reconciled my initial disappointment with Lucifer, and he now occupies pride of place in my display cabinet, though for practical reasons, some distance away from my Accoutrements Jesus (2001) action figure.

Lucifer | 1979 | Mattel | Battlestar Galactica