The Lair on Storm Isle


Keeping the Galoob Golden Girl™ Community One Step Ahead of the Pack!



Mint-In-Box Figures and Variants


What's Covered in This Section?
The Standard Releases
The Variants Page
1.) The 11 Figures & 2 Steeds Mint-In-Box
1.) Variants: Prototypes & Alternates
2.) Box Versions: Open Hangloop, Closed Hangtab, Ad-Splash
2.) Packaging Variants: International Releases & Error Variants
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The 11 Action Figures & 2 Steeds Mint-In-Box
Figures were released to stores in a window-boxed packaging with an image of the point character, Golden Girl, on the front, and the Guardians flanking both sides of the box (this same artwork reappears on most Golden Girl merchandise, such as the steeds and the Parker Brothers board game). On the back of all boxed toys are pictures of the complete toyline. The box for an action figure features her special "backstory" which places her in the Golden Girl universe. Each backstory is unique, and well worth the adventure!

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The Guardians and Prince Kroma
Golden Girl: Princess of the Gemstone Guardians (Style No. 3020) Jade: Mystic of the Secret Jewels (Style No. 3021)Rubee: Firey Champion of the Lightning Bow (Style No. 3022)Saphire: Poweress of the Sea and Sky (Style No. 3023)Onyx: Challenger of the Sabered Sword (Style No. 3024)Prince Kroma: Brave and Daring Hero of Battle (Style No. 3025)


The Guardians are associated with a warm gold name-placard over their box window, and a yellow or warm gold backing board inside their boxes and their fashion outfits. In their boxes, Guardians are fastened in place with white plastic twist-ties.


The Evil Forces and The Barbarians
Wild One: Fierce Barbarian Huntress (Style No. 3026) Dragon Queen: Ruler of Evil Forces (Style No. 3027)Moth Lady: Wicked Winged Witched of the Night (Style No. 3028)Vultura: Sorceress of the Evil Claw (Style No. 3029)Ogra: Skull-Masked Barbarian Warlord (Style No. 3030)


The Evil Forces are associated with a bluish white name-placard over their box window, and a pale blue backing board inside their boxes and their fashion outfits. In their boxes, the villains are fastened in place with black plastic twist-ties, except for Wild One, whose twist-ties are white.


The Brave Steeds
                                              
Olympia and Chariot    Shadow and Chariot
    


The beautiful brave steeds of the toyline face off in the same good-versus-evil format as their human counterparts. Olympia may be associated with the white-and-gold theme of the valiant Guardians, however, the inside of her box is pink when we would expect it to be warm gold. Shadow, a rich black in theme with his nefarious allies, is matched with a soft blue typical of the villains.

If anyone has images of the steeds mint-in-box without chariots or the Palace mint-in-box, I'd love to include pictures of these items, too.

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Box Versions: Open Hangloop, Closed Hangtab, Ad-Splash . . . Season Two (?)
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Open Hangloop Boxes
The toyline went through a series of evolutions during its brief lifetime. The first change was between the factory prototype and the actual figures released to the stores. As is most often the case with toys, what is pictured on the package is far more elaborate than what you pull from the box. Production costs force toy manufacturers to cut corners. With Golden Girl, images of the prototype figures survive on the backs of action figure boxes and on fashion outfit backcards. What makes the "open-hook" boxes (my terminology) special, is that they show prototype images of the fashions as well as the figures, on the backs of the boxes.


Closed Hangtab Boxes
A little later in production, boxes switched to a closed hangtab box style. In terms of function, a closed loop is a bit more sturdy than an open one, however, you can't remove a figure from the back of the rack without moving the ones ahead of it. The real difference for closed-tab boxes, is the photo of the fashions on the back. These are much more accurate depictions of the fashions as they hit store shelves. The lighting of the first photo-op appears under-exposed, and the re-shoot appears a bit over-exposed. In my opinion, the figures look more carefully dressed overall in the original photo-op rather than in the re-shoot.


Ad-Splash Boxes
Another late-release version of the boxes to be produced is the version I call the "ad-splash." That was the only word I could come up with to describe the white "splash" bubble surrounding the list of contents on the upper left corner of the box. It's like an advertisement telling what's waiting inside for you when you buy this figure and open the box (i.e., the "dazzling die-cast gemstone shield you can wear, reversible cape, removable headdress, weapon, weapon belt, and comb"). The previous versions of the boxes listed the contents, but they didn't really catch your eye, and unless you turned the box over and studied it, you'd have no idea what cool accessories came with the stunning figure besides the cape and shield. It was a good attempt, but it came too late in production to change the fate of this toyline.


Season Two Artwork?
I've been collecting Golden Girl for nearly four years, and this is the first time I've spotted an alternate style of artwork associated with factory-sealed, official Golden Girl™ toyline items. The fashion pictured was listed online by a seller in Canada.

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Golden Girl and the Guardians of the Gemstones™ is the property of Lewis Galoob Toys, Inc. & Leisure Concepts, Inc. © 1984.
Artwork excerpted from Golden Girl and the Guardians of the Gemstones by Billie Randall, illustrated by Aristides Ruiz © 1985.
This website is the result of my hard work and therefore its content and all original images are the property of Tchakani © 2004, 2005.