Tarzan Figures and other neat stuff!

I have a huge collection of Tarzan Stuff... books, comics, action figures, toys, and various movies on VHS and DVD. My collection also includes other "Jungle Heroes" that were no doubt inspired by Tarzan. According to Wikipedia, Edgar Rice Burroughs' Tarzan of the Apes was first published in 1912, which means that 2012 marked Tarzan's 100th birthday! Happy Birthday Tarzan!!!

With over 100 years worth of Tarzan collectables available all over the world to collect, it wouldn't be very difficult to fill a museum with only Tarzan items. My collection isn't quite that crazy, but it is quite diverse. I got started collecting "Tarzan" in 1999 after I saw the Disney animated movie and bought a few of the Mattel action figures. Things just got out of hand after that!

This Tarzan of the Apes book was published by Whitman in 1964. It has been in my family for some time. My mother and her siblings had it when they were just kids, and it was always kicking around the house when I was growing up. When I started seriously collecting Tarzan stuff, the first thing I did was to find this book and put it on my shelf! Of course, I read it too!

Here is an illustration from the Whitman book to show how Tarzan was depicted.

This is the Grosset & Dunlap hardcover edition of Tarzan Lord of the Jungle. The original copyright date is 1928, but I think this is a more resent copy from the 1950s or 60s.

 

This book from 1954 was published by Whitman and has several really cool illustrations by Tony Sgroi, a few of which are shown below.

 

This is from the inside cover.

 

page 21

 

page 31

 

page 83

 

page 165

 

page 275

 

It would be impossible to collect every single Tarzan book ever published. Even if you just collected the paperbacks it would be quite challenging. There are 24 Tarzan books in the series, and they have all been reprinted numerous times. Above is the Ballantine Books 1969 edition of Tarzan and the Ant Men (at left) and the New English Library 1976 edition of Tarzan Lord of the Jungle (at right). The cover artwork for this book seems to mix up Tarzan with Mowgli.  Here is a complete list of Tarzan books:

1. Tarzan of the Apes (My favourite book in the series!)

2. The Return of Tarzan

3. The Beasts of Tarzan

4. The Son of Tarzan

5. Tarzan and the Jewels of Opar

6. Jungle Tales of Tarzan (This is my second favourite book in the series. Highly recommended!)

7. Tarzan the Untamed

8. Tarzan the Terrible

9. Tarzan and the Golden Lion

10. Tarzan and the Ant Men

11. Tarzan, Lord of the Jungle

12. Tarzan and the Lost Empire

13. Tarzan at the Earth's Core

14. Tarzan the Invincible

15. Tarzan Triumphant

16. Tarzan and the City of Gold

17. Tarzan and the Lion Man

18. Tarzan and the Leopard Men

19. Tarzan's Quest

20. Tarzan and the Forbidden City

21. Tarzan the Magnificent

22. Tarzan and the Foreign Legion

23. Tarzan and the Madman

24. Tarzan and the Castaways

There are also two children's books by Burroughs:
1. The Tarzan Twins
2. Tarzan and the Tarzan Twins

This is a French Tarzan novel published in 1970 by Editions Publications Premieres, in Paris. I found this on eBay and really liked the cover art so I bought it just for that reason.

In addition to books, Tarzan has a long history in comics. He appeared in newspaper comic strips since the late 1920s and in comic books since the late 1940s. This is a hardcover graphic novel version of Tarzan of the Apes illustrated by Burne Hogarth. It was published by Watson-Guptill Publications in 1972. Hogarth is one of the original artists who did the Tarzan newspaper comic strip.

 

In keeping with the original Tarzan of the Apes novel, Tarzan is naked throughout most of this book. (Yay!) As this is a graphic novel it was geared toward older readers (teens and up) rather than kids, though maintains a PG-13 level without showing any explicit "boy parts". We do however get to see Tarzan's bare bum, so there's that. Three cheers for Hogarth! Here are a few examples of how Tarzan was depicted.... au naturel!

 

 

 

 

As Tarzan's weekly newspaper comic strips were so successful, he soon made the jump to comic books to be featured in his own series. Dell Publishing began the main Tarzan comic book series publishing 131 issues. Gold Key/Western Publishing took over the series at issue No. 132. Shown above, at left, is the (slightly torn) cover of Tarzan of the Apes by Gold Key, No. 191, April 1970. In the early 1970's DC Comics/National Periodical Publications continued the series with No. 207. Shown above at right is the DC Comics issue No. 212, Sept. 1972, with cover art by Joe Kubert.

 

DC Comics also published Korak, Son of Tarzan which later became Tarzan Family. Shown above is my favourite Tarzan comic cover, DC Comics Tarzan Family issue No. 66, Dec 1976. In the early 1970s DC Comics also published Weird Worlds which featured additional characters of Edgar Rice Burroughs such as John Carter.

In 1977 Marvel Comics took over the Tarzan series, though they discontinued the numbering that had been used through the Dell, Gold Key and DC Comics series, and started again with issue 1. Shown above is Tarzan Lord of the Jungle, issue No. 2, 1977, by Marvel Comics.

Tarzan Action Figures (plus a few more comics and books!)

As far as I can tell, from 1912 to the 1960s the only Tarzan figures that were produced were small one piece moulded figures that were often left unpainted. In 1966 Banner produced a wind-up tin toy figure of Tarzan.

In the early 1970s Mego made this 8 inch doll of Tarzan as part of the World's Greatest Super Heroes collection. This seems to be the first articulated action figure or doll of Tarzan. They also made a smaller 5 inch Tarzan bendy figure, shown above in close up (this figure is actually about half the size of the Tarzan doll).  In the late 1970s Mattel offered a 9 inch Tarzan doll as part of their Big Jim series. It's a rare figure to find so I don't have that one in my collection yet. It was sold with a black jungle cat which later became He-Man's pal Battle Cat for the Master of the Universe series.

 

In 1981 MGM released the first R rated Tarzan movie, Tarzan the Ape Man, with Miles O'Keeffe as Tazan. Oh... and Bo Derek was in it too. I didn't care at all about that though, I was too in awe of Tarzan's body! :) The above photo is from an article in Starlog Magazine, issue #156, July 1990. It's a retrospective article about O'Keeffe's career in movies, but mostly about his role as Tarzan. Below is another photo from the article.

 

 

This is the front cover of the magazine with the O'Keefe Tarzan pics in it.

Oddly enough there's no mention of Tarzan or O'Keeffe on the cover. What, what???

 

Dakin made this 7 inch action figure in 1984. An identical 4 inch action figure was also made along with two different sized figures of young Tarzan.

 

In 1984 the Burroughs estate, which licences Tarzan, produced several logo style images of Tarzan that were used on several products. The packaging for the above action figure series used this artwork, as well as the Marvel comic book covers shown below. I've also seen a Milton Bradley board game, a Coleco video game, Ballantine Tarzan novels, a large wall poster, and four children's "book and record" sets by Kid Stuff that used similar art.

 

This is a two issue comic book series published in July and August 1984 by Marvel.

 

I love the artwork for Tarzan in this image so I had to include a nice close up!

This is a very sexy Tarzan!

 

This is how Tarzan was depicted in the comic, from issue 2. Very cool artwork!

 

As mentioned above, in the original 1912 novel Tarzan is actually naked throughout most of the story. He doesn't wear a loincloth until toward the end of the book when he first sees another human being in a nearby tribe, who he ends up killing and stealing from... which is how he gets his loincloth. Although this was a kids comic book Marvel Comics went ahead an showed Tarzan completely buck naked (shown above and below from issue 2). Of course they obscured his boy parts but had no problem showing his bare behind. Times have certainly changed! Imagine a comic book company making a kids comic book like this nowadays! People have become so politically correct that Marvel would have been torn asunder, not unlike being attacked by Sabor or an angry Kerchak! LOL :) I think it's pretty cool that Marvel went this route and presented the story to kids the way the original novel was written. It's unfortunate that we live in such a prudish world! But that's just me, plus I collect Tarzan stuff so I'm kinda biased! Just a little! ;)

 

Hey look! Tarzan has a bubble bum! :)

 

 

Here is a Tarzan Pop-up Book published by Random House in 1984. Below is the last page in the book showing several of the pop-up characters.

This 15 inch Tarzan action figure was made in 1995 by Trendmasters as part of their extensive Tarzan the Epic Adventure series. Two styles of the 15 inch Tarzan figure were made, the other one having a red cape and gold armour. A 15 inch Gorilla figure was also produced. This Tarzan figure has a sensor in its chest that activates a sound recording of the famous Tarzan yell. A button on the figure's back turns the sound off. The figure is made with solid plastic and is quite heavy for a toy. As shown below, the armour is removable.

In addition to their 12 inch Tarzan figures, Trendmasters also made three different sized action figure collections in the Epic Adventures line. Above is a 4-3/4 inch bendy figure, a 5-3/4 inch action figure, and a 4 inch figure. Various other characters and aliens were available in each of these collections along with different versions of Tarzan (the figures of Tarzan were from the same mould but painted different colours or given different accessories). The 5-3/4 inch figure has a button on its chest that plays the Tarzan yell, which is an awesome feature. Like the 12 inch figure, it came with various types of armor. The 4 inch figure does not have jointed legs, only the arms and head can move.

I bought this Tarzan figure on e-bay. The packaging, head sculpt as well as both arms and legs are similar to the Epic Tarzan 5 inch figures from 1995, but the chest/body section is completely different. There is no date or makers information on the card, so I suspect that this might be a bootleg Tarzan figure. Nothing is printed on the back of the card, it's just blank cardboard. I actually like this figure better than the original Trendmasters version.

Also in 1995, three PVC figures of Tarzan were available in France, made by Disjorsa. They are 4 inches tall. I have two of them, shown above. The third figure is Tarzan with his legs shaped as though he is riding an animal, such as an elephant, though it's my impression the figure was never sold with one. Each figure is very well sculpted and make for an awesome addition to the collection. My favourite is the one with Cheeta!

Then in 1999 Disney released the Tarzan animated movie...

Mattel produced the first action figures to be based on the 1999 Tarzan movie by Disney. Above is the 12 inch Rad Repeatin' Tarzan, which is quite well made. The back of the figure has several buttons which allow you to record your voice and play it back. A separate button activates Tarzan's right arm and a recording of the Tarzan yell. The figure comes with a knife, spear, belt, wristbands and has a removable fabric loincloth. A back view of the Rad Repeatin' Tarzan box is shown below.

 

Variation: Mattel also made a less common variation of this figure that was simply called Tarzan, and had the arm action and yell sound, but did not have the Rad Repeatin' feature. This figure also had differently sculpted hair that was styled to look like the dreadlocks were blowing in the wind, and it comes with a knife and a long green plastic snake. The box is similar to the Rad Repeatin' Tarzan box, but in place of the illustration of Tarzan yelling is an illustration of Tarzan crouching on a tree branch, and the box simply says "Tarzan" in white text next to the illustration instead of "Rad Repeatin' Tarzan".

 

Important info for collectors: Many online sellers, such as on e-bay, claim that this Rad Repeatin' Tarzan was recalled, however that is an incorrect myth. This toy was never recalled. What happened was, back in 1999 there was some controversy (caused by some very stupid people) that the position of Tarzan's arm combined with the action arm feature, made it appear that Tarzan was (to put it nicely) pleasing himself. Yes, roll your eyes! How stupid people can be!!! As a result, the Disney company had their Disney Store staff remove the plastic fasteners from the elbow of Tarzan's action arm, which allowed the arm to be repositioned, but the toys remained on store shelves. Such online sellers should also take note of another important fact: It is illegal to sell recalled toys!

 

In addition, recalling a toy is a very serious matter. The only reason a company would recall a toy is because the toy has proven to be a safety hazard in some way for children, which is not the case with this Tarzan figure. Mattel is a very responsible toy company and takes toy recalls very seriously. All of Mattel's toy recalls are posted on the Mattel website, going back to 1998, the year before this Tarzan toy was produced. You can see for yourself that no Tarzan toys have ever been  recalled by Mattel by viewing their recall list at this link: http://service.mattel.com/us/recall.aspx

 

Here are some of the 6.5 inch figures made in 1999 by Mattel. There are six different Tarzan figures, but I noticed Mattel had simply made moulds for three figures and repainted each in two styles. So I only bought one of each figure mould.

The full series of 6.5 inch Tarzan action figures is shown on the back of the Rad Repeatin' Tarzan box.

Mattel also made this nifty 5.5 inch Tarzan bendy figure in 1999. Note that this figure has the right ear covered by hair and the left ear showing. This hair style will become the model for several future Disney Tarzan figures, including all of the those made as part of the Disney Store's "Adventures" series, and the Disney On Ice Tarzan figure. This bendy was sold individually on a bubble card as well as in a boxed gift set called "Tarzan Adventure Set" that included the bendy figures of Tarzan Jane, Kala and the Baby Baboon.

Here are the Mattel PVC Tarzan figures from 1999. These were sold separately on a bubble card.

The complete collection of Mattel PVC Tarzan figures as shown on the back of the packaging. These were each packaged on bubble cards.

 

In addition to the above bubble carded PVC figures, Mattel produced two boxed gift sets of Tarzan PVC figures. One set featured "Young Tarzan" while the other set, "Tarzan to the Rescue," featured adult Tarzan and included two unique figures of Tarzan and Jane. Shown above on the left (the first one) is the unique Tarzan PVC figure that was included with the boxed set. It's very similar to the figure in the middle that was sold on a bubble card with a PVC figure of Jane holding an umbrella. The Jane figure that came in the boxed set doesn't have an umbrella and is standing on a circular green base. The Tarzan figure with the spear (above on the right) was also sold on a bubble card. I included it here just for a comparison of the three figures. The crawling Tarzan PVC figure from this collection is unique enough not to be mixed up with any of these, as it's not attached to a green base.

 

These Tarzan and Jane figures were only available in the "Tarzan to the Rescue" boxed gift set.

This young grey ape PVC figure was only available with the "Young Tarzan" boxed gift set.

 

The only unique figure in the Young Tarzan boxed gift set is a young grey ape, one of Tarzan's childhood friends. The Young Tarzan figure from the boxed gift set is shown below left out of the package, standing on all four limbs. It is the same one that was sold on a bubble card with the Young Tantor PVC figure (which is also included in the boxed set). The other Young Tarzan PVC figure that was made by Mattel is sitting with some sticks in his hand, shown below on the right. It was sold on a bubble card with Terk and another ape (both of these apes were included in the gift set). There's also a Baby Tarzan PVC figure that was sold on a bubble card with Kala, his mother ape.

 

 

Mattel also produced a large boxed playset of Tarzan's treehouse that came with a "vine swinging" PVC figure of Tarzan, shown below. The playset was made to be used with the figures from the above PVC figure collection.

 

I don't yet have this treehouse playset or the Tarzan figure in my collection but I wanted to show what it looks like as I really think this is a cool Tarzan toy! Above is the figure as shown on the box, and below is the actual figure from a picture that I found online. As you can see, this Tarzan figure has jointed arms and legs so it's actually a small action figure rather than a PVC figure.

 

 

Mattel also made two die-cast metal diorama Tarzan figures in 1999. They are attached to a base and can spin around buy turning a wheel-like leaver on the back of the base. Below are closer views of each figure. They are each 6 inches tall including the base. Tarzan and the rocky ground section are metal while the animals are plastic.

This electronic talking bank (below) was also sold in 1999 and is one of my favourite items in my Tarzan collection. It's so awesome I've shown it from all four sides! Press the leaf shaped button and Tarzan moves up and down while one of several short sound recordings of Tarzan's voice is heard. The modeling of this figure is very accurate to the design of the animated character which I really like, and in my opinion is easily the best figure of Disney's Tarzan to date. It makes me wish that the figure wasn't attached to the bank, it would have been awesome as a separate action figure.
 

    

Although the mechanical function for this Tarzan bank is very ingeniously designed, the mechanism was made quite cheaply so it is very fragile. Though I left this bank safely on a shelf and only ever touched the button, the movements for my Tarzan bank have simply stopped working so it now only plays the sounds. Bummer!

Here is a plasticTarzan drinking glass made in Toronto, Ontari-ari-o! I forget if these were available from gas stations or a fast food store? Both sides of the glass are shown. This artwork is awesome!

 These Tarzan cookies were sold at dollar stores around 2000. The side of the box shows the different cookie pictures.

Here is the Disney Tarzan Spin Pop candy holder from 1999. It was originaly sold with a hard candy lollipop attached at the top of the log stump. Press the button on the handle, which is battery activated, and the lollipop would spin. The PVC figure of Tarzan and Sabor are awesome, though this is a very usless toy. Especially once the lollipop is gone! I've shown all four sides.

A Tarzan collection is not complete without a toy spear! This Disney Tarzan spear set from 1999 shoots sponge darts (shown below). The tip of the spear is soft plastic and a removale cover for the dart holder. Pull back on the back half of the spear (which has a spring inside) and let go to activate the air pump, then watch the dart fly across the room. Hours of fun!

Above is the Tarzan figure sold at North American McDonalds restaurants in 1999.  It is a 5 inch figure with several points of articulation. It came with a log that has wheels. The figure sold at McDonalds in Europe was quite different (shown below). It is a 4-1/4 inch figure with a log base on wheels. The log is a friction toy. A finger activated leaver on the figure's back makes Tarzan's arms beat his chest. It's an awesome figure.  

 Here are some other Tarzan Toys from McDonalds. The small PVC figure with the hook shown above is 3-3/4 in length and came with a part of a treehouse playset. It's from the early to mid 2000s. The kneeling Tarzan figure shown below is 2-3/4 tall with the base, made of hard plastic and was part of a series to celebrate 100 years of Disney in 2002. I'm not sure when the Sabor figure was made.

Here is the Read-Along book and cassette tape sold in 1999.

Many storybook versions of Disney's Tarzan have been published. This hardcover book is from 1999 and has a foil section around the title.

This hardcover book is also from 1999.

This hardcover book is titled "Studio Album - Tarzan" and is a graphic novel based on the movie.

This is a very large sized, soft cover book "How to Draw Disney'sTarzan" from the Walter Foster How to Draw series. It was published in 1999.

Here's an example of the drawing instructions inside. Several characters from the movie are shown being drawn step by step in this way. This page shows Tarzan's head, and the next page in the book shows how to draw the complete figure. 

 

Here's my drawing of Tarzan, above, made in 2001. It was copied free-hand (no tracing) directly from an episode of the Legends of Tarzan animated TV series, which premiered in 2001. A YouTube video of the show's opening sequence is included below. I'm a huge fan of Disney's Tarzan, so I recorded as many of the episodes as I could. To make this picture I paused my VHS tape and drew what I saw on the TV. This is the exact pose that was seen on the show, I just had to add Tarzan's feet as they were cut off along the bottom of the screen.

 

I'll be honest, Disney's version of Tarzan is the sexiest cartoon character in existence. There I said It! He's clearly the male version of Disney's Jessica Rabbit. While I find it silly of me and a tad embarrassing to be enamoured with a cartoon character, this version of Tarzan was clearly designed by the Disney artists to have such an effect on their audience! In fact, when the movie was in theatres there was controversy in some countries because of how skimpy Tarzan's loin cloth is. It was considered as being too risqué, and rightfully so! However, being risqué and pushing the social boundary of what is considered decent or indecent has been an element of Tarzan movies since the 1930's.

 

The opening for The Legend of Tarzan animated series from 2001.

 

No matter how many times I watch this I'm always amazed at what a remarkable job the artists did on the animation for this opening sequence. It's just phenomenal! I wish Disney would have made the series available on DVD but to my knowledge it never was. I'd love to own this entire series!

 

This hardcover Tarzan storybook is from 2005.

In the mid 2000s a second 12 inch Tarzan figure was sold at Disney stores as part of the Adventures series. Tarzan was teamed up with Hercules, Aladdin and Peter Pan in a new action figure collection. Captain Hook was the only villain. I like this 12 inch Tarzan because it is modeled more closely after the design of the cartoon character as compaired with the Mattel 12 inch figure. Note the hair is similar to Mattel's bendy figure.

Here is a comparison of the two 12 inch Tarzan figures.

Here is the 5.5 inch figure from the Adventures series, available only at Disney stores mid 2000s. The back of the box shows the other characters that were available. Again, note the hair style. Following a trend in kids action figures at the time, this Tarzan figure was stylized to have huge feet.

This is likely the funniest Tarzan toy in my collection. Tarzan's glider vehicle was sold at Disney stores as part of the Adventures series. A nifty 6 inch figure was included. Same hair style as the Mattel bendy figure. This is the first Disney Tarzan figure to have a thin vynal loin cloth instead of fabric. The glider "wings" fold in and pop open when a button is pushed. Not only is it a bizzare looking vehicle, it's funny to think that Tarzan would ever need to use it.

 Here is a side view of the glider. The figure just fits in the seat. Nice that they included a holder for Tarzan's spear. You can also see the wooden paneling detail that was added to the surface of all the brown areas. Below is the front view with the glider wings folded. A very goofy looking vechicle!

Below is the Disney On Ice souvenir 8 inch Tarzan figure from around 2002. It's made of very solid, shiney plastic and has a fabric loin cloth attached in the waist joint of the figure. Same hair style as the Mattel bendy figure.

The Disney On Ice show featured three jungle stories: Jungle Book, Tarzan and Lion King. It was an excellent show. The actors who played Tarzan and Jane did a lot of rope climbing and death defying acrobatics in the air that was really impressive, but sort of freaked me out. I was glad when they were back on the ground again! I also really liked the full sizes skating elephants in the Jungle Book story. I'll add pictures soon.

Here is a tiny 1-1/2 inch figure of Tarzan, the smallest one in my collection. It's from the Disney Heroes collection of mini figures that were sold inside chocolate eggs in 2004. Of all the available mini figures, Tarzan is the rarest in the collection and the one that is most predominately featured on the box (shown below). I ate a lot of chocolate eggs in my attempt to find Tarzan, but it was my friend Marcus who found it for me in his first egg! Above I've shown the actual figure with Sabor, next to the picture of the figure on the box (with the blue background). As you can see the two figures are quite different. The figure on the box doesn't have a spear and is taking a step forward. I have no idea if this other figure was ever available or if it is simply a prototype image. Below is the box which held three eggs and shows Tarzan on the front.

Below is a 4 inch PVC Tarzan figure by Applause from the mid 2000s. This is a very well sculpted figure and looks just like the cartoon character. I've shown it from all sides.

    

Here are some nifty Tarzan PVC keychains also made by Applause.

Here is another PVC figure of Tarzan. I'm not sure what company made it, but it was originally sold in a set with an ape figure and a book.  

This Tarzan action figure was sold at Disney store and is from the Disney Heroes series. The sword lights up. Like the Disney Store Adveturers series, once again for some reason they made the figure with giant feet.

This is an 8 1/4 inch statue of Tarzan. A friend bought this for me in California at a flea market. Unfortunately there's no date on it, but I suspect it would have been made in 1999 or shortly after, along with all the other merchandise for Disney's Tarzan movie.

Here is a side view of the statue, which is very well detailed right down to Tarzan's green eyes.

This is the original box. The statue was packed in Styrofoam, and the spear is a separate piece.

It seems fitting to end this post with the above item, which takes us back to the beginning (almost!) of Tarzan's popularity. It's a hand-made wooden wall plaque featuring the poster art for the 1932 film Tarzan the Ape Man, starring Johnny Weissmuller. Very cool artwork!

Text and photos © Mike Artelle, 2013, 2019