I grew up in what is often referred to as the golden age of action figures, as contrasted with the golden age of toys. It was a time when, starting perhaps with the Kenner action figures that accompanied the release of the Star Wars films in the 1970s and 80s, plastic action figures became popular. In addition to Star Wars, there were Transformers, GI Joe, He-Man and the Masters of the Universe, and more. Movie and cartoon tie-ins helped popularize many of the lines.

Both of my sons, now adults, got into action figures, much to my delight (I figured they’d “grow out of it” by middle school, but that has not proven to be the case. Lots of adults collect action figures these days, whereas it was kind of weird when I was younger to see teenagers or adults buying them.) I got a call from Joe, our oldest, letting me know that he found three ROM figures at a Target near his school. I had asked him to grab one for me should he see it.

In 1979, Parker Brothers introduced ROM: Space Knight. There was a backstory and a comic book:

ROM Space Knight, Rom came from the peaceful planet Galador, which was populated by humanoids that look much like Terrans. After the Galadorian space fleet was decimated by the Dire Wraiths without provocation, the call went out to the young people of Galador to give up their humanity to become Spaceknights.

I never read the comic book, and this particular toy was not a modern marvel of articulation. I was also five years old, so while I remember seeing the commercial on TV, I never felt any particular attraction to ROM. I did love MEGO figures and Star Wars and other toy, but ROM seemed like a bleep-bloop robot toy with batteries to manage.

Hasbro, meanwhile, has continued the Marvel Legends line of action figures that ToyBiz started some time in the early- to mid-aughts. As with the excellent DC line popularized by Mattel, Legends has mixed in the must-have and obvious choices– Captain America, Wolverine, Spider-Man–with obscure characters that many of us only know from leafing through the voluminous pages of the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe.

This year, Hasbro did those of us circling their 50s a solid and revealed a ROM 6” Legends figure. I asked Joe to keep an eye out for one: in a fit of nostalgia, and also of curiosity, I knew I would like to have a Space Knight of my own. Today, Joe delivered.

It’s pretty amazing, and as Aaron observed, kind of strange that they lavished the attention to the sculpt and articulation that they did, considering the character’s relative obscurity.