By googum

His helmet is cracked, and his head slips off now and then.  He hasn’t been mint condition in over thirty years, when some errant bug spray on a camping trip faded his logo and one eye.  (His teammates didn’t fare as well.)  He wasn’t even on display for almost fifteen years, which he spent occasionally playing with new kids.  I would have to say he’s semi-retired now.

He was one of Lego’s first astronaut minifigs, and I was probably seven or eight when I got him; doubtless for Christmas or a birthday.  I don’t remember what set it was–one of the larger ones, with the classic space insignia and grey moonscape base–but I rarely stuck to the plans.  He flew thousands of missions, on hundreds of ships; from Apollo-era buckets to Enterprise style cruisers to X-wings and giant robots.  And he fought TIE Fighters and Saucer Animals and Klingons and all sorts of monsters and creatures; defeating them all (and boredom, on a lot of long drives.)

He is probably the best argument for ‘generic’ action figures, that kids can make their own and make their own adventures for, that I’ll ever see.  Even though he only had the one helmet (which he never removed) he wore a lot of hats:  he was Luke Skywalker.  He was Orion Quest.  He was Buck Rogers, Captain Kirk, Charlie Pizer, Steve Austin, and more.  He was me.   He was under two inches tall, and a giant.