She’s breaking up! She’s breaking up!
“Steve Austin, astronaut. A man barely alive. Gentlemen, we can rebuild him. We have the technology. We have the capability to make the world’s first bionic man. Steve Austin will be that man. Better than he was before. Better, stronger, faster!”
… so went the opening lines from the Six Million Dollar man TV series.
Produced by Kenner in the US in 1975, The ‘Colonel Steve Austin’ 13 inch action doll complete with bionic eye and removable bionic modules was based on the popular TV show character starring Lee Majors.
The doll became an instant toy hit around the world. Additional figures were introduced to the line including a popular Jaime Sommers doll – the Bionic Woman (for which a separate TV series was made). Other characters included Oscar Goldman, Maskatron, Fembot, and a Bionic Bigfoot figure. Clothing, accessories and playsets were also available.
French advertising. Meccano
Bionic Man / Woman. France. 1977.
Bionic Man / Woman. Maskatron. Oscar Goldman. Bionic Transport and Repair Station. France. 1977.
Bionic Man / Woman. Maskatron. Oscar Goldman. Bionic Transport and Repair Station. France. 1977.
Six Million Dollar Man. France. 1977.
US advertising. Kenner
Bionic Man Mission Control Center. US. 1976.
Bionic Man vs Maskatron. US. 1976.
Bionic Woman Dome House. US. 1977.
Six Million Dollar Man action figure and Bionic Transport and Repair Station. 1976. US.
Comic Books
Bionic woman. Télé Junior advert. France. 1980.
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- The Bionic Woman. Look-In N°15. 1979. UK.
Thanks for looking 🙂
Post updated Aug 2019 with new images.
The Vintage Toy Advertiser 
I forgot about Maksatron! I had that as well as Steve Austin and Oscar. Great memories!
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That’s cool you had Maskatron. I only had the Steve Austin so his enemies had to be any baddie Action Man figures I had 🙂
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Yeah, I had forgotten about that. As soon as I saw the picture, the memories came flooding back! I also had the Kirk, Spock, and McCoy Star Trek action figures, and an old school G.I. Joe, all around the same time.
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Aww, I wish I still had mine. Great post.
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Thanks. I wish I still had mine too. I looked on eBay – they’re not so cheap for a complete figure…
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Yup! I had the Steve Austin and Maskatron figures too! I always thought that the likeness to actor John Saxon was quite good. Wow… I miss these figures.
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Cool you had them both too! I agree, the face sculpts are pretty good.
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I had the steve Austin and the Maskatron figure, they were great fun! Awesome ad for the Mission Control centre, never seen one of those before!
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Cool. The Maskatron figure is an interesting villain with a great name!
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Yeah, I liked how you could change the Masatron’s face, and he was a robot under the mask. Spooky and fun 🙂
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I had a Steve Austin action figure when I was a kid. It was awesome!!
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Agree, was a great toy! I had the Steve Austin with the engine he lifted up with his bionic arm.
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I think mine was just the regular toy. I don’t recall any accessories.
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He might have been packaged on his own, as well as with the engine I had, and also another version with a girder that he could lift by pressing the red button on his back.
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