Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves Sword and Dagger...

If there was one thing I loved playing with during my childhood it was role play weapons, especially if they were based on those used by my favorite film or T.V. characters. In the summer of 1991 when the Kevin Costner Robin Hood film was released we got treated to a pretty cool toy line from Kenner. Although mostly consisting of toys created by recycling existing figure body molds and accessories the line turned out pretty good. One of the few items in the line that was not put together from previously released toys was the set of Robin Hood's sword and dagger. Being a fan of the film, and a nutcase for swords I quickly convinced my Mom to buy it for me. I'm not really sure what store we found it at. For some particular reason I remember picking up the Sherwood Forrest play set and the bola launcher at Toys R Us, but I have no recollection of where I got the weapons set. The Robin Hood sword and dagger ended up becoming my favorite set of toy weapons, even beating out the Thundercat's Sword of Omens and He-Man's Power Sword. The reason for that was that these weapons were made from some of the strongest and thickest plastic ever used for a toy weapon.



I used to love going into the yard and swinging this sword. It was so strong I ruined a ton of tree branches in the process. The set also came with a sheath to store and carry this tool of justice in. Another thing I used to love doing was to throw the sword into the ground with all my strenght and see how deep it would penetrate the soil. After a while the tip of the sword became pretty dirty from all the soil and grass. I really had a ton of fun with this set. If you combined it with any toy and arrow set from your local toy store you'd have the perfect gear to hand out some justice in Nottingham castle. I really don't remember what happened to the sword or the dagger. I wish I still had it since it seems to be pretty rare. I've been having a tough time tracking a mint in box set on ebay. I think the reason there's not that many of these around is because shortly after its release it made the top of a yearly list of dangerous toys compiled since 1971 by an attorney from Boston called Edward Swartz. I've never seen another role play weapon as sturdy and cool as this one in the last 19 years, and its all probably Edward Swartz fault.