Disney’s Hercules was released in theaters on this day 25 years ago. Although the box office returns for the film weren’t what the studio was hoping for (it made “only” $99 million stateside, which was a lot more in 1997 than it is now), it has since become a nostalgia classic. Ironically, the main criticisms that were used against the movie when it came out–that the jokes and tone would make it instantly dated–are exactly why people love it today. Hercules is pure late 90s pop culture. It’s almost like a time capsule. And who’d have thunk?

Anyway, being a big Disney summer animated feature, there was of course a ton of merch (fittingly enough, the film actually jokingly had references to merchandise…which ended up becoming real merchandise). Although I didn’t have any of them because they were “too violent” (Hell, I didn’t actually go to Hercules until it played at the downtown theater in October. I liked it, but pretended I didn’t. Long story as to why, but I was really insecure about having “my own opinion” back then), this line of action figures caught my eye as a kid. Disney usually didn’t have action figures with features such as these, as each of them had their own gimmick….

The commercial for these plays less like it’s advertising the geeky Herc from the movie and more like an old ad for Masters of the Universe toys (which…also didn’t accurately represent how He-Man was on the cartoon). It’s also narrated by “Judge Claude Frollo” Tony Jay, whose distinctive voice could be heard in many commercials back in the day. Hercules is the ultimate badass here, and he will punch you before he asks any questions. I joke, but these do look really cool…

The ad also teases “Power Flex Hercules”…which I feel must be mentioned here, because it was probably the gayest Disney action figure ever released. When you push Herc’s arms down, his muscles expand so much that it tears his own armor off, leaving him shirtless and…well, all muscly. This seems dangerous for Hercules, by the way. And painful. Can he “ungrow” his muscles after he does this? Or is he stuck that way forever, unable to even put armor on?

Unfortunately, it seems this toy must’ve been made of some really cheap material as far as the paint goes, because Hercules looks like he has a very serious skin condition going on if you look at these mint in the box. And by “serious skin condition”, I mean that it looks like his skin has actually fallen off. I’d be tempted to grab one off of eBay, but I’m afraid of what this thing must feel like when you touch it now. Also, check out that cartoon of Herc at the bottom right corner. Boys became gay because of this action figure!

Some have speculated that this was based off of a brief moment in the Zero to Hero number in which one of the Muses holds a figure that seems to have a feature similar to this one. Some have even accused Disney of having that in the movie just to promote the toy. This has never been proven, and I don’t really buy it. The toy in the film has an incredibly goofy expression on its face anyway…

GO THE DISTANCE today, Avocados! And will you get more Hercules tonight? Yeah, you probably will.