Arthur Ward - Action Figures: From Action Man to Zelda (Crowood Collectors)

CROWOOD COLLECTORS SERIES

Action Figures

FROM ACTION MAN TO ZELDA

Large and small GI Joe full-size Hasbro GI Joe and 1:35 scale Takara GI Joes GI Joe.

CROWOOD COLLECTORS SERIES

Action Figures

FROM ACTION MAN TO ZELDA

ARTHUR WARD

First published in 2020 by
The Crowood Press Ltd
Ramsbury, Marlborough
Wiltshire SN8 2HR

www.crowood.com

This e-book first published in 2020

Arthur Ward 2020

All rights reserved. This e-book is copyright material and must not be copied, reproduced, transferred, distributed, leased, licensed or publicly performed or used in any way except as specifically permitted in writing by the publishers, as allowed under the terms and conditions under which it was purchased or as strictly permitted by applicable copyright law. Any unauthorised distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the authors and publishers rights, and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly.

British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

ISBN 978 1 78500 694 4

DEDICATION

For my mother and father, who initiated my lifelong passion for action figures by buying my first GI Joe when we lived in Hong Kong, more than half a century ago.

And for my daughters, Eleanor and Alice, who have long been obliged to tolerate their fathers fascination for old toys.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Although responsibility for the words and photographs is entirely mine, I was lucky enough to benefit from the help and advice of several people who each significantly contributed to the value of this book. My sincere thanks, in alphabetical order, to Carol and Peter Allen, Lisa Bessinger, Bob Brechin, Ralph Ehrmann, Dave Grey, Mark Grundy, Keith Melville, Nick Millen and Jade Nodinot.

Other than the occasional copy of an advertisement or product leaflet, the great majority of the photography in this book is my own. However, four photographs are the copyright of Mark Grundy: the Action Man Jeep and Trailer, the Action Man Tank Commander, the Action Man French Resistance Fighter, and the Action Man Green Beret outfit. Thanks Mark.

My good friend Dave Grey is responsible for the cool Photoshop work on the Action Man 7th Cavalry figure.

However, the frontispiece image I took featuring GI Joe holding a smaller figure is not the result of such Photoshop manipulation: the 12-inch figure is holding a 1:35-scale miniature action figure that was produced by Takara in 2004.

Trademarks and Brand Ownership

GI Joe, Action Man, Action Soldier, Action Marine, Action Pilot, Action Sailor and Americas Moveable Fighting Man are all & Hasbro Inc.

Star Wars, The Force, The Dark Side & Star Wars action figures & Lucas Films Ltd, The Walt Disney Company, Hasbro Inc.

Airfix is a registered trademark Hornby Hobbies Ltd.

Iron Man & Marvel Entertainment, LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company.

Superman, Batman, Batwoman, Batgirl, Catwoman &DC Comics, Inc. the publishing unit of DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros.

Barbie, Ken, Skipper, Hot Wheels, Fisher Price, American Girl, Mega Bloks and Jurassic World are all &Mattel Inc.

Ballad of the Green Berets Staff Sgt. Barry Sadler.

Mego is a trademark of Marty Abrams Presents Mego.

INTRODUCTION

Something very unusual happened to American youth during the 1964 Christmas vacation. As children explored the bounty of presents lying beneath festive trees, one gift elicited such a reaction of rapture from the boys amongst them that it flew in the face of established behaviour. Amongst anticipated gender-specific gifts such as Louis Marxs Rock Em, Sock Em robots, Auroras Nuclear Airliner model kit or J.C. Higgins shiny and streamlined battery-powered Rocket Jet bike headlight, the one they unwrapped most feverishly was a doll.

Well, not a doll precisely. For although it was of similar height to Barbie, whose hour-glass physique had graced little girls bedrooms since 1959, and also came complete with a range of outfits and accessories to rival that fashionistas wardrobe, GI Joe, for that is what this doll was, differed from Barbie in a couple of very important ways. Firstly, he was what was called an action figure, never a doll. And secondly, guns rather than clutch bags were his accoutrements of choice.

Retailing at just $4 apiece, GI Joe was also a most affordable toy; in its inaugural year manufacturer Hasbro sold $23 million worth of figures and accessories, a remarkable sum for the time. When Americas Movable Fighting Man crossed the pond in 1966 to be licence-built in Leicestershire by Hasbro licensee Palitoy, he was an equal success, and after a name change to Action Man, was voted Toy of the Year on his British debut. In fact, most enthusiasts agree that Palitoy were responsible for making much more of the toy line than Hasbro ever did during its eighteen-year tenure. For their part, Palitoy had settled on a product that sold far better than anything else they had ever manufactured, achieving the remarkable production statistic of an astounding thirty million of the 12-inch giants.

The summer following GI Joes introduction, Rosko Industries, one of Hasbros many competitors, succeeded in persuading Sears, then the retailer with the largest domestic revenue in the United States, to stock their Johnny Hero figure, which marked the first of countless significant copies of GI Joe. However, even though, just like Hasbros toy, Johnny Hero came dressed in combat gear and carried a rifle, because the term action figure had not yet entered common parlance, Roskos product was classified as a boys doll, which naturally didnt do the toys prospects any favours.

Action Man 7th cavalry figure.

Hornby Gladiators Wolf action figure (1992).

The phenomenal success of GI Joe revealed that, just like their sisters, boys would happily play with miniature articulated figures, and got just as much pleasure from dressing them up in different ensembles before they imbued them with a life and, through them, let their imagination soar.

Just how this sea-change in the tastes of American boys occurred is the stuff of legend and the subject of this book: their new-found enthusiasm has spread rapidly around the globe and so completely that today, action figures are now amongst the most popular toys in the world.

Product Enterprises white Talking Dalek (2001). On its launch, Stephen Walker, the companys founder, said The radio-controlled Dalek has been the star of the toy fairs this spring.

CHAPTER ONE

PLASTIC TOYS COME OF AGE

Children have played with toys for millennia. Archaeological excavations of Bronze Age settlements in the Indus Valley have revealed toy whistles that are still capable of holding a tune, and have even exposed concatenated miniature animals featuring movable limbs and jaws action figures, of sorts, from prehistory. Egyptian children amused themselves with wooden or pottery toy dolls complete with articulated limbs, and which even featured miniature wigs composed of braided hair. Roman youngsters were entertained by pushing along wheeled terracotta horses they even had toy yo-yos.