Just suppin some Sunday coffee and glancing at the Andrew Marr morning show on British TV. Couldn't help noticing the red and orange striped rectangle at the rear. It totally reminded me of an accessory I had for my Action Man as a kid but I can't think what!
We never really talk about Action Man much on the blog. Funny that. He was personally a constant companion throughout the 60's and early 70's and I probably played with him and his military mates more than anything else! I know we focus on space toys at Moonbase - oh and the occasional bit of archaeology [sorry Bill!] - but I wonder how popular Action Man/ GI Joe/ Adventure Team were and are with readers? Drop us a line.
The Tour de France is riding through my adopted home of Yorkshire as we speak. Its a big deal and thousands are out to see the cyclists whizz through the quaint villages and towns of England's biggest County. Alas, I'm not one for speed cycling, which is so popular in the UK. I prefer the slow everyday pushbiking you see in Holland and Denmark. However, I did have this Corgi Tour de France die-cast toy car set as a kid and it was quite beautiful. Did you have one readers?
image: pinterest
Oddly enough I do have this plastic toy cyclist in my possession these days. He's part of my JR Toys collection and a lovely thing too.
Anyhoo, time for another cuppa. If any of you are watching the Tour De France or admiring your GI Joe collection, consider this question to which I do not know the answer: did Action Man/ GI Joe ever have a bicycle?
POSTSCRIPT:
I've identified what I thought the Andrew Marr backdrop looks like. It's the Palitoy Action Man Landing Signals Officer pictured here courtesy of Ebay.
Late noughties Action Man had a ridiculous radio control bicycle, which our man was permanently attached too in his dayglo shorts! That flag would have been on the Diving set Buoy accessory, I think
ReplyDeleteTour de France: don't much care for it tbh. It did once pass in front of our house in Holland in the early seventies, and that was fun to see and as much involvement as I've ever had with it.
ReplyDeleteAction Man: provided years of fun after Matt Mason and Sgt Storm disappeared (after the poor chaps' wires broke and then their limbs).
Brother and self had two each, and I remember holding the huge Scorpion Tank box proudly in my lap flying back from London, where this prize accessory was bought from Hamleys. Most of it still survives (only the scuba suits went brittle) and the four guys are now sitting proudly together in a 1990s "Soldiers of the World" Jeep (first company that made a proper representation of a WW2 Jeep, the GI Joe version being the model used in the Korean War), together with a late-60s GI Joe I got from a tin train collecting friend. I again have a Scorpion to replace the one from my youth, but come to think of it I haven't seen that for ages. In the garage somewhere I guess. And in the same scale there's a couple dozen figures by Dragon, Blue Box etc, with an SAS Jeep, a Kübelwagen and a PaK 40 gun. I'd love to get a Panther or Tiger in that scale, but haven't got the money or the room... There's also another 8 figures and assorted vehicles that my sons played with, and which I had great fun building gear for as well as the three of us scouring swap meets for suitable accessories for the vehicles.
Best -- Paul
We had GI Joe here. I've still got almost all of my original stuff, only the headquarters is gone. I've my original talking pilot, space capsule with orange record, jeep (no motor rev noise or firing shell capability) land adventurer and atomic man. I'd love to get the UK version of him though. The only real Action Man piece I have is an eagle eye version is the Foreign Legion uniform.
ReplyDeleteI've added lots of more recent make figures to my collection but those first three will always be my faves.
Vehicle wise, my motorpool overflows with half a dozen or so original jeeps, 6 or so various SotW jeeps that are awesome, 2 Stuart tanks, a Sherman, a Hanomag, Staff Car, Avenger Pursuit Vehicle (US and UK versions), 2 AT helicopters, the Littlebird form 21st Century toys, a boxed Seawolf and Troubleshooter plus too many more according to the wife.
Great to hear your Action Man and GI Joe stories guys. I was beginning to get withdrawal symptoms! Maybe we should do more on the 12 inch hero. And Bill I know what you mean about that orange accessory but its not that. Some sort of landing sign is in my head, an RAF landing signalman's signals maybe?
ReplyDelete