I sold a boxed one of these for a friend in 1995. He'd kept it since childhood but wanted to let it go along with the rest of his old toys that had been stored in his parents' loft.
Its not an attractive tender to my eyes and I didn't have one as a kid. Maybe it came a bit later in Action Man's tenure.
I can't imagine that the siren was popular with parents!
Did you have one as a kid?
It's a toy I really rate, Woodsy, although I didn't have one as a kid. I think it was released at around 1978, by which time my plastic platoon had already fought their last battle and been stood down. I did have one some years later though, but regrettably sacrificed it to the gods of ebay. I live in hope of one day finding an undamaged example. I think it'll be a long wait though. These days they're difficult to find! The delicate twin plastic handrails at the back were the first parts to break, along with the the fragile plastic ladder. The design originated from Hasbro's earlier blue GI Joe Crash Crew Fire Truck. I have an original comic advert showing the Fire Tender. I'll send it in :)
ReplyDeleteLooking forward to the comic Ad Tone. Very kind. It was a fragile thing but almost mint as far as I recall. The box was pristine. It was fun selling that tender for my friend. It all happened in my old cellar in our old house in the late 90's. I'd turned it into a toy 'shop'. Hard for me to imagine now but I actually had regular customers who came down into the cellar to browse the shelves to collect something specific from my mailed-out stock lists! The tender was bought by a chap who bought lots of Action Man. He was from Rawtenstall over the Pennines so quite a trek really. We moved house in 2003 and that was the end of the shop. I found a cheque from the buyer the other week in some old papers - I'd never taken it to the bank 20 years ago. Its just £15 so I'll let it slide! I wish I'd kept just half the stuff I sold back then as I'm sure I was underpriced and as you say stuff like the boxed Fire Tender were already scarce. Still, it wasn't mine and I got a small fee for selling it. I have a stock list of my friend's old childhood collection somewhere - it makes great reading!
DeleteLove to see that list on the blog if you find it, Woodsy :)
DeleteI'll dig it out Tone.
DeleteTalking of action figures, I recently acquired a Redbox one, which was just as I remembered it from 1971 (when I had my original) - except for one thing. I was sure that the face was an Action Man clone, but without the scar, but that wasn't the case with the one I just took possession of. I'd purchased a different action figure the year before, in 1970, and maybe it's that one I'm thinking of, but here's a question for all your action figure collectors, Woodsy. Did any of you ever have one with a double of Action Man's head, but without the scar?
ReplyDeleteNow that's question Kid. I had lots of Accy Man clones as a nipper but don't recall if they had scars or not I'm afraid. Tony has posted quite a lot of action figures here over the years and maybe he remembers whether one was without the scar. Accy Man clones are a fascinating collecting area. the last one I found was a couple of years ago in North Wales but I didn't photograph his other cheek so I can't say if he had a scar or not now. Alas he was sent on a mission by Ebay HQ! https://projectswordtoys.blogspot.com/2019/02/dead-stock-combat-soldier-cheapo.html
DeleteI seem to remember some of the cheaper knock-offs having scars, but, facially, they didn't look anything like Action Man. The face of the one I'm talking about was a dead-ringer for AM, but didn't have a scar. I sometimes wonder if I'm imagining it, or just misremembering - but for years I was pretty sure. Took a look at that link - I used to have one of those figures too.
DeleteSorry Kid & Woodsy, I can't recall seeing a clone figure with a direct copy of Action Man's head minus the signature battle scar? But considering the huge amount of copycat figures which were churned out, I wouldn't be surprised if examples were produced at some point. It's an interesting idea and one I'll certainly update you with, if I do find anything of interest :)
ReplyDeleteHey Kid, perhaps it was a foreign head. Those did not have scars on them and were used until supplies ran out. If you got it second hand, perhaps it had been put on a different body. I've encountered a lot of "frankenjoes" in the wild. Usually well meaning individuals cobbling broken toys together to make one good one and not realizing there are differences between left and right arm parts or that talker necks and arms have different connectors and the legs use shorter elastic since the chest is filled with the voice box. Here's some good info and pics of the various heads: http://www.vintage3djoes.com/the-gi-joe-figure-1964-69.html
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