By Past Nastification When it comes to naming, sometimes simplicity is best. And sometimes simple is too simple. Two teams in 1:18 scale have lazily laid claim to the group name “Bad Guys”. One of them is “The Bad Guys”; the other is simply “Bad Guys” without a “The”. The Bad Guys. Remco’s The Bad Guys are fully known
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Somewhere in an alternate dimension, there’s a Bizarro version of 3DJoes that catalogs and restores the artwork of lines like Devil Warriors. Wait–that’s happening right here, today. Whoa. There’s a scummy sort of beauty to these knock-off packages. They certainly deserve to be seen in better condition than they’re often presented, if only for historical purposes. However, I doubt many
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As far as I can tell, this figure hails from one of the earliest Chap Mei military series, the original Soldier Force. Over the years, the various new releases have been numbered with Roman numerals at the end of their titles. I’ve seen up to Soldier Force V, but there could be more since last I checked. These days, we
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No, it’s not the title of an 80s Turkish action film knock-off pastiche of The Karate Kid and Rambo (but it should be). It is a wonderful knock-off set of action figures inspired by both GI Joe and Rambo. Either way, what’s not to like? It’s Remco Joe! RemJoe! I sucked up a bunch of these two-packs at K-Mart back
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I’m a big fan of the also-rans that cropped up following GI Joe’s 1980s success. Looking back at the imitators illustrates the impact the Real American Hero line had at retail. It also serves as collector ground that hasn’t been fully excavated. I’ve covered a few of Olmec’s Bronze Bomber 1997 figures that were based on Hasbro molds, but I’ve
Read moreHey kids, tell mom and dad to run you down to the local K-Mart (you know every neighborhood has at least one or two) and grab the latest American Defense figures by Remco! They play with ALL 3 & 3/4 inch soldiers! Choose from pilots, infantry, flamethrowers, karate and ninja fighters, even guys who vaguely resemble Rambo! K-Mart, the Savings
Read moreKnock-offs come in many flavors. They range from the almost but not quite Hasbro quality offerings, and there are the fly by night releases that sometimes border on bootlegs. The National/American Defense lines by Agglo fall somewhere in between. This is not an attractive figure. In fact, most of the figures in the line were aggressively ugly. Even the packaging
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I talk about knock-offs here and there, but I’ve not really covered an honest to gosh low-rent cheeseball one until now. Most of the “me-too” figures I’ve posted, like those from the Corps or National Defense, have been GI Joe imitations in terms of concept and construction. This one takes a GI Joe design and simplifies it into a cheap
Read moreUh, yeah. So as you can see, the 80s weren’t the height of cultural sensitivity in terms of the toy aisle. If you thought Lanard’s Bengala or Tracker Tom were bad in terms of stereotypes, check out the face sculpt on Enemy Weapons Officer. He hails from National/American Defense, the same also-ran series that brought us Enemy Leader, the infamously
Read moreAs a kid, I had ample opportunities to peruse the toy aisle of our local K-Mart. Mom and Dad were quite the landscapers, so a trip to the lawn and garden section was a regular occurence. Naturally, I would wander over to the toy aisle to check out what was available. Alongside the 80’s heavy hitters like GI Joe, Star
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