The "Less Than High Speed" 1/6th Military Product Archive

[MeatHookGekko]

This is [Power Team]. The molds were later used by a brand called Click N Play. I never saw these on the shelves. I was told a lot of the bigger [Power Team] sets back then were at Sears. I'm not even sure brick and mortar Sears even exists anymore.

I did get the bunk beds and lockers in various trades over the years later. Good stuff. Useful and fun. Never got the weights/dumbbells and the guitar but always wanted them. The few people who had them then never wanted to trade them. And it never really showed up on Ebay. I tested the bunk beds, you could lay down a 1/6th guy and he'd fit on it comfortably. The plastic was cheaper-ish but not fragile. It was all insanely light in total weight too.

Fun and cool doesn't have to be expensive. My guess was some of the [Power Team] stuff was simply repurposed over from stuff made originally for Barbie or Barbie related diorama type items. Shipping has changed too. Now the added dimensions of this stuff makes it far more expensive to ship, even if it's not super heavy.

Imagine what a 1/6th brand would charge for bunk beds today? 79.99?

The razor blade and cup is a nice touch.

( Edited this reply to reflect that the above set is from Power Team, not Soldiers Of The World as previously listed. )

 

[MeatHookGekko]

This is the GI Joe Coast Guard Harbor Security. One of the hardest sets to find, well for me. I ended up picking up the weapon set up in a trade. This is pretty awesome, as none of the other brands really made anything like this, besides Ultimate Soldier in terms of themes and product trends. You can replace the M2 50 cal with another brand version, I replaced the Hasbro one with a DML M2 and it fit great. Keep in mind you need to make some modifications because the trigger handles are fixed into the entire platform.

Another thing you can do is detach the bottom plate, and if you want to customize it a little, you can make a vehicle mount rig out of it. Again, you'd need a dremel and maybe an angle grinder, but do that with some paint and weathering, and this can be pretty cool indeed.

 

[MeatHookGekko]

Here's something I always found pretty cool.

This is Hasbro GI Joe ( Tunnel Rat, from the 25th collection? Hard to remember)

Anyway, that little bomb robot is pretty cool. And I see no reason it can't operate as a little pack robot for a 1/6th scale figure. Sure, this set was designed for 1/18, but this was meant to be a larger robot to scale with Tunnel Rat. However as a type of pack robot for a 12 inch guy, this can be pretty cool. Sure it could use some paint and maybe a little work, but the potential is there.

 

[MeatHookGekko]

Speaking of robots, I thought the MALP that came with those older and smaller Stargate SG1 figures was pretty cool. It was a build it set, much like you'll see with some Marvel figures, where you need to buy 3-4 separate figures to get the pieces needed to build a "chase" type item.

While it would be out of scale for a 12 inch figure for SG1 purists, it's still a pretty cool and nifty tracked robot that opens up all kinds of customizing possibilities. I'm sure even Classified collectors could a find a place for something like this. Maybe a little weathering and add some guns, and you've got something pretty interesting.

 

[Mondragon]

the 1/6th military stuff out there that is less common and not typically as interesting for high end collectors. It might bring back some good memories ....

Or not so great ones...

“Hombre” Means Man! And dig those epic sideburns.
The firs Hispanic Joe, well not really, as anyone who got him know. Yet there he was marketed right along side Joe in the 70s,

Likely not significant for most, yet as far as I know it took Hasbro till 2001, 40 years to introduce their actual first Hispanic *12" Joe. - Master sergeant Benavidez Special Forces soldier.
Until then, HOMBRE was the only name in the game.

(*80s 3.75" Rafael "Zap" Melendez, & Hector X. "Shipwreck" Delgado notwithstanding))

 

[MeatHookGekko]

So this one also gets a review video. GI Joe SWAT Silent Entry. This was one of the later sets that I actually bought boxed off the shelves. I very rarely bought whole boxed sets, as I felt most GI Joe modern sets didn't have enough good gear. But this was one of the exceptions. The full length knee pads/shin guards were just an extremely rare item to find in our hobby. Even today it's tough to think of anyone who has made something quite like this. The inner lining was a type of cloth/felt with the armor sections glued on. The crossbow was modern and very rare for it's time. The velcro nature of the ammo quiver meant you could rig this to any velcro based modern vest, which was supported by multiple brands back then.

I ended up picking up more of the crossbow and shin guards in later trades, as they were just really choice pieces to have. Very versatile.

 

[MeatHookGekko]

Couple of cool sets. An engineer with a gigantic chainsaw. Saw him on the shelves, never got him, and never got the chainsaw loose in a trade. But just a massive fun looking piece.

Also a Stinger missile system. Back then, this was it or the Ultimate Soldier version, which was only available in a few sets. IIRC, the Hasbro version had a few small working features ( aside from the missile firing play system ) while the TUS version was static. Also the TUS version was made out of a very chalky kind of plastic. Not many MANPADS available in our hobby for modern figures.

And while it might sound insane now, that K Pot in the Desert Striker set, the molding and shape was superior to anything made by the more higher end brands back then. That includes DML and BBI. You just needed to gut out the inside a little, change the straps, and change the helmet cover. GI Joe, for whatever their flaws, made some damn good base helmets.

Who needs chainsaw that big?

The answer is everyone. Everyone needs a chainsaw that big!

 

[MeatHookGekko]

This is BBI's 5th Ranger for WW2, Sergeant Hoppy Bell.

The Elite Force line in the early 2000's started to release WW2 figures to compete with Dragon Models WW2 line. Back then, a few reps for BBI were around the various forums, and lots of people said the same thing over and over again - Give us a true "squad builder"

I.E. a figure that could be displayed out of the box and you didn't need to hunt down parts from 2-5 rare other sets to just make one fully formed figure. Because of the nature of the Ranger "assault vest", and that you could rig the entrenching tool in the back, you didn't need to try to find an extremely rare mussette bag ( Very few sets back then had them ) MSRP for this was like 35 dollars back in the day. It used the BBI G1 body type. All the pouches functioned but you didn't really want to do that, because the pin system was pretty fragile and you'd snap them off. BBI included patches in a kit, so you could label up the helmet and his shoulder with rank tabs, however you could elect to use other brand patches if you wished. Many people did to turn Bell into a 2nd Ranger ( to flow with Saving Private Ryan) Bell got a 45 pistol with working slide ( that was more rare to have in that timeline) And the weapon still holds up today with some weathering work. The helmet was made out of real metal. So that was an interesting twist.

The Garand was seen as a little too large, though the DML one was seen by some as a little too small. But it was a nice weapon. Like DML's the ammo clips could be inserted, the bolt functioned, and the bayonet could be attached.

This was an extremely good set for it's timeline and an incredible value for it's overall price point. He didn't have frag grenades and he didn't have any spare ammunition bandoliers, which would have really made the set fully formed, but still, all in all, this was a damn good entry point for BBI.

A set like this was a boon for loose parts dealers in our hobby. If you sell the body and head and hands for 10 bucks, then the rifle for 8, the helmet for 6, the pistol and holster for 5 and on and on and on, you can see where this is going. The loose parts market was more robust back then. Use of Ebay was less punitive for sellers, things cost far far less to ship, and there were more dealers around, thus more competition, which was a good thing. Also both DML and BBI were producing larger size edition runs, which dropped the general price points.

I bought a case of Bell from a dealer, who had it drop shipped to me. Essentially for less than 170 dollars, I had close to a full squad of WW2 ( six guys, had to change a few heads though) , at a bulk rate, no tax, with free shipping. Think about how staggering that is compared to today, where you could spend 250 on just one figure with limited accessories.

 

[MeatHookGekko]

This was BBI's 2nd generation modern SWAT Figure. Elite Force Mendez.

This guy was incredible for is time and would still be a competitive SWAT figure made even today.

Customized Kimber 45 pistol with tactical light and form fitting drop down holster. Gas mask and leg bag. Full tool set ( sledge, bolt cutters, crowbar and hooligan tool plus battering ram) Throat radio with clear ear bud, modern flashbangs ( rare for that time), working multi tool, tapered dark blue BDUs ( hard to find bdus back then that were not woodland nor 3 color desert camo) Modular vest with pouches. Functional pouches. Very nice gloved hands for it's time. Shooting glasses, cloth balaclava. Versatile "Adidas" style duty boots. The helmet had a moving half bar, which was intended for possible face shield. However there was no face shield. My thinking was BBI thought about doing it and pulled back or they were thinking about a future figure and just keeping the same helmet mold for a future run. The only real downside was the M4. Back then, BBI kept it's first generation M4, but pumped them out in plastic instead of metal ( they started with metal guns, don't know why exactly, wasn't a smart idea honestly) The M4s were just ill fitting, it just seemed like different parts of different scale M4s were molded together. Hard to explain. But a small nitpick in an otherwise amazing set for around 30-35 dollars each.

This again was a G1 body type, thus probably helped to keep the prices down somewhat, as prices across the board rose when the G3.5 became the common upgraded body type. I've always contended that the new Sideshow body type ( starting with the Indy Kingdom Crystal Skull figure) helped to kill a bunch of SSC 1/6th lines. Evolving the body type is a massive expense, and that immediately translates into raising the MSRP by a good clip. Happened to just about every brand back then at the time.

Again, BBI was keeping a back end eye on squad builders, because the hobby could accommodate them back then in terms of the price points/access/production run volume.

While every BBI release was not a case buy candidate, this was a legitimate case buy type of set. IIRC, this sold out quickly, even with the expanded production runs at the time.

This is multiple generations long ago, in terms of development for modern SWAT 1/6th, but it sure doesn't look so outdated even today. Give him a new weapon and upgrade the vest ,and he's still pretty lit.

 

[MeatHookGekko]

This was Blue Box Toys / Elite Force Trident

He was one of the last few releases from BBI before they stopped making modern figures. ( He was probably 7th or 8th to the end of the entire run) He came in with more detail and more gear, but at a higher price point. ( IIRC, he moved up to like 40 bucks in terms of MSRP) He was an incredible figure for his time. The rifle was a new mold with an entirely new suite of accessories and optics. The Sig Sauer pistol was a new mold and still holds up today in terms of craft and detail. The knee pads were hybrid, rare for that time, with both a hard shell and a cloth type backing. The boots were still molded, but also a rare release with "Merrill Ventilator" type short boots. Had a fully detailed plate carrier. This was when there was a more widespread use of shifting to the plate carrier system that is common today. The head sculpt was well done, a "Brad Pitt" type shaved head release using the BBI G3.5 body type with new "Hatch" type gloved hands. Some common complaints were that the BDUs had an odd color and that the holster was prone to breakage ( two connector pins onto the thigh plate, there were arguments that sometimes some things have too much realism compared to just plain durability)

Half cut MICH helmet, IIRC a Peltor radio rig, sunglasses, a new "push knife", plus plenty of spare mags. Also came with an under vest float device plus a spare mini oxygen tank. This was early 1/6th plate carrier development, so the pouch backing was thin plastic strips, but you could insert "hard" plates into the system.

This was as coveted figure, sold out pretty quickly and was a legitimate case buy back in the day. What can you get for 40 dollars now? A single weapon? You can't even get some of the more moderately coveted loose headsculpts for 40 bucks anymore. Some trades now probably cost 40 bucks in shipping, that's how far prices have spiked.

This is not considered 'high speed' today, but it was a damn good set. And it still proves even with older stuff, you can still have fun in this hobby.

 

[MeatHookGekko]

This is Blue Box Toys / Elite Force Raider

So back then, BBI would generally release two or three figures in a "wave" at once. Here they reuse the Trident rifle to make the Raider rifle. Except it's black and has suppressor and has a tac light, other than that, it's the same. The Sig Sauer is close to the same basic design, except it has an extended threaded barrel for a suppressor, and an underside laser/light to attach to the pistol's rail system. The SAT COM IIRC was repeat from a previous set. Uses the same boots as Trident but the interesting twist here is the civilian oriented clothing, somewhat, and the 5.11 low profile vest.

When this was coming out, there was a lot more activity to Private Military Contractors overseas for close protection. This was obviously post 9/11 in the world spectrum. This set was popular and it was not at the same time. Lots of hobbyists wanted civilian gear or something close to it. But honestly, and this was noted by some dealers who spoke in the forums at the time, this kind of stuff just didn't sell as well as the traditional military.

A dealer I knew sold me a case of 6 of these Raiders for 18 per set. No tax, free shipping. That's not even near his cost basis by any measure. This was after a while, they couldn't sell, so he said to me in private and in email, and he needed to just unload them and didn't want to bother parting them out. ( The parts market for these wasn't robust) BBI released another version of this figure again, with some small changes, to try to recoup their investment on the tooling/molds, etc, etc.

My guess as to what happened? The economy overall was not in a great place. Not yet into the 2008/2009 type death spiral that happened, but the Dot Com Boom was not holding the same traction. Also the big brands them like DML and BBI were facing changes in the size of their edition runs. Making fewer figures in a run meant higher prices. Higher prices would drive out some collectors. It would also impact the loose parts market. The headsculpt here also wasn't very good, and back then, a really great headsculpt was a major driver in interest in a set. This was before the advent of so many licensed figures, so to get a good Brad Pitt or Tom Cruise sculpt or something like that was much harder to find than today. Back then, there was more clamoring by some for foreign figures, but they just didn't sell as well. Now, as the hobby has progressed and edition runs are smaller, you'll see more foreign figures made.

This was a good set, just unfortunately timed. Had it come out a year and a half before, maybe the appeal would be different. Which was the other issue that became apparent. Releasing a set at it's time and maybe not 6 months earlier could have a dramatic impact on it's interest. The big hobby drivers back then were Saving Private Ryan / Band Of Brother and Black Hawk Down. The reignited interest in mainstream war films created a context of interest for the entire 1/6th military side of hobby.

Raider was an interesting set. The great deal I got on him was great for me as an individual collector, but bode poorly as a trend for BBI / Elite Force Modern Military as a sustainable line at the time. In effect, part of the complexity was the death of the "budget" oriented figure designed for brick and mortar sale. ( Toys R Us was dying as a storefront business model back then too) As people shed the hobby, they liquidated their collections onto the secondary market, again, creating some good deals for remaining hobbyists, but all but ensuring smaller future edition runs that would define prices points that would keep creeping up.

Our hobby only exists today because of good timing. The advent of the widespread use of the internet. ECommerce as the new collecting standard. Speed of information. But those same factors helped to turn this hobby into something more and more niche. You are given. Then you have things taken away. The nature of things.

I genuinely love this hobby. But I also understand that there are some folks who got into it later and never got to see the old days, when things were different, and for that, I think there is a type of loss for them. The entire concept of FOMO wasn't hard set yet in so many collectors. The same degree of instant gratification wasn't as common. It was different. Not better, not worse, just different.

 

[MeatHookGekko]

 

[MeatHookGekko]

 

[MeatHookGekko]

So, long ago, the only real game in town for 1/6th ( if we are talking the mid 90s or so) was Cotswold. The individual weapons were like 10-12-15 dollars each, depending on the item. Remember was back in the mid 90's, so 15 bucks back then is not the same as today. Consider that back then, you could send a light first class bubble mailer to do a small parts trade, for less than a dollar in shipping.

Different times right?

Well, as I was told, and not sure how true it was, there were claims that 21st Century Toys took some of the preexisting items from Cots, and simply created new molds from them, then did mass production. True? Untrue? Don't know. But what I can say was if you look at an old TUS weapons set that had 5-6 weapons for 7.99 or 9.99, compared to a single rifle for 10-12 bucks before shipping cost, then you can see how Ultimate Soldier, for a brief period, became dominant in the 1/6th military market.

Because there was literally nothing out there. GI Joe Hall Of Fame, GI Joe random Classic Collection sets ( somewhere around 30-40 dollars at TRU) and Cotswold. Later, like these sets, it appears there was a push to package parts together to form carded sets as a value option. But they were unfocused, without a theme, and were sort of "random value" to collectors.

It probably didn't help that, over time, vintage collectors were essentially dying off slowly across time. Not to be grim, but it wouldn't surprise me if many in the very old vintage newsgroups, at least half, are probably passed away at this point.

Now, to it's credit, Cotswold still exists, but primarily as just another 1/6th vendor for third party commercial product. And they did try, over a period of years, to rebuild themselves into something more modern in terms of appeal to customers, or where the hobby was heading.

To be fair, without Cots and old vintage GI Joe, there would have never been a foothold for 21st Century Toys to exist and kick off the Golden Age of 1/6th.

What we have now in collecting does owe a lot of it's legacy to Cotswold and the handful of diehard customizers who kept this hobby afloat during it's growth phase.

 

[MeatHookGekko]

"This company is dead. I didn't kill it. Don't blame me. It was dead when I got here. It's too late for prayers. For even if the prayers were answered, and a miracle occurred, and the yen did this, and the dollar did that, and the infrastructure did the other thing, we would still be dead. You know why? Fiber optics. New technologies. Obsolescence. We're dead alright. We're just not broke. And you know the surest way to go broke? Keep getting an increasing share of a shrinking market. Down the tubes. Slow but sure.

You know, at one time there must've been dozens of companies makin' buggy whips. And I'll bet the last company around was the one that made the best goddamn buggy whip you ever saw. Now how would you have liked to have been a stockholder in that company? You invested in a business and this business is dead. Let's have the intelligence, let's have the decency to sign the death certificate, collect the insurance, and invest in something with a future.

"Ah, but we can't," goes the prayer. "We can't because we have responsibility, a responsibility to our employees, to our community. What will happen to them?" I got two words for that: Who cares? Care about them? Why? They didn't care about you.

They sucked you dry. You have no responsibility to them. For the last ten years this company bled your money. Did this community ever say, "We know times are tough. We'll lower taxes, reduce water and sewer." Check it out: You're paying twice what you did ten years ago. And our devoted employees, who have taken no increases for the past three years, are still making twice what they made ten years ago; and our stock -- one-sixth what it was ten years ago.

Who cares? I'll tell ya: Me. I'm not your best friend. I'm your only friend. I don't make anything? I'm makin' you money. And lest we forget, that's the only reason any of you became stockholders in the first place. You wanna make money! You don't care if they manufacture wire and cable, fried chicken, or grow tangerines! You wanna make money! I'm the only friend you've got. I'm makin' you money.

Take the money. Invest it somewhere else. Maybe, maybe you'll get lucky and it'll be used productively. And if it is, you'll create new jobs and provide a service for the economy and, God forbid, even make a few bucks for yourselves. And if anybody asks, tell 'em ya gave it the plant.

And by the way, it pleases me that I am called "Larry the Liquidator."

You know why, fellow stockholders? Because at my funeral, you'll leave with a smile on your face and a few bucks in your pocket.

Now that's a funeral worth having!"

 

[MeatHookGekko]

Third generation World Peacekeeper figures!

 

[Pickle Munkey]

Here's one!
Callous Soldiers, by Gameitoy. They came out in 2003, based upon the Counter Strike game by Valve.
They went so far as to produce the Terrorist, Counter Terrorist, and Hostage figures.

They came pretty decently loaded with gear, with early DML type looking bodies.

You can still find most of them online (such as eBay) for around 50 bucks.
I might be on the look-out for a Dr. J figure as he's a perfect Black Mesa scientist from Half-Life.

 

[MeatHookGekko]

Here's one!
Callous Soldiers, by Gameitoy. They came out in 2003, based upon the Counter Strike game by Valve.
They went so far as to produce the Terrorist, Counter Terrorist, and Hostage figures.

They came pretty decently loaded with gear, with early DML type looking bodies.

You can still find most of them online (such as eBay) for around 50 bucks.
I might be on the look-out for a Dr. J figure as he's a perfect Black Mesa scientist from Half-Life.

Pickle Munkey,

I remember those! They had a mix of Intoyz weapons and a few DML weapons. The interesting part was one of the "terrorist" figures had a block of C4 with a timer on it, which was rare to see at the time and would be rare to see even today in most sets.

I remember Dr J being one of the rarer sets. From what I can remember, one of the popular sets had the Intoyz USP pistol in it, because that was just an exceeding rare pistol type in general in the hobby. I'm not sure there are even more than 5-6 versions out there period.

Thanks for sharing, hope you continue to add more posts from your memory lane into this thread.

 

[MeatHookGekko]

Or not so great ones...

“Hombre” Means Man! And dig those epic sideburns.
There he was marketed right along side Joe in the 70s

Likely not significant for most, yet as far as I know it took Hasbro till 2001, 40 years to introduce their actual first Hispanic *12" Joe. - Master sergeant Benavidez Special Forces soldier.
Until then, HOMBRE was the only name in the game.

I remember the Benavidez figure. There was a huge discussion on the military side of the hobby as, IIRC, he was having real life long term medical problems, and was having problems with the VA, and that was causing real life controversy as he was a MOH winner.

Did you ever have to "reflock" a figure? I remember that on the vintage side of the hobby, that the rooted hair would fall apart or wear down over time.

So as I was told by a vintage collector years ago, some of the vehicles, like that yellow explorer science buggy set, used cardboard craft, in part, to save costs, but also there was IIRC, some kind of plastic shortages. The guy told me some older Big Jim stuff used vinyl and cardboard in a few larger things because using plastic was just not feasible.

Something I did observe is that the camo cloth patterns they used might have been replicated for 8 inch Mego figures as well. I had some old 8 inch Lion Rock figures, which were Mego knock offs, and the cloth consistency and pattern were the same as a few vintage camo shirt tops I also had.

Thanks for sharing and adding into memory lane. Hope you continue to post more in this thread and add more things you remember from the past.

 

[MeatHookGekko]

Speaking of memory lane, here is one of the SSC Platoon figures. Back in the day, on the military side of the hobby, lots of people were resistant to SSC's price points. Obviously there were smaller edition runs and the costs of getting the license involved. But in retrospect, the few extra bucks for cool figures like this, would be so worth it in hindsight. To be fair, back then, figures were sometimes rocking the 25-30 zone, so the IIRC 40-50 price point was a reach for many.

That being said, I do remember the secondary market prices exploded on these guys and they sold fast and I don't remember many collectors letting these go, if they did get them early. And back then, almost no one was parting out SSC stuff.

What was interesting back then was finding a quality 1/6th classic M60 aka "The Pig" was damn near impossible. And King had one. Also the standard M16A1 was also damn near impossible to find too in quantity. Those SSC weapons back then were not on par with DML weapons, but still pretty useful.

Extremely awesome figures for their time and I don't think you'll see them on the secondary market too often.