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

[MeatHookGekko]

Speaking of "The Pig", the carded set above is a third generation Soldiers Of The World.

They clearly shamelessly lifted the molds from Dragon Models James, but the leap in quality for SOTW was staggering. The price of that carded set if you could find it at Target at the time? 9.99 MSRP.

Nutty right? And entire uniform set and pretty cool weapon, one that was still generally hard to find in the hobby, for ten bucks.

I also added a photo of a SOTW 1st generation guy, who was a whopping 8 bucks at places like KMart. That M60 is a shameless lift of the Hasbro Hall Of Fame mold. Of course what was somewhat bizarre was that those old SOTW Colt 1911 pistols were better and more detailed than the Dragon ones at the time. Very odd.

DML had this interesting but somewhat dirty habit that if they invested in a mold, even if it came out poorly, they would just stick with it and keep pumping them out. The first K Pot for DML came with NYPD ESU Bill Smith. The helmet was just all kinds of wrong in terms of shape and size and fit. Instead of changing it, DML just used that template pretty much forever for all their future military figures. Same thing IMHO with their classic 1st gen 45 pistol. It was just a little off, but they kept milking it out. But as a dealer explained to me, paying for these molds was extremely expensive. An outfit like SOTW, which was, as told to me, was functionally less than ten people in total working on these in a few small rooms, was able to produce stuff cheaply, probably in major part, to essentially lifting other brand's development.

What could we get for 10 bucks today in this hobby? Food for thought I suppose.

 

[MeatHookGekko]

This set might be generation 2, sometimes the easiest way to tell is by the knife and sheath and the kind of material used for the holster for the pistol. Older SOTW used pleather for their pistol holsters.

Just a fun set there. Also they added in harder to find weapons at the time - M16A1 and a MP5N.

Sort of interesting "Now And Then" set, which SOTW did a few times. One was clearly modern, the other half to the right looks more like VN era diver stuff.

But this was built for Target, so the end goal was cheap and fun for kids. Of course now to put realistic looking weaponry in toys at a Target or Walmart is probably a huge PR no no.

And this is why maybe so many kids today are so soft in general. Kids are going to run and play and wrestle and fight. That's their nature. Not everything needs to be taken from them to stop a possible future lawsuit. Sigh, nothing rankles me more than kids being robbed of cool toys.

 

[MeatHookGekko]

Last one for today.

Nothing beats military toys and accessories made by those who probably are unclear on what goes with what. Or maybe this was intentional.

The "classic" CAR15 receiver, rear stock and carry handle, with a M60 front.

I call this the "Centaur" Or maybe the "Mullet Deluxe" It's all business in the back but all party in the front. Or is it the other way around? I don't know, but it's worth a hearty chuckle. Real life can be hard, sometimes brutal, when this hobby makes me laugh, that's why it's worth it's weight in gold to me. You can't put a price on good memories.

Life is funny sometimes. I don't like my inlaws. But I love this hobby. So I'd call it a wash to be honest.

 

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[MeatHookGekko]

So these were the GI Joe Weapons Tech carded sets.

The Barrett 50 was the rarest and I never ever saw it on the shelves. Also I never saw a dealer carry it in stock. I've only seen it on Ebay once in an auction, and it went for some insane amount in the old days, like 80 bucks. I'm not sure I know anyone in the hobby who had it.

According to legend, if you pulled the bolt back, the mechanism would actually cycle out a round from the magazine and eject it.

There was a point at Toys R Us, where these sets went on mass clearance, something like 1.97 each. If you could find them. But the Barrett was the holy grail. Actually hopefully someone here had one or has one can share real life pictures and detail it out for everyone here.

A dealer back in the day told me that the Weapons Tech line came out in response to Ultimate Soldier upping the ante and upping the game for military 1/6th in then brick and mortar outlets.

The G36 set was also coveted, because there was no G36C variant in the hobby at the time. Also the grenade launcher was pretty rare for the underside.

The core receivers for many of these sets were made out of metal, which I've always seen as a huge mistake. It upped the cost to produce probably and it made the weapons too heavy for a figure to hold. I've always contended that the card board backing should have been a fold and angle system used to turn into a display stand for the weapon itself. i.e. functional packaging.

It's a big of a tragedy. Hasbro GI Joe is the reason why we all have modern 1/6th today. They gave just enough product in the early days to keep collectors going and invested. However with their total financial leverage and name brand, they could have really innovated and pumped out some pretty cool stuff. And they did make some pretty cool things here and there. But the total impact could have been massive. But it never worked out that way.

Weapons Tech was a highlight and also a cautionary tale of where Hasbro likely went both right and wrong. A part of our hobby lore so to say.

 

[MeatHookGekko]

You can see the red clearance sticker on one of the sets above. 2.38 or 2.58, hard to make out.

These sets were great for customizers. Just to unpack any extra sets you could get cheap and have the odds and ends to build your own custom weapons.

What can you get for under 3 bucks today hobby wise?

 

[MeatHookGekko]

One of the "mistakes" that many hobbyists cited in the old days, or to their viewpoint, and it was widely shared back then, was that each set should have had enough parts to make two full weapons. Usually there was only one receiver per set, so you were limited. However the MP5 brief case set, IIRC, had enough parts to make a UMP45 plus a MP5K inside the briefcase.

The original MSRP was 9.99 or 12 dollars, I can't remember. The point being, two weapons in each set as default might have created a tipping point for more people to buy them.

 

[MeatHookGekko]

The Tactical Machine Gun set illustrates the problem I mentioned above. Only one core receiver in the set. But enough parts to make two full weapons otherwise.

I don't think I've ever seen the SA80 set up close. Maybe it was one of the later run releases. Unclear if there are the parts to make an LSW, hard to say without seeing the instructions.

All the weapons were also a little out of scale. Definitely bigger than true 1/6th. But since this was designed for brick and mortar, there probably had to be the considerations of lost parts or if kids would choke on something.

 

[MeatHookGekko]

 

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This is the first 1/6th Resident Evil figure ever made ( to the best of my knowledge)

Dragon Models Code Veronica.

The bazooka and knife are unique. The rest of the weapons were repurposed from other modern military sets. That knife was one of the most coveted pieces in the entire hobby loose in the old days. Just insanely hard to find a "Rambo Knife" back then. Now you can find a knife in that vein all day long.

This was also during the introduction period where DML used "arm sleeves" or "gumby arms" to get that smooth look. The OSW and the old Warrior Forum spawned from DML elbows. Back in the day, Dragon had it's own message board on it's main site. Some fans posted that there was breakage/QC problems with the elbows of some of the figures. So they were just banned outright for it. And that was that. Some people started their own EZboard and their own community.

DML also, for time, set up a shill website, where they would do fake reviews, comparing DML products to similar BBI ones, then egregiously pan the BBI offerings. Dragon made great stuff. But they were openly ruthless and not concerned about a certain level of hostility with their customers/fans. But this was a cool figure. Sold out fast, insanely hard to find the parts on the secondary market later.

 

[MeatHookGekko]

This was a World Peacekeepers / Power Team set. They were one of the few brands to still do some kind of "villains" when it became non viable to have those kinds of figures in traditional brick and mortar stores ( The Ultimate Soldier Armed Terrorist figure came out and was immediately pulled because Columbine happened not long after it was produced)

The AKM is a lift from the Ultimate Soldier version. The handcuff with ball and chain is hilarious. Obviously a great diorama piece for married couple scene display. The cap is a lift from Hasbro GI Joe.

The most interesting thing is that revolver. It's a lift from a DML pilot figure. It's been lifted countless times over the years by countless brands. A 38 snub nose. The DML original is chrome and apparently now slightly insanely hard to find. Or so I've been told. WP/Power Team took a massive generational leap when they hit sort of their Gen 4 stage. Unfortunately they didn't last too long towards the end, just like Soldiers Of The World 3rd Gen. Just a little too late and right about when brick and mortar toy stores were dying off.

 

[MeatHookGekko]

It's just 2.49!

Rifle is lifted from Ultimate Soldier Gen 1, which was lifted from Cotswold early weapons. The AT4 is a lift from the Ultimate Soldier release. The mortar rounds are lifted from Hasbro GI Joe modern set.

Back then, we weren't as lucky. Gen 1 was no removable magazines, no working charging handle or ejection port cover. No ported muzzle/barrels. No working fire selector. But on the flip side, you had to be more creative. In some ways, that was part of the fun of it all. I think the hobby has lost a little bit of that, the creativity side of having to deal with less detail/fewer options.

 

[MeatHookGekko]

This is Lanard. The same people IIRC, who made Max Steel. So these are likely reuse of core Max Steel bodies, etc, etc. The packaging is interesting though. Modeled after take out containers. I think it's hilarious.

 

[MeatHookGekko]

I've always believed Max Steel set the footprint for what now amounts to the Marvel Titans line, which are 12 inch figures that have maybe 6 points of articulation and are designed to mostly without accessories and around 10 dollars. There were lots of inexpensive knock off lines back in the day.

 

[MeatHookGekko]

Last one for today. There was a lot of really beautiful stuff made in our hobby. Just not a huge market share for it. That is a slight downside to this all. If no one will buy it from a projection standpoint, it just won't get made.

There's an entire wealth of subject matter that some people love, but it's too niche.

 

[MeatHookGekko]

I know someone who laid out good money for several of these sets to have some kind of "Star Trek" in 1/6th. Also this might be one of the few instances where the Barbie line has a weapon, as it has an actual phaser.

The cardboard cutout of Kirk and Spock is something I'd see most people saving out of that set. Just to display in the background.

Barbie line has some interesting accessories and vehicles that can be useful if customized for our side of the hobby.

 

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Has our hobby gone too far?

 

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Reached a certain saturation point?

 

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Last one for today.

Yes, this is 1/6th

Yes, sometimes our hobby has gone too far. LOL.

 

[MeatHookGekko]

Intoyz, around 2004 or so, released a series of 1/6th carded weapons sets. They tried to focus on functionality in their designs. Ported barrels, working charging handles, working fire selectors, rackable slides, moving hammers, moving triggers, etc, etc.

The pistols in general were very good. The rifles were somewhat hit or miss. However the M16A1 in the above set was a nice addition to the hobby at the time. Weapons are slightly larger than 1/6th scale to accommodate all the features.

What did end up happening is DML saw these sets and amped up their modern carded sets that they were releasing as competition. So Intoyz indirectly created more carded sets in general for a 2 year span or so.

Carded weapons sets have a much narrower profit margin, dramatically so, compared to boxed sets. They also, on the average, don't actually sell that well. Some do, but most don't. The MSRP back then was 10 dollars a card.