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

[MeatHookGekko]

Intoyz does have the distinction of making the first modern 1/6th mini gun in our "Golden Age" of collecting.

Revisiting it now, the amount of tooling for it was probably extremely complicated and expensive. The ammo box included is still valuable and useful even today.

The Sig set was amazing. Unique foreign weapons were not easy to find back then, and these were relatively inexpensive compared to trying to find loose weapons on the secondary market. You could actually see through those scopes.

Obviously there is a learning curve to this, but wished Intoyz survived just a little bit longer to make a little more.

 

[MeatHookGekko]

This is the only boxed set for 12 inch that Intoyz ever created.

Several dealers in the old days told me this is what ultimately killed them off as a brand. The cost to set the molds and tooling for a 12 inch body type is incredibly complicated and expensive. That investment probably sank them too far over the red light to keep going. If they stuck to weapons cards, maybe they'd last a little longer.

Later dealers cleared these boxed sets out for 12-15 dollars just to get rid of them.

It's not a bad figure, for it's relative era, per se, but it was clearly not a marketable one. The path to success back then was

A) Unique and new weapon type
B) Celebrity likeness, well done, for the headsculpt
C) Stick to a very generic modern military theme. Foreign figures just didn't sell well. If Intoyz started with a SWAT figure, for example, that might have been better received as a beginner.

 

[MeatHookGekko]

Fun stuff now. Why oh why ....

It's a molded on shirt, which was not so uncommon for cheaper knock offs and budget Hasbro. But look at the molded on hand grenades, vest and pistol rig and radio.

Also molded on boots. And NO PANTS.

You cannot be defeated if you have three hand grenades permanently stuck on your chest and threaten everyone with Mr Winky.

 

[MeatHookGekko]

Those dog sculpts are actually really good. Then there is the strange "Best In Show" neck ring thing.

It's like Jessica Alba knocking at your front door. Naked. But wearing a fanny pack.

Who still wears fanny packs? Maybe some old retired guy who still remembers when he voted for Carter.

Our hobby is amazing, even when it's sometimes strange. I'd argue it's more amazing when it's strange.

 

[MeatHookGekko]

Last one for today.

Apparently from a Reservoir Dogs set. So that's actually 1/6th scale.

Piracy! Napster! Let's update our Geocities site! How many MP3s can you fit onto your brand new 6 gig mechanical hard drive!

 

[jaztermareal]

View attachment 616615

This is Soldiers Of The World. 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 SOTW 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 SOTW 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.

Skimming through the thread for the first time, loving all the pics and info, brings me right back to the old OSW days.... ahhhh... nostalgia!

Noticed this and thought should offer a small correction: It was made by Power Team Elite / World Peacekeepers not Soldiers of the World. I bought mine in...... 2010? 2012??? anyway, I found it in a toy store at a coastal town IIRC, one that had a nice selection of PTE stuff. I baught it at about the time the PTE sets were starting to dry up entirely, not long after the purchase the selection in stores kinda shrank to a couple barebones repack figures before the 12 inch line just disappeared entirely from shelves. Managed to grab the last Humvee luckily before that disappeared also so count myself lucky there.

 

[MeatHookGekko]

Let's talk about Lanard's K9 Korps!

These were fun and awesome. Lots of personality. Available via brick and mortar, but lots of places just sold out of them very quickly. Around 15 bucks each IIRC. The possibilities for a squad of these are endless. Honestly with Dam Toys doing the Gangster Kingdom line, I don't know why they don't do a line like this, but high end and high speed.

Lanard also made The Corps, which might have ported over some of the accessories into this line.


Also Michael Crawford gave another awesome review long ago about two of the sets.


http://www.mwctoys.com/REVIEW_082405a.htm

 

[MeatHookGekko]

Davis Elliot, IIRC, was the only human. These sets came with CDs ( flashbacks to all those AOL discs that came in the mail....) and a "dog tag" reader apparently. This might have lined up with the trend of the times, with the Star Wars Phantom Menace figure stands / CommTech chips, where some had sound chips/readable media in them. You had to buy the communicator device separately ( the one where it was an upgraded ladies razor)

I left the back a little larger so people can read it.

 

[MeatHookGekko]

War has gone to the dogs!

You can't beat a tag line like that. Damn, those were the days. Now I'm just plain old.

 

[MeatHookGekko]

Here are some videos on the CommTech reader system. My guess is K9 Korps lifted the idea from this.

I remember back in the day, Toys R Us had a huge event for Phantom Menace toys being released. They IIRC opened at midnight the day before the film release, something like that. There were three full aisles of SW TPM toys, insane for that era.

And guess what? No one could find a Darth Maul.

Toy making at it's dumbest. Short packing at it's dumbest.

 

[MeatHookGekko]

https://www.cheatsheet.com/entertai...nicator-star-wars-gillette-womens-razor.html/

You Can’t Unsee That Liam Neeson’s Communicator in ‘Star Wars’ Is a Gillette Women’s Razor

Even with a sizable budget, Qui-Gon used a razor as a communicator

Neeson is a big star, but LucasFilm had the budget to hire the likes of Neeson and Samuel L. Jackson for TPM. According to Screenrant, the movie had a budget of $115 million, dwarfing the budgets of the previous three Star Wars installments. Of course the first three Star Wars installments were made in the 1970s and 1980s, but according to In 2013 Dollars, Return of the Jedi’s budget of $32.5 million would have been about $54 million in 1999, when Phantom Menace came out. That means The Phantom Menace had more than double the budget of the previous Star Wars movie.

Which is why it’s surprising that Neeson was stuck using a woman’s razor as a communicator. Yes, a woman’s razor. Gillette, to be specific. According to CBS News, the Phantom Menace crew used a resin cast of a Gillette Ladies Sensor Excel Razor to make Qui-Gon’s communicator. Fans in the know about Qui-Gon’s communicator will have a good chuckle on rewatch....

******

The CommTech reader was based on the film's Jedi communicator which was based on a ladies razor.

I'm not sure what George Lucas was thinking there....

Thanks George.....

 

[MeatHookGekko]

Skimming through the thread for the first time, loving all the pics and info, brings me right back to the old OSW days.... ahhhh... nostalgia!

Noticed this and thought should offer a small correction: It was made by Power Team Elite / World Peacekeepers not Soldiers of the World. I bought mine in...... 2010? 2012??? anyway, I found it in a toy store at a coastal town IIRC, one that had a nice selection of PTE stuff. I baught it at about the time the PTE sets were starting to dry up entirely, not long after the purchase the selection in stores kinda shrank to a couple barebones repack figures before the 12 inch line just disappeared entirely from shelves. Managed to grab the last Humvee luckily before that disappeared also so count myself lucky there.

Ah yes, my friend. I remember your screen name from OSW. And yes, you are right, it was Power Team that made some of those cool accessory sets.

I'm getting old. I remember a lot, but I also forget a lot too.

I remember that PT Humvee. You could fit literally one guy into it IIRC.

Fun to go down memory lane. Feel free to also add in any photos of product you remember from time to time as well. More stew for the pot here I say.

 

[MeatHookGekko]

 

[MeatHookGekko]

Again, I'm imagining a line like Gangsters Kingdom, but with these kind of hard core dog type heads and hands, with high level modern military gear.

I said the same thing years ago about zombies, what if Sideshow reused their GI Joe RAH gear and uniforms and mixed it up with their zombies and made a squad of modern military zombies?

Interesting stuff, the different ways for brands to reuse modern military 1/6th to make what IMHO could be a really viable fun product.

 

[MeatHookGekko]

“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.

@Mondragon , I thought you might appreciate this blast from the past.

Elite Brigade ( Costwold) used to have full figure sets back in the day. So I remember the catalogs back circa 95/96, and the price points were like 90 bucks or so. Maybe up to 100 bucks. It's hard to remember. But there was clearly some sticker shock there, especially that long ago. But no one else was making anything like it. Not even close.

Interesting to note that Japanese figures were insanely rare in our hobby for a very long time. IIRC, Scott Crawford of DML pointed out that long standing cultural tensions between China and Japan were things that couldn't be resolved on a toy production level.

Ultimate Soldier made one Japanese figure WW2 boxed set. I remember maybe one or two Hasbro GI Joe ones, and that was it back then. So this set was actually a pretty valuable figure for anyone in those days who wanted to explore that niche. It's not high speed, but you can see the pure love put into this figure.

 

[MeatHookGekko]

Going back to vintage. This is 1/6th Six Million Dollar Man.

I've always felt that our modern military figures needed dioramas with "mission" parameters to them. I was always curious about this piece as a kind of sci fi rescue mission kind of operation for our modern guys. Repaint it, weather it up, maybe add some bells and whistles, some decals, and shove it half way into a dirt / sand diorama and you got something kind of interesting.

 

[MeatHookGekko]

Budget lines. Weapon on the left is retooled Hasbro Hall Of Fame, so is the camera on the right side set. M16 is clearly a mold lift from TUS, as is the antenna pouch on the left side set.

It seems to be the recurring theme in bargain basement priced stuff, i.e mold / tooling lifting.

Makes you wonder what interesting molded 1/6th parts could be pumped out that are just sitting out there. For example, all those older Sideshow muskets from their Civil War figures.

 

[MeatHookGekko]

Fits Most 12 inch Action Figures!

One of these six budget sets, oddly enough, that radio looks almost salvageable. Put off the sticker, paint it, add some knobs, change the coil to the handset, etc, etc. The hooded bdu there isn't half bad either. Remove the draw string, maybe tea dye it a little more, give the figure some armor over it, etc, etc. Or use it for a civilian "hunter" figure meant for forest stuff.

It's not perfect, but I see a few small opportunities there. I fully believe there is no "junk" in our hobby, only unrealized potential if we can find a way to be creative enough.

 

[MeatHookGekko]

So this is where I'm going with maximizing creativity.

I've seen those budget Hulkbusters around before. In clearance toy shelves at like a TJ Maxx or a Ross, something like that. It's mostly static plastic, but look what one customizer did. Made something pretty cool out of it. And with the bonus of a quasi military theme to boot!

I feel the same about our military 1/6th. Everything can be evaluated individually for it's creative "potential" and for it's possible merits into something fun.

Everyone is in this hobby for different reasons. If some people want a museum piece, more power to them. But there's always room for fun. I got into this hobby for the fun factor. Maybe I just love the toy aspect of it all more than the collectible aspect of it all.

 

[MeatHookGekko]

GI Joe Hasbro Hall Of Fame came out in 1993 or so. Many of the accessories from the boxed figure sets were rerun, many in different color schemes, and put into carded sets. There was a big push on having functionality in the sets. So all the "grenade launchers" had a spring firing feature. This was likely an extension from the last remnants of the 4 inch line, where many figures were packaged with "missile launchers"

This was a theme that went through literally all the Hasbro lines at the time and nearly all licensed toys ( Waterworld, Predator Vs Alien, etc, etc)

The mask in this set is basically a rerun of the one from the 12 inch HOF Snake Eyes boxed set. And truth be told, with some paint and some work, would probably still have some limited uses today.