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

[MeatHookGekko]

Something to consider is this was it. All of it. In the mid 90's, if you wanted 1/6th at all, literally Hall Of Fame was close to your only practical option at what would be seen at a mostly reasonable price point.

 

[MeatHookGekko]

I never saw this "Mission Gear" set on the shelves. It was probably the most popular one, my best guess. HOF still has made, IMHO, one of only two H&K G11 rifles in our hobby. And even today, there is a massive shortage of something as simple as basic space helmets, for sci fi customs. So crazy as it sounds, for customizers, despite this set being 30 years old, it still has some practical value.

Access to 1/6th shows is close to non existent anymore, but back in the day, you could find boxes of loose Hall Of Fame at several booths at these kind of conventions. Carded, loose, bits and pieces everywhere.

I recognize that space helmet looks truly like a toy from 15 generations back, but look at it's possible creative potential. You can have fun in this hobby without the highest speed stuff. But it does take some effort.

 

[MeatHookGekko]

Colonel Buzz Aldrin. Most people only remember him from his astronaut lore and legend. ( As of today, he's 93 years old and a true American hero.

However he fought in the Korean War as a pilot and shot down two MiGs. The helmet, pack and cables/coils in that set are still quite useful in customs even today.

 

[MeatHookGekko]

This is what headsculpts looked like from product in the mid 90s era.

Top to the far left is Snake Eyes Hall Of Fame. Row 2, second from the left is Guile from Hall Of Fame. HOF did co-opt the Street Fighter license for some figures. Yes, the old Van Damme movie. Just to the left of the skull on the top row, is Hall Of Fame Grunt.

The second photo ( probably World Peacekeepers) is interesting in that it has a syringe. Many years ago, a dealer told me that lots of 1/6th brands didn't want syringes, because there was too much potential for backlash ( i.e. what if kids are playing and making their figures "do drugs" , etc, etc) Another interesting tidbit is that "leg cast" Which is just a clamshell system. Pretty creative. The "medical bag" is just a reworked claymore mine bag. So nutty as it sounds, with some paint, new labels and some work, some of that medical stuff might still have practical diorama application even today. Especially the pill bottle.

 

[MeatHookGekko]

Interesting piece of hobby trivia, as these guys are not quite low speed at all ( I think they still look pretty good and hold up even today)

But IIRC, Dragon In Dreams created an offshoot, "3R", to release some Japanese WW2 figures. Any WW2 Japanese rifle is actually pretty rare, or was in my hobby heyday.

Key to note, in real life, IIRC, Japanese officers were expected to provide their own pistols in WW2, so it's unfortunate that more WW2 Japanese figures were not made, as we could have gotten an interesting mix of unique and rare pistol types that would not normally be made in our hobby.

 

[MeatHookGekko]

A piece of vintage lore for everyone. More Six Million Dollar Man. Have always believed this figure and this concept was part of the precursor for GI Joe RAH Zartan.

There's a certain simplicity to all this, from vintage, that I do miss. Our hobby has shifted from "toy" to "quasi toy" to just plain "collectible" to "museum piece"

I miss the toy part of it, I can't lie, there's a comfort in the toy element to all of this.

 

[MeatHookGekko]

Kay Bee, back when brick and mortar toy stores were still viable, were a main hub for clearance Power Of The Force stuff from the late 90's. Shelves had to be cleared for the new and projected Phantom Menace Toys. So you'd get stuff like Hoth Han Solo at mostly bargain basement prices. That jacket would still have some practical use today, with some work and love put into it. The unitard thing might be going a little too far though.

 

[MeatHookGekko]

So interesting to note that Star Wars 12 inch essentially repurposed old Hall Of Fame body molds and hands, etc, etc.

Imagine two guys, one with a mullet and one with a pony tail, who calls the old guy "his master", and they want to show you "The Force" Yeah, levels of quiet unsettling here.

I will invite @Buttmunch into this thread because I think he would notice the same first thing I notice here - LOOK AT THE HUGE HANDS BUT MINISCULE TINY FEET! What is up with all that. It's like bad children's art turned into figures ( Yes, yes, I know it's to better hold the weapons and fit the feet into the boots to make it more scale....)

Why does Obi Wan look like Bobby Hill from from King Of The Hill? The boy just ain't right....

 

[Buttmunch]

It’s amazing how far we’ve come since those days! Even the difference between the two is interesting to see with the fully articulated knees, elbows, and ankles.

 

[MeatHookGekko]

Last one for today. Fun stuff. It's a 1/6th hot dog. Just because. I don't feel a complex diorama build could be complete without a 1/6th hot dog hidden somewhere.

Someone will say "Look at that second picture. The way he's gripping that hot dog. Some hard core muscle memory displayed there. Refined technique. And....."

And we will call it for a day, gentlemen. Leaving you with that last thought of course.

 

[MeatHookGekko]

Let's talk about divers now. This is BBI/Elite Force Sting Ray.

One area where BBI was better developed were the knives. The knives were leaps and bounds better than DMLs.

 

[MeatHookGekko]

Here is Dragon Models Stan, their version of a modern diver. First release of a FN P90 submachine gun in our hobby at the time. Working charging handle and removable mag. The suppressor on it was not removable. Still a very high end piece even today. The MP5 is the MP5N ( "N" stands for Navy, it was designed specifically for the Navy) This is the only time that DML released this version of this weapon. Was once a highly desirable item for guys doing Predator customs ( As Dillon needed two, Hawkins, Poncho and Blaine all needed one as well)

The Sting Ray vs Stan situation highlighted how the hobbyists won out indirectly. As BBI made and announced figures, DML would counter, then try to one up them, by infusing more gear or more accessories or something much different. High level constant competition made our hobby better. Without BBI entering the fray, there is zero way that DML would have given collectors three main weapons in a single set.

The BBI version used real metal weights for the weight belt. These were outstanding figures for their time, and still hold up pretty well today. MSRP was like 35 ish IIRC.

 

[MeatHookGekko]

This was the Ultimate Soldier Navy SEAL Night Ops set, which predated both DML Stan and BBI Sting Ray. This was a KayBee Exclusive.

What's interesting was the use of black BDUs ( very rare at the time for our hobby) and the first generation version of the HK MK23 pistol, plus this had a M60E3 light machine gun, which was, for a time, the only one in our hobby. This was a fun set, but you could see how DML and BBI had clearly a two generational leap on TUS from the beginning. To be fair, DML had a background in making models, so they had some refinements / experience already in mass producing product.

If you pick up a DML weapon and any other brand in that era, you can see and feel the difference. Dragon Models, as rumored, had a proprietary blend and system for plastic that they refined for the model making, and translated into their plastic 1/6th development. It was, at the time, superior to anything else on the market quality wise.

 

[MeatHookGekko]

GI Joe, with a functional diver. Very fun and cool here, because it hit some themes that were a little less hard core military. You could apparently use this set in a pool. I never saw it on the shelves. Many sets back then, sometimes it was regional in terms of what people might see or get. You could have one Target in one area get a ton of stuff, but another Target in the same city a few miles over get nothing. But like this drill system, GI Joe was good for some more rare kind of accessories that you just weren't going to see from DML or BBI.

 

[MeatHookGekko]

Another quasi "diver", this one had the coveted "backpack mine"

Which could be strapped to a figures back and had an "exploding" kind of feature. For some reason, this backpack mine was one of the most coveted little odd piece in the modern side of the hobby for a while.

Hasbro decided to split their 12 inch offerings into different tiers. This was in the 14.99 "carded" figure range. Much different than their 29.99 "boxed" offerings.

Interesting enough, the Hasbro MP5s were one of the few 1/6th weapons they had that were somewhat comparable to DML/BBI level quality. But there was on caveat to all of this. Hasbro stuff was usually out of scale. Durability was one concern. Not having small parts for kids to choke on stuff was another. Also the design had to be somewhat less aggressive, as soccer moms were buying this stuff for kids, or so we were all told, and nothing could be seen as too realistic on a brick and mortar shelf.

 

[MeatHookGekko]

Not quite a "diver" but would still be in the water anyway. This was fun because this was a BUD/S candidate

He's got flippers and a few other dive items. But the nostalgia piece for me is the log, for log PT. Does anyone have flashbacks of log PT? I do. Formation runs with a log. Way to start your day at 4am.

They even gave the figure a "bell" to ring. Which is one thing you have to give to Hasbro. There was a simplicity in the fun factor. Every now and then, a Hasbro piece or set would come out, and make you wonder why you are spending 20 dollars on a single loose weapon from a "higher end" brand and set.

 

[MeatHookGekko]

Action Man diver, for the vintage angle in all of this. A noticeable lack of firepower in most vintage sets. The theme back then was exploration and discovery. And I do miss part of that now. With the advent of high speed instant information, the world has gotten both bigger and smaller at the same time. The wonder of little kids in the "unknown" is, in some ways, gone now. You can't hide the truth from kids anymore, but the price might be their youthful innocence.

Sometimes I am glad for the things I didn't know when I was a kid. Strange as that sounds.

 

[MeatHookGekko]

GI Joe later rerelease of one of their vintage themed diver sets. Check out the treasure and the cool eel.

Vintage collectors did benefit from the 1/6th explosion in the early 2000s. Before the economic collapse of 2008-2010, there was dot com money out there, and lots of brands saw the upside of pumping out product. Also the hard line understanding of how inventory works now is not the same back then. In some ways, the more high speed collectors carried a bit of water for the vintage side. I don't think they would have gotten a shot in the arm product wise otherwise.

 

[MeatHookGekko]

There was also Action Man out there. Which became a nice blend and mix of some old Adventure Team / vintage themes but often with a modern non military spin to it.

No matter what you collected, this was just plain cool. Jaws versus a guy with the jaws of life. How ironic.

 

[MeatHookGekko]

Last one for today....

Man Vs Mother In Law

The shark cage is just plain awesome. And some of those accessories, like the dive helmet and rig, still would be useful today in customs with some paint / futzing and work. Would kids want this stuff today? Most I know just want more video games.

This was one byproduct of the mass explosion of 1/6th product. A lot just slipped by everyone, even if it was cool, because so much was coming out all at once. But awesome is awesome, even in retrospect.