H is for Hummmm . . . ?

This is a quickie, but nevertheless interesting as far as Hong Kong/China tat goes, if only for it's oddness, and the fact that it explains something which has always bugged me, vis-a-vix some unpainted 'Galoob' figures in the collection!

First weirdness is that this is basically an old VHS video-case, with a paper-card, windowed wraparound and a shaped, inverted-blister tray where the actual tape would otherwise lay. I assume the GIA is an attempt at a play on words, i.e., instead of MIA (missing in action) they are going with G.I.'s in action? No, it doesn't really work, but I couldn't find a better explanation in my slowing brain!

Contents are two really cheap die-casts (the tank's turret already has a huge crack from alloy-disease, despite never having been played with) and two figures. The figures are the unpainted versions of Galoob's Army Gear / Secret Army Supplies figures, which explains them, and why, when I found an SAS set, by Galoob a few weeks after that first post; they too, were painted.

They seem to be the same figures just unpainted, so may have been a clearance thing, and while I don't think the tank is Pioneer, the plane is rather better, and these could be early Pioneer, but it's only a thought and I won't tag them as such; they are clearly marked-up to the Golden Wheel Die Casting Factory Limited and dated to 1991.

The video-case thing was also common at one point, back in the day, they could be used for fancy stationary sets, make-up sets, aroma-stick/burner sets, greetings-cards, emergency tool kits . . . you know; sort of novelty tat round Christmas time!

SAS is for Secret Army Supplies

A follow-up to this post which I published only a few weeks before I got this at Plastic Warrior's show in May, and it serves to show not all rack-toys are 99p or a dollar! Both Arco and Larami (among others) had price-positioned lines in 1, 2, 3 and 5 dollars, through the '70's and 80's.

I'm pleased to see that the shortage of poses for the 'enemy' force is as obvious here as it was in my sample, so it's not that my loose example was slewed, rather that Galoob decided to cramp the enemy's style!

Interestingly the set's code (5220) is the same as the Army Gear set, only with a different backing card and like the other card, it shows the unpainted figures coming with the accessory sets, while the 20-figure set has the camo-painted chaps. With the possible exception of the Army Gear medals, both lines seem identical.

The Rainbow Toys tie-in probably has something to do with it, did Galoob buy Rainbow and re-brand to Army Gear, or did Rainbow keep Army Gear going with a rebrand?

The flash has rather hidden the little rubber bases which are in a little compartment down the bottom left of the card, they are also in as short supply as my loose figures but with ten bases for 20 troops, that too was deliberate - sometimes you don't require hindsight to see why a line failed - what were they thinking?

A is for Army Gear

The Battle Squadfigures we looked at the other day were (along with their Star Wars 'Action Fleet' brethren and the Starship Troopers/Expanders lines) seem to owe their ancestry to these chaps, who were The first of the little chaps from Galoob as far as I know.

The original figures are in a hard polystyrene (or polypropylene?) with a stab-and-hope paint-job consisting of blobs of flesh and camouflage along with weapons being painted in. The upper image shows the body poses of the bad-guys (in grey) and the good guys in green, there being two duplicates, although this is only my sample and there may be other grey poses/duplicates?

The lower image shows the leg poses of both, I know there are grey versions of the kneeling guy in grey, so again this is only a guide and not definitive, although it's obvious from online images that the greens do - consistently - get better pose variety (per set) than the grey.

So far I have found them in the hard, painted plastic (left), unpainted in the same plastic (middle, with a green version of the bad guy) and in a softer vinyl/PVC, also unpainted (right). The unpainted ones seem to be from a second line Secret Army Supplies ('SAS' geddit!), but there's an end-of-line 'can't be bothered to paint them' look to the figures so they may well also be from foreign-market/other end-user sets - Ideal, Gig or someone like that?

 

The problem with these is getting the little plug-on PVC rubber bases to make them stand-up. This was sorted on the later decendents with most getting better bases, although the tiny bases for the Action Fleet and Battle Squad being not much better than no base, but the Starship Troopers and Expanders both getting proper bases.

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