I have a couple of items on eBay this week that I hope may interest some of you. Firstly, there's a page of original Viz artwork in the form of a complete Suicidal Syd story I did a few years ago. Back ink on Bristol Board. Visit my eBay site (at this link) to see more photos of the page.
The other thing I'm selling isn't comic related, but is a piece of my childhood. An Action Man figure I had for Christmas 1970. The first bearded Action Man! Complete and in its box, plus Equipment Manual. You can see that with more photos if you click this link.
Both auctions end on Sunday evening. All bids very welcome! Thanks for looking.
Below: That's me, Christmas 1970, with two of my presents for that year. The very Action Man I'm now selling, plus the first Whizzer and Chips Annual (which isn't for sale). My dog Judy (1963 to 1978) is in the foreground.
10 comments:
It must be heartbreaking to part with your favourite toys after so many years. I could never do it.
Well, it was one of my favourites when I was a child, but I'm 55 so I can't see the point of hanging onto it if a toy collector is willing to buy it.
What kind of a child were you??!? All my action men were melted, chopped up and buried in the garden...!
You haven't seen the ones I'm NOT selling. One has his legs missing and the other has dart holes in his chest.
I was 11 when I had Beardy Action Man so I didn't play with that one as much. Even so, it's not flawless if you click on the link.
I'm sure I remember an Action Man that was wearing a German World War 2 uniform. That seems quite odd as the war would have ended only about 30 years previously and Action Man was always so obviously British but there he was dressed as one of the baddies ! I was reading about bearded G.I. Joe on another blog not half an hour ago which reminded me of our bearded Action Man and here he is - I'd completely forgotten there was a bearded version.
Don't worry. Your memory isn't playing tricks. There was indeed a German WW2 uniform available to buy separately, along with a Russian one and a French Resistance outfit. I wanted the Russian one but it was sold out so I had the German one instead. Quite detailed, including a little Iron Cross!
As for Action Man always being British, not so. The original outfit and figure was completely identical to the American GI Joe. Palitoy just changed the packaging name to Action Man.
Here's the original 1964 GI Joe, which is identical to the 1966 Action Man I still have:
http://www.nobomagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/VintageGIJoe.jpeg
1966 Action Man:
http://www.actionmanhq.co.uk/pages/1966.html
As you can see, completely identical to GI Joe back then.
By the way Colin, here's the German Stormtrooper outfit you remember:
http://www.actionmanhq.co.uk/pages/soldierpages/stormtrooper.html
Thanks for those links, Lew - I was reading recently that the term "action figure" was invented in 1964 to sell G.I. Joe to boys and so avoid any idea that boys were playing with dolls. They did the same thing by selling perfume to men and calling it "aftershave" - how clever those marketing men are !
Very true. I could be mistaken but I don't recall hearing the actual term 'action figure' until the late 1970s. Action Man was originally referred to as an 'action soldier' and 'moveable fighting man', which was suitably macho enough I guess.
I think that, like most of his generation, my dad was a bit apprehensive about me "playing with dolls" until he saw that I regarded Action Man simply as a bigger version of a toy soldier. It wasn't like it came with an Action Man tea set or fashion accessories. :)
GI Joe/Action Man was a clever idea. Our generation's fathers had been in service (well, mine wasn't but most were) and talk of WW2 was still very much in vogue even in the mid sixties. So that would help convince dads that Action Man was an ok toy for their boys too. Like you say, clever marketing. And they're still at it, with today's HM Forces action figures.
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