#action pilot

[gijoe-forever]

[variousactionfigures]

Ruining Nostalgia

I talked up the vintage GI Joe series in the last post because it really does have many amazing features (being the first action figure ever), but I have to say there are several rather large issues with the series that never got addressed. As a disclaimer, this only applies to the military (1964-1968) series. The Adventure Team was pretty much touch and go, so issues of accuracy are pointless to call out. I’ll go by service just to make things simpler.

Action Soldier 

This guy was really the poster child of the entire military period. He appeared on virtually all the packaging, is always first when they’re lined up and so on. While this is all well and good, I find several critical problems with his equipment and weapons. Firstly, by 1964 he shouldn’t have been carrying virtually any of the gear he is. Why? Simple. It was terribly out of date. Judging by the look of his weapons, he would be more at home in the Korean War, which had finished a full 10 years before Joe hit shelves. 

Look familiar?

Instead of the old post-WWII gear that Joe carries, he should very well have been issued this:

The M-1956 system

and exchange his trusty M1 Garand for a similarly sized and shaped M14. Those brown boots have also got to go. Granted, National Guard units were still often using old gear like what the Action Soldier packs, but I really don’t think Hasbro was intending to go into the intricacies of the military supply system. 

But even staying with the Korean War stylings, the soldier is not safe from strange equipment choices. Take for instance the M1918A2 BAR (shown below). From WWII through the adoption of the M14, this was the weapon that squads turned to when they needed something that shot a little faster than rifles could provide.

There were two in every squad. Yet, for Joe there were none at all. At no point in the series does he ever get a BAR, only an M1919A4 which is wholly inappropriate for use at the squad level. I can only speculate as to why they decided to not include this particular weapon in the arsenal. Perhaps concerns over how well his hard plastic hands would be able to carry the rifle. 

Moving on to equipment, there is one particular discrepancy I never fail to note with not just the action soldier’s, but the pilot’s and sailor’s gear: No pistol magazine pouch. The M1911A1 and its M1912 holster were liberally distributed throughout those three services, yet never with a pouch to hold magazines. Another weapon without ammunition will be discussed later on, so keep this in mind. The M3 Grease Gun is another weapon that never got additional ammunition storage. Let’s hope you don’t need more than thirty rounds, because that’s all you got. To get onto an admittedly nitpicky point, the “Heavy Weapons” set features the M60, which is a medium machine gun, not a heavy machine gun. The venerable M2 would’ve been a better choice to keep with the theme.

Action Sailor

The sailor is somewhat stuck between the well-equipped Action Soldier and Marine and the impoverished Action Pilot. He had the Deep Sea Diver and the ever classic Frogman. Along with the pilot, he was issued a fully functional life raft, doubtlessly a play feature utilized by many kids with access to water. He too however should have been equipped with the M1956 equipment and had an M14 instead of the Garand. 

Action Marine

Oh boy, where do I start. 

The uniform, for one. 

While a uniform similar to the pattern used by the action marine was used for a period of time, it was limited to a few battles in WWII and were quickly abandoned in favor of the original olive drab. 

By the Korean War, the Corps was firmly wearing green ‘cammies’, though with the same camouflage helmet covers as WWII.

Like the Army, the USMC had gotten rid of the M1 long ago in favor of the M14, though it favored its own design of pouches instead of the army’s. In other words, the action marine would correctly be wearing this gear

It took until about 1968 for the marines to finally get the M1956 gear for everyone. Not just the pattern of his uniform is incorrect. Look at his cap (or more correctly, cover). Clearly Hasbro didn’t feel like making two different molds for hats, thus forgetting the infamous eight pointed cover unique to the marines. Even casting all that aside, the M2 carbine (a weapon unique to the action marine’s equipment except for one small instance) provides further evidence of laziness. Like the pistol, there are no magazine pouches for his weapon. None. Like the hapless soldier with his M3, I really hope Joe doesn’t need any more than 30 rounds to take this beach! 

This would’ve been appropriate, or 

this (the pouch above is specifically sized for 30-round magazines that the M2 is shown to use).

Many collectors have over the years sought to rectify this oversight by substituting a cartridge belt from the M1 in its stead. The selection of equipment for the marine was far from being a weak copy of the soldier’s, what with the Demolition and Tank Commander. One set though, seems wholly out of place. And that is the paratrooper. True, the marines did have a parachute unit in WWII. But it only lasted a few years and did not survive the war. By 1964, there were zero paratrooper units in the Corps. I suppose the decision was made in a effort to have an equal amount of sets for every service. In any case, it stands wholly against the military structure of the Marine Corps.

Action Pilot

Finally, the Action Pilot. 

Perhaps I’m just partial to them, but I believe they were the most hard done by in terms of equipment choices. One might think I would decry the classic orange flight suit. However, a flight suit of such a color was in fact used by both the USAF and USN in the early 60′s. It was intended to help rescue a downed pilot by making them more visible. However it also helped the enemy capture them more easily, so they were quickly replaced with the olive drab. Indeed, the more common flight suit the skyward Joe wore was gray. As with the Action Marine, the Pilot suffered from a lack of distinctive headgear, even though the flight cap would have made the most sense. Most likely it was only a matter of efficiency. 

No unique headwear

In any case, as with the Action Soldier and Marine, the equipment is clearly styled after the Korean War era, what with the parachutes and orange life vests. Even the absolutely outstanding Fighter Pilot still uses the old style parachute design, albeit while being fully functional. By the 60′s the Air Force had mostly changed to using ejection seats in their fighter and bomber aircraft, which made the wear of parachutes unnecessary. Instead they wore harnesses that connected to the seat in case of an emergency bailout. That would be the biggest problem, if not for the complete lack of other themes for pilot Joe. It took a full two years for new equipment to be released, though in this case it came in the form of the spectacular Crash Crew. That set in and of itself demonstrates the amazing potential that the Action Pilot line could’ve held. But instead it seems the designers couldn’t get past the pilot in the title. Not one but both air police sets were a miserable failure in terms of being exciting or interesting sets. Presumably it was designed to be combined with the excellent Dress Uniform set, but there were several other uniforms that would’ve been just as good if not better, and would’ve been appropriate for a window box. Examples include:

The “silver tans”,

The other blues and

Fatigues similar to the Action Soldier's, with some minor differences in equipment. 

Any one of these options would’ve been a better choice than what we got. In general the enlisted are not at all well represented in the Action Pilot line, while for the other three services the enlisted are perhaps even over-represented.

Generally, was the 1964-68 series good? Absolutely. It set the standard for what a 1/6 scale military action figure should be in every regard. To this day 1/6 enthusiasts still (consciously or not) use GI Joe to measure the worth of new companies and figures. However, everything has its issues and I believe these are the biggest ones the series had.  

[gijoe-forever]

“You call mom yet?”

“Not yet. I’ll wait ‘til I get stateside.”

“Give her my love and let her know I’m okay.”

“Roger that. Rangers lead the way.”

“Hoo-yah.”

“Hoo-yah.”

[gijoe-forever]

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While Donald Trump once stated that he would select “Humble” as his code name, the Secret Service opted for something that was…well, a little less humble. They gave him the name “Mogul”

Carter - Deacon

Reagan - Rawhide

Bush 1 - Timberwolf

Clinton - Eagle

Bush 2 - Trailblazer

Obama- Renegade

Biden - Celtic