My nephew's birthday is coming up, and of course every boy needs a GI Joe doll - not the little, goofy ones - the big, full-size, kick-Barbie's-boyfriend's-ass version.  At the local Toys R Us, I had a choice between the "26th Marine Division" and the "101st Airborne".  I opted for the Marine, because the Airborne guy came with an M9 with a detachable mag, and the nephew has a little sister coming soon (don't want her eating that).

Joe came with what appears to be a CAR, (A1 sights, no bay lug (Post-ban???) telestock (fixed in collapsed position)), a canteen, and a mag holder for his belt.  The airborne guy came with an M16/M203, the M9, and a maroon beret.

They just don't seem to have all the cool accessories available anymore - the scuba setup, the arctic gear, all that stuff.  Or maybe they just didn't have it at Toys R Us.  Still, nice to see that good, manly, politically incorrect [s]dolls[/s] action figures are still available.  

...psst,  don't call it a "doll".  It's an "action figure" dammit. [;)]


Isn't there some other company that makes kick ass figures - Dragon or something?  I've seen some that look very nice, with very realistic weapons and accesories.  

Anyone know?

There were a bunch of non-GI Joe action figures there, Dragon might have been the maker.  Marketed under the "Real Soldier" or "Ultimate Soldier" name, or something like that.  I opted for the original.  

Got it.

I remember having an "Action Jackson" or something like that as a kid.  Did anyone else have one of those, or was it a European thing?

If I recall, one of them had a cool commando outfit and a FAL.

[url=http://darkfigures.com/bluboxtoyfor.html]DarkFigures[/url]

I had Action Jackson.  I think he was one of the GI Joe family.  

My two totally unauthorized MARPAT clad Marines:
[img]http://thesnipersnest.com/MARPAT_1.JPG[/img]
[img]http://thesnipersnest.com/MARPAT_2.JPG[/img]

I buy,sell trade these. I have over 100 of these figures and I have two that I custom made for some military members who served in Afghanistan.

When they get back i'll be forwarding the figures to them.

if you want the "original" Hasbro also makes a
series called the "TIMELESS COLLECTION" these
are reproductions of the 1964 pattern GI Joe,
this month the new 40th anniversary edition GI Joes are comming out, Action Soldier, Action
Marine, Action Sailor, Action Pilot.

the one you bought for your nephew is a modern
version of GI Joe [not the original]

the europeans marketed them as "ACTION MAN"
because calling it a "GI Joe" sounded too American. They did make a action figure called
Action Jackson back in the early 1970's but it
wasnt a GI Joe figure, I think it was smaller?
GI joes were 12" inches tall.

Correct.

Action Jackson and Mego were 8"

GI Joe, Tommy-Gunn and Action Man were 12"

I dunno - I'm pretty sure one of the ones I had was named "Action Jackson", and it was your standard-sized GI Joe [s]doll[/s] action figure.

maybe it was "Man of Action"? because Hasbro
made one with life like hair in the early 70's
called MAN of ACTION it was part of the AT or
Adventure Team series, Hasbro changed the GI joe theme to Adventure Team because this was right after the Vietnam War and there was still
a lot of anti-war setiment in the USA.

If it comes with lethal type accessories then it's an "action figure" (at least that's the logic I used to justify the 12" Xena figure that guards my bookshelf....)[;)][:P]