VAM items?

I went digging through some boxes, and came across a bag of items
I got in the early 1990's from Cotswold Collectibles. It is a bag of
items they sold, believed to be later Action Man items that were
found in a warehouse. If I remember correctly, they were found in
the UK.

The first photo shows the rifles in the kit.



The second shows the pistols, flare guns, lugers, .45's and Lebel
revolvers. There are five of each in the bag.



The next bag has, if I remember correctly, five pairs of brown gloves.



Then there are two brown web belts, a map, two holsters and
five dynamite sticks.



A pair of white boots and another rifle in white.



Last, some pants. Two pair of jeans, blue pants with white stitching
and a wide pair of blue pants with white suspenders.



I've wondered about the items, in particular the brown gloves
and the blue pants. I don't know what sets they may have
come from.

Any help appreciated!

At a quick glance Daryl, I would say nearly all the items are vam or Joe. The brown gloves could be from the dispatch rider or snow adventurer set. The blue trousers again look like action man adventurer. Te blue trousers with the braces (or suspenders, I think you guys call them?) are from the snow adventurer. As for the Jeans, I suspect that are a Joe item, I do not recall Action Man having jeans apart from the sailor?
The items I am not sure about are the belts.

Dynamite sticks with the fuses intact! That's a rarity!

Nice assortments of revolvers and handguns!

All this stuff has pretty much become "antiques" since you originally purchased it!

Thanks Dal, Joe didn't have brown gloves in any of his sets, so I was wondering
about those.

The blue trousers I have particularly wondered about. Especially the one with
what we call suspenders, that you call braces.

The jeans I figured are from either the French Resistance Fighter, or the Sabotage
set?

As I recall all of those items were found in a warehouse in the UK, which is why
Cotswold said they were believed to be Action Man kit.

Dave,

Considering I purchased this kit about 30 years ago, I guess you can call them
antiques!

I had put them away some time ago, just recently thought of them and went
digging for them. I think it was the handguns that made me decide to buy
the set.

The belts and the two holsters look like late Gayper Man to me.

All that stuff comes from some small boxes that were not labelled as Action Man , I can not recall what was written on them , but there was a picture of a Red Box or flocked Tommy gun figure on the front . They were kitted out in mostly Geyperman and some times Action team stuff I believe . I doubt you will find a Hasbro or A.M tag on any of it . Some of them had nice uniforms in , like British Para , German officer , and even a West Point Cadet . The Back of the box showed what you might get , as it was a lucky dip to what was in the box . I will try and find the boxes , I still have one I think some place .

Chip, you are undoubtedly a mine of information! Very impressive!

I wish I could find a link for those boxes , but to continue , the brown gloves are from the polar explorer , as are the pants with elastic braces , the blue trousers with white stitching are for , or similar to the Adventurer figures , that came with a blue or white polar neck jumper , a yellow jumper could show up in these boxed sets  ( Geyperman ) ? The blue Jeans , I am sure Dal will remember , could be used for the Sabotage or French resistance sets . The straps for the weapons were plastic , and were fixed with a tiny plastic marble shaped fastener on the weapons , these were very weak and came away completely very easily , hence your weapons have no straps or attachments surviving . I think most of the pistols , holsters and belts as mentioned are Geyperman related . These were quite nice sets to pick up , but as mentioned you never new what was in them till they were opened .

I am sure the boxes were called Soldiers of fortune or something like that , the picture on the front was of a Tommy Gun Flocked figure or Red Box type , dressed in a British Para Jacket , with a British infantry helmet and Sten gun , think he had a black polar neck jumper on too ....

Thanks Signalman!

Thanks Chip!

That's a lot of great information. In fact, it reminded me that the pants
are not tagged, so I guess they could be Red Box. Joe never had the
plastic straps, so I imagined they were Action Man. But, looking at the
knobs the straps fit on, they seem a bit small for AM.

I have a AM grenade launcher. I haven't seen it in a while, but as I
remember the knobs are a bit larger.

Chip wrote:

All that stuff comes from some small boxes that were not labelled as Action Man , I can not recall what was written on them.
The Back of the box showed what you might get , as it was a lucky dip to what was in the box . I will try and find the boxes , I still have one I think some place .

I believe they were called either "Soldiers of the World", or "Uniforms of the World".
The rumour I've heard is that they were actually AM items sold off as over stock and then re-packaged. So they are, generally, the genuine article - just not under a Palitoy or Hasbro brand name.

They still crop up on eBay from time to time.
As it happens, curiosity got the better of me the other day and I ordered one of the smaller sets - pot luck what I get but worth a punt for £15 inc. postage - I've spent more in the past for what has turned out to be junk so who knows.  
Hoping it shows up tomorrow - I'll let you all know when it arrives.

By the way, it's a but of a rarity for any Palitoy Action Man trousers to actually have labels in. Some from the '60's do but they are the exception and not the rule.

These are the boxes I was talking about , I don`t believe anything in those boxes was Action Man , but more likely Geyper Man ( Spanish Action Man ) or Action team ( German Action Man ) . I think the weapons would of survived with the straps in tact if they were from the A.M range , as the fittings were stronger , you can see the sniper rifle pictured is not coloured the same as the original Action Man versions . . The weapons I got from those sets , the straps were always sticky and weak , a sign of plastic brake down I would say .

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/144190697296?hash=item21926f6f50:g:UU0AAOSwfVJdfmUQ

You are of course correct that the trouser were very seldom labelled ,but I thought that to be common knowledge . I believe the uniforms were generally Geyperman , but Action team ones turned up in them too I believe . See the uniform photos shown on the reverse of the box , some of those were never even released in the Action Man line .

I hope you get lucky Daryl .

Thanks for the link Chip. I'm curious, are those sets a "buy it and be surprised which set it is?"

I have uses for some of the kit. It's hard to find Lebel revolvers with the trigger and trigger
guards for my AT figures that are not broken off.

Yes you never new what was in those boxes until you opened them . I am guessing many scrupulous dealers opened them and kept the best kit , or sold them on loose at inflated prices .

TNshooter wrote:

It's hard to find Lebel revolvers with the trigger and trigger
guards for my AT figures that are not broken off.

Funny that, I've suddenly discovered that some pieces that I've always thought of as common have suddenly become hard to find.
And I never considered that Label's would become scarce.

Anyway, my set has arrived.

It was a baggie not a box, but that's what I ordered, "Uniforms of the World."

(I have done a bit of digging on the original supplier - semi-interesting tale for a rainy evening)

Pot luck baggie that was a bit hit and miss, but that's what I was expecting.

A perfectly good pair of Mountain Rescue brown cord breeches. Well made, good fasteners, good material, exactly the same as genuine late issue one's.
Pair of brown polar explorer style gloves. Meh.
White framed green goggles - but no elastic strap - could come in handy.
Luger and holster.
A couple of Lebels.
Flare gun.
Three standard maps - look just like late issue originals.
Stick of dynamite
Hunting rifle
Sten gun - no mag.
(Rifle and Sten are very meh but with straps and undamaged)

OK, so nothing that's gonna rock my world and won't be putting any of it on my vintage figures, but plenty of play value. Already spent a couple of hours messing about with the stuff, doing photos and so on - so already worth the entry fee - cheaper than a few pints down the pub and I get to play again later without the worry of a hangover in the morning.