Every summer, the missus and I like to go up to the NH/ME seacoast at least once. There are several antique stores in the area; indeed so many along Old Route 1 from Kennebunkport to the MA border that I refer to it as "Antique Alley". One of my better Joe finds was at a nice one in York, ME several years back. We saw a battered Joe there in the winter, and wondered if he was still there. He was; and had company!
He's dressed as an Action Soldier; but most redheads tended to be either Marines or Sailors.
The hairline is a bit scuffed:
He's also got cracked knees:
And some Crayola wounds:
The uniform was definitely used in some backyard adventures!
Since he's a redhead, I put him in some cammies. They're a beat-up set of Land Adventurer ones. Along with these scuffed boots and worn webbing, he looks like a veteran Marine. I might put some nicer threads on him; but this is how he'll appear for the moment. I might make him my Jeep driver to put less stress on the knees.
This Joe wasn't the only 12" Military figure from 1964 in the antique store. On the shelf below was this:
The box was dated 1964; Ken's adventures are probably Mattel's attempt to make a few sales on Joe's popularity. The blue cap indicated this was Air Force Ken. Since the Action Pilot either came in a flightsuit or Dress uniform; this class B or Walking out uniform might have also been a way to find a niche. Not sure why it came with white shoes; the illustration has the proper black shoes of the period uniform. The funny thing is that the stripes look less like actual Air Force NCO rank, and more like British Corporal stripes. This is probably due to the Mattel R+D staff not being as informed as those at Hasbro.
-Nate
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Subject: Summer vacation finds 
Mon Jul 07, 2014 5:48 pm
