September 2015 - Basic Soldier

So to kick off this new section, I have selected the basic soldier .. I believe everyone must have had a basic soldier in their collection at some point, and is arguably the most iconic of all Action Man uniforms?.

The fuzzy head version came with a basic green jumper, trousers, boots, beret and of course his rifle.



When the Eagle Eyes version came out, the changed his trousers to camo, although I believe earlier ones still came with the green trousers?, I also believe a belt was added.





This still one of my personal favourites, and I had many happy hours playing and sharing in his adventures as a kid. What do you guys think?, and do you have any more intel?? Please also, lets see your basic soldiers too?

a classic so much you can do with it but looks great as it is

snow white wrote:

a classic so much you can do with it but looks great as it is

I agree with you snowy!, a classic

just had a look at my old pics

Terrific!, are the talking Commanders too?

dont these pics make you want one

take your pick

Fantastic upload snowy! Those pages are fab!

I believe when the EE version came out, he came with this paperwork

Fantastic pics!!

Great thread!

Can't have enough basic soldiers.

WOW!! Thanks for sharing My Friends!! Walter

Fantastic troops Mr Sparkles! I agree with you, it is such a fantastic uniform

Nice start!

These photos are a link back to the 1970's, great photos guys!!!!

Here's one of my scorpion tanks that support the Action Man basic soldiers..



And a few of my Basics mixing with the heavy mob..



Old photo (repo box)..



There's more Basics (camo trousers) in my boxes somewhere.

Last picture from me of eagle eyed basic.

But this chap is what I think of as a basic soldier.

Very nice indeed

My very first VAM was a basic soldier as in the first picture in this thread with the plain trousers, but mine had eagle eyes and a beard.
Snow White - thanks for posting the old catalogue pages! I can't count how many hours I spent flicking through them, dreaming about getting at least one of every figure and vehicle!

what puzzles me is why did the basic soldier have a tank cap badge , i would have thought an infantry 1 would have been better .

blueboxier wrote:

what puzzles me is why did the basic soldier have a tank cap badge , i would have thought an infantry 1 would have been better .

maybe something as simple as one of the design staff was in the tank regt. during his service ?

The 2nd Issue Basic Soldier.



This is my era of basic soldier. 'Joe' and Theonemankid's 'Tom K' were 2nd issue basics. This is how Joe reported for duty at SKJ HQ in 1970.



The 2nd issue was a watershed for Palitoy as it was their 1st attempt at a soldier of their own as opposed to the 1st issue which was just a GI Joe clone. The new soldier didn't have any new kit but used existing item combined to give him a new, unique feel.



He came with a gun, which was an improvement on the 1st issue and something they'd got in trouble for on the basic soldier's release in 1966. The gun, a sten from the SOTC British Tommy, was probably choosen as it was small and cheap, and gave the new soldier a UK feel. Unfortunately it's probably the worse gun ever to pair up with hard hands!



After using a black version of the rubber beret from the Green Beret set for their Talking Commander, Palitoy probably thought a blue version would go well with the new soldier. It probably would have if the big news for the new figures that year hadn't been flocked hair. The beret designed for PH figures just didn't fit!


(Handsome chap isn't he? You'd think he'd do well in a good looking VAM contest! )

All in all the 2nd issue soldier represents Palitoy's break from just reproducing copies of GI Joe and was great trial run for their iconic 3rd issue 'British' basic soldier.



First released in 1973 and with only a few minor changes over the years, the 3rd issue design would run for another decade and is the archetypal Action Man Soldier but many of us carry a torch for the guy who went before, and held the fort for 3 years..

Palitoy's '1st' soldier, the 2nd Issue!

OUTSTANDING!!!

A basic soldier was my first action man back one Christmas in the 70's