Name: Jim
Online name: the_pauley
Location: Bolton, Lancashire
First VAM/Joe/MAM or 1/6 figure?
I'm one of the old guard that was in right at the start. I got a blonde Action Man Action Soldier for my birthday in May 1966, and a few months later got a black haired GI Joe Action Marine and a Marine Dress Parade set from some friends visiting from Canada. A big thrill, as I had been aware of GI Joe for a couple of years before Action Man through the ads in US comics and had made the connection when I saw Action Man and the almost identical packaging. Indeed my first Action Man had GI Joe stamped on his butt cheek! I remember the GI Joe Marine and the dress uniform was a real status symbol among my mates at the time as it was the only GI Joe figure not part of the Action Man range. Continued to get the odd bit of Joe kit sent to me from Canada for birthdays and Christmas, which is why I have an equal affinity for collecting GI Joe and Action Man today as both give me the nostalgia “buzz”.
What was your favourite figure as a kid, and do you still own him?
My favourite figure was the Action Sailor Navy Frogman. I thought it was so cool having a real rubber wet suit and I could play with Action Man in the bath. Sadly, I don’t have any of my childhood VAM. When I reached that age where I was “too big for toys” (God, what fools we were guys!), I had no compunction about giving my toys away, mostly to my younger cousin. But I distinctly recall that my Action Men and accessories were the last thing I gave him, and then with a bit of a twinge, as this was my number one childhood toy. It was only a few short weeks later that I was in his house and found every piece smashed to smithereens, dismembered figures, etc. I was a bit gutted.
Favourite figure now?
I have so many, I couldn't choose one. I’d say these would be in the Top 5, but in no particular order.
The Landing Signals Officer is a figure I wanted as a kid and never had. I also longed for it as a 40th piece but it never materialised. I was so thrilled to manage to put together this mint example.
The Action Pilot range is probably my favourite range, limited though it was. The Scramble Pilot and Fighter Pilot are firm favourites.
SAS Elite Force – Cold Weather Uniform. What can I say – I’m a sucker for a black uniform.
US Navy Shore Patrol (Dress whites). Again the Action Sailor range was very under-represented so I have a fondness for these as well.
The SAS Elite Force and the Shore Patrol guy are kitbashes of mine, so hopefully it doesn’t come across as big headed to include them as favourites. I just love how those ‘bashes turned out.
Most desired item?
The gloves, bazooka and balaclava to complete this guy…
…and the grabbing arm to complete this guy…
What will you do with your collection as you get older ?
Pretty much as I do now. Derive great pleasure from it and carry on kitbashing.
What does your wife/girlfriend/partner think of your collection/hobby?
Mildly patronising, bemused tolerance!
Do you set yourself a budget?
Not as such. I'm a confirmed bargain hunter and have never paid over the odds or silly money for any piece. I’m patient and have always held out for pieces I want at reasonable prices.
Worst Vam/Joe/Mam or 1/6 figure?
Without doubt, this guy…
Views on 40th reproductions?
Love them. The 40th is what got me into collecting. I saw the 40th Action Sailor and Frogman set on the 'net. I bought it as I thought it would be nice to display in the box, as it was my favourite set as a boy and the last thing my granddad bought for me, just about a week or so before he passed away.
What blew me away was opening that Sailor box and finding everything exactly as I remembered it. The figure, the fabric, the star card (in shillings and pence!), the Training Manual and above all the Equipment Manual (my nightly bedtime fantasy reading as a boy), all exactly as I recalled. It was like stepping into a time machine so intense was the nostalgic rush.
I was hooked, and now I have almost 400 Action Men and GI Joe figures and uniform sets, both 40th and vintage, and it is now an all-consuming hobby that has progressed from buying that Frogman set to display on card, to getting all the sets I had as a child, to getting all the 40th GI Joe and Action Man sets, to collecting carded sets as well as sets on-figure, to collecting minty vintage pieces, to kitbashing and now just grabbing any AM or Joe piece that I can get my hands on. I even eventually succumbed to Space Rangers.
I came to the Action Man 40th range 2 to 3 years late, so I seem to have bypassed most of the early teething issues such as melting hands and wet-suits, dodgy hip joints, crumbling flock, etc. I’ve been lucky that with all my 40th guys I’ve only ever had to have three or four replaced for any problems. It has also been an incredibly cheap way to obtain and almost endless supply of figures, uniforms and equipment for my kit bashing as well as mint on card sets for display. I also think that the 40th GI Joe range, for me, has the best head sculpts of any incarnation, vintage or reissue. The red headed 40th Joe is my favourite head sculpt ever.
Worst item of the Vam/Joe/Mam or 1/6 range?
Apart from The Intruder as mentioned above? Hard to pin it down to one thing, but I’d say in general the cost cutting measures at Palitoy as the range progressed resulted in some not-so-hot kit. For example the webbing on such sets as the Long Range Desert Group, Parachute Regiment and British Infantryman, Royal Engineers, etc, that were made from plastic. A few years before these would have been meticulously detailed fabric creations with brass fittings. A prime example is the plastic field pack in the Dragon Island set. Compare that to the original fabric field pack for the GI Joe /Action Man Combat Soldier and it just doesn't hold a candle to it. This along with fabric berets being replaced with rubber ones and elastic rifle straps being replaced with plastic all contributed to a drop in the “realism factor” that was such a huge part of the appeal of the early GI Joe and Action Man range.
Best thing about collecting Vam/Joe/Mam or 1/6 figures?
The chance to be a kid again! Also the chance to indulge every childhood fantasy, as an adult with disposable income. I used to dream of having 20 Action Men when I was a kid, now I have almost 400. I remember as a kid lying in bed at night with a torch under the covers reading that original equipment manual and dreaming of owning everything in it. Imagine the buzz I felt when I obtained my first rare, grey Air Police radio and suddenly realised that my childhood dream had come true!
Do you think your collection will be collectible in the future?
Probably. Some say that when the original childhood collectors die out, that the collectability of GI Joe and Action Man will end too. That hasn’t been the case with toys much older than this. Toy collectors still collect toys from 80-100 years ago, where there can’t possibly be any nostalgia value.
If you did not collect Vam/Joe/Mam what would you collect?
Not so much a case as of “if”, as I do collect a lot of other things. Aside from Action Man and GI Joe I am a voracious reader and have a large library, a broad church ranging from a lot of 19th century (and older) classic literature right up to DC and Marvel graphic novels. I am also a film fanatic and a huge home-cinema buff, with a huge collection of Blu Rays and DVDs. I’m also a big music/hi-fi buff with a massive CD collection. I stopped counting at around 3.000 or so. I also collect Adam West era ‘Batman’ memorabilia, vintage Viewmaster 3D viewers and 3D reels and Aurora model kits from my childhood, particularly the Movie Monsters range.
What AM/Joe outfit or set would you like to have seen released?
I would have liked to have seen more in the Action Pilot and Action Sailor ranges, particularly officers’ uniforms and dress uniforms, both US and British. I’d also like to have had more additions to the Soldiers of the World range as that only scraped the tip of the iceberg.
Do you have a/What is your favourite section of AMMO?
Hard to say, as there is interesting stuff in all of the sections. But if I had to narrow it down, I’d be biased and say the kitbash sections, for obvious reasons.
Why do you like AMMO?
I like the diversity of the membership. There seems to be more of an international mix than on any of the other Action Man sites, so we get a more diverse mix of postings and opinions. Also lots of the old guard from the UAMHQ post here so it seems more like “home”.
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Subject: July Interview - the_Pauley 
Sat Jul 04, 2015 8:08 pm
, but it was well worth the wait!, what a truly fantastic interview 
