Timmee Tuesday! Giant army men

I'm back with another acquisition I've been holding onto for a while. I was a bit young to have seen Marx army men the first time around, but I definitely remember having a few Timmee soldiers around growing up. I never got around to buying any of them along with other Timmee reissues. However, I got interested when I found out that Timmee had made some large-size army men. On further investigation, I determined that it wasn't hard to get a set for a low price, so I ordered a small group online. Here's a few shots of what I got for the money.

"Yeah, talk to me about not having a big enough bayonet."

The first thing that will be apparent is that the figures are based on Vietnam rather than WW2 uniforms and equipment, though the only member of this group to show this is the guy with the M16. (Of course, the gun is damaged, which the weapon's critics would undoubtedly argue to be entirely realistic.) They also clearly demonstrate Timmee's preference for stylization over detail. It's of further note that these are larger than the "large" Galaxy Laser Team figures but still somewhat smaller than the Marx 6-inch line, putting them at a straight 5-inch scale. Here's a lineup to show what I mean, featuring the GLT astronaut and the Marx Japanese officer.

The ones that interested me most were the guys with the bazooka and mortar, which I absolutely remember having as a kid. As seen previously, these static poses are more dynamic than attempts at "action" poses. The downside is that this made for more anatomical complexity than the molding process could handle, especially for the bazooka man. Then there are some things that are just weird.

"It's not really a bazooka, it's a plasma cannon with a direct neural interface. And it's still more futuristic than the one in Laserblast."

The sculpt that has the biggest problems is the trooper with the gun over his head. (For some reason, army man makers loved this pose.) Viewed from either side, he looks fine, but if you take a close look at the face, the two sides don't match up. The result looks like Two Face or the Phantom of the Opera. Here's a few closeups, though even these shots don't really capture how messed up he looks.

All in all, these are a good addition to any Timmee collection. They mark an important transition in army man design, and they still look pretty good. For a closing, here they are with the ultimate Vietnam figure, the Lido draft dodger.

"All I'm saying is, give desertion a chance."

That's all for now, more to come tomorrow!