Army Man redirects here, for the comedy magazine see Army Man (magazine)

Army men, or plastic soldiers, are simple toy soldiers that are about 5 cm (2 inches) tall and most commonly molded from green or tan plastic. Unlike the more expensive toy soldiers available in hobby shops, army men are sold at low prices in discount stores, supermarkets, and dollar stores. Also unlike many toy soldiers, army men are almost always dressed in modern military uniforms and armed with 20th Century weapons.

Contents 1 Description 2 History and varieties 3 Army men in culture 4 See also 5 References 6 External links

[edit] Description

Army men are equipped with a variety of weapons, mostly from World War II to the Vietnam era. These include rifles, machine guns, submachine guns, sniper rifles, pistols, grenades, flame throwers, mortars, and bazookas. They may also have radio men, minesweepers, and men armed with bayonets. Their helmets are the older "pot" style that were given to US soldiers during the middle to late 20th Century. Army men are sometimes packaged with additional accessories including tanks (often based on the M48 Patton tank), jeeps, armed hovercraft, half tracks, artillery, helicopters, jets, and fortifications. Their vehicles are usually manufactured in a smaller scale, to save on production and packaging costs.

Because army men are considered toys and not models, historical and chronological accuracy are generally not a priority. They are sold in plastic bags or buckets, usually at $2 Shops, and often include different colors such as green, tan, or gray, to represent opposing sides.

[edit] History and varieties

Plastic army men are widely available in the United States, where they have been sold since the early 1950s. A popular, early manufacturer of army men, typically sold in "Battleground" playsets, was Louis Marx and Company.

From 1962, Marx also made enemy soldiers, initially Germans, then Japanese, with a later D-Day set featuring World War II French, British and Russian soldiers. One of their last and largest playsets was the multi-level "Fortress Navarone" mountain set, which was available in the 1970s and pitted World War II Americans against Germans. During the Vietnam War, sales and availability of military toys began to decline,^[1] though they have made a comeback since then.

Today most army men are cheaply made in China and do not include the extensive accessories that were common in Marx playsets. They are a little smaller on average, often not much more than 2.5 cm (one inch) high. Most of these figures are generic imitations of model figure sets from such companies as Airfix and Matchbox. They vary widely in quality.

In addition to army men, other inexpensive, plastic toy figures are also commonly available. Toy cowboys and Indians, farm sets, spacemen, knights, dinosaurs, firemen, police officers and other playsets are often sold alongside army men.There are many other types of army men too.

American makers include-

• Auburn
• Ideal
• Lido
• Marx
• MPC
• Tim-Mee/Processed Plastic

[edit] Army men in culture

For many American boys, playing with army men and exploding them with fireworks is like a rite of passage. This cultural phenomenon was represented in Army Men, a popular series of computer games introduced by 3DO in the 1990s. Green army men that came to life like the other toys in the movie were also among the characters in the 1995 Disney movie, Toy Story. Gummy army men candy are also available.

Because these toys are readily available and affordable, they encourage a variety of creative types of play. As such, they can be set up in many different ways. They are especially well suited for the sandbox, or simple wargames with rubber balls or marbles, which can be rolled or thrown at army men.

[edit] See also

• Army Men computer game series
• Toy playset
• Toy soldier

[edit] References

1. ^ The Army Men Homepage Retrieved on August 25th, 2008.

[edit] External links

• The Army Men Homepage