1975 Mattel Heroes in Action Catalog
During a time when many toy companies were shying aware from realistic military toys thanks mostly to the Vietnam conflict, Mattel toys launched Heroes in Action. Heroes in Action was a very early attempt at the 3 3/4″ figure market made popular by the Fisher Price Adventure people and later Star Wars, it’s crew comprised of muscular dogfaces with bulging biceps and “rat-a-tat-tat” sound making ability. Heroes in Action wasn’t a smash hit and many simply don’t remember it but Mattel ran it two years and it seemed to be particularly popular in Italy.
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1976 Mattel Heroes in Action Catalog
I had at least a couple of these guys, and they WERE cool. Even the material they were made of was solid, and the hyperrealistic detail definitely was ahead of its time. Seems like they also had some SWAT figures, if I'm not thinking about a different toy.
They did have SWAT figures. I had a couple of the SWAT guys and their SWAT Van. I had the military jeep w/trailer and helicopter also. Mainly the figures, while nicely detailed, sat unused due to their rather rigid poses (decades ahead of McFarlane's "Action Figures"). My Micronauts enjoyed the vehicles for a while before the small Joes took them over briefly.
Having no official "Jaws" toys – I used to use one of these figures as Quint to go along with my dime store shark and plastic "orca"boat. Good times.
Me and my brother and the kid next door all had some of these guys. They were pretty cool, and really tough. Pretty hard to break. And they WERE ugly. The looks on their faces were appropriate for mowing down the enemy.
I had a bunch of these + the jeep,chopper and artillery gun, wish I still had them. What stands out in my memory is the base with the rod that plugged into their ass which when you move the lever would make them turn at the waist and make that rat-ta-ta sound, kind of lame but I love the detail on the stands.
Also I remember when you pulled back on the helmet it would expose their head which had groove in it which made them look like mutants, HA!
I also had a few of the SWAT figs.
They pop up on ebay from time to time.
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I still have several of these figures, both the army and swat versions. I also had the helicopter and jeep.
Great to see them again. I've still only have one survivor. An American one. I remember to have seen in the toys'shop (in the seventies) a catalog and there were also germans with tanks. I've never seen them again. It's so far from now. Is someone could tell me if they only existed ?
David
Hello everyone,
I am wondering if anyone on here could help me locate every army figure. My dad was in Vietnam and while he was away he told my mom to buy me all of the figures. He was a helicopter pilot. We lived in Fort Hamilton Brooklyn and received news that my dad was mortally wounded and during the rush to move I left all of my action figures behind. I just got back from my second tour in the army and my son was born and I wanted to give to him a piece of my history. If anyone could direct me to how I can buy them I would be grateful to you all that helped me bring back a piece of history. Respectfully Capt. Zachary Haviland 101st airbourne
Does anyone know how much the sets of Heroes in Action Team cost in the 1970s?