Toy Questions Part 3: Heroes in Action
This question comes in once a month, like clock work:
“I had these soldiers that were 3 3/4″ and secured to a base, they made clicking sounds to simulate gunfire”
They are Mattel’s Heroes in Action line, a neat little line of 3 3/4″ soldiers that seems to have sold much better in Europe than here. I pictured the SWAT set up there for variety but the majority of the line was military themed.
I think the concept and execution were solid but it may have been too soon after Viet Nam for these things to be popular.
I had a set that I have yet to find or see again. They were very similar to Heroes In Action (same poses but no base) but they were not SWAT or Army Green. They wore tan and brown camouflage fatigues and the helmets were removable. I purchased these in 1982 and quickly tossed them aside when GI Joe relaunched. If anybody knows what I'm talking about please post it here…thanks
Aw man, I had the whole set of the vietnam ones. Those things were highly, highly detailed, down to the torn fatigues and the veins and musculature on the arms. Excellent sculpts!! I miss those darn things!
…ISTR that this line was also marketed under the Sgt. Rock banner for a brief time in the mid to late-70's. My middle brother had quite a few of these because one of the regional department stores went bust and he picked up something like 4 or 5 dozen of them for a quarter a pop during the going-out-of-business sale.