G.I. Joe U.K. Royal Marine 12" Figure

You've probably read this comment already: "This 2010 World Cup is like World War II. France leave early, USA turn up at the last minute and England are left fighting the Germans." And the Italians? Almost non-existent!

So here's another British figure (see previous post), this one being a Royal Marine released by Hasbro as part of the G.I. Joe line many years ago.

The U.K. Royal Marine came fully equipped with black balaclava, divemask, Dog Tag with Chain, Grey Jump Suit with oil stains (Nomex flight suit), Boots, Sterling L2 Machine Gun, L2 Machine Gun Clip, 9mm Uzi Submachine Gun, 9mm Semi-automatic Pistol, Semi-automatic Pistol Clip (15 Rounds), LST-5L SAT COM Receiver with throat microphone and earpiece, Marine M1014 JSCS (Joint Service Combat Shotgun) a.k.a Benelli M4 Super 90, Grenade, M-16/M203 Grenade Launcher, Flashlight, Smoke Grenade, Binoculars with Strap, L85A1 assault rifle, 3 M-18 Claymore Mines, and 2 MREs.

This G.I. Joe UK Royal Marine came with a lot of weapons but no slings for them nor holster for his pistol, pouch for his radio and pack for all the other stuff. Hasbro really got lazy and just lost the passion and direction. That's why Hasbro is now usually referred to as "Has-been" among collectors.

So I added a gun belt and holster for his pistol plus a drop-leg pouch for all the other items.

Besides the M1014 combat shotgun, this G.I. Joe UK Royal Marine is also armed with the Sterling L2 submachine gun with foldable stock or butt. The Sterling used a much-improved (over the Sten) 34-round curved double-column feed box magazine which is inserted into the left side of the receiver.

Here is a close-up picture of the Hasbro 1:6 Sterling L2 submachine gun with foldable stock.

And here's the Sterling L2 submachine gun with stock fully extended. The Star Wars Universe E-11 blaster carbine used by Imperial stormtroopers was based on the Sterling submachine gun. Functional Sterlings firing blank cartridges were used in some scenes with the laser bolt added later in post-production. These blank cartridges are responsible for the muzzle flash seen on screen and in some scenes, the cartridges themselves can be seen being ejected from the guns. [source: wiki]