Preview DID 1/6 scale USMC Force Recon Brigadier General "Frank" 12-inch figure

The Rock is a 1996 action film that primarily takes place on Alcatraz Island and in the San Francisco Bay Area. It was directed by Michael Bay, director of Bad Boys and Pearl Harbor, produced by Don Simpson and Jerry Bruckheimer, producers of Top Gun and Crimson Tide, and stars Sean Connery, Nicolas Cage and Ed Harris.

A group of rogue U.S. Force Recon Marines led by disenchanted Brigadier General Frank Hummel (Ed Harris) seize a stockpile of deadly VX gas–armed M55 rockets from a heavily guarded US Navy bunker, reluctantly leaving one of their men to die in the process, when a bead of the gas falls and breaks. The next day, Hummel and his men, along with more renegade Marines led by Captains Frye (Gregory Sporleder) and Darrow (Tony Todd), seize control of Alcatraz during a guided tour and take 81 tourists hostage in the prison cells.

Hummel threatens to launch the stolen rockets against the population of San Francisco unless the government pays them $100 million from a military slush fund containing money from illegal arms sales, which he will distribute to his troops and the families of Recon Marines who died on clandestine missions under his command and whose deaths were not honored.

Preview: DID 1/6 United States Marine Corps Dress Blues / Ceremonial Guard 12-inch figure

The Uniforms of the United States Marine Corps serve to distinguish Marines from members of other services. Among current uniforms in the United States Armed Forces, the Marines' uniforms have been in service the longest. The Marine Dress Blue uniform has, with few changes, been worn in essentially its current form since the 19th century.

The Marine Corps dress blue uniform is the most formal of a Marine's uniforms, and is often referred to as "Dress Blues", due to the color (as distinguished from the green and khaki service uniforms). It is also the most recognizable uniform of the Marine Corps, often seen in recruiting advertisements. It is often called "Dress Blues" or simply "Blues". It is equivalent in composition and use to civilian black tie.

DID will be releasing this 1/6th scale US Marine Corps Dress Blues / Ceremonial Guard "Tony" 12-inch military figure which will come with: 1/6th scale "Tony" head sculpt with New All Era 12-inch figure body, White Barracks Cover, Khaki Long Sleeve Button Up Shirt, Khaki Tie, Tie Clip, White Belt with Gold Buckle, Sky Blue Trousers with "Blood Stripe", White Trousers, Dress Blue Greatcoat, Midnight Blue Coat, Two Sets of Insignia, Ceremonial Bayonet & Scabbard, Sword (metal) with Highly Detailed Engraving, Sword Scabbard, M1 Garand Rifle (Wood and Metal), New Style Shoes

Caltek 1/6 scale Dress Blue Marine 12-inch Figure Preview

The Marine Corps dress uniform is an elaborate uniform worn for formal or ceremonial occasions. Its basic form of a blue jacket with red trim dates back to the 19th century. It is the only U.S. military uniform that incorporates all three colors of the U.S. Flag. There are three different variations of the Dress uniform: Evening Dress, Blue Dress, and Blue-White Dress; only officers and staff non-commissioned officers (SNCOs) are authorized to wear the Evening Dress. [source: wiki]

The most recognizable uniform of the Marine Corps is the Blue Dress uniform, often seen in recruiting advertisements. It is often called "Dress Blues" or simply "Blues". It is equivalent in composition and use to civilian black tie.

Blue Dress "A" has a long-sleeved midnight blue coat (enlisted members have red trim) with a standing collar and belt (white web belt and gold waistplate for enlisted; midnight blue for officers with a gold M-buckle), white barracks cover (a peaked cap), plain white shirt, sky blue trousers (midnight blue for general officers), white gloves, and black dress shoes and socks. Full-size medals are worn on the left chest, with ribbon-only awards worn on the right.

Guess who was at the Royal Wedding of William & Kate

Unless you have been hiding under a rock in Bikini Bottom with Patrick the Starfish from SpongeBob SquarePants fame, you'll know that Britain's Prince William finally married Kate Middleton at Westminster Abbey on Friday, April 29, 2011 in a sumptuous show of British pageantry that attracted a huge world audience and breathed new life into the monarchy.

One million well-wishers watched military bands in black bearskin hats and household cavalrymen in shining breastplates escorting the beaming couple in a 1902 open-topped state landau carriage after the ceremony.

The soldiers in black bearskin hats are the Queen's Foot Guards / Palace Guards and the cavalrymen are none finer than the Queen's Household Cavalry - the Blues and Royals, and the Life Guards. Click on the picture below for a bigger and better view of Her Majesty's Royal Guards.

Allow me to share with you pictures of these fine 12-inch action figures from the Palitoy Action Man line. Palitoy produced and released these magnificent 1:6 scale Ceremonials in the 1970s which were amazingly detailed and intricate for their time. Mind you, these were targeted at children and till today, no other 1/6 manufacturer has ventured to reproduce most of these figures. Hasbro did re-release these Action Man figures under the Action Man 40th Anniversary Nostalgic Collection which allowed many adult collectors to re-live and revisit their childhood again as well as for new collectors to marvel at these vintage styled action figures.

GI Joe Dress Marine

The Marine Corps dress uniform is the most elaborate of the United States armed forces, worn for formal or ceremonial occasions. Its basic form of a blue jacket with red trim dates back to the 19th century. It is the only US Military uniform that incorporates all three colors (Red, White and Blue) of the US Flag.

The Blue Dress uniform (also "Dress Blues" or simply "Blues") consist of a long-sleeved midnight blue coat (enlisted members have red trim) with a standing collar and belt (white web belt & gold waistplate for enlisted, midnight blue for officers with a gold M-buckle), white barracks cover (peaked cap with USMC insignia), plain white shirt, sky blue trousers, white gloves, black dress shoes and socks.

This is a GI Joe Hall of Fame Gung Ho Dress Marine uniform on a 1996 Hasbro Rhode Island Dress Marine. I had to switch uniforms as the Hasbro Rhode Island release turned out to be a major disappointment because everything looked faded. Gung Ho's uniform, especially the jacket, was black instead of midnight blue but it looks closer to the real thing.



"Semper Fi" is Latin for "Always Faithful" and is best known as the motto of the United States Marine Corps. The United States Marine Corps adopted the motto "Semper Fidelis" in 1883, on the initiative of Colonel Charles McCawley (January 29, 1827 – October 13, 1891), the 8th Commandant of the Marine Corps.





I added the extra badges (airborne and scuba badges on top, expert rifleman's badge and pistol competency badge at the bottom) over the decals as it made him look more impressive



Gung Ho is a Master Sergeant and the marine dress jacket has his rank chevrons on the upper sleeve; the stripes on the lower sleeve are service stripes, one for each four years of service.







White ceremonial M14 rifle



Previous posts: GI Joe US Army West Point Cadet and GI Joe US Navy Annapolis Cadet

GI Joe US Army West Point Cadet

GI Joe Timeless Collection FAO Schwarz Exclusive "West Point & Annapolis Cadets" Figures and Accessories Reminiscent of the Golden Age (1964-1978). Already covered the Annapolis Cadet in the previous post. Here's the 1/6 scale 12-inch West Point Cadet figure which came with Hat (Shako) with plume and strap, gray ceremonial jacket with rank chevrons, maroon waist sash with two metal clips, cross shoulder strap (sword belt) with gold buckle and sword loop, sword, sheath, white trousers and dress shoes. Also has ceremonial white M1 Garand rifle with strap, dog tag with chain, US Army flag and display stand.

















Among the many distinguished and notable figures that have graduated from West Point are Generals Dwight D Eisenhower, Omar Bradley and George S Patton (all covered in my earlier post "Generals, Fall IN!" HERE)

There's also the GI Joe Dress Marine (post HERE)

GI Joe US Navy Annapolis Cadet

From previous post: The M1 Garand is still used by drill teams and military honor guards. It is also widely sought by the civilian population as a hunting rifle, target rifle and military collectible.

GI Joe first released the three service cadets in 1967 with authentic 1/6 dress uniform and nice detailing. Let's not forget Hasbro produced these figures for children to play with and they bothered to make sure each outfit was as accurate as possible to the actual thing. Kids today wouldn't care for the authenticity of the figures, adult collectors would!

The original Annapolis cadet soared in demand soon after because he had a unique sword which was different from the other two (West Point and Air Cadets) and was much sought after.

In 2001, Hasbro released the GI JOE Timeless Collection FAO Schwarz Exclusive "West Point & Annapolis Cadets" Figures and Accessories Reminiscent of the Golden Age (1964-1978). The GI Joe 1/6 scale 12-inch Annapolis Cadet figure came with Navy Blue Jacket with brass buttons, white pants, white garrison cap, dress shoes, blue sword belt with gold buckle and metal clips, collar anchor, sword, sheath, white ceremonial M1 Garand rifle with strap, and dog tag with chain. Also came with display base and USN Flag.



















In my earlier post HERE, a "USNA ancient mariner" commented that they should be called Midshipmen and not cadets.

NEXT: GI Joe West Point Cadet

Happy "Moo" Year to one & all!!

Chinese New Year or Spring Festival is one of the most important traditional Chinese holidays. It is also called the Lunar New Year, especially by people outside China. This being the Year of the Ox, here's wishing all chinese visitors and friends a "Happy Niú (牛) Year" and may you all have lots of "moo-lah" this year, to buy more toys - ha! ha!

Mandarin oranges are the most popular and abundant fruit during Chinese New Year due to its significance in the chinese language - jin ju (Chinese: 金橘子; pinyin: jīn júzi) translation: golden tangerine/orange or kam (Chinese: 柑; pinyin: gum) in Cantonese.

According to tales and legends, the beginning of Chinese New Year started with the fight against a mythical beast called the Nian or "Year" in Chinese. Nian would come on the first day of New Year to devour livestock, crops, and even villagers, especially children. To protect themselves, the villagers would put food in front of their doors at the beginning of every year. It was believed that after the Nian ate the food they prepared, it wouldn’t attack any more people. One time, people saw that the Nian was scared away by a little child wearing red. The villagers then understood that the Nian was afraid of the color red. Hence, every time when the New Year was about to come, the villagers would hang red lanterns and red spring scrolls on windows and doors. People also used firecrackers to frighten away the Nian. From then on, the Nian never came to the village again.

Clothing mainly featuring the colour red is commonly worn throughout the Chinese New Year because it is believed that red will scare away evil spirits and bad fortune. In addition, people typically wear new clothes from head to toe to symbolize a new beginning in the new year.

Coincidentally, the British also seem to favour red in their military uniforms (the Canadian Mountie too).

You have the Action Man Grenadier Guard, DiD's 42nd Royal Highlander Regiment, Action Man Life Guard

DiD Royal Scots Line Infantry Regiment, Action Man Royal Canadian Mounted Police, Dragon Canadian Mountie (Mercantile Exclusive)

DiD 24th Regiment of Foot Private Williams and Dragon 24th Regiment of Foot Colour Sergeant on either side of Canadian Mountie

Ignite's Knight Hospitaller and behind him, Dragon's Coldstream Guards

A reunion dinner is held on New Year's Eve where members of the family, near and far away, get together for the celebration. Fish (simplified Chinese: 鱼; traditional Chinese: 魚; pinyin: yú) is included, as the Chinese phrase "may there be surpluses every year" (traditional Chinese: 年年有餘; simplified Chinese: 年年有余; pinyin: nián nián yǒu yú) sounds the same as "may there be fish every year." So let's all get fishy - LOL!!

Action Man Life Guards

The Life Guards (LG) is the senior regiment of the British Army. With the Blues and Royals they make up the Household Cavalry. The Life Guards were raised by Charles II in 1660 around the time of his Restoration. In 1992, as part of the Options for Change defence review, The Life Guards were joined together with the Blues and Royals in a 'Union' - not an amalgamation - forming the Household Cavalry Regiment (armoured reconnaissance) and the Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment (ceremonial duties). However, they maintain their regimental identity, with distinct uniforms and traditions. [source: wiki]

Not to be confused with the lifeguards from Baywatch with their skimpy costumes and bouncing boobies, these Life Guards of the The Household Cavalry provide the Queen's Life Guard daily and Sovereign's Escort on State occasions, mounted on horseback. On operations, the armoured reconnaissance regiment, consisting of squadrons of The Life Guards and of The Blues and Royals, leads.

Decked out in their ceremonial uniform with their plumed helmets, they are certainly a sight to behold. Palitoy wasn't stingy when it came to Action Man Life Guard and all the "Ceremonials". Action Man Life Guard wears the Albert helmet with white nylon plume instead of red, scarlet tunic with navy blue pipings on the seams, blue and gold fabric standing collar flash, cross belt with red Flask Cords and Cartouche Box, ceremonial belt with intricately moulded sword belt buckle and State Sword, white ribbed breeches and black knee-length jackboots with spurs.

The Life Guards wore red whilst the Blues and Royals wore navy blue tunics. Note the fine details of the belt buckle.

The red Flask Cord was really a cord running along the cross belt and not just red paint on white.

Action Man Life Guard State Sword with pommel tassel looped through the hilt guard and scabbard with slings attached to the ceremonial belt.

The fine details flow over to the back as well, with three blue embroidered tail facings with gold brass buttons.

The cross belt with Cartouche Box with square gold regimental badge on the flap

Action Man Life Guards also has white gauntlet gloves

This shot offers a view of the buckle details of his cross belt and sword belt.

This was the first cavalry uniform released in the Action Man range and also came with a chromed breastplate armour as well as a horse with realistic mane and tail dressed in full parade saddlery using the full dress horse accoutrement set which had an incredibly sophisticated harness design, especially for its time.

Action Man Blues and Royals

Action Man is to the United Kingdom what GI Joe was to the United States. The original vintage 12" GI Joe was born in 1964 and saw its run end by 1977. On the other hand, Action Man began service in 1966 and finally met its demise in 1984, that's 7 more years of lasting power than their US cousin. Action Man also had a lot more range in terms of products than GI Joe ever did, with some of the most ornate and elaborate uniforms ever produced from 1970 onwards.

This is but one of them. The Ceremonials (comprising the Blues and Royals, Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, Life Guards, Grenadier Guards and the 17th/21st Lancers) were one of the finest figures ever produced in their time, with most minute details and a level of workmanship previously unseen in any toy. Remember that at that time, the term "collectible" had not been coined yet and these were being produced as children's toys at very reasonable toy prices. 

I had posted entries on these fine figures before but with the recent release of Hot Toys 1/6 scale military figures of the British Army's Blues and Royals officer and Tank Commander operating out of Afghanistan, it's timely to revisit them again.

Another reason is simply because Action Man was my introduction to 12" articulated figures with authentic 1/6 scale uniform and accessories way back in 1994. My first 12" figure was an Action Man Astronaut and the Action Man SAS was one of the coolest figures I'd ever seen then.

The Blues and Royals (Royal Horse Guards and 1st Dragoons) (RHG/D) is a cavalry regiment of the British Army and part of the Household Cavalry. The regiment was formed in 1969 from the merger of The Royal Horse Guards, which was known as "The Blues" or "The Oxford Blues" and The Royal Dragoons, which was known as "The Royals". The Blues and Royals currently has two reconnaissance squadrons in Windsor, which are part of the Household Cavalry Regiment, and a mounted squadron in London as part of the Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment. Both HRH Prince William of Wales and HRH Prince Harry of Wales joined the regiment as cornets in 2006. [source: wiki]

When performing ceremonial duties, such as Trooping of the Colour in London and other royal occasions, the Blues and Royals will troop out in their full ceremonial uniform, a practice steep in tradition.

The Albert helmet (it was introduced by Prince Albert) was worn during the reign of Queen Victoria and the uniform dates back to 1842 when the Household Cavalry first started to wear the plumed dress helmet. The Blues and Royals wear a red Plume on the helmet.

The Blues and Royals wore State Tunics (navy blue with red piping on the seams) over their white riding breeches or pantaloons, Flask Cords of red on their Cross Belts, which also has the Cartouche Box. Cross Belts were used to secure the Flask for powder, whilst the Cartouche Box carried the cartridges and lead balls for the carbines and pistols. They wore black knee-length Jackboots (so called because the leather was 'jacked', or stiffened) with spurs.

The Waterloo Eagle, worn as a sleeve badge

The present-day Officer’s State Sword is based on the first pattern used in The Life Guards from 1832. This type was also adopted by the 2nd Life Guards, and The Royal Horse Guards (The Blues) in 1856. It is carried on the ceremonial belt. Note the gripping hands or "Kung Fu grip" introduced in 1973 and another view of the Jackboots and spurs.

The fine details of the uniform extends to the back as well, with three red embroidered facings and gold brass buttons.

The Cartouche Box has not been changed since 1856. They are purely ornamental and bears a gold regimental badge on the flap. This 1/6 version's flap can be opened as well.

The Blues and Royals Ceremonial uniform also has gauntlet gloves, seen tugged into his belt

A fine specimen from Action Man. Note the "flock" hair or realistic hair introduced in 1970 and intricate detail of his ceremonial belt buckle.

Another company that has been able to replicate Palitoy (manufacturer of Action Man) in the production of the traditional uniforms is DiD, with such fine products as The King's Hussars, 24th Regiment of Foot and soldiers of the Napoleonic Era. Let's not forget their superbly produced Samurai.

Next up: Action Man Life Guards