Remco Toys Part 1 Soldiers

Note this is the first in a multi part series.

Good old Remco Toys. I've mentioned the before in my posts about the toys I had at Granny's. But I want to go a little more in depth and write about some of my memories of these cheap, wonderful toys. Most of mine came from either K-Mart or one of the Dollar Stores. Dollar General or Family Dollar. I probably go some elsewhere but those three places were the main stores for me.

The line I am most familiar with would be their military series that went by a few different names. Most notably American Defense or U. S. Forces.

 This was a line of 3 3/4" action figures along the lines of G. I. Joe. I had probably a dozen or so of them. As I said these were the ones I had at Granny's. The Good G.I. Joes stayed home but whenever I went to visit or stay I had these guys to play with there. And I had so much fun with them. I had a base from another Remco line that served as their headquarters.

Sure ManTech was a completely different scale but this base worked great for my soldiers. Like G.I. Joe they had some sci-fi elements and so it wasn't too odd.

Three of my favorite figures from the American Defense U.S. Forces line were

Heavy Metal

Forest Green

and Hidden Force

These were my go to guys. I've always liked figures made from translucent plastic like Hidden Force that made him seem to be invisible. Well at least that was what I think it was supposed to represent. Forest Green was a cool ranger type guy with the armor that had leaves on it. I got a kick out of that. As for Heavy Metal, come on look at him. He coulda been a Dreadnock easy. He was a great badguy for them to fight.

As cool as these were there was another military line that came first. Sgt. Rock! Based on the DC comic books that I read as a kid.

I only had Sarge himself and he was enough at the time. Though now I do wish I'd had more of that line. Oh well.

I had some of the vehicles and little playsets as well. I remember the boat and a jeep as well as a machine gun nest.

I don't have too many of them left these days. Most of the toys I had at Granny's I got rid of when she moved in with us. I just didn't have room for all of them. But there are a few left. I don't remember what thought process went into deciding which ones I kept and which ones I got rid of. None of my three favorites were kept for some reason.

I have a Sgt. Rock. Not my original though.

Then there are these three guys. Not too exciting compared to the others I had.

Finally there is this set. These were later releases that were of poorer quality and I'm certain I got these at one of the Dollar Stores. They were cheap and came in two packs. And I kept them.

Next up I'll talk about another line from Remco that was a favorite of mine. It features robots! Be ready.

Childhood toys from Granny's Pt. 1

Recently I've been sorting through some of the stuff I've had in storage for a while. In doing so I've found things I didn't remember that I kept along with stuff I hadn't been sure of where it was put away. One of the finds was old toys I'd had at my grandmother's house. At home I had G. I. Joe and Transformers and the "good" toys. But at Granny's I had the cheaper knock-off types of toys. Most of which I got rid of when Granny moved in with us. I just didn't have room for all of it. I did keep a few things however.

Here is a small sampling of some, mixed in with some other old toys I kept as well as some more recent additions.

First up is a generic action figure case I picked up a couple weeks ago at a local flee market. Perfect for storing these old figures. Most of which came from Granny's. The exceptions being the three Fisher Price Adventure People, the Tonka Play people figure and the Remco Sgt. Rock figure.

Here we have the three Adventure People. These I've acquired over the past couple of years as my interest in them has grown.

Next up, three cheap movie figures. Robocop, Rambo and The Terminator. All made by the same company, but in completely different styles. I think the studio sold the rights for whatever they could get just to have some money. They are pretty cool though.

My three remaining Remco American Defense figures. These were my favorites of all the toys I had at Granny's. As a kid I probably had almost as many of these as I did real G. I. Joe figures. I am not sure why I kept these particular ones as there were others I liked better.

Three more generic G. I. Joe knock-offs that I honestly don't remember anything about.

Lanard's The Corps. Wal-Mart's Joe knock-offs. And the one toy line that is still around it seems.

This one I had at home. A Tonka Play People motorcycle rider. Like the F-P Adventure People these were just generic figures of people from different walks of life. But still one's I enjoyed.

My last remaining G. I. Joe figure. V2 Snake-Eyes. I actually left him over at my grandmother's once I had several different Snake-Eyes figures. He's in pretty good shape surprisingly.

Remco Sgt. Rock. Not from Granny's. Nor even the one I had as a kid. I got this one off of eBay a few years ago to replace my long gone childhood one. I was a fan of the comics and had a few of the figures and playsets to go along with them.

As I said, I wish I had kept more of these guys. But at least I have these few. I occasionally look for more to add to them when I can. Mostly the Adventure People and the American Defense. I don't see too many out in the wild and eBay prices I just can't bring myself to pay most of the time. But from time to time I find stuff.

In part 2 I'll show some of the more odd-ball stuff from Granny's.