Big Jim
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Big Jim was a popular line of action figure toys produced from 1971 through 1986 by Mattel for the North American and European markets. Inspired by G.I. Joe, the Big Jim line was smaller (closer to 10 inches in height compared to Joe's 12) and each figure included a push button in his back that made the character execute a karate chop action. The action figure's arms were made of a soft plastic/vinyl material and contained a mechanism that simulated the bulge of a biceps when the arm was bent. Big Jim was less military-oriented than the G.I. Joe line, with a variety of outfits and situations available including sports, space exploration, martial arts, hunting, and even unusual choices such as fishing and photography.
Basic characters
- Big Jim - the "basic" good guy leader of the PACK
- Big Jack - Second in command, African American
- Big Josh - Effectively Big Jim with a beard
- Big Jeff - Big Jim's third buddy, also known as Big Joe. A blond who was also Jim's opponent in the Olympic boxing match set, even though both Jim and Jeff are on the American team.
Villains
- Zorak - A hooded bad guy. He had a face-changing feature where his normal-looking head could be turned into a monstrous green visage. Not to be confused with the unrelated character of the same name from Space Ghost.
- Iron Jaw - A villain with a metal lower jaw and a prosthetic arm ending in a hook. One of the rarer figures in the series. A similar character with an iron jaw and hook arm, Trap-Jaw, would show up in Mattel's Masters of the Universe action figure line.
- Captain Drake - An evil hooded pirate. He had a face-changing feature like Zorak and could change his face to a skull.
- Boris - An evil chauffeur with a steel cap on his skull and a fist which could extend from his wrist with a cable. A remarkably similar character named Brocken would later appear in the World Heroes video game series.
- Professor Obb - A bearded mad scientist.
- Dr. Bushido - A baddie who wields a glow-in-the-dark katana. Bears a striking resemblance to Ming the Merciless from Flash Gordon.
Big Jim's P.A.C.K.
Big Jim's P.A.C.K. was an extension of the main toy line in 1975, making Big Jim the leader of an A*Team-like group of heroes for hire.Several different Big Jim toys were released, including Warpath (a Native American archer), the Whip (a weapons specialist armed with a bullwhip), Dr. Steel (a bald villain with a steel hand, later recycled into a hero), and a special (and very popular) Olympic Games-themed version of the title character.
In Germany, a series based on characters of popular 1880s writer Karl May and especially the 1960s series of movies was available, including "Winnetou, Chief of the Apache".
External links
- [BigJim.it] An italian fansite with pictures of all the figures
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