TOMMY OR JOE? FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT!

Isn't it funny how some things can make such an impression on you that other things are swept from your mind?  Here's one such example of just what I'm talking about.  Imagine, if you will, that it's Christmas Day, 1966.  My brother and myself had snuck downstairs in the very early hours to see whether 'Santa' had fulfilled our expectations in the 'gifts' department.  Then we returned to our beds, each clutching a toy as we couldn't bear to be parted from them.  I well-remember my sleepy sibling dozing off snuggled next to the articulated action-soldier he had received.  Thing is, it wasn't ACTION MAN (by Palitoy) - it was TOMMY GUNN (by Pedigree).

I can no longer recall what presents I got that year - it's a complete blank.  It's entirely possible (likely even) that I remember some of the toys, but I just don't associate them with that Christmas.  My one, big, over-riding recollection of that event is my brother's delight when he first cast his eyes on Tommy, and him holding him fast as he dropped off to sleep.  Oh, and also the smell of the plastic, which was quite distinctive.  Yet another of those smells which instantly whisks me back to childhood.  Luckily for me, my brother was a little older than me and soon outgrew his appetite for such things, so Tommy relatively swiftly passed into my hands.

Surprisingly, Tommy Gunn was better than Action Man in a few respects.  His face looked more natural (modelled after a real person apparently) and his skin tone seemed a bit more realistic at the time, though, curiously, he now appears a tad over-tanned.  (Perhaps a result of the 'ageing' process over the decades.)  Same goes for his physique, which wasn't quite as 'stylized' as Joe's (to give A.M. his 'real' name.)  Also, his equipment was more detailed and in scale.  Tommy had close-fitting, flexible boots with real laces - Joe had oversized ones in a thicker plastic with moulded laces.  Tommy's grenades had pins which could actually be pulled out - Joe's didn't.  In fact, although never quite as popular as Action Man, Tommy Gunn was probably the superior toy in all ways but one, which was this:

Action Man had swivelling ball-joints at the top of his thighs, allowing him to sit with his legs folded, or to rest either foot on the opposite knee.  Poor ol' Tommy's thighs were one-piece* affairs which didn't allow for such a relaxed position, although in every other way his joints were the same as Joe's.  Apparently, Pedigree had made a bid to Hasbro (the company behind G.I. JOE, who was Action Man in everything but name) for the rights to the figure at the same time Palitoy did, but failed.  Instead, they decided to produce their own version and Tommy Gunn was the result.  The figure enjoyed reasonably good sales from 1966 to '68, but never attained the same heights of success or popularity as his better selling rival.

(*The thighs on the earliest versions were two pieces glued together to make one, which allowed no swivelling where they met.  It may be that the seam was originally intended to be moveable, but then changed at the last moment for reasons of cost or simplicity.  The thighs were later amended to one piece parts with no join.)   

In 1968, Tommy's body was re-used for Pedigree's CAPTAIN SCARLET figure, yet another fondly-remembered toy from the swinging '60s.  Around 1978, a company called ZODIAC TOYS bought the moulds from Pedigree and started to produce Tommy Gunn, but using a much cheaper plastic.  This time around, Tom's skin colour was more like Action Man's, but, sadly, because of cheaper production techniques, he could no longer claim to be Joe's superior, or, indeed, even his equal.  According to some sources, Tommy was retired in 1985, taking his place in history, and in the memories of those who had been fortunate enough to own him during his brief spell as Action Man's main competitor.