The History of Army Men
Every generation has had them. The material changed, the scale changed, but the green plastic infantryman on the living room floor is a direct descendant of hand-cast tin soldiers from two centuries ago.
The tin soldier era
Toy soldiers started as flat tin castings in 18th-century Germany. Nuremberg craftsmen stamped and painted individual figures by hand. They were collectibles for adults as much as toys for children. In 1893, William Britain in London revolutionized the industry by inventing hollow-cast lead soldiers. Hollow casting used less metal, reduced weight, and cut cost. Britain's soldiers became the global standard for fifty years.
The switch to plastic
After World War II, Bergen Toy and Novelty Company in New Jersey began injection-molding toy soldiers in green polyethylene. They were light, cheap, and nearly indestructible. A bag of a hundred soldiers cost less than a single lead figure. The green color was a cost decision: green plastic required no painting and looked close enough to military olive drab. By the 1950s, plastic army men had replaced tin and lead soldiers in every toy store in America.
Why they endure
Army men have no batteries, no electronics, no moving parts, and no instructions. A child picks them up, puts them on the floor, and invents the scenario. The simplicity is the feature. A bucket of army men and a sandbox is an open-ended creative exercise that no app or screen can replicate. The poses are standardized because the molds are standardized, and that limitation forces the child to do the creative work.
The Tim Mee factor
Tim Mee Toys, founded in 1958 in Aurora, Illinois, produced some of the most recognizable army men in American history. Their larger-scale figures with more dynamic poses became the standard set found in bags at drugstores and five-and-dimes. Tim Mee ceased production, then revived it. The modern Tim Mee figures are made from the original molds. Same plastic, same poses, same toy. That is the kind of continuity this store values.
What to buy today
The best army men available today are still the classic green plastic infantry in the standard poses. Tim Mee and Toy Soldiers of San Diego both produce quality sets from traditional molds. Avoid the cheap imports with flash lines and soft plastic that bends. A proper army man stands on its base without leaning, has clean molding with no flash, and is rigid enough that the bayonet does not droop. These are not expensive standards to meet.
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