BMC Toys: Plastic Army Women Project
Posted by Jeff Imel on
I was recently asked a question that comes up every so often, "Do you stock any female toy soldiers?" Marx and Tim Mee offered Army Nurse figures decades ago, but I'm not aware of anything currently available, so I let the customer know we don't have anything like that in stock. Usually, that's the end of it, but this time the customer (a retired Navy Sailor) made a compelling case for why Plastic Army Women might be popular. I promised to conduct some research, and discovered there might be enough folks looking for Little Green Army Women to consider producing some.
Our initial concept for BMC Toys Plastic Army Women figure set is based more in the toy realm than historically accurate hobby figures. We would choose a few classic Plastic Army Men poses and have new sculpts made that reflect the style of the most popular plastic soldiers, but in female form. The figures would be 1:32 scale and olive drab color, so the figures would fit in with a wide variety of the plastic figures that are already in several generations of toy boxes. Here are some concept sketches by artist Tina Imel:
The sketches are a first impression of what we think customers would like, based upon a few requests, some quick research, and a bit of gut instinct. We could be wrong, so here's where you come in: Subscribe to the BMC Toys Plastic Army Woman Project newsletter to let us know you are interested in a set of female plastic soldiers. There is also a comments section in the email subscription form, so you can tell us exactly what you would like this product to be. Let us know if we're on the right track, or if we're way off our plastic bases. If there are enough confirmed subscribers, we'll continue to develop the project, and possibly run a crowdfunding campaign to get these soldiers deployed sooner rather than later. Tanks' for your help:
June 28, 2018 Update: The initial response to this project and the concept sketches is very positive. The most common request has been for regulation hairstyles, so I'm going to commission some head study drawings to work on this issue.
August 10, 2019: BMC Toys: Plastic Army Women Project: Update #1
August 30, 2019: BMC Toys: Plastic Army Women Project: Update #2 (IT'S HAPPENING!)
September 9, 2019: BMC Toys: Plastic Army Women Project: Update #3
October 20, 2019: BMC Toys: Plastic Army Women Project: Update #4
November 8, 2019: BMC Toys: Plastic Army Women Project: Update #5
November 28, 2019: BMC Toys: Plastic Army Women Project: Update #6 and Happy Tanksgiving!
December 24, 2019: BMC Toys: Plastic Army Women Project: Update #7 and Merry Christmas!
March 8, 2020: BMC Toys: Plastic Army Women Project: Update #8
May 22, 2020: BMC Toys: Plastic Army Women Project: Update #9
May 22, 2020: BMC Toys: Plastic Army Women Project: Update #10
Thanks so much for doing this. I also have a 6 year old granddaughter named Vivien, whose Mommy was a Master at Arms In the Navy. She had a bomb dog and a drug dog. Men were not the only ones that fought wars! Can’t wait for this set to be in production. Perhaps you can add a dog handler at a later date?
Let the crowd sourcing Begin! I am in. Once again,
THANK YOU!
Maritza Cooper
Bravo! Although my son is now 20, I’ll be buying him a set. I am so pleased with your decision to move forward with the production and addition of female toy soldiers. Warms my heart!
Hi Jeff, first of all thank you for all your hard work. I love the that you and this precious little girl have come together to get woman soldiers out on the field.
I’ve been serving in the military for 34 years and I feel that it’s extremely important to show that woman play a huge part in the military today and even dating back to WWII. Not in combat but woman flew cargo military aircraft and were pilot instructors BACK THEN. Point being woman have always been a part of everything, so thanks again for doing this.
Suggestion: You might get more support in sales if you offer to donate a few dollars with every purchase to any organization that support military/Vetrans. Which are many out there. Example I donate to the Wounded Warriors Foundation. Just a thought.
Sonia Marcos SMSgt
CAANG USAF
I am so proud of you for following through on manufacturing female army figures. Good for you, Jeff. And you made a little 6 year old girl happy. And I bet a lot of other little girls.
Really looking forward to seeing these on the shelf -
Grateful for the follow-up and your commitment to get these made.