BMC Toys: Plastic Army Women Project: Update #7 and Merry Christmas!

Posted by Jeff Imel on Dec 24, 2019

Pre-Order now to receive your set of Plastic Army Women as soon as they are available in Fall 2020. Your Credit Card will not be charged until your order is ready to ship.

The big news is the Plastic Army Women Kickstarter campaign for pre-orders and set expansion wrapped up last week and not only did supporters meet the funding goal in the first 12 hours, they hit every stretch goal I could come up with. I thought it was a great success when we hit stretch goals increasing the figure count to 36, poses to 12 and adding 2 more color variants, but supporters decided to add a few more figures poses, Kickstarter exclusive color variant, and even a new Rosie the Riveter figure was added in the last couple of days. It was wild, with the final stretch goal reached within the last couple of minutes. I hosted an impromptu Facebook Live Q&A for the final hour. I set this up at the last minute and for some reason the video is mirror image and audio is goes out of sync:

Here's the final figure assortment that will be included in all sets of the Plastic Army Women:

Pathfinder Captain
Standing Rifleman
Kneeling Rifleman
Prone Sniper
Grenadier
Bazooka Operator
Running Rifleman
Combat Medic
Low-Crawl Rifleman
Radio Operator
Wounded Soldier
Light Machine Gunner
Nurse
Corpsmen
Stretcher
Military Working Dog
MWD Handler

Here's some recent photos of some more of the in progress sculpts:
BMC Toys® Plastic Army Women Figure #6: Bazooka Operator Sculpt

James Van Schaik is the sculptor and has been working very hard to complete all the figures. I really didn't expect the set to expand past 12 figures, but he's been very gracious in rearranging his schedule to accommodate the extra work we've sent his way.

James wanted to make an exclusive resin figure reward to help the campaign and suggested a Rosie the Riveter figure. I wasn't sure she fit into the project, but my kitchen table committee thought otherwise. I gave the go ahead, then wound up adding her as a plastic figure stretch goal. She'll be released next fall in glorious plastic as a separate item. She's a slightly larger scale (about 60mm/1:30 scale) and will stand on a round base with her "We Can Do It!" slogan, very much in the style of Louis Marx & Company character figures. I'm not completely certain about the final product, but I'm thinking a pack of 12 figures in an assortment of Red, White, Blue and Yellow colors:
BMC Toys® Rosie the Riveter Figure Sculpt

Right now We're working hard to finalize all the sculpts so they can be made into resin prototypes for the plastic injection tool maker. Next I'll be launching a pre-order shop where folks who missed out on the Kickstarter can preorder the Plastic Army Women Bagged and Bucket sets and also Rosie figures.

You might be wondering about the little girl from Arkansas whose letter started the Plastic Army Women media frenzy over the past few months. Her mom sent me a couple of updates on the final day of the Kickstarter and relayed that Vivian jumped up and down when she heard we added the Military Working Dog & Handler, and asked if there were really going to be 12 different women soldiers. I had the happy task of letting them know there will be 15 different women soldiers, plus the dog and a stretcher accessory. Her mom is putting together a scrapbook with all the articles and some letters and challenge coins she's received. They've set up a post office box for anyone that would like to send Vivian a postcard or note:

Vivian Lord
PO Box 7222
Little Rock, AR 72217

Speaking of the media frenzy, once again just as I thought it was over, media interest sparked up again. I guess the combination of the Kickstarter success and time of year was just too irresistible:

Stacy Lang from our local Newswatch 16 stopped by the Scranton factory for a follow up report:

Kristina Shalhoup from our local Eyewitness News station also stopped by for a follow up: Green with Envy

K.C. Lopez and videographer Stefan Fulton from PBS39 News Tonight made the trip from Bethlehem, PA up north to Scranton, PA to spend the morning with us for this longer format story that includes interviews at the factory and letters from supporters:

CBS This Morning did a follow up story:

Thanks to everyone who has supported the project over the past year and a half, and a special thanks to Retired Master Chief JoAnn Ortloff for her compelling message that convinced me to take action on a project I'd been thinking about for such a long time. An old friend saw the story and said I mentioned the idea in 2005, which is way further back than I recalled. Also thanks to Vivian Lord and the entire Lord family for their help with all the crazy media requests over the past few months. Vivian's letter and media appearances really had a huge impact on getting the project moving and our ability to expand the set.

Happy Holidays & Merry Christmas!

June 20, 2018: BMC Toys: Plastic Army Women Project Original Post

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!