Big Jim: Overview
The History of Big Jim
When Big Jim was released in 1972, the market for action figures was undergoing a lot of change. For years GI Joe in America and Action Man in the UK were a popular choice among young boys. By the 1970s though there was a drop in interest in the military themes associated with the action figure. One major contributing factor to this was the growing unpopularity of the Vietnam War; people were just oversaturated with it all and this was reflected in a search for something new.
Big Jim couldn’t have arrived at a better time. This action figure moved away from the military theme and instead focused on adventure. It also benefited by the Bruce Lee phenomena as the Big Jim action figures were able to deliver a Karate chop. These figures may have been smaller in size than GI Joe, but they made up for this in muscle; in fact Big Jim made their rival look a bit wimpy.
The heyday for Big Jim was between 1972 and 1986. During this time period the series provided a whole range of themes and the figures were constantly winning new audiences. The toy was first released in Europe as Mark the Strong and in the US as Big Jim. This first Big Jim introduced a few different characters including one of the first African American figures called Big Jack. This series also introduced Chief Tankua who was a Native American. These characters were all portrayed as tough and confident, but also very likeable.
After the success of the first Big Jim series there was more to come. In 1976 the P.A.C.K series; this was the Professional Agent against Crime Killers. The focus with these characters was on espionage and behaving like superheroes; Torpedo Fist even had superpowers. The deadly enemy in this series was Zorak; your stereotypical mad scientist.
In 1982 the Big Jim spy series had a real James Bond feel about it. This was all about working undercover and Big Jim took on the identity of Agent 004. In 1985 the action left Earth’s atmosphere as Commander Jim took his team on Space adventures; this time the enemy is Baron Fangg. There were also other Big Jim adventures including pirates and every form of transport imaginable.
Eventually the Mattel, the makers of Big Jim, seem to run out of ideas and the series was cancelled. The space theme was not as successful as previous outings so the company decided to call it a day. This toy can still bring back great memories for many adults, but it probably won’t mean much to kids growing up today,.
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US $3.49
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Big Jim: Overview
Big Jim: Store
Big Jim: Storyline
Big Jim: The Bad Guys
Big Jim: The Good Guys