TimMee Army Blog: January 2013

Old and new: An almost perfect match

It seems like an eternity since TimMee Toys veered off the beaten path to offer up their classic Vietnam Era soldiers in vibrant rainbow colors. Only this time it's not due to the pressure of an anti-war movement. Now it's just for fun....I think. So, joining the current ranks of green and tan are 3 new colors: gray, red and pink. My platoon of new soldiers arrived promptly at 1500 hrs for their tour of duty and I wasted no time deploying my oldest set of vintage VE soldiers for a thorough side by side comparison. To begin with, the walking GI is STILL missing in action. And I doubt we'll ever see him again. 'Tis indeed a shame as he was always my favorite. Also worth noting is the grenade thrower, who is STILL refusing to throw a grenade and apparently ready to slap the enemy upside the head with his big hand which, by the way, seems to be somewhat distorted.

An example of flashing

As for the rest of the poses, I am happy to report that the original molds have survived quite well over the decades as these new castings have the same detail and crispness as their predecessors. And yes, the radio operator has an antenna. Flash is at a minimal on all poses with the exception of the mortar launcher. As you can see in the photo on the right, there is significant flash around the launcher itself. However, several of the same pose in the sets I received have little or no flash whatsoever. There are also rare instances of flash around the mold gate marks on the kneeling rifleman (see photo below) and the mine sweeper. But overall, the castings are clean. The plastic itself is a slightly lighter and less pliable then what was used in the past and has a somewhat glossy appearance. A few battles in the sandbox should take of that real quick.

The new recruits

And now we come to the colors. First up is gray. This one is surprisingly new for TimMee. It instantly reminded me of the old black and white war movies I watched as a kid where all the uniforms appeared gray in color, so there's a bit of nostalgia to go along with them. This color would fit in well with German soldiers and vehicles from the likes of Marx and CTS if historical accuracy isn't a priority to you. Red was used by TimMee in limited quantities over the years for various bagged sets. Personally, I would love to see these cast in the same rust red/brown color as the World War II 60mm soldiers were in the mid 60's. Are you taking notes, Mr. Lloyd? And finally, there's pink. I have no idea what the thinking is behind this color. I could see selling them during National Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Other than that, I'm truly stumped. Still, they have a certain charm about them.

The new TimMee Mountain

So there you have it. Three great editions to the new TimMee lineup that will include the C-130 Gunship and M48 Patton tank this coming March. Kudos to J. Lloyd International Inc. for resurrecting the TimMee brand after it's rather unfortunate demise in 2005. A very special thanks goes to out to Jeff Imel from VictoyBuy.com for getting the new TimMees into the hands old and new fans alike. And a big Oorah! to Thor of The Army Men Homepage who helped inspire the TimMee revival.

Somewhere out there Mr. Bergman is grinning from ear to ear.

Semper Fi!