Big Green Army Men

The PopCult Toybox

Sometimes, as a toy collector, you see a new toy, and you know you just have to have it. It might hit a nostalgic trigger, or it might just look really cool, or it might be a new take on an old favorite.

Epic Army Men, by ToySmith, checks off all three of those boxes.

I saw these at Cotswold Collectibles, and when they got them in stock, I decided to order a set. These are Green Army Men, like most of us had when we were kids, but there is a bit of a twist…these Green Army Men are seven times the size of most Green Army Men.

These are 14 and 1/2 inch-tall Green Army Men. Jolly Green Giant Army Men, if you will. They are huge, taller than an original GI Joe (see the photo), and are pretty much little Green Army Men blown up to a giant scale.

These are not action figures. They do not pose. While they are not molded as one big, solid piece of plastic (that would make them much heavier and more fragile) they are tightly glued together and you have to look at them close up to spot the seams. These are a giant-sized representation of the little green plastic soldiers that damn near everybody had to play with as a kid.

They are quite sturdy, made with a slightly more flexible rubberized plastic, and with no long, thin pieces that could snap off. They are absolutely child safe. However, at this size and price (roughly twenty bucks each) they are more like decor than playthings.

There are three styles of figures in this series of Epic Army Men: An Infantryman is giving a salute. A Radioman is holding his Walkie-Talkie. A Bazookaman is preparing to fire his shoulder-mounted weapon.

Like I said, the figures are not articulated. They are static and situated on a steady base, just like little Green Army Men.

They look great. ToySmith resisted the urge to make these figures hyper-detailed to take advantage of the larger size. As such, these are instantly recognizable as gigantic versions of the original Green Army Men. This is a case where less is more because an ultra-detailed figure would lose the charm of the classic two-inch-tall soldiers.

Kids can have lots of fun with these, either on their own, or as super-soldiers grown to enormous size to do battle with Godzilla. Big toys are fun for big imaginations.

Adults will get the nostalgic glee of having giant versions of their old toys, and these would look pretty cool on a bookshelf or just sitting around your living room.

You can order the set of three Epic Army Men from Cotswold Collectibles for just under sixty bucks (plus shipping). They can also be ordered directly from ToySmith, but you don’t get your pick of which figure you want (all three designs have the same item number), so you might not wind up with a full set.

I’m hoping these do well enough that we get more figures, like the Minesweeper, the guy crawling and a Rifleman. For now, these three are an impressive start, and a giant leap for fans of Green Army Men.