The European counterpart of Hasbro’s 12” G.I. Joe dolls were made by Politoy and called Action Man. Politoy actually scaled the soldiers down to 3 ¾” action figure size before Hasbro did the same in the U.S. The initial small size Politoy Action Man figures, sub-titled Action Force, were accurate depictions of real military uniforms and equipment. This quickly changed, influenced by Hasbro’s more fanciful approach to G.I. Joe. Before the American Joes completely replaced them, the Action Force divided into several groups, including an outer space team which battled the Red Shadow. Included in the ranks of this enemy was the aquatic creature, Kraken.

Construction of the Kraken action figure was pretty basic – vinyl head, arms and legs trapped between styrene torso halves. Because the styrene parts were glued together (or maybe even sonic welded), it wasn’t possible to completely disassemble the figure. As if sanding vinyl wasn’t a big enough pain, I had to clean up all the parting lines with all the limbs in place! I repainted everything, except the red of the tunic. The skull and crossbones insignia and the black stripes were printed on the red plastic, and I didn’t feel like reproducing them for a total repaint.

The tri-prong weapon came with the figure, but I added the fish for a bit of humor. It and the starfish came in a bag of party goods favors that I bought ages ago. The sand is my old reliable base material, Durham’s Rock Hard Water Putty.

Completed in 2008.