German Staff Officer 1974

Notes:

The Action Man German Staff Officer outfit was added to the the 'Soldiers of the World' (SOTW) range of 1974 but is not covered in the pages of the 'Intellgence Manual'. A matching jacket and trousers (wider topped riding breeches) can sometimes be a problem because these items were also available on other accessory cards. The iron cross is unchanged from the earlier Stormtroopers, version (that of a WW1 Iron Cross). The belt is quite often loose because there is a temptation to slide the map case inside, stretching the plastic. The cap is thought to have had a red dot in it's badge early on, but was later dropped. The cap was shared with the German Camp Kommandant. The 'sandgoggles' were originally elastic-strapped, but progressed to plastic-strapped. The 'current' Action Man on the launch of the Action Man German Staff officer uniform was a flocked haired gripping hands Action Man figure. Pictured is a Geyperman version (Spanish equivalent of Action Man produced by 'Geyper') of the Action Man uniform. Colours for the jacket vary between dark green and turquoise. Buttons vary in colour, shape and opacity, as do pocket shapes quoted for this figure (round bottomed or rectangular). It is probably safe to assume almost any combination may have been output by Palitoy of the lighter fabric German jacket. It is likely this cross-sharing is also by Soldiers of the World German Stormtrooper and the Colditz Guard (the Guard also is often quoted as having a lightweight, shiny fabric version). The early Soldiers of the Century Stormtrooper jacket in heavy material would never have been part of this set. The map should be the countryside version (not Polar.)