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Smash 'Um & Crush 'Um with my Mighty
Metal Army! |
The Grey Iron Casting
Company of Mount Joy, Pennsylvania began producing cast iron toy soldiers in
1933. The company produced a massive
array of toys, such as mechanical banks, toy stoves and accessories for
the girl child...etc., etc...but I don't give a squat about "dolly pots
and pans"...so let's get to the army men...
When you hold these
monsters in your hand...you know you have something akin to brass
knuckles. These babies are HEAVY, SOLID
CAST IRON, and they are big...most are around 3 inches in height. Pretty nifty should you want to throw a
couple at the snotty neighbor kid's head, or bust the local "sandbox
king's" jaw.
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| To The Last Man! |
Early Grey Irons are
kind of scrawny and a tiny bit smaller than later production models. Around 1935, the company put out the
"Iron Man" series, making their toy soldiers taller and heftier,
giving more weight to the battlefield so to speak, and ditching short and
skinny.
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| Sub-Saharan Heroes! |
When it comes to variety,
there is no shortage. Aside from the
"doughboys", Grey Iron put out U.S. Marines, a group which they call
"Foreign Legion" (don't pay attention to the name...they look like
Marines so use them as such), black faced Ethiopians and a couple Italians to
chase them around when they get lye on the soles of their feet, a Greek Evzone
in his pretty little dress (we don't play with Zorba the "poofy" fruit),
cowboys, Indians, pirates, Continental soldiers, ice skaters, train set
figures, mom, pop, grandpa and grandma, the kids, the farm, pigs, cows
chickens...and a whole bunch of beach bums.
That was a mouthful...
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| Ain't He Purdy? |
The
Greys are good...the poses are fairly righteous, with a good selection of
combat poses. There are a few
turds...mainly the cadets and sailors waving their signal flags (great targets),
but all in all, they are very usable and highly playable...bb's and pellets
bounce right off, firecrackers don't do dick, and napalm only melts the paint, pissing them off even more.
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| Italian Stallion...or War Criminal? |
