MIKE POWER — THE ATOMIC MAN

G.I. JOE: ADVENTURE TEAM (HASBRO)

While a good portion of the fanbase has a tendency to ignore anything pre-1982, G.I. Joe had almost two decades of existence prior to its Real American Hero incarnation.  Originally “America’s Moving Fighting Man,” G.I. Joe began as a purely military line.  As public outcry against the Vietnam War grew at the end of the ’60s, desire for toys based on war declined sharply.  Hasbro adapted, easing out of the purely military side with Adventures of G.I. Joe.  When that proved successful, the entire line was then rebranded in 1970 as G.I. Joe: Adventure Team.  The group were now a non-military group of adventurers, focussing more on surviving the environment than on taking down enemy combatants.  The line was even more successful than its predecessor, allowing for expansion beyond its original set-up.  The team found themselves in even more fantastical environments, fighting aliens, and even taking on new members who were more than just simple adventurers.  That included today’s focus, Mike Power, the Atomic Man!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Mike Power The Atomic Man was added to the G.I. Joe: Adventure Team line in 1975.  His addition was in response to the success of The Six Million Dollar Man, and Hasbro had in fact attempted to make him the “Bionic Man” in hopes of locking up the trademark on “Bionic” before the show-runners could get it.  Kenner, however, already held the toy rights to the show, and Hasbro was forced to make Mike Atomic, rather than Bionic.  The figure stands about 12 inches tall and he has 28 points of articulation.  Mike was built using the standard Joe 12-inch body of the era, and is in fact the last new figure to be introduced on it, as the “muscle body” would become the standard issue that same year.  He does, however, feature the one notable change to the body from the prior year: Kung Fu Grip!  In 1974, the Joes got new hands, made from a softer rubber, which allowed them to more properly grip tools and weapons than the previous hard plastic hands.  It was a cool novelty, albeit one tarnished a bit by how quickly the rubber broke down, leading to many yellowed and torn up hands.  But, it was a cool idea at the start, and its cool when you find not as messed up ones, which I just so happened to do.  Beyond the standard parts, Mike got a modified right arm and left leg, which were his atomic parts.  The leg is essentially the same, just in clear plastic with some extra parts embedded inside.  The arm, however, gets a tweaked internal construction, which also adds a spinning action feature to the forearm.  Mike also got a brand-new head sculpt, which was quite distinct from the standard Joes.  He still kept the cheek scar (something that other non-Joes from the line tended to lack), but he’s got a different set of features, and a generally friendlier expression.  While most Adventure Team figures sported flocked hair, Mike was back to painted hair (at least for his US release; Palitoy’s equivalent figure had flocked hair like the rest of them), presumably to make his “Atomic Eye” feature work a bit better.  Mike’s paint is contained almost entirely on his head.  Again in contrast to the other Adventurers, his head was completely painted as opposed to having molded plastic skin.  It results in a little bit of a mismatch between the head and the rest of the body, but it’s minor.  Mike’s outfit was a rather simple one, as it was really just a placeholder for the more involved outfits you could buy for him.  He gets a camo shirt and brown shorts.  The shirt is the same as the one included in the main line’s “Jungle Survival” set, while the shorts were unique.  He also had a hand-held helicopter blade accessory, which is the one thing missing from mine.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

My first exposure to G.I. Joe was through my Dad’s old Joes from his childhood, which was largely a collection of ’60s era Joes that had been passed down to him.  His own proper Joe items were all from Adventure Team, and through researching those and obsessing over them as a kid, Adventure Team became my first real love of the Joe franchise (Check out my fan art of the Commander, Mike, and Bulletman, circa 2000, just down below).  Mike was one that always fascinated me in particular, and my Dad even got me my own Mike when I was a kid.  He took a bit of a beating (especially those poor hands), but he remained a favorite.  A month or so back, All Time got in a large collection going back to the ’70s, largely devoid of much Joe-related product, but it did have this guy in there all on his own, so your boi got himself another one to review.  He’s very, very fun.  Hokey, but fun.

Thanks to my sponsors over at All Time Toys for setting me up with this figure to review.  If you’re looking for cool toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay storefront.