1-18th Modern Figures Question

[gk5717]

I have only collected WW2 & VietNam 1-18th figures since they came out around 2000.
I am thinking about trying to find modern troops that would best depict Afganistan and the current Iraq.
What are the most accurate and are they still available anywhere.
I know Target has some modern troops occasionally. Any help would be appreciated
Gary

[pcoughran]

Gary,
I noticed you were from St. Louis area - I'm in O'Fallon (MO). I liked the Bravo Team modern troops from Target that were out last year. The new ones are also pretty good, although I haven't opened the ones I've bought yet. The Bravo Team figures I have from last year at Target hold up much better than the BBI figures. The newer figures have some in desert camo and some in what looks like ACU camo.
As far as the Afghanis go 21st Century has some "Eastern Warriors" that would work well - not sure how good they are as I don't have any but probably comparable to the rest of the 21st Century modern stuff like the Cobra Helo pilots and the 21st Hummer driver and CIA guys.
Phil

[tmanthegreat]

Here's the scoop on the realistic modern 1:18 figures:

21c Modern figures:
These are often touted as the worst 21c figures and there are only 5 types. The detailing is not bad at all, but the articulation stinks and the weapons are rubbery. 21c did, however, make some very interesting choices for figures, the coolest being the Eastern Warriors, which are our only "bad guy" modern figures. They also have a Royal Marine Commando, which are our only modern British figures. The other two are US Special Ops figures. Many online retailers still have these for decent prices.

Original BBI figures:
These included Navy Seals, Special Ops soldiers, Marines and Army Green Berets. They are decent, though their articulation style is a tad outdated and some of their cammo patterns are not as accurate as they could be. They come with a lot of weapons. These were all over at TRU and later at Target. They are harder to track down now.

New BBI figures:
These are touted as some of the best modern figures. They are mostly all Special Ops style figures including Delta Force, Seals, and specialized Army and Marine figures. They also have paratrooper figures, including two US Army figures, a Delta Force figure and Navy Seal paradiver. The Army paratroopers are the most "standard" looking BBI modern figures. All of these figures have excellent articulation, excellent detailing and paint work and come with plenty of accessories. They were all over at TRU and Target once upon a time, but are now at some small retailers and increasingly hard to track down.

Unimax Bravo Team/Assault Force:
If you are in need of standard modern soldier figures, the Bravo Team figures are simply the best. The figures look like they are right out of Iraq or Afghanistan. The are a Target exclusive and can still be found there. There are three series of the Bravo Team modern figures:
1) US Army and USMC figures. These sport the modern ACU cammo uniforms and come with accurate accessories including various assault rifles, light and heavy machine guns, as well as anti-tank missiles, depending on the figure. Some figures have backpacks and other accessories like shovels, wire cutters, jerrycans and MRE boxes. There are six each of the Army and Marine figures, including two tanker figures in each set.
2) Army Paratroopers. These are essentially the same figures as in the Army series and come in both ACU cammo and the older three-color desert cammo. They have parachute accessories, their weapons, and helmets with chin-straps.
3) SOF Series Delta Force and Navy Seals. These are the newest wave of Unimax soldiers and can be found at both TRU and Target. There are six Delta Force and six Seal figures. The DF figures come with both ACU and three-color-desert cammo and have the correct vests and helmets. They come with packs, assault rifles and hand-guns, as well as smaller pouches that attach to the figure. The Seals come as both Combat Divers and in regular land/sea combat uniforms with helmets.

PTE:
I forgot to mention these. The Chinese knock-off lineup, Power Team Elite World Peace Keepers amkes some acceptable lookiing figures. These are the most toy-like of all the types described above, but do have excellent articulation. The PTE figure sets come with lots of useful accessories and lots of toy-like junk. The figures include Army, Marines, British SAS, Delta Force, and Seals. Their vehicles are actually pretty good for their cheap price point. You can find PTE figures at Big Lots stores.

So, there's the modern figure run-down and hope the above info helps give you an idea of what is out there

I would personally recommend tracking down the Bravo Team Army and Marines figures as well as their SOF series figures. Compliment them with the 21c Eastern Warrior figures and the BBI SOF figures.

[Phaid]

tmanthegreat pretty much covered it. Here for your amusement are a few pictures of the last batch of BBI Delta and SEAL troopers with some 21st Century "Eastern Warrior" prisoners:

[custer7thcav]

Great shots Phaid!!!

I still need to pick up some of the eastern warriors.

I did pick up 3 seals and 12 delta night ops guys. They are fantastic!

I need to pick up 4 more delta night ops to complete a Delta troop.

I sent you a private message a few weeks back about the sniper hadley figs you had and if you had one I could purchase from you. I am trying to finish off a spec ops unit that he would fit great into.

If you can, I would appreciate it.

You can PM me here or contact me at [email protected].

Cheers!

[digger]

[custer7thcav]

digger--

Awesome pics!

[Baker707]

Really awsome pics!

Please , can you tell me how you took the heads off your figures?

mines are tought as hell!

[tmanthegreat]

To take heads (or arms and legs) off figures, you want to soak them in very hot water for a minute or two. That usually softens up the plastic enough to allow you to pop the parts off with ease.

[Baker707]

Okay thanks!

(and sorry if my english is kind of bad i speak french )

[Arpia IV]

Hi guys,

Could somebody tell me who are these soldiers?
The alone one, I know is a paratrooper but I'm not sure which one.
And in the group, for the middle one, from whom is the head?

Thanks for your help.

Giovanni.

[tmanthegreat]

The are all BBI Modern figures and modifications thereof. The "paratrooper" was supposed to be a Delta Force figure and that's pretty much what the stock BBI figure looked like. The bottom 3 are all custom figures Digger made using mostly BBI heads, arms, legs, and torsos. Really, BBI had the best modern figures, and while at one time they were all over Target and Toys R Us, they are getting harder to find now...

[sbd]

ARPIA IV:

The BBI Delta Force figure with the night vision goggles is "Lynch" .
The BBI SEAL with the black helmet and yellow goggles is "Davies".

[Arpia IV]

Thanks guys

I'm in this hobby around a year ago. When I started it was only with a plane , then I got helicopters and then I thought, ok I got them but what about the crew?, so I started seeing the coolest soldiers that you posted but without names it's hard to get them.
I think this taste started late in me, right now there's no companies making this kind of stuff.
Do you think guys that there are no enough customers for this hobby?
I mean, the companies who made the best models are closed. What happened?

[granch]

Arpia IV,
I'm a BBI fan. Still buying figures like the USMC serie (half NATO camo, half desert). Have now about 30 of each "colour". Of course, not up-to-date, but for me, still the best. I have some PTE only to figure ennemy (they are cheaper...). I also got some Bravo Team. The digital grey camouflage is very nice, but the figure's hands are too small and will not carry any weapon properly... So, I've limited me to the tank driver and commander for some vehicles. The best and most modern soldiers for me would have been the Ourwar collection... but never could buy any. So, I'm still in my old BBI Navy seal's and others, Marine, Army, that fit perfectly with my Blackhawks (first flight 1976?), also not so young Humvees, Little Birds and Kiowas. With the advantage that the usual M-4 rifles without so much interesting accessories and the old style night goggles still match well with the BBI figures. Finally, Somalia, Koweit, Irak Ist wars belong to the 20th century: it's old, but still modern.
An outdoor pic taken at sunset:

And unlike Tmanthegreat wrote in 2009, BBI made 6 english SAS figures: here a 3 (same fig, but heads changed with other BBI's) with a marauder LA85 rifle, talking to some afghan, persian or pakistanese (from 21st Century, Starwars and Indiana Jones! + Schleich donkeys):

[tmanthegreat]

Yeah, forgot about the SAS ones... But BBI got really prolific with their earlier figures around 2004-2005 and there were a variety of sublines and repaints. If you can get past the elbow joints, they are still good figures. The basic helicopter pilot in the green fatigues was one of my favorite BBI figures of all time, since they were so useful in a variety of applications

[Arpia IV]

Hi granch,
I know the feeling. I've started my collection and each day I find new characters and new scale models just to confirm that they are all off of production from 6 to 8 years ago. Luckily there are still places selling this reliques but anyway it's hard to find them. That is like the search of a treasure with a map. I think this make more exciting my search, and make me to hook to this hobby. Thanks to the help that I found here, I know how to make the search in internet.

Thanks a lot guys.

[granch]

A good idea I've got here was the hot water procedure.
BBI made many different head sculpts and so, for the same 2x6 USMC + 2x5 of the Army desert+2 of the navy seal and the 2 pilots, I could get platoons of 12 men with all different heads. Same for my helicopter crews. I have now about 12 BBI helos, all pilots have different "missmatched" heads.
BTW, less potential value if I would have to sell my collection.
As tmanthegreat wrote, there are often joints hazards with BBI's figures. But with very small screws, it is possible to replace the factory weak wrist, elbow or neck pins. Nobody can guess what has to be repaired (unless you try to soften the figures by warming them in the microwave oven; after some losses, I really prefer warm water...).