S.O.S. Commandos & Rambo

 Well, to start talking about S.O.S. Commandos produced by Gulliver (BR) it is inevitable not to talk a little about the history of this franchise.

Launched at the end of the 80s as a “cheaper” alternative to compete with G.I. Joe/ Comandos Em Ação of the Estrela SA, this collection was a sales milestone in Brazil.

SOS. Commandos is actually a “Frankenstein” of franchises, but the dolls were based on the American Schwarzenegger Commando action figure line released by Diamond Toymakers in 1985, in 3.37” or 1:18 scale, which piggybacked on the success of the film “Commando”. 1986 (in Brazil “Comando para Matar”) starring Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Yes, muscular and masculine men were successful at that time! 😂

White Billy (Blaster), Tony Turner (Spex) and Willie Go (Chopper):

However, this line was not as successful in the US, probably because they were dolls of different sizes than G.I. Joe, much less articulated for a military action doll, with few and “uninteresting” accessories that had almost no connection with the film.

With Gulliver purchasing parts of the rights to the American collection and not being able to use the same name or anything that mentioned the actor or the film due to Paramount's rights, the dolls released by Gulliver had to be changed and therefore had many differences compared to to those of the original line. Starting with the material, the plastic was more malleable than the American one (this was an advantage over the Comandos em Ação, which the fingers broke easily) and as the objective was to compete with Estrela and the Diamond Toymakers dolls were stockier, the modeling of the body structure was changed so that the doll fits the “10cm” standard.

Below is a list of these changes to the collection:

• Added more waist area
• Increased lower leg
• Arms have been remodeled
• Heads have been reshaped
• The color palette of the series has been completely redone
• The doll gets a belt as an accessory
• Holster and scabbard have been added
• A pistol and a knife were made
• Names have been changed
• Team names have been changed
• Vehicles from other collections have been added

In short, what was a simple collection became something very cool and extended to several series with repaints and additions of new characters, one of them Rambo (which generated rights problems). Well, in another post I will continue this story in more detail! Follow the photos!

Willie Go (Chopper), Rambo, White Billy (Blaster) and Tony Turner (Spex):