Eagle Force was a

die-cast Die casting is a metal casting process that is characterized by forcing molten metal under high pressure into a mold cavity. The mold cavity is created using two hardened tool steel dies which have been machined into shape and work similarly t ...

action figure An action figure is a poseable character (arts), character model figure made most commonly of plastic, and often based upon characters from a film, comic book, military, video game or television program; fictional or historical. These figures are ...

military A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. It is typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with its members identifiable by their distinct ...

-themed toy line marketed by

Mego Corporation The Mego Corporation was an American toy company that in its original iteration was first founded in 1954. Originally known as a purveyor of dime store toys, in 1971 the company shifted direction and became famous for producing licensed dolls (i ...

in the 1980s in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. Produced during

Ronald Reagan Ronald Wilson Reagan ( ; February 6, 1911June 5, 2004) was an American politician, actor, and union leader who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He also served as the 33rd governor of California from 1967 ...

's first term as president, the Eagle Force toy line was marketed to send the message that the United States was not going to be "pushed around" anymore.Alexander, Ron
"Toy Fair Unwraps the Latest Offerings,"
''New York Times'' (Feb. 17, 1982). Designed by Bill Baron and

Paul Kirchner Paul Kirchner (born January 29, 1952) is an American writer and illustrator who has worked in diverse areas, from comic strips and toy design to advertising and editorial art. Early life Paul Kirchner was born in New Haven, Connecticut. He atte ...

,Kirchner, Paul
"Creating the Eagle Force,"
Mego Museum (2005). Accessed Dec. 26, 2014. Eagle Force was similar to the G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero toy line, which was being developed by

Hasbro Hasbro, Inc. (; a syllabic abbreviation of its original name, Hassenfeld Brothers) is an American multinational conglomerate holding company incorporated and headquartered in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. Hasbro owns the trademarks and products of ...

during the same period. The primary concept of Eagle Force is that it is an elite

United States Government The federal government of the United States (U.S. federal government or U.S. government) is the national government of the United States, a federal republic located primarily in North America, composed of 50 states, a city within a fede ...

counter-terrorist Counterterrorism (also spelled counter-terrorism), also known as anti-terrorism, incorporates the practices, military tactics, techniques, and strategies that governments, law enforcement, business, and intelligence agencies use to combat or el ...

task force organization composed of

special forces Special forces and special operations forces (SOF) are military units trained to conduct special operations. NATO has defined special operations as "military activities conducted by specially designated, organized, selected, trained and equip ...

experts. In their fictional universe, Eagle Force was created to combat the Roving International Organization of Tyranny (R.I.O.T.), a

terrorist Terrorism, in its broadest sense, is the use of criminal violence to provoke a state of terror or fear, mostly with the intention to achieve political or religious aims. The term is used in this regard primarily to refer to intentional violen ...

organization driven by the desire for

world domination World domination (also called global domination or world conquest or cosmocracy) is a hypothetical power structure, either achieved or aspired to, in which a single political authority holds the power over all or virtually all the inhabitants ...

. Eagle Force is commanded by Captain Eagle, who wears an

eye patch An eyepatch is a small patch that is worn in front of one eye. It may be a cloth patch attached around the head by an elastic band or by a string, an adhesive bandage, or a plastic device which is clipped to a pair of glasses. It is often worn ...

. The ethnically diverse cast of Eagle Force members include Big Bro, The Cat, Harley, Kayo, Redwing, Sgt. Brown, Stryker, Turk, Wild Bill, Zapper, and the female figure Goldie Hawk. R.I.O.T. is led by General Mamba, assisted by Baron Von Chill, Beta Man (an

arsonist Arson is the crime of willfully and deliberately setting fire to or charring property. Although the act of arson typically involves buildings, the term can also refer to the intentional burning of other things, such as motor vehicles, wate ...

), Nemesis the Saboteur, Savitar the

Ninja A or was a covert agent or mercenary in feudal Japan. The functions of a ninja included reconnaissance In military operations, reconnaissance or scouting is the exploration of an area by military forces to obtain information about enem ...

, and a Shock Trooper figure.

Development

Mego's Vice President of Research and Development, Bill Baron, came up with the Eagle Force concept, which initially was called " Screaming Eagles," the nickname of the

U.S. Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...

101st Airborne Division The 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) ("Screaming Eagles") is a light infantry division of the United States Army that specializes in air assault operations. It can plan, coordinate, and execute multiple battalion-size air assault operati ...

. When Kirchner was brought on board in April 1981, Baron had already sketched up a number of characters, including "Captain Claw" (later named Capt. Eagle), Goldie Hawk (the company assumed this figure would be used as a hostage), and a "

hippie A hippie, also spelled hippy, especially in British English, is someone associated with the counterculture of the 1960s, originally a youth movement that began in the United States during the mid-1960s and spread to different countries around ...

" character named "Sleeze" (later named "Tilt" and finally "Zapper"). The characters Turk and "Pot Luk" (later named Kayo) were based on two security guards at the Mego Corporations headquarters. The Baron Von Chill figure was an in-joke based on Bill Baron. Many of the Eagle Force characters were based on

ethnic stereotypes An ethnic stereotype, racial stereotype or cultural stereotype involves part of a system of beliefs about typical characteristics of members of a given ethnic group, their status, societal and cultural norms. A national stereotype, or nationa ...

, including Nemesis, an

Arab The Arabs (singular: Arab; singular ar, عَرَبِيٌّ, DIN 31635: , , plural ar, عَرَب, DIN 31635: , Arabic pronunciation: ), also known as the Arab people, are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in Western Asia, ...

terrorist; General Mamba was originally based on the African military dictator

Idi Amin Idi Amin Dada Oumee (, ; 16 August 2003) was a Ugandan military officer and politician who served as the third president of Uganda from 1971 to 1979. He ruled as a military dictator and is considered one of the most brutal despots in modern w ...

. Because of backlash concerns, General Mamba became

Caucasian Caucasian may refer to: Anthropology *Anything from the Caucasus region ** ** ** ''Caucasian Exarchate'' (1917–1920), an ecclesiastical exarchate of the Russian Orthodox Church in the Caucasus region * * * Languages * Northwest Caucasian l ...

when his figure hit marketplace, and the Nemesis figure was not marketed in Europe. The first Eagle Force line included thirteen figures: Captain Eagle, Big Bro, The Cat, Goldie Hawk, Harley, Kayo, Stryker, Turk, Zapper, General Mamba, Beta Man, Savitar, and the Shock Trooper. Mego released five additional figures a short time later: Redwing, Sgt. Brown, Wild Bill, Baron Von Chill, and Nemesis. Vehicles and playsets included a mountain base ("Eagle Mountain"), a jet, two jeeps, and two tanks, all of which were based on existing products so no new high-cost molds had to be created. Eagle Mountain, for instance, was from

Marx Toys Louis Marx and Company was an American toy manufacturer in business from 1919 to 1980. They made many types of toys including tin toys, toy soldiers, toy guns, action figures, dolls, toy cars and model trains. Some of their notable toys are Rock' ...

' '' The Guns of Navarone'' playset with a few modifications. (Mego had recently acquired some Marx Toys trademarks and molding tools after that company's assets were liquidated.) In addition, Mego packaged bundles of products from the Eagle Force toy line in specialized "Adventure Packs": Communications, Ocean Patrol, Tactical, and Bivouac. The company also produced a range of Eagle Force-related comic books (penciled by Kirchner and inked by

Ralph Reese Ralph Reese (born May 19, 1949) is an American artist who has illustrated for books, magazines, trading cards, comic books and comic strips, including a year drawing the '' Flash Gordon'' strip for King Features. Prolific from the 1960s to the 1 ...

cap gun A cap gun, cap pistol, or cap rifle is a toy gun that creates a loud sound simulating a gunshot and smoke when a small percussion cap is ignited. Cap guns were originally made of cast iron, but after World War II were made of zinc alloy, and mos ...

s, and other items. Slight variations in packaging in the U.S. were common while in production by Mego; later, other companies began producing figures from the same molds. producing still more variations. Outside the United States the Eagle Force lineup included numerous variations in packaging, figure painting, and additional vehicles.

Product and sales history

Eagle Force was heavily promoted at the 1982

American International Toy Fair The North American International Toy Fair (formerly the American International Toy Fair and also known as Toy Fair New York) is an annual toy industry trade show held in mid-February in New York City's Jacob K. Javits Convention Center and at t ...

in New York City. In the U.S., Eagle Force was sold through

Target Target may refer to: Physical items * Shooting target, used in marksmanship training and various shooting sports ** Bullseye (target), the goal one for which one aims in many of these sports ** Aiming point, in field artillery, fi ...

stores in May 1982, where they instantly sold out. A second wave of figures was scheduled for 1983 release, but Mego abruptly closed down in 1982 so the second series was never produced.Eagle Force The Second Wave "Page One: The Good Guys!"
Mego Museum. Accessed Dec. 26, 2014. After Mego's demise, Eagle Force action figures were re-released by the

Ideal Toy Company Ideal Toy Company was an American toy company founded by Morris Michtom and his wife, Rose. During the post–World War II baby boom era, Ideal became the largest doll-making company in the United States. Their most popular dolls included Betsy ...

(recently having been taken over by

CBS Toys CBS Broadcasting, Inc. (CBS; originally the Columbia Broadcasting System) is an Television in the United States, American English-language Commercial broadcasting, commercial Television network, broadcast television and radio network owned by Param ...

), in packages labeled "Strike Force" where "Eagle Force" had been printed on the Mego releases. Another company subsequently used the Eagle Force molds to create a line of figures called simply "Action Figure", using totally different packaging from Eagle Force packaging. Most of the Action Figure line were painted the same as the Eagle Force line, with a few obvious exceptions, as only a tan skin color was used for the figures' heads. As a result, the

African-American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American ...

Sergeant Brown figure became

caucasian Caucasian may refer to: Anthropology *Anything from the Caucasus region ** ** ** ''Caucasian Exarchate'' (1917–1920), an ecclesiastical exarchate of the Russian Orthodox Church in the Caucasus region * * * Languages * Northwest Caucasian l ...

, and the Native American Redwing had a tan head with brown arms. In 2016, Fresh Monkey Fiction and Remco Toys ran a successful crowd funding campaign to produce a new line of Eagle Force toys under the title "Eagle Force Returns." The new toys will be 4 inch scale and arrived on the market in 2021.

Notes

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External links

Eagle Force at the Mego Museum

Eagle Force: America's Premier Strike Force!
— a collector site

Products introduced in 1982 Action figures 1980s toys Fictional military organizations

Development

Product and sales history

See also

Notes

External links