Sunday, February 21, 2010

Shades of Black, Part Two: Hasbro Male Complexions



The action figures shown above are from left to right:

G. I. Joe Basic Training Heavy Duty Lamont A. Morris, Heavy Ordinance Specialist
G. I. Joe Tuskegee Fighter Pilot
Star Wars Attack of the Clones Mace Windu
G. I. Joe Valor vs. Venom Roadblock a.k.a. Marvin F. Hinton
Star Wars Return of the Jedi Lando Calrissian

Hasbro colors their Black males from medium red brown (Mace Windu) to dark expresso brown (Lando Calrissian). A recent exception though would be the Black Joe character, Ripcord in the recent G.I. Joe movie.

Aside: Hasbro's newer action figures avoid the "Ken bump" or "no bump" by dressing their male figures in molded underpants either in "flesh" colors OR in the color of the molded on tee shirt or top. Later Kens have used the same approach to male dolls' anatomy. Would be interesting to see if the molded underpants proved less traumatic than the "no bump" body.