BMC Toys: Plastic Army Women Project: Update #11

Posted by Jeff Imel on Nov 01, 2020

Here's a way overdue and exciting update on the BMC Toys Plastic Army Women project:

It's been an incredibly hectic and productive couple of months since the last blog update. The plastic injection molds went through several rounds of testing and refinement and finally arrived at the factory in Scranton a couple of weeks ago. They were tested again for pre-production and after just a small adjustment to a couple of ejector pins have been happily molding the final production figures. Here's one of the molds installed with water lines connected and a bin of the initial test factory shots:

BMC Toys Plastic Army Women Injection Mold and Test Shots

Molding and sorting for the tan and pink sets is in progress and final packaging is starting this week. Molding and sorting of the OD Green figures should begin this week as well. I don't yet know when they will be available for general purchase since there are a lot of Kickstarter backers and pre-orders that need to ship first. I'm hoping that there will be some inventory available in time for the holidays, but if you really want them please place a pre-order to reserve your set as soon as possible. Here's some sorting bins of the tan and pink figures, their next stop is final production:

BMC Toys® Plastic Army Women Sorting Bins

The package inserts for the bagged sets are also ready, here's the new art:

BMC Toys Plastic Army Women Insert Card Art

There's 22 different figures plus Military Working dog with leash and stretcher accessories in the 36 piece set. Most of the combat poses will include 2 copies per set while the support figures will include one figure each. Here's all the different figures that will be included:

BMC Toys Plastic Army Women Figures Digitial Mockup

This turned out to be a way more ambitious and complicated project than I'd planned, but I think most folks will be happy with the end result. I think the scale and general style blends really well with other figures in the BMC product line as well as the wider "Plastic Army" toy universe. Here's what I posted in the BMC Toys blog back in August of 2019:

"The general concept is a set of female combat toy soldier figures in the style of the plastic army men from WW2-Cold War era that would blend in with existing figures from a variety of manufacturers and look like what the average person thinks of as 'little green army men' that just happen to be women."

It may not have been the most eloquent way to describe the project, but I think the project has kept true to the original intent.

In related news, the Rosie the Riveter side project is finished and available for purchase:

Rosie has been a big hit with everyone who's seen her in person so far. I'm seeing her all over the factory on shelves and desks and told she's like their elf-on-the-shelf.

The next update should be when we have some actual finished Plastic Army Women sets!

Pre-Order now to receive your set of Plastic Army Women as soon as they are available. Your Credit Card will not be charged until your order is ready to ship.