In the 1970s, when Viet Nam had made warfare unpalateable to many parents, toy manufacturer Hasbro re-imagined GI-Joe, the battle-hardened soldier for which Hasbro coined the term "Action Figure," into explorers, naturalists, archeologists, conservationists, and counterterrorists, members of an ill-defined organization called the Adventure Team.
As the popularity of that waned, an attempt was made to juice the AT up a bit by giving them an enemy to fight, alien cave-men called "The Intruders." These figures, comically under-articulated, wore metallic-colored armored harnesses, and waved their arms a lot. They were pretty sad as far as opponents go. I never owned one as a child, because I thought they were lame, but I always liked their Neanderthal heads. As an adult, who has realized that you can mak whle toys the way you want by combining parts, I got a kined of doughy-but-over-muscular body with good articulation, and an Intruder to take the head from, and made my own modern-day Neanderthaler, named Torg. (He was finished last night.)
And, of course, the first thing my modern-day caveman needed was an endorsement gig:
I think Torg is going to end up being a "Doctor Who" companion who finds work as a Private Eye, but for now, he's a spokesman.
