Toy-Ventures 22: Bulletman from the GI Joe Adventure Team

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This week we take a look at Bulletman: The Human Bullet and his many international variations from the UK (Palitoy) and Mexico (Lili Ledy). I discuss my personal history with this figure and why he's so special to me.
#gijoe #bulletman
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[@agentsuperargo5023]

Good Lord it's official..."I'M OLD!" I had all of them.

[@BrickMantooth]

We're old.

[@curtisjoyce5675]

Absolutely adored Bullet Man. I've always had a fascination with toys featuring removable masks, and this one was right up my alley.

[@danielernest973]

The best birthday present I ever had! Being British, I had the Action Man version with the jet boots, made from the same chrome plastic as his arms and helmet - all of which tarnished somewhat after much playing with, and also became brittle. By the end, his fingers had snapped off where we had tried to put a gun in his hand, and the only way to keep the jets on the back of his boots was with sellotape (clear sticky tape) - but he was much loved. I don't know if he ever had an official back story, but we called his secret identity 'Bill Yates' (which came from a character in a Lone Ranger Comic Strip Annual) - back in the Seventies (before eBay and Car Boot/Garage sales) jumble sales and church fetes were quite a big thing, and you could pick up home-made trousers and jumpers for 'Action Man' knitted by sweet old ladies at pocket money prices - when off-duty, one of these knitted outfits fitted neatly over Bullet Man's (or Bill Yates's!) official outfit. Rambling a bit here, but this video has brought up some very happy childhood memories! Just one more thing about his head: I always assumed his head was made of a softer more squidgy plastic than other Action Men/G I Joes, so that his helmet would fit and stay in place (I remember us trying it out on other Action Men and it not quite fitting!)

[@mailalan]

I love Bullet Man. I still have mine that I got as a kid. And all these years later I have never forgotten and can still hear "Bullet Man the human bullet!" from the TV commercial.

[@chrishight6598]

Bulletman was my favorite GI Joe figure. Beautifully made.

[@tonysine6577]

Had 2 of them as a kid. Loved him!! Played with him all the time!

[@BrickMantooth]

me too, except i only had one.

[@michaelkirk2384]

Loved Bulletman. He was my favorite GI Joe.

[@moondoggy6668]

Loved bullet man. I also have fond memories of it.

[@BrickMantooth]

we share that.

[@TheJohno95]

I LOVED Bulletman! One of my favorite toys! The whole G.I. Joe Adventure Team was pretty cool!

[@BrickMantooth]

really happy you found this video!

[@bradleyconrad678]

When I was five or six II’m not sure I thought anything was “silly”. The 60s Batman was serious business. I didn’t have Bulltitman but I had friends who did and I was envious. That chrome! A year of so later came the Micronauts and all of my toy desires were displaced by that particular obsession.

[@kerry3355]

My favourite Toy as a kid I remember him on a wire Brilliant memories.

[@AwakeningComics]

Great video, though I missed hearing the commercial in which they sing, "Bulletman the human bullet"! I was waiting for it the whole time.

[@BrickMantooth]

good copies of that are hard to track down. I have a VHS of it but it's almost unwatchable, so i left it out.

[@obibohn]

I just discovered your channel recently and I love it! I remember having Bulletman when I was a kid. Thanks for posting this!

[@SkotNealey]

i have wanted Bulletman ever since i was a child and saw his ad in a comic book

[@BrickMantooth]

that was a groovy ad.

[@classof1984]

Wow i had all 4. Those were good memories thanks for showing this

[@damionalbarr7961]

LOVE your videos as they connect me with my childhood and all those awesome toys I used to play with and own

[@nicholasbielik7156]

It appears that I had all of the 1976 Adventure Team figures with the exception of the Intruder. I have fond memories of playing with Bulletman, Mike Power, and the Eagle Eye GI Joe. I was peripherally aware of the late 60s and early 70s Joes as a family friend’s oldest son had the Astronaut GI Joe, the Deep Sea diver, and a bunch of other outfits, vehicles, and figures. I loved the Super Adventure Team, but the earlier AT sets have the glow of things I never had but always wanted.

[@loganjorgensen]

He is very striking with an iconic design. Fun to hear some history on him, was just watching Toy Polloi's repair video for this figure. Happy to see some new plastic electroplating going on since a lot of vintage metallic toys flaked and de-chromed. I think the whole concept goes back to circus human cannon stunts that I don't think anyone can genuinely claim any such character as an original design.

[@acrodave9287]

Still got my Palitoy Atomic man, I saw Bullet man on sale but didn't get him because he had what we used to call 'Spazzy hands', the old Action man hands before the introduction of Gripping hands. In retrospect it's a pity I didn't get him, but then you know what they say about hindsight having 20/20 vision...👍👍👍

[@falcondonnorjhonn1098]

Hombre bala... Simplemente genial... Linda figura... Friend!!!

[@salamitommy9939]

I always loved the concept of Bulletman but didn't get into the history behind the character as well as the original Fawcett Comics version until after 2002. I joined a GIJoe forum and found out they remade him as one of their convention exclusive figures in the smaller scale. It blows my mind that the original character and concept fell into public domain. GIJoe or one of the bigger comic companies should've already capitalized on this classic in more recent years! Fun Fact: Alex Ross included the Fawcett Bulletman in the Kingdom Come mini series in the 90's and his design was more inspired by the GIJoe version and had metal arms.

[@prettyboy1970]

I got this for my 7th birthday in 1977.

[@mahler151]

Never seen this character before but really love the design. I'm no collector but if I saw one of these I'd certainly pick it up!

[@colinmathura-jeffree9829]

Fascinating. I literally customised Bulletgirl from 1940s out of a 1940s masterpiece Wonder Woman and just discovered this

[@illumardimago2307]

Wooow thabks I had bulletteman. Back. In the day.what memories I bet. It'll cost. By the thoisands

[@BrickMantooth]

It can be pricey now for sure.

[@drahculia3579]

1970s, several times I changed Bulletman to-and-from his 'secret identity' (his hero outfit coverd by Maskatron's clothes and shoes).

[@classof1984]

That was one of my favorite figures

[@rickholeman9045]

I had no recollection of Bullet Man until just now.

[@spoonerlee2908]

Awsome cheers

[@Scotty-Z70]

i've wanted him since i was a kid and saw his ad in a comic book. I begged my mom for him, but she said that comic was old and that toy was no longer in the stores.

[@darthgoggins1747]

I got a bulletman from Kmart when they first came out. I really liked bulletman a lot. I thought he was pretty cool. Mike powers was okay as a cheaper version of Steve Austin. I no longer have a bulletman but would sure like to have one in Good shape. As to how he fit in with the Joe's I'm not sure really but I appreciated the uniqueness.

[@BrickMantooth]

Yeah I was totally fine with this as a kid, never questioned that it was weird for Joe to have a Superhero.

[@TheCarltoons]

nicely done. although I can never seem to be able to get one, at a reasonable price, I'll have to create one for myself.

[@BrickMantooth]

He is a bit of a tough one to find.

[@RayfieldA]

I have just seen John Cena the new trailer for Suicide Squad and had a Massive "Flashback" from my childhood and had to look up a toy that I thought was named Bullet Head from G.I. Joe!! My god, that commercial!!😅It was so good to see this again!! I Begged my parents for ALL these G.I. Joe figures!

[@paulfranco9052]

Man i wish i could find gijoe bulletman and atomic mike powers at a toy collectors shop or at a collectible antique collectible shop, back then i remember going to a toy and comic book shop at Albuquerque on vacation and they had a bulletman still sealed and brand new like for 30 dollars, man i should've bought it

[@bonecos_do_maninho1971]

Parabéns pelo vídeo.

[@BrickMantooth]

obrigado

[@ronparker8582]

I thought he looked like George Lazenby and I had Captain Action and The Man from UNCLE. figures and since we lived in Germany for awhile I had more than a few of the Palitoy sets.

[@illumardimago2307]

He was my. Favioratevi hope. They revamp him for this. Generation but I doubt. Thank in my child inside me thanks u.

[@BrickMantooth]

glad you liked it!

[@scottmartin7645]

I was always intrigued by Bullet Man. I understood the connection between Major Mike Power and the Adventure Team. But the idea of an all-out super-hero in the line was baffling. The costume was a bit odd. I would have left the exposed arms but covered up the legs.

[@SmithMrCorona]

That team needed a helicopter, a jet pack, and a submarine to find a caveman? Seems pretty much the standard military MO.

[@BrickMantooth]

Ha!

[@pooddescrewch8718]

I liked any superhero that you could unmask . Like the original Batman and Robin figures Mego sold

[@jasonjensen011]

"Let's not talk about intruder" lol

[@charlesyoung973]

My mom and dad bought me a bullet man.

[@Ektalon]

With that curled sticker, the British Bulletman looks like he has a taco stuck to his chest . . .

[@Charg23]

I'm from México im still have My bullet man "Hombre Bala" from Lili Ledy Factory toys from 1978-79 i Guess. It was arms restored helmet and cloths original box is repro. He belongs to "Aventureros de Acción" líne not GI Joe like in U.S.A.

[@spoonerlee2908]

Is he held together with elastic like action man ?

[@BrickMantooth]

He has a "Muscle body" which is notorious for falling apart.

[@RoyalKnightVIII]

Bulletman is the golden age bulletman if warner had the © they could've sued and would've Fun fact there was also a canadian bulletman

[@ComicJunkie]

You do realise that this toy was only created in the 70s right? D.C. didn’t gain Fawcett’s IPs till the 90s.

[@RoyalKnightVIII]

@@ComicJunkie Yeah they bought extant ©s, and it's often suspected that all they actually bought was backstock for the most part Dozens of issues of Captain Marvel & Bulletman were already public domain since they never got renewed, including source works. If dc had the ©s which they claimed to own in the 70s they could easily stop hasbro from ever using anyone called Bulletman

[@ComicJunkie]

@@RoyalKnightVIII no popular library (pretty much most of Fawcett’s assets) wasn’t sold to Warner communications till the 90s. D.C. didn’t own any of the Fawcett characters till the 90s. They just had the licenses for the characters. And no while a lot of Fawcett issues fell PD. A lot were actually renewed and more of this was confirmed a few years back by Warner Brother’s legal team. Copyright doesn’t protect characters or names you realise? It would have been Fawcett’s right to sue hasbro unlawfully using bulletman not DC’s. D.C. was just a licensee. Even when dc got the licenses. They still had to pay a Fawcett fees to use each of their characters.

[@ComicJunkie]

@@RoyalKnightVIII DC could not have gotten involved. Your lack of research is showing

[@RoyalKnightVIII]

@@ComicJunkie They could because they acquired what was left of Fawcett in 1972 not 1990. One wonders how dc was publishing captain marvel during the 70s then or have the tv show

[@SkotNealey]

guess what? i bought a loose 2 sets of the FIRESTAR-1, both colors on Ebay for $30 both vehicles and both pilots. i think the pilots are the same.

[@BrickMantooth]

congrats!

[@illumardimago2307]

My cousin had. Or ms I had. Atomic man.ya my cousin

[@haroldellis9721]

For me, Bulletman was when GI Joe jumped the shark. If you enjoyed him, that's great, but Mike Powers was as far off the Adventure team script as I was willing to go.

[@BrickMantooth]

It's all relative to where you were at the time, I was five and adored it. I remember hating the GI Joe cartoon deeming it "too kiddy" so I get where you're coming from.

[@markshulusky6680]

"El Hombre Bala" illegal immigrant from another world.

[@garyhoutz1540]

He had lousy elbo6and knees. They never worked right.

[@tj3816]

Thanks Brick Mantooth! Bringing back GREAT MEMORIES!👍🏼😃

[@BrickMantooth]

glad you liked it!

[@kennybranshaw7526]

i loved Bullet Man as a child! Unfortunately i never saw him in person, not even in stores, only on commercials. Really wanted him!

[@Diabolik771]

In every neighborhood, there was a kid that looked like Intruder! The US boots were better.

[@Bucky749]

I wonder what bullet man looks like standing next to a mego Shazam action figure ?

[@TheToyBoy1978]

I'm a fairly big Action Man collector but even though i have a Bullet Man in my collection, i have to be honest and say that he certainly isn't my favourite. With Action Man its mainly about the Uniforms and the vehicles, Bullet Man is a little bit 'corny' in my opinion and very out of place amongst the rest of my VAM collection & would certainly look better amongst a crowd of 1/6 scale Mego's.

[@GhostGL]

I remember Bullet Man, as I remember it I was at a birthday party might of been a relation. But I was given one to open, but just to open. I thought he was mine to keep. Though I do remember poking fun at his oufit. Course I was little upset that I didn't actually get to keep em. Though I don't really remember seeing em in stores or actually looking for him in stores. Of course today I would get em if I could.

[@kingerikthegreatest.ofall.7860]

I had bulletman, but I trashed him.

[@genesanford9412]

durning those last G.I.Joe days for me , iwas also into comic hero,s & thought BulletMan was o.k. ,but i got M.Powers instead.(6mil$ mans buddy)

[@YAMISOOLD2009]

I am in your age range so I remember Bulletman advertising very well. But sadly I never got to own one or play with one. I had Mike Power but the next thing I knew G.I. Joe got small. Looking back as a 50+ adult it boggles the mind how fast all of this went down. Over course in kid time it seemed like forever.

[@hanleysoloway7965]

Love him: I make my own now instagram.com/p/B30U4LGngRc/

[@salvatorepatrone1912]

I didn't have many Joe's, or extra clothes. Bulletman's alter ego merely wore a camo jacket over his costume. But despite the lousy disguise he was as cagey as Clark Kent and no one knew. My Bulletman met a sad end. My brother tried to repair where paint chipped off of his hair and ended up painting half of head black. Mom made him give me one of his Joe's head to replace it, but his helmet no longer fit, thus forcing him into retirement.

[@ThePerfectSeason1972]

I favored the older 1960s and 1970s G.I. Joe’s. By the time these series of Joe’s came out, and I saw them in there blister packs, I sort of saw them as being cheaply made and cheesy looking. I had gotten older at that point in my life and maybe that’s why, so I naturally lost interest in them, so I never bonded to that specific branding. I started getting into go-carts and mini-bikes.

[@jackywhipet]

8/10 figure for me. Loved it

[@Loverboy19691]

I had the Bullet man figure in the UK in the 1970's. I kept it for years. I quickly lost the helmet. in time the silver on the arms began to disappear and he eventually became 'David Banner ' to my 12 inch incredible Hulk figure that I had in 1978.

[@reepacheirpfirewalker8629]

I had one but I was not five years old when this came out. I remember seeing a lot of them for sale at yard sales and flea markets in S> California I don't mean in every single one but I saw it enough that to me it didn't really seem like a difficult figure to get. The hard part was the helmet I don't remember ever seeing it with the figure. That was when I knew the Defender wasn't a knock off as before I thought it had been because the head just seemed so non Joe I thought it was. The funny thing I have taken those Defender heads and flocked them and put them on the repro non Joe bodies that I also flocked the heads going onto the Lanard 12 inch bodies perfect.

[@THX1968]

Hasbro developed Eagle Eyes.

[@machiavellianwolf8246]

Incorrect.

[@THX1968]

@@machiavellianwolf8246 Eagle Eyes were developed by an engineer at Hasbro named James King. That's a fact.

[@machiavellianwolf8246]

@@THX1968 Wrong again.

[@THX1968]

@@machiavellianwolf8246 Hahahahahahahahahaha!

[@plloydholt]

I had the Palitoy version here in the uk. One of my favourite toys ever!

[@antonmassopust4835]

I never had bulletman but I did have the atomic man and just like your bullet man I played with him till we broke I also had the Intruder but he also broke he was a lot of fun to play with two though he was just kind of silly always wanted bullet man and there was a friend of mine that had one but he turned him into a mummy for an art project for school so I always wanted him I still have my Atomic man even though he's in pieces thanks for the video it's awesome

[@TheModelVault]

I always wanted Bullet Man because of the comic book ads..but i only had The Intruder. 4:37 If today's companies made ads like these they would sell more toys... such a shame this "art" of toy commercials is long gone.

[@georgeelmerdenbrough6906]

Bolletman was a weak answer to superhero action figures . GI Joe was high adventure , not science fiction .

[@georgeelmerdenbrough6906]

Big Jim looked great but was awful . The legs would be guaranteed to fall off . Mego and Gi Joe were best .

[@georgeelmerdenbrough6906]

My cousin had one and wouldn't let mw touch it .

[@taxprotester]

An old boss of mine - Frank Fosella - claimed to be the designer of Bullet Man.

[@BrickMantooth]

No foolin', I never heard that before.

[@GarysActionManChannel1970]

That commercial is unintentionally very funny

[@GarysActionManChannel1970]

UK Christmas 1977 - Action Man version

[@Loverboy19691]

Cool, I would make mine fly on that piece of string.

[@RaymondCastile]

I loved my childhood Intruder, which I still have. Don’t knock him! He was a cute little space caveman. I made him fight Gor, who I also still have.

[@BrickMantooth]

I own three of them, so it's not like i hate him but it's really out there as Joe's first enemy.

[@Chapwiththewings5roundsrapid]

I'd have loved this figure as a kid (in the UK) but never saw it as it was available for such a short period of time. Now it rarely comes up mint in box and when it does it's £400+. A dealer has one mint in box in Birmingham a few years ago for £250 and when I e-mailed him it had gone the day before! Incidentally 'Kung Fu Grip' was known as 'Realistic Gripping Hands' in the UK, I think the American description is better. You're absolutely right there is/was a baby boomer snobery over the fantasy figures but I adore them. Look forward to Atomic Man (as we knew Mike Powers) review.

[@BrickMantooth]

thanks I'm looking forward to doing the Atomic Man one, he's like an old friend to me.

[@RandomDudeFromSomewhere]

I had this as a little kid and loved it.

[@Defynt13]

I liked the commercial, but when I saw him in the store my 6 year old mind made him look better than he actually was so I passed on him

[@Desslar]

The thing I don't understand about this line is the absence of any interesting villains. The Intruder is unbelievably lame. Look at the Action Man ad - all the Intruder can do is hide from the Joes high tech arsenal and wet himself. Who thought this was a good idea?

[@BrickMantooth]

i'd really like to know the thinking behind intruder myself.

[@Desslar]

@@BrickMantooth I'm guessing they were trying to (A) capitalize on Planet of the Apes fever and (B) develop a villain that could be battled without the use of firearms , given the post-Vietnam environment

[@BrickMantooth]

@@Desslar I think you may be right about the apes but I also think that mechanism played a part in the design and probably why he's so short. I would think a 12" villain with a cool accessory or deco would have done better.

[@reepacheirpfirewalker8629]

@@BrickMantooth I just kitbash other figures into the 'bad guy' sets but not the heads of the classic Joe heads whether the painted hair or the flocked heads it would either be the foreigner head or something else from a non-Joe maker to be that bad guy.

[@rickytoddbotelho9555]

I had this one, Masketron, the two Gorillaz like bruisers. Why this one didn't go on. Baffling. Thanks for clearing up this mystery.

[@sarcastanaut]

Bulletman was awesome!

[@dazblue5515]

I love Bullet Man, and have bits of him, but sadly not a complete figure

[@OldGuysWhoLikeOldComics]

Loved Bullet-Man. It was the comic ad that hooked me -- still looks great today. Got the figure for my birthday and was crushed when he fell apart after too many "flights" -- lousy 1970s recession-era plastic!

[@E-candy]

Had mine in kindergarten as well at 5 years old. Favorite toy that broke and given away. Recently reacquired and love it. Have a repro box but don't care. Happy to own this amazing figure again. And superb review Brian. Homerun!

[@andrewtaylor940]

I loved Bulletman. Those chrome arms were great. Although the best most fun figure of the Adventure Team years was the Bionic Man clone Atomic Man. That helicopter arm feature was a blast as was the light piped eye. Speaking of Palitoys doing some neat new things with the GI Joe license and tooling, it’s worth noting over across the Pacific in Japan, Takara had the Hasbro license for GI Joe, and recast it in transparent plastic with a metal vac head to become Henshin Cyborg. Which they then reduced to 3 1/2 inch size as Microman (Mego’s Micronauts), and who’s evolving product line eventually found its way back to Hasbro to be rebranded as the Transformers. So yeah, the Transformers are quite literally the Japanese love children of G I Joe. (Spider-man has a similar line of illegitimate Japanese offspring that we know as The Power Rangers.)

[@SupesMe]

I love bullet man! But I hear it’s blasphemous to bring one to a G.I. Joe convention

[@josepheiden2777]

Bullet man was the best. I loved this as a kid back in the day. I remember my brother got Mike Powers and his mountain hideout playset and a couple of the Mike Power outfits. I got bullet man and the Intruder. I already had a eagle eye GI Joe and a ton of adventure team stuff. So we were all set to go. I'm really surprised Hasbro never reintroduced Bullet man in the 3 3/4 inch line. Especially towards the end of the run. With all the Joes in bright colored uniforms and accessories Bullet man would have fit right in. I'm also surprised the GI Joe Collectors Club didn't give us a new Bullet man. We got a new Mike Powers, a new Super Joe with green skin and a new character Dr Isotobe that glowed in the dark. We even got a new adventure team member that delt with magic and mysticism called the Arcane Adventurer. Again, a new Bullet man would have fit right in.

[@Seventiesfan]

Thanks for another wonderful video. Several years ago I was finally able to buy a Bulletman. It took several Ebay auctions. Since I couldn't afford the astronomical prices people are charging, I had to buy Bulletman piece by piece and put him together. Since then, I've done that several more times with action figures that are out of my price range.

[@ShadeofJeremy]

I'm afraid I just missed out on the Adventure Team/Super Adventure Team Joes. But I think I would have loved them as a kid. As I've learned more about them I wish I could have had them. They have also been an influence on my writing as I've been working on short stories about a team much like their's. Bullet Man here is one I still know the least about so I thank you for this video.

[@richardmark9161]

Thank you so much for this video, been waiting for a good video on BULLETMAN. I've always been curious about the BULLETMAN head sculpt and the inspirations and the model. Hopeful you might be able to get that info if you have the resources to find out. Thanks again. Great video.

[@betaraybob]

I sort of had Bullet Man as a kid. I remember getting him in a box toys from an estate auction that mostly had Micronauts toys, a couple of Metal Men and some other Sci-Fi stuff. Bullet Man did not have any packaging and this was all pre-internet so I knew nothing about him except he looked cool with his chrome arms and helmet. He ended up becoming a giant that helped out my Micronauts, Metal Men, Buck Rogers and Adventure People. Unfortunately, since he didn't fit in the Space Case he didn't get to travel away from home with the other heroes. It wouldn't be until decades later that I ever learned her was part of G.I.Joe.

[@customgod]

My all-time favorite G.I.Joe figure!

[@kate4508]

I think what "Killed" Joe's were the ones I got in the Md 70's (I was around 9) that were called Super Joe I had the green guy named Gor? and the all had lights in the chest and were only about 9 inch S*U*C*K* lol

[@jokerproduction5135]

The first time I saw this guy was on the back of the 12 inch destro in toys are us never forgot him but man hard to find the mike powers was in a flea market I think I payed 12 dollars lol 😂

[@vincentfranklin17]

I got a Bulletman action figure for my tenth birthday! I loved it!