Canada gets its own G.I. Joe with Heroes Force military action figures

When I was a kid, I had one of the original G.I. Joes, the 12-inch kind with uniforms you could change, different guns and a plethora of easily-lost accessories. My friends and I loved playing with them but I can trace a sudden loss of interest in my little plastic military avatar precisely to the day one of my mother's friends said, within my hearing, "I didn't know Steven played with dolls."

G.I. Joes shrank to toy soldier size in the 1980s and weathered the Vietnam-era anti-military backlash to become a kid favourite.

Now, with our military profile at its highest level since the Second World War, Canadian kids are getting their own plastic action men. Shannon Thibodeau, a Canadian soldier who served in Afghanistan and Europe, has created a series of action figures based on real Canuck fighters, CTV reports.

"When I had two boys, I got back into collecting toys and vintage toys and I couldn't find nothing Canadian," he told CTV.

Thibodeau, who hails from Valley, N.S., worked with his graphic designer friend John Alan Sperry to create the Heroes Force figures. There are three in all, representing the army, navy and air force. Thibodeau has even presented one to Defence Minister Peter MacKay.

About 6,000 figures have been manufactured so far. The toys are sold initially in Ontario and Nova Scotia, with $1 of the $10 sale price going to the Soldiers Fund, which helps injured soldiers and the families of those who've been killed.

"Obviously it brings back memories from when I played with G.I. Joes, because I loved it," Sperry told the Truro Daily News.

Sperry was surprised at the reaction to the Canadian action figures. A retailer told him buyers shared stories of lost loved ones and military memories that brought her to tears. People made trips from as far away as Fredericton, N.B., to buy them.

"To produce something with a Canadian flag on it and have it have meaning for so many other people, I think that's where it touches me more," Sperry said.

"And it finally dinged on me, it was like we had made something that someone could actually attach themselves emotionally to."

(Image courtesy of Heroesforce.com)