Doll-A-Day 2017 #18 Steve Scout by Kenner

  Yesterday we saw Craig Cub Scout, since Cub's Scouts come before Boy Scouts. So today we're looking at Steve Scout, the Boy Scout doll, by Kenner.

  As I told you yesterday, there were four Scout dolls in the line: Steve and Bob Scout,(Bob was an African American), and Cub Scouts Craig, and Dave, an African American.(The two African American figures are harder to find.)

 At 9" tall Steve is 1/2" taller than Craig.

  Steve's Scout uniform includes the shirt, pants, attached belt,neckerchief,shoes.

He has the Scout emblem on his shirt and belt buckle. His belt buckle is starting to corrode.

The Scout emblem is on the back of his neckerchief too. His belt is sewn to his pants in the back.

  The body articulation is very similar to GI Joe.

His right hand is in the Scout salute position. Poor Steve's head has become very loose, and can't hold a pose any more. But his hip joints are super tight. So are Craig's so I think it's just the way they are. And I mean SUPER tight, as in, hardly moveable.

His hair is painted but with molded detail.

 
 The line began1974. It seems to have run for at least two years. There were an awful lot of things produced for a two year line! 

I mentioned yesterday that there were alot of playsets produced for the Scouts. When I said alot, I meant A LOT. There were over a dozen sets, and most contained a fair amount of items.

Pretty cool. I would have loved this set, and my kids would have too.

These guys aren't old enough to drive are they?

There's a load of good stuff in this set,including a campfire, a lantern,a sleeping bag, and cooking equipment.

There was a Scout command post that was nearly 3' tall. Kenner really went all out on this line. In addition to playsets,(Which came with a comic book adventure based on the set.) like 'Avalanche on Blizzard Ridge', and  'Warning from Thunderhead Weather Station', 'Danger at Snake River', and 'Search for the Spanish Galleon',there were also accessory packs like 'mountain medic', and 'metal detector'. I mean, this was some good stuff.

  Supposedly there was a series of  adventure costumes made called the Historic American Series. It included a couple of revolutionary  war era outfits called The Patriot and Drummer Boy, a cowboy outfit called Out West, and a fringed 'Frontier' outfit. I'm not really sure the outfits were actually produced, because I can't find any details about them, or any pictures besides the drawings in the booklet included with the dolls. I know there were plans for Civil War uniforms, both sides, but the line ended before that happened. But at least I found some mock ups for the packaging for those.

  The line only lasted a couple of years, from what I can tell. The general consensus seems to be that Boy Scouts were a dumb idea for action figures. They weren't as heroic and worldly as soldiers or science fiction guys. But looking at all the great adventure sets they made for the Scouts, I really don't think that's fair. If kids could identify with the Scouts, they could put themselves in their place and live the adventures through them. Maybe it just made their own Scouting adventures seem pretty pathetic. I will also admit that the complaint that alot of the Scouts adventures were things that would probably not  happen to real Scouts,(like rescuing people in the mountains,etc.),have some truth to them. But isn't that the point of play? One of the Scouts competitors was The Bionic Man. Now that stuff wasn't real either, but nobody seems to have a problem with The Bionic Man. Some things just aren't fair.

"Hey! We can rescue people!"

  Join us tomorrow for another doll.