Big Jim All-Star Series 1972-1975

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Mattel released several fun figures for their larger Big Jim toy line. The period from 1972 to 1975, was named the “All Star Series” by Mattel, due to the extreme adventure theme. Big Jim’s team consisted of Big Jack, Big Josh, Big Jeff and of course, Big Jim. Two additional characters, Chief Tankua and Dr. Steel, were added later. Mattel created lots of different vehicles and playsets to accompany the figures, along with a load of various clothing outfits. The Big Jim figures also featured a chopping action, as well as a bicep muscle flexing feature.

For more information about Mattel’s Big Jim line from 1972-1975, see bottom of the page for a complete summary.

Big Jim All-Star Series (1972-1975): Basic Figures

Mattel released six different characters for their Big Jim All-Star series, with five of them being good guys and one bad. There were several different packaging versions of each figure, but they essentially remained the same figure throughout. The figures came with very minimal clothing, which was done on purpose to make kids want to buy all the cool outfits Mattel made for Big Jim and his crew.

Big Jim
Accessories: Shorts, Metal Arm Band, Dumbbell, Karate Board
Years Released: 1972, 1973, 1974, 1975
Scarcity Factor: Can still be found but it’s getting tougher each year
Notes: Big Jim was the backbone and main star of the Big Jim action figure line from the 1970’s. Jim was the original man’s man and seemed to excel at just about everything he did, including sell action figures! Jim had a chopping feature that was activated by a button on his back, as well as a bicep muscle flexing feature that allow Jim to break a “metal” band around his arm.

Market Value:
Boxed $300 – $450
Loose $70 – $100

Gold Medal U.S Olympic Boxing Match Set
Featuring Big Jim and Big Jeff
Accessories: Gold Medal Big Jim, Gold Medal Big Jeff Figures, Roundhouse Punchers x 2, Brass Plated Bell, Gold Medals x 2, Muscle Band, Boxing Glove Sets x 2, U.S Olympic Uniforms x 2
Years Released: 1974, 1975
Scarcity Factor: Can be tough to find
Notes: This set featured two action figures, with Big Jim and Big Jeff with both in their U.S. Olympic boxing uniforms. Gold Medal Big Jim had already been released individually, but this set was the only place to find a Gold Medal Big Jeff figure. This set came with two Roundhouse Punchers to control the figures, king of like Rock Em’, Sock Em’ Robots. The set also included gold medals, a brass bell, and boxing gloves.

Big Jack
Accessories: Shorts, Metal Arm Band, Dumbbell, Karate Board
Years Released: 1972, 1973, 1974, 1975
Scarcity Factor: Can still be found but it’s getting tougher each year
Notes: Big Jack was the first African-American character introduced to the Big Jim action figure line. Jack used the same body mold as Big Jim, but with a completely new head mold. He also came with the same accessories as Jim, such as the arm band, dumbbell and karate board. The Gold Medal version of Big Jack came with the American flag themed undergarment.

Big Jeff
Accessories: Shorts, Hat, Bamboo, Machete & Sling, Metal Arm Band
Years Released: 1972, 1973, 1974, 1975
Scarcity Factor: Can still be found but it’s getting tougher each year
Notes: Big Jeff was billed as an Australian member of the team, but I’m not sure how anyone would know that just by looking at him. Jeff was a blonde version of Big Jim, who came with a few new accessories, such as a machete and bamboo to cut down.

Big Josh
Accessories: Denim Shorts, Vest, Boots, Ax, Log, Metal Arm Band
Years Released: 1972, 1973, 1974, 1975
Scarcity Factor: Can still be found but it’s getting tougher each year
Notes: Big Josh was essentially the bearded version of the Big Jim figure, but with a few different accessories. Josh came with a spiffy denim outfit, along with an ax and log. The Talking Backpack version was similar to the Big Jim version of this, in that the backpack would say phrases when the cord was pulled.

Big Jim All-Star Series (1972-1975): Accessories

There were many different “accessories” released for the Big Jim action figure line but I broke them up into the categories of Vehicles, Playsets or Outfits. These three do not fit any of those categories, so here are the Big Jim Campin’ Tent, Eagle of Danger Peak and the very useful Carry-All Case for the line.

Big Jim All-Star Series (1972-1973): Carded Outfits (Narrow Package)

There were several outfit sets released for the Big Jim line with all the initial releases being released on simple white and red cards, featuring an illustration of each outfit in action. These first wave cards were narrower than later releases and mostly focused on sports related activities.

• Baseball
• Basketball
• Football
• Hockey
• Hunting
• Karate
• Lifeguard
• Race Driving
• Skiing
• Skin Diving
• Soccer
• Warm-Up

Carded packages can range from $12 for the more common ones, such as Basketball and Skin Diving, up to $80 for the tougher to find ones, such as Karate and Race Driving.

These outfits can still be found on the secondary market, but it’s getting a little tougher each year.

Big Jim All-Star Series (1974-1975): Carded Outfits (Wide Package)

The second wave of carded Big Jim outfits were greatly expanded beyond sports to include many different adventure or exploration activities. The cards were now wider and featured a more colorful illustration of each outfit on a figure.

Carded packages can range from $40 for the more common ones, such as Basketball, Skin Diving and Sport Fishing, up to $200 for the tougher to find ones, such as Woodsman, Safari and the U.S Olympic packs.

• Arctic Explorer
• Basketball
• Big League Baseball
• Boxer
• Camping
• Commando
• Cowboy
• Eagle Ranger
• Fire Fighter
• Hunting
• Ice Hockey
• Karate
• Kung-Fu
• Lifeguard
• Motocross
• Pilot

These outfits can be challenging to find on the secondary market, especially the more popular ones, and it will require some patience to find particular ones that do not show up very often.

• Pro Football
• Race Driver
• Safari
• Ski Patrol
• Skin Diving
• Spear Fishing
• Sport Fishing
• U.S Olympic Basketball
• U.S Olympic Boxing
• U.S Olympic Judo Karate
• U.S Olympic Skier
• U.S Olympic Soccer
• U.S Olympic Warm-Up
• Warm-Up
• Winter Sports Gear
• Woodsman

Big Jim All-Star Series (1974-1975): Carded Outfits – Action Sets

The Action Sets were created by Mattel later in the line to sell multiple outfits to buyers. Basically each action set contained pieces of various outfits from the list below. Most sets contained a complete outfit and then pieces of another, and changed up the outfit combination for each package. This was essentially done by Mattel to move overstocked outfits towards the end of the line, and are fairly easy to find on the secondary market.

• Arctic Patrol
• Argentine Gaucho
• Boxing
• Camping
• Cowboy
• Eagle Ranger
• Frogman
• Highway Patrol
• Indian Chief
• Motocross
• Race Driver
• Rescue Ranger
• Safari
• Sailing
• Skiing
• Soccer
• Tennis

Carded packages can range from $40 to $85, depending on condition and scarcity.

These outfit packs can still be found on the secondary market, but it’s getting tougher each year.

Big Jim All-Star Series (1972-1975): Playsets

Mattel released some really great and fun playsets that could be used with the Big Jim action figure line. Some of the sets were similar to the GI Joe or Action Jackson lines but still had that unique Big Jim flair. My personal favorite was the Kung-Fu Studio when I was a kid in the 1970’s.

Big Jim All-Star Series (1972-1975): Vehicles

Despite their similarities to other action figure lines, Mattel created some really unique vehicles for their line, which gave the Big Jim line a lot of personality. Most of the vehicles were related to adventure and just having fun, which fell in line with what the Big Jim line was all about.

When you think of iconic toy lines for each decade, the Big Jim action figure line may not be at the top of your list for the 1970’s, but that’s exactly what Big Jim was. Besides Star Wars and GI Joe, Big Jim stood out as the third highest selling action figure line of the decade, which is shocking considering how successful Mego’s World’s Greatest Super Heroes line was. To understand Big Jim’s journey to becoming an iconic toy brand, we need to go back to 1970. Mattel Toys was enjoying massive sales and success with their ultra popular Barbie Doll line for girls, but Mattel was inspired by the newly introduced GI Joe Adventure Team line and decided to start an Adventure type action figure series of their own, but with a twist. The figures would be shrunk down to a more economical 9.5 inch size and the line would not only focus on adventure themes, but also basically anything a boy would dream about getting into, such as exploring, extreme action and every sport your could think of at the time. In general, Big Jim was going to be a man’s type of man who excelled at everything he did. At the same time Mattel was creating Big Jim, Mego was launching a military adventure line of their own called Action Jackson in an 8 inch size. This meant Mattel would have to step up their game and step it up they did. The new Big Jim figures featured a chopping action that could be activated by a button on their back, as well as a bicep muscle flexing feature that would make it look like the figures had bulging arm muscles. Another great feature that Mattel introduced was TONS of accessories. One trick Mattel learned from their Barbie line was to create bunches of accessories and Big Jim got the same treatment.

During its run, Mattel gave us some really iconic and fun figures with accessories for their Big Jim toy line. Big Jim’s good guy team of adventurers consisted of Big Jack, Big Josh, Big Jeff and of course, the man himself, Big Jim. Josh was basically the bearded version of Jim. Jack used the same body as Jim but with a different head sculpt and was the African-American version. Jeff had an original head sculpt with blonde hair and was billed as an Australian character Two other characters were created after the initial waves, Chief Tankua and Dr. Steel. Tankua was one of Jim’s allies and friends, while Dr. Steel was the villain in the series. Each character went through various packaging variations but the figures pretty much remained the same. The figures were accompanied with a lot of different accessories and vehicles that you could buy, including a load of various outfits for the gang. The theme of most of the playsets and vehicles focused on adventure and exploration, which fell in line with what the Big Jim team was all about . The highlights from the vehicles included the Sports Camper, Rugged Rig, Baja Beast, and Rugged Rider. The playsets included such fun pieces such as the Jungle Adventure Set, Devil River Trip, the massive Sky Commander, and my personal favorite, the Kung-Fu Studio.

The packaging for the Big Jim action figure line was fairly consistent throughout its run, with the exception of the last wave of items from 1974/1975. The initial design was simple looking with a general white color theme and red/blue coloring accents on various parts of the package. The packaging used a box format that went through a few different variations during its run. The initial box was kind of a tri-fold package with photos of the figure in action poses along the side. That morphed into a traditional looking open window box with an illustration of the character on the front. There was a slightly wider type of that package that was also used beginning in late 1973. Towards the end of the Big Jim All-Star run, Mattel changed to a wide box with very colorful illustrations of each character in action poses. Regardless of which package was used, the one thing that remained consistent was the classic Big Jim logo, with the Big always being in red and the Jim always written in blue. The location of the logo was always towards the bottom of the packaging, no matter which wave. The vehicles and playsets used the same format with the earlier releases featuring plain looking boxes, highlighted with red and blue accents, but the later releases featuring more colorful packaging.