Lunar Rover Comparison

In 2000 I saw the Action Man Lunar Rover, and wanted one. Designed to loosely mimic the Lunar Rovers used by the Apollo Astronauts, this vehicle was given the Action Man treatment, including detailed piping on most surfaces. I wanted one, but the problem was that it was mostly available in the UK. To get one, I would have had to have a source in the UK or Australia, which would mean getting it at discount and having it shipped, to make it worthwhile. The Action Man vehicle also included space suit, helmet, breathing unit, boots and gloves.

Then I found an unusual item at Toys R Us. The Small Soldiers Ground Assault Vehicle. Small Soldiers had produced a line of toys that consisted of 6" figures. This vehicle was, believe it or not, marketed as a vehicle for those figures, half the size of the characters it was intended to fit. I didn't believe it at first, but close inspection of photos on the internet proved that this was a valid theory. It came with no figure or outfit, but was only $7.00

Now that I have both, and I have photographed them side-by-side. The evidence is incontravertible. This is the most bizarre "repurposing" of a toy I've ever seen.


The Action Man Lunar Rover. (The AT stickers are mine.) The body is completely white, including the seat, control panel, fenders and front sensors. The wheels, foot pedals and controls are silver-grey. This model has an antenna.	The Small Soldiers Ground Assault Vehicle. The body is military green. The seat and control panels are bright red. The fenders and front sensors are dark silver. The wheels are black. This model has no antenna.


The radar gun is silver with transparent orange dish and missile. The control panel has stickers to indicate the dash readouts. (Again, the Adventure Team stickers are my own.)	The radar gun is black with transparent orange dish and missile. The control panel had no stickers.


The axles are white, while the hubs of the wheels are unpainted - the same color as the tires.	The axels are military green. The hubs are painted silver on black wheels.

This is Action Man wearing the space suit that came with this Rover. As you can see he fits like a glove. After all, he was meant to.

This is Action Man driving the Small Soldiers Ground Assault Vehicle. He fits like a glove. After all, it's the same mold.

The bottom line is that this is the weirdest "repurposing" of a toy I've ever seen. It was designed to fit figures twice the size of the "Small Soldiers" line. There are two 12" Small Soldiers figures, but the figures pictured on the box are the 6" figures. Go figure.

I like both of these vehicles. Each is nice, but they could have different purposes. One a lunar exploration vehicle, and the other a more mission-based vehicle.

Ideally, I would swap the fenders, and the front sensors. This would improve the look of the white one, but would not do much to improve the multi-colored version.