HM Armed Forces – Page 4 – HM Armed Forces Toys

New HMAF Toys 2011

At the London Toy Fair on January 25th 2011 Character unveiled their new HM Armed Forces toys for 2011.

First mention must go to the Army Apache Helicopter.

Fully armoured this four-blade, twin-engine attack helicopter comes with a chain gun carried between its main landing gear under the aircraft’s forward fuselage.

The superb new HMAF Apache Helicopter features real firing wing rockets and rotating rotor blades. The Apache’s cockpit opens to fit in an HMAF pilot figure. Verdict: its awesome!

Also mentioned in dispatches is the HM Armed Forces 105mm Light Field Gun. The Field Gun features a real firing action with six shells included.

The Light Field Gun can be towed by the HMAF Jackal MWMIK vehicle.

2011 will see the launch of a new version of the Spring Powered Launcher with the RAF Red Arrows liveried jet added to the range.

Fans of the HMAF action figures will be delighted by the release of new accessory packs. We’ll get the Royal Navy Diver Equipment Set; the Military Police Close Protection Bodyguard Equipment Set; and the RAF Fast Jet Pilot Equipment Set.

And all that’s in addition to the previously announced Combat FX Talking HMAF Figures!

Micro Figures

Unveiled at the London Toy Fair, HM Armed Forces Micro Figures and Playsets are a major new extension to the HMAF toy range.

HMAF Character Building Micro-Figures and Playsets are marketed by Character under a new ‘Character Building’ line of ‘Collectable, Constructable & Compatible’ lego-inspired toys.

The HMAF micro figures stand roughly 2″ tall and come with a display base; single figures are blind-packed and retail around £1.99 each.

The first wave of Series 1 HM Armed Forces Micro-Figures comprises:

Royal Navy Helicopter Pilot
Royal Marines Commando (with facepaint)
Royal Navy Rating
Royal Marines Commando
RAF Tornado Fastjet Pilot
RAF Technician
Raf Helicopter Pilot

Each HMAF micro figure is assembles from around five or six components and comes with an accessory weapon or tool. Parts of the figures are completely interchangeable and are even compatible with another well known brand of minifigures and building bricks.

Series 1 figures are deployed in Spring 2011; Series 2 HMAF Micro-Figures will see action in Autumn 2011.

Series 2 will see more releases from all three services including a Royal Navy Diver, Royal Marine and six others.

HMAF Micro-Figures will also be available in multipacks for ‘army building’, including

Royal Marines Commando Multi Pack
RAF Regiment Gunner Multi Pack

There will also be several HM Armed Forces Character Building sets to go with the micro figures

Royal Navy Type 45 Destroyer
RAF Tornado Fast Jet Set
Army Challenger II Tank Set
RAF Merlin Helicopter Set
Royal Navy Assault RIB Mini Set
Army Infantryman and Quad Bike Mini Set

Army Challenger II Tank Set & Micro-Figure Multi Packs

All of the HMAF Character Building sets come with many accessories and extras.

Verdict: Without exaggeration, it’s not possible to overstate just how brilliant this new HMAF toy line is. The look and feel is amazing with more detailed texture and sculpting than has traditionally been seen on other construction toy ranges. For playability, look and ‘must-have-ability’ 10/10.

HMAF Character Building Micro-Figures and Playsets

RAF Merlin Helicopter Set

For the latest updates on the new HMAF Character Building figures and releases, including the RAF Merlin Helicopter set visit the HM Armed Forces Character Building page.

Series 2 HMAF Micro Figures

Series 2 HMAF Micro Figures include several new releases.

These include Royal Navy Diver, Royal Navy Submariner Officer, Army Bomb Disposal Officer, Army Guardsman and RAF Regiment Gunner.

As with Series 1 they are found in foil blind bags. See the Character Building page.

HMAF Series 3 Micro Figures

New for 2012 HMAF Series 3 Micro Figures feature 15 brand new releases.

The Character Building Series 3 HMAF Micro Figures will include the first female figure, the RAF Predator Drone Remote Operator.

Each figure will be sold in a blind bag to include a colour-coordinated figure stand, to reflect whether the figure is from the Army, Navy or Royal Air Force.

Character will also continue to release army-building 5 packs of HMAF Micro figures, such as the Royal Navy Rating Multi Pack, Army Paratrooper Multi Pack, RAF Regiment C.B.R.N. Light Role Team Multi Pack, and the Army Guardsman Multi Pack.

To complement the Series 3 figures, there will also be several new HM Armed Forces Character Building set releases. 2012 Character Building HMAF releases will include the Royal Artillery Mega Set, Royal Artillery Light Gun, RAF Hercules C130J Set, Royal Navy 30mm Gun Team Set, RAF Predator Drone and Operator Set, and the Army HVM LML Missile Platform Character Building

Armed Forces Tri-Service Team Sets

Three brand new sets have just been released in the HMAF Character Building range.

The HM Armed Forces Tri-Service Team Sets are fully compatible with other toys in the range and all three sets include an exclusive HMAF Character Building figure.

The Royal Navy 30MM Gun Crew Set includes a Royal Navy Deck Gunner micro-figure.

The Army Air Defence Launcher comes with a Royal Artillery Soldier micro-figure.

And, the RAF Reaper Aircraft and Remote Operator Set includes a female HMAF Remote Operator figure.

Character’s Armed Forces Tri-Service Team Sets, as previewed at the January Toy Fair, were released in the UK in July 2012.

Character Building

HMAF Toys at Toy Fair 2013

Royal Marines Commando Stealth Operations Figure

The HM Armed Forces toys on display at London Toy Fair 2013 were mostly, with a few exceptions, repaints and reworked variants of toys that Character have already released.

Anything new planned for the HMAF Character Building range was held in reserve.

The Army Tactical Battle Tank was fielded in a new single desert sand colour, rather than the multi-coloured desert camouflage livery already seen.

Of most interest, however, were the new and reworked HMAF Action Figures. The packaging for the figures looks to be getting a makeover, though what was on display was most likely mock ups rather than final approved releases.

The new Royal Marines Commando Stealth Operations Figure was the star of the show. The Stealth Operations Figure features the excellent Hawk Eyes and Combat FX Sound Effects. The figure, in MTP and face camouflage, comes with a Light Machine Gun, detachable tripod, Green Beret and Night Vision Binoculars.

Also mentioned in dispatches was a Royal Marines Commando, as previously released, but now in new MTP Multi-Terrain Pattern uniform.

Army Infantryman with Sharpshooter Rifle

Another brand new action figure on show was the long-rumoured RAF Close Protection Officer, again in MTP uniform. The Close Protection Officer figure comes with an MP5 Machine Gun, removeable helmet and pistol.

The Army Infantryman on display looked identical to the earlier release, but now re-released with MTP uniform and a must-have new Sharpshooter Rifle accessory.

Crawling Infantryman and RAF Police Dog Handler were also on parade though these have already seen retail service in 2012.

Updates and pictures have now been added to the main site hmarmedforces.com