n 1966 "Fairylite" issued a Scott Tracy Action Doll as a piece of merchandising from the Thunderbirds TV show. Almost 30 years later, Japanese company Bandai issue their own Scott Tracy doll. The dolls obviously have a lot of similarities, but there are also differences. Below is a brief description of each doll along with a picture. The Bandai doll was also issued in Europe by Matchbox, with minor differences, notably, different facial skin tones and metal instead of plastic weapons.

Scott Tracy as seen in the series

Fairylite

SCOTT TRACY 'Action Doll' circa 1966, Graham Bros (Fairylite) Ltd. EBA Stevens Dolls. 280mm high (approx. 12")

Fully poseable doll (including wrists and forearms) with removable uniform. The proportions are closer to a real person than the exaggerated head and hands of the TV character, aside from the disproportionately small hands, typical of many English dolls I've seen. Aside from the head, which is fairly flexible, the body is made of several pieces of hard plastic with fabric-covered elastics joining the limbs to the torso (which also makes it more resistant to breakage if handled roughly...socket joints tend to just break).

The blue jumpsuit is made of cotton with a zipper on the back. The sash is made of a lightweight flexible plastic with a single button joining it to the back. The hat is a heavy thick plastic and is also removable. The boots are a lightweight white plastic and are extremely difficult to remove. Age has caused the boots to turn yellow in certain areas. The IR pin is made of a clear hard plastic which has been painted bright gold and has a jointed safety pin on the reverse to attach it to the sash.

Although the gun is missing on my doll, the two ammo containers are still intact and are made out of a hard coloured plastic (one orange and one silver).

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Fairylite Scott Tracy Doll (1966)	Bandai Scott Tracy Doll (1992)

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Bandai

SCOTT TRACY Doll 1992, Bandai/Matchbox. 250mm high (approx 9")

Partially poseable doll with some removable sections of uniform. The proportions are closer to the TV character than the Graham Bros. doll, with oversized head and hands. The majority of the body is made of a hard plastic and has very simple single-direction joints on the head, shoulders, forearms, and waist. The legs are not independantly movable and, based on my collection, are posed too far back to offer a secure upright balance for display.

The jumpsuit is a light cotton with velcro on the back. The sash is made of a thick felt, which also has a velcro tab on the back, and a coloured IR sticker on the front. The gun and ammo containers are solid black plastic and are extemely well detailed. The hat is moulded with the head and has a black IR sticker. The hat, sash, IR pin, ammo cartridges, and jumpsuit are removable on the older doll.

The most distinct feature of the Bandai doll is the paintjob on the face. I great deal of energy was obviously put into maintaining a high quality standard in this area of the production.

Bandai and Matchbox Scott Tracy dolls

Matchbox released several Bandai Thunderbirds merchandise items in the last few years and this is one of them. It seems that the uniform is different and the Matchbox equipment is plastic whereas on the Bandai the equipment is metal. The phot below shows the Bandai and Matchbox dolls. Click on the image for a larger (101k JPEG)