Thursday, April 28, 2011

The Accidental Hermit Action Figure

My nieces and nephew found some old toys that belonged to me and my brothers at their grandparents' place. Among other things, we found my "Old Shatterhand" action figure, based on a fictional hero by the German author of westerns, Karl May.

Westerns were big business in Germany. Karl May was one of Hitler's favourite authors. Role-playing cowboys and Indians was even a big pasttime in DDR.

Somehow, Karl May drifted into our little family orbit, and we played with these figures a lot.

At the site of old Old Shatterhand my youngest niece slided towards me and whispered, "He looks like you."

And she's right. The long, blond hair. The beard. The checked shirt and frayed trousers. The muscles... well, maybe not the muscles. And my foot isn't at that angle.

1 comment:

coastkid said...

Excellent!,
we had `Action Man` but he was a lot more regimental in the typical British way, they had `eagle eyes` and `realistic hair`!...