Reisler is a Danish Toy Soldier manufacturer named after its founder Kai Reisler. They made a good range of figures covering many different topics, from cowboys and indians to rangers, aliens, arabs, French Foreign Legion, zoo animals, and of course, some WWII as well. Apparently, they were primarily in production during the 50's and 60's. Their figures are made from plastic. Unfortunately, when it comes to WWII I have only seen the GIs represented and some Danish Navy guys. Being a European manufacturer I would have expected them to have made more of the European combatants. The sculpting and diversity of poses is really good for the time when they were made. I just wish they were easier to come by these days.
Reisler US Infantry - Part I
These are just 3 poses out of about 25 GIs that they made. Some of the Reisler figures I have seen online have paint on them, but I don't know if they came this way out of the factory. As you can tell, the figures are well proportioned and have a decent amount of detail on them. Several of the poses that I am missing are even better. Hopefully I can get my hands on them soon and show them.
Reisler US Infantry - Part II
I recently got lucky and found a few more of these guys. Note that among them is a nurse, which I was not aware of until now. The guys in this picture are dsiplaying quite a bit more movement than the previous guys, and I particularly like the two poses at both ends. The machine gunner is also a good pose as you always want some heavy weapons in your units, and the radio man is also important to be able to call in some artillery support!
Reisler US Infantry - Part III
Two more poses which came in this last batch. The man on the left is a typical prone guy firing, but the one on the right, really caught my eye as it shows what is probably a very common situation in the field, however not frequently represented in the toy soldier world. He is much better suited to be placed behind a log or behind a pile of debree, but in order to get a better picture s you can fully appreciate him, I just placed him in the open.
Reisler US Infantry - Part IV
A few more Reisler guys. Note that initially, I mistook these guys for Timpo GIs. It wasn't until I started to research some of the other poses that I realized that Reiselr also produced their versions of several Timpo poses.
Reisler US Infantry - Part V
And a few more, also made by Timpo. Not sure if the color they have was added by a previous owner or if they came painted like this out of the factory.
Reisler US Infantry - Part VI
This is an original Reisler, as far as I know, and not a very common one. I only recall one more wire cutter among WWII plastic toy soldiers. The Revell German Engineer.
Reisler US Infantry - Part VII
Another three GIs straight out of Timpo's lineup. The only reason you can tell that they were made by Reisler is by the label on the bottom of the base of the middle guy. So considering the number of manufacturers which have reissued Timpor GIs, these guys are not that special. But it's still good to be one step closer to having the complete set of Reisler guys.
Reisler US Infantry - Part VIII
These are two of the less common Reisler poses. They actually came together in the original packing, which shows that they were sold separately. The man on the left is operating a recoiless rifle/gun. The guy on the motorcycle is OK for the most part, except that his right hand can't be placed on the bike's handle. They simply do not line up, but the right hand does, so at least he can drive with one hand :-)
The other thing to note is that the detail is not as crisp as you would expect from original figures, but they do get bonus points for being fairly unique.
Reisler US Infantry - Part IX
And yet a few more poses. Amazing how many of them there are. What's interesting about this small batch is that one of the men, the one on the left, has a movable arm. I suppose this was done this way so that it could come out of the mold, because it does not really add much to the figure in terms of a useful action. The guy speaking on the phone is also a bit different and interesting. The man with the sub mg is a bit too stiff for my taste. But glad to have him and be closer to being done with the set. At this point I don't know if there are any other poses left to find.
Reisler Danish Navy
Just 4 poses. It seems that they were originally released factory painted, in blue (1953) and white (1955) uniforms. The guys in this picture must be more recent casts as they came without any paint on them, although they do have the Reisler sticker on them underneath the base. Unfortunately with so few poses and two of them being so similar, there won't be many possibilities when it comes to setting up a scene with these guys. Still they rank well on the uniqueness factor and seemed worthwhile to add to the collection.
Click here to see a post about the Danish Navy
Click here to see a post about other GIs
Click here to see a post about more GIs
Click here to see a post about even more GIs
Click here to see a post about GIs in action
Click here to see a post about US Armor