About Us

About Us

About Cotswold Collectibles

Cotswold got started in the mid 1980's as an antique auction in Seattle, importing fine British antiques. We picked our name based on The Cotswolds, that lovely region in the southwest of England known for its many antiques (http://www.the-cotswolds.org/).

As you might guess, it wasn't a straight path from armoires and dining tables to specializing in 12 inch action figures. But by 1989 we had branched out into lots of English collectibles including Action Man (the brand name for G.I. Joe in England), and in 1989 we sent out our very first sales list of vintage Joe parts we'd found in a warehouse in Uruguay (true story). Our G.I. Joe/Action Figure mail order service for collectors was born!

Fast forward to the mid-nineties. We were knee-deep in the US Vintage 12-inch G.I. Joe as well as Action Man and began manufacturing replacement parts (like hands) and figures to complete and use all of the vintage gear that was around. We named our product line The Elite Brigade. Before long we started to expand on Joe's legacy, adding additional uniforms and periods of history and moving the hobby past vintage G.I. Joe. By the late nineties several other large manufacturers joined us and together the sixth scale collectible figure hobby that spans interests from the earlier 60's figures right up to the most incredibly detailed figures now in the marketplace, evolved.

Today there's not a stick of antique furniture to be seen anywhere in our business and we've dedicated ourselves entirely to the creative fun of the action figure hobby. Military action figures are still an important part of what we do, but following our customers' broad interests, we also offer all kinds of 12 inch (1:6 scale) figures and accessories as well as figures of other scales.

After our business start in Seattle, we split our time between England and California for a few years. In 1992 we relocated our headquarters from California to Whidbey Island in Washington State where we remained for the next 28 years. Then in 2020 our headquarters, under the leadership of new owner (and previous long-time Cotswold marketing director) Greg Brown, moved to Ennis, Texas, near Dallas.

We have a friendly, helpful staff and enjoy being a person-to-person business, so please call when you have questions or need help.

What We Sell

We are all about having fun with action figures, so we carry all the leading brands as well as products from the smallest companies . . . and including our own Elite Brigade 12 inch figures and accessories. You'll find military, civilian and "pop culture" (based on movies, TV, comic books) collectible figures....and fancy complete sets as well as bits and pieces to put together in unique ways. Our philosophy: Have It Your Way!

Our selection of collectible action figures includes both old (we call them 'vintage') and brand new, highly detailed state-of-the-art action figures from companies like Hot Toys, DiD, DAM Toys and Dragon Models. We have original Hasbro G.I. Joes from the 1960's and 1970's (plus the Hasbro Joe-related brands from around the world like England's Action Man and Spain's Geyperman) as well as sets dating from the 1990's when the 'rebirth' of the 12 inch action figure got underway. So our site is a mix of harder to find older sets in very limited supply and brand new sets in good supply. But even new items sometimes sell out quickly and most of the modern manufacturers do not reissue their sets.

Our site allows you to shop by your area of interests (categories), or by brand, using the menu choices in the red bar near the top of the home page. There is also a quick-look sidebar of shopping choices on many of the display pages.

While the majority of our products are 1:6 scale (12 inch) figures and accessories, we also offer a large selection of action figures in other scales (1:18 to 1:4). We designate the items that are not 1:6 scale so you can tell the difference. Scale designations are based on 72 inches as full (1:1) scale. To know the size of a figure all you have to do is divide 72 by the number after the colon. For example: 1:8 scale would be 9 inches tall. Most items that are not sixth scale (1:6) will tell you both the scale and the height of items in the product descriptions. A good way to see these other sizes of action figures is to use the "Other Categories" menu in the red menu bar.

Cotswold's Elite Brigade & Vintage Joe Replacement Parts

We have manufactured our brand, The Elite Brigade, since the mid-1990’s. Our first manufacturing projects were all about fixing up old G.I. Joes. We started with German helmets, and soon added replacement hands for original G.I. Joe figures, and before you knew it we had a complete 12 inch action figure nearly identical to the figures of the 1960's and 1970's.

Our offerings have grown to include lots of replacement parts for vintage G.I. Joe figures including complete figure bodies, a big selection of heads (including fuzzy versions), complete dressed figures, uniform sets and unique items that 1:6 scale collectors can use with any figure.

Our products are not affiliated with Hasbro, but we are proud to support and to help continue the now-expanded 1:6 scale hobby that Hasbro inadvertently launched with their hugely successful G.I. Joe toy line in the 1960’s.