Man-at-Arms (Hong Kong)

Man-at-Arms (Hong Kong)

Man-at-Arms was fabricated in 2 different countries for the USA Market. The common Taiwan, and a less common Hong Kong. The Hong Kong Man-at-Arms has a number of features that make it stand out and differentiate itself from its more common counterpart.
The first thing that stands out with the HK Man-at-Arms are the colors. They are more vibrant than the Taiwan, both the body color, accessories, but especially the turquoise blue of the helmet and belt. The red of the boots and shorts is richer and darker. While you see a light blue combination on early release Taiwan Man-at-Arms, the blue is different. The highlights on the helmet on the Hong Kong are yellow, as oppose to light orange on the Taiwan.
Secondly, the Man-at-Arms comes both in a very hard head and a semi-soft head, as opposed to the squishy soft head of the Taiwan.
The HK MAA is marked © Mattel Inc 1983 on the back, and the accessories are all marked Hong Kong. Curiously though, they all have successive batch numbers. The Mace is marked 9, Arm Armor 10, Harness 11, and Leg Armor 12. The accessories are thicker than Taiwan, and are a very vibrant, opaque orange.
The colors of the HK MAA are semi-similar to an Aurimat first wave MAA, which can make it a challenge to tell them apart in pictures. One quick tip to distinguish them is to check the year. The Aurimat MAA is marked 1981, while the HK is marked 1983. In person you can also tell them apart by the different accessories material, and because the Aurimat is a soft head.