Cause of Death: Undetermined.

Action boy has lost a foot in a battle with Dr Evil, and the staff here is attempting to use a donor foot from either JJ ARMES or ZEM-21.  What will they find?

The bodies are prepped for surgery.  At first glance we can see that the proportions of ZEM-21 and JJ ARMES are the same, but action Boy is shorter than the other two.  Although he is longer in the torso and pelvis, he clearly has much shorter legs. 

A close up of JJ's and Action Boys arm reveal some startling differences.  For starters, action boy has longer and narrower biceps and forearms, most noticeable in the area of the wrist where the hand attaches.  Looking at the shoulders we can see that JJ ARMES shoulder is more rounded and Action Boys shoulder contains a rivet.  The reasons for this become clear as we probe deeper into this mystery.

JJ ARMES side by side with ZEM-21.  The arm dimensions are nearly identical, the attachment of the arms to the torso uses the same method.  Interesting...

In the heat of battle, even the best Action Figure has been known to loose a hand or two.  Would JJ or ZEM make a good donor for Action Boy?  This picture shows the differences in the hand structure.  JJ and Zem have larger hands than action boy, and their wrists and wrist stems are narrower so they do not fit well into action boys forearms.  Using tape to widen the wrist stems allow the hands to be inserted, but their larger dimensions causes them to look disproportionate when used as an action boy replacement. 

Who among us has not happened across an otherwise useable Action Boy figure only to find that he is short a leg or two?  Would JJ ARMES make a suitable replacement for action Boy below the waist?  In this picture we see that JJ ARMES legs are drastically different than their Action Boy counter parts.  The upper portion of JJ's Leg is much longer and is designed to attach higher on the pelvis.  His lower leg is shorter and wider than action boys.  The feet are different sizes, JJ's are bigger and the method of attachment is different.  Action Boys foot has a single protrustion that goes between two slotted parts in the lower part of his leg, which JJ's set up is just the opposite.  Even the feet can't be used as replacement parts without some ugly reconstruction work.

JJ ARMES and ZEM-21 lay still upon the operating table, their legs and feet are identical in length and method of attachment.  Clearly these parts are interchangeable, as long as you don't mind ending up with a Cyborg. 

Action Boys severed arm lays besides that of JJ ARMES.  Here we can see the reason for the pin in Action boys shoulder and the lack of a similar one for JJ ARMES.  JJ's shoulder has a rubber connector as an intergral attachment, while Action Boy has a removable metal wire.

As a last ditch effort in our attempt to salvage something from JJ ARMES, we are forced to open up his chest cavity and peruse his inner workings.  JJ ARMES torso is a two piece construction, containing a series of pins to attach the two haves.  It also contains channels where the Arms, lower body and head attach.  Each of the extremities has an integral rubber connector that fits into one of the channels within JJ's torso.  Action Boys Torso is a single blow molded piece containing no inner workings of any kind.

I know this is probably not what you want to hear, but ZEM-21 and JJ ARMES are not action boy.  While ZEM-21 is clearly a retooled JJ ARMES, niether have their roots in Action Boy.  The differences in material would have been enough to prevent the use of the Action Boy molds in the first place.  While there have been those who have successfully transplanted an Action Boy head onto one of these bodies, it is an awkward solution at best, the differences in body dimentions make the dressed figure appear wrong and the harder plastic of these bodies make the possibility of damaging a vintage costume not worth the risk of using them.  The best solution is to go out and find another Action Boy to use as a parts donor, or if Playing Mantis ever makes it happen, get a kid Action and dissect away.