Plastic World

The Plastic World is the place where the Army Men lives alongside other toy-like beings

“The great thing about war is that you can flight one almost anywhere. Persue your crusade against the Tans, Blues, and Grays through three different terrain types, with different tactics for each” – Sarge

The Plastic World, as the name would imply, is the world in which the titular plastic Army Men reside and hail from. The world is scaled appropriately to their size (approximately 1/72, 1 Army Men is 72 times smaller than a human), and consists of realistic environments. Despite being referred to as the Plastic World, it largely consists of Plastic and non-Plastic materials such as water and soil.

Compared to the Real World, the grass and other plants of the Plastic World are not meant to be living, growing almost constantly changing beings like the Real World. Instead of this they are static scenery, trees’ leaves will burn if hit with a flamethrower or explosive, leaving the burnt trunk of the tree remaining, implying they are made of different plastic materials or simply different thicknesses, since a lot depends on how the plastic burns.

The Plastic World seems to be mostly devoid of animal life, although mouses & cows appear in Army Men, cows and birds appear in Sarge’s Heroes and a Lion does appear in Portal Runner. Several Bugs and other Toykind monsters have been introduced to the Plastic World artificially, as with the spiders seen in Dr. Madd’s Castle and the Ice Station Gulag, not introduced but made using an abhorrent plastic Army Men.

Army Men World War Land Sea Air Wallpaper — Desertland

Ambience & Population

One of the differences between the Plastic World and the Human World is the night… which is considered one of the darkest in the Toyverse. Many conflicts have been defined in night battles, with those with convenient colors having the advantage to camouflage themselves in the dark. The nights of the Plastic World are so dark that it is difficult to see beyond a few centimeters. This may be because there is apparently no moon like the one in the Human World. Therefore, having artificial lighting is never a bad idea.

The chemical composition of the Plastic World is self-explanatory: Plastic everywhere, in most of its variations. Although there is also soil and water, the same chemical composition as the Real World. Water is highly dangerous for plastic beings, therefore bodies of water are usually an important strategic presence. Although currently a good part of the Army Men have become immune to water, thanks to a serum and the already widespread self-acquired natural immunity.

Army Men 3D Squad — Army Men 3D Alpinland

Unlike the animals in the Real World, the originals in the Plastic World appear to be much more intelligent and aware of their surroundings.

Animals and plants, also made of plastic, feed precisely on plastic or its petrochemical variants, just like the plastic people. So the chemical complexity of this world is relatively simple. But this may be changing radically.

There has been no significant contamination compared to the other worlds to which the Plastic World is connected, but there has been with the Real World. Biological contaminants from the Human World have gained some ground in the areas surrounding the portals. Even animals have crossed over, such as insects and sometimes even birds. But given the scarcity of fuel that biological entities need to function, these usually dissipate after some time. Animals die from starvation.

Space… the last plastic frontier…

It is not known what lies beyond the sky. Although it is possible to travel to outer space in the Real World, this cannot be done in the Plastic World. The necessary technology is not available and it is an impossible task to bring it from the Human World. Theoretical scientists think that there is nothing beyond the solid ground of the Plastic World, since the same stars as those in the firmament of the Real World are not observed. These are different or are simply an imitation, similar to the moon that once shone above (which did not turn out to be a real natural satellite like the one in the other world).

Visitors from another World

Some inanimate plastic objects brought from the Real World using a Portal becomes animated in the Plastic World, like the first Plastro’s deadliest V-Bots from there. But this is not the case for all toys. More than sure this was thanks to Dr. Madd’s Anti-plastrirication serum, who also serves like a toy reanimation serum.

Geography of the Plastic World

Originally the Plastic World consists of the Northern Mountains, Western Deserts (implied to be the homeland of the Tan), and Southern Swamps (where the Grey reside). There is also a tropical island area known as the Douglas Islands, where the AWOL Green Colonel is sent on a mission before disappearing, as shown in Army Men II.

A map of the world can be seen in the mission briefings of Army Men: World War where three continents are shown. They appear to be similar to Real World North America, an island continent in between that resembles South America, though it isn’t attached to anything, and the Eurasian continent. There is also a pacific island area. The Eastern part of the world houses the Blue Nation (a border is seen but it is unknown if this is another country) while the Western houses the Tan Republic and the Grey Nation. It was unclear for that time where the Black Nation Civilians in Army Men: Toys in Space hail from. In the game the North American-esque continent is home to the Tan capital, the Pacific continent resembles South America (though it is unknown if any country resides there), and the Eurasian continent holds the Blue Nation with another possible country to the south of it.

For the time of Army Men: Sarge’s Heroes 1 & 2, part of “The World” can be seen in a briefing map. It consists only of two major landmasses, and it’s unclear if more exist beyond them. One large continent winds from southwest to northeast, with mountains on either extreme; It mostly consists of prairies and forest regions, with an alpine area in the northeast mountains where the Ice Station Gulag is likely located. To the Southwest lies a skull-and-crossbones shaped island wherein Fort Plastro is located.

Though this map is labelled as “The World” (Army Men: Sarge’s Heroes 2), it is unlikely if this is actually a map of the entire world, as it’s unclear where the Blue Nation and Grey Nation, much less the other minor nations such as the Red Nation and Orange Nation could possibly reside given the very limited space. Further, the map does not seem to show some environments shown in the games, such as the thick jungles seen in Army Men: Green Rogue, or the canyon environment shown in the Bridge level of Sarge’s Heroes 2.

Population problems solved

Many plastic civilians from the Plastic World have moved to the Real World. Therefore there is no real population problems in the Plastic World. Some even say that it feel empty sometimes.