Action Man: The Official Dossier

Product Information

At the 2011 New York Comic Con, Hasbro distributed a catalogue titled 'UNIT E' featuring comic strips based on several Hasbro properties, some of which were defunct. Among the latter toy ranges was a new iteration of Action Man, dubbed 'The Action Man'. However, the comic was produced as a "brain storming" concept, and the comic's introduction specifically noted that none of the concepts within the book were guaranteed to ever see production or release.

The tooling that produced the components for the Hasbro designed manikin were wearing badly and delivering poor quality mouldings; this was because the tooling was, what is known as "family tools" (all components to produce the limbs of the manikin were moulded on the same tool), it meant that if one component was below standard the whole shot was potentially scrap. However what was happening in production was that the good components were used but there became an imbalance in the numbers of good components, so substandard mouldings were reworked to make them acceptable and good components were ground up with bad components and the sprues for remoulding. This was becoming very uneconomic. The mouldings for the new Dynamique Physique manikin were moulded on non-family hot-runner tools (no sprues to be recycled). That is a separate tool for each component. It was easy to maintain equal numbers of components to make up the figures and the quality was assured. Prototype tooling using the hot-runner system was organised by Alec Langton to prove the manufacturing and design, as well as provide sales samples and product for toy fairs.Palitoy was quite particular about the level and attention to detail for their uniforms and accessory detailing; in some respects, some outfits were fairly simplistic compared to the actual outfit (certainly in comparison to the level of detail achieved with modern offerings from Dragon and other action figure companies) as can be seen in any of the product catalogs on offer from a variety of online vendors. [22] Palitoy created appropriate insignia, such as the British Royal Military Police Cap and other uniform. The standard dropped by the end of the 1970s for number of reasons, not the least of which being rising production costs. [23] With 1960s and early 1970s variations, often they were die-cast instead of plastic, the uniforms themselves were of heavy cotton and chevrons were typically embroidered and sewn on, rather than paper decals. Over the many years Action Man was in production, almost every item produced for the line had a multitude of variations. The military style Action Man toys made a brief resurgence in the early 1990s, but between 1995 and 2006 Hasbro used the name without any military theme as a modern adventurer complete with arch-enemies Dr. X and Professor Gangrene. Marketing changed from producing a basic figure with the option to buy several different outfits to each product being its own stand-alone figure, with included accessories such as an outfit and equipment for a given "mission". This specialisation together with improved production techniques led to figures with built-in abilities, such as karate moves or a working blowpipe. Hungry Hungry Hippos, Action Man, Monopoly headed to big screen", Los Angeles Times, 4 October 2012

Michlig, J. (1998) G.I. Joe; The Complete Story of America's Favorite Man of Action, Section 11, pp. 162–167 The Action Man character was again rebooted by IDW Publishing in 2016 for a four-issue limited comic book series. The series was published to commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of Action Man, with the cover of each issue featuring the original Palitoy-era Action Man logo. [8] Appearance: 1966–1984 [ edit ] Figure construction [ edit ] This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sourcesin this section. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. ( November 2014) ( Learn how and when to remove this template message) Bill Pugh, along with his Research & Development team at Palitoy, immediately began making a number of improvements to Action Man and, in doing so, they turned a success story into a legend. Under Pugh’s guidance Action Man went from strength to strength, with the development of realistic hair, gripping hands and eagle eyes supported by an ever-growing array of equipment, uniforms, vehicles and weapons. In 2012, film studio Emmett/Furla/Oasis Films signed a deal to work on a cinematic feature-length live-action film adaptation of Action Man with Hasbro Studios and its subsidiary company Allspark Pictures, along with other Hasbro properties such as the board games Monopoly (with Lionsgate) and Hungry Hungry Hippos. The expectation was that work on the first film, "Monopoly", would start in 2013. [24] In 2018, Paramount Players said James Bobin will direct the film from Simon Farnaby's script. [25] Cultural impact [ edit ]

A comprehensive look at the complete history and development of Action Man and his accessories, from the beginning of his career to his rightful place as a cult classic, this book will delight collectors, nostalgic first-generation fans – and their children. The books are chopped up into three volumes, each dedicated to three distinct timelines that pointed to changes with the production of Action Man figures. Volume I: 1966-1969 A tie-in Action Man animated series was produced but was only available on video in the UK, because of broadcast rules about advertising to children: a toy could follow a TV production but not the other way around. [6] Michlig, J. (1998) G.I. Joe; The Complete Story of America's Favorite Man of Action, Section 12, p. 179

The “gripping hands” were next. The Americans copied that, too, but called theirs “the kung-fu grip”. Other changes included “eagle eyes” and the more muscular “dynamic physique”, while the outfits ranged from a Red Devil complete with parachute to football kits. I even designed a Scorpion Tank for him after taking a ride on the real thing.During the 1980s to 1990s, the figure was made under licence in Spain under the merchandise trade name of " Geyperman".

Action Man "Sailor" figure appeared in 1966 using the Hasbro GI Joe box graphics and US sailor outfit. In 1970 the UK outfit and revised Palitoy box graphics were introduced. Action Man was originally produced and sold in the United Kingdom and Australia by Palitoy Ltd of Coalville, Leicestershire from 1966 until 1984. Palitoy also offered sub-licences to toy manufacturers in other markets. By CPG Products Corp, assigned the Patent #4,274,224 on 23 June 1981: "Toy figure having movable limb members". Over the course of Action Man production, a wide variety of boxed sets were sold; one popular at the time of the BBC's Colditz television series in the 1970s was "Escape from Colditz", which provided both. Included were reproductions of a variety of Prisoner of war artifacts from Colditz, and a history. An " Escape from Colditz" board game had already been released by Parker Brothers (UK), a division of Palitoy. Leicestershire County Council". Museums.leics.gov.uk. Archived from the original on 20 July 2011 . Retrieved 18 July 2011.

Michlig, J. (1998) "G.I. Joe; The Complete Story of America's Favorite Man of Action", Section 12, pp. 178–187 From 1978 to the end of the original period of Action Man in 1984, the body was replaced with an entirely new design: at a glance, the most obvious detail is fact that the flesh coloured pelvic area of the body was replaced with a blue section giving the effect of blue shorts rather than the sexless mannequin look; at the same time the body took on a more muscular tone. This body type was known as the "Dynamic Physique. This was mainly designed by Designer Ivor Edmunds, with help from Chief Designer Bob Brechin under the direction of Bill Pugh. Tooling and material selection was under the supervision of Process Manager Alec Langton.