One thing I marvel at in seeing some of the Action Force figures is that Palitoy was able to capture the look of the original 12" head/face sculpt in a much smaller scale. I never saw that accomplished with the 3.75" GI Joes.
I grew up in the 80s action force was great and i remember buying battle action force every Tuesday and saving my money to go into town to buy action force figures still have them along with my battle action force comics and original blueprint sheets you got with the vehicles
As a child I had bits of this. My observation looking back at these times is that you ended up owning whatever was on the shelf at the local shop when it was you’re birthday, rather than looking at stuff on the net and ordering what you liked the look of. Different times, great content and very interesting. I also owned loads of the later GI joe type stuff which I think was better. But never having seen the comics as a child never really understood the depth of this gear as a toy range:-)
So many great memories came flooding back watching this ace vid. I still have all my AF figures and vehicles (luckily, I kept ALL my childhood toys) but seeing the original AF line and the packaging took me back to the day I walked into Benns Toys in Burnley and saw 'mini Action Men' ; I nearly maccaroni'd my trousers that day! MIND BLOWN!! Thanx for all these videos, they warm my soul.
These toy lines were incredible. Amazing to think there were more teams in the pipe. Now someone needs to Kickstart an awesome UK centric homage to these amazing toys
Thanks! Being a HUGE GI Joe fan in the 80s, I was not even aware our brothers in Europe had made anything of the like until I was an adult. I was talking to one of the Hasbro designers at a con years ago and I asked him about the possibility of playsets being recast for the 25th Anniversary of GI Joe, as the figures had been recently released. He had informed me that some of the molds of discontinued were either not returned from overseas manufacturing or had been damaged to the point of non-use. He had mentioned South America!?!? It is such a shame 1:18 gets more love from us through S7, BFS, and other KS type companies than it does from Hasbro. Thanks for the info and now to watch another Analog toys vid!
This is a 60 Minutes (I'm old) deep dive quality video, Tony. Sometimes I wish you made more content but then I see the level and quality you put into each one and I am fine. Great as ever!
In the 1970's I had a 12 inch action figure called ''Bullet man'' pretty unknown and rare these days. He had silver arms, red helmet and boots and he would sore in the air, along with a string he was placed on. Do you remember this ?
Awesome video. It is great to see this put together, especially for those who are unaware of the origins of what is now a released character in Bombardier. Just to add a point of clarification, though: Bombardier came a lot closer to release than a hand painted figure. Had it been hand painted, the Joe community would have probably dismissed it as a custom. Ron's figure was a factory-level Bombardier with swivel arms. The image shown checking the paint line at the bottom of the torso was actually done by Dave Tree at Ron's suggestion. It is wild to think that it came that close and causes me to wonder if there was a Vamp out there to match him. I'd think it could have likely been dismissed as a test shot rather than something even more significant.
Hi, mate! I have a MIP Robo Skull and I love the SPECIAL WEAPONS UNIT.... I felt specially that this line never was released as part of the regular series in 1984...
Fantastic Video Tony & Chris, really learnt something I didn't know. Would love it if the prototypes all turned up. Maybe reaction could do a line of figures.
Came here for a look-see in advance of your Valaverse Action Force video later today. Thanks for all the info. I did get a RedLasers factory custom Bombardier swivel arm figure a few years back, and seeing videos like this and his writeup in the new Total Action Force Battle Years hardcover makes me cherish the idea of his character and this special weapon force even more!
Amazing video I only knew of the bombadier I had no clue that this could have been another sub team of action force!! Two of the best minds when it comes to action force just blew my mind!! Being a collector in the USA is tough trying to hunt these figures down especially the vehicles I would love to make a trip over the pond one day to hunt down action force in its native land! Keep up the great work Tony and Chris
A great video once again. You definitely have a way of making a collector want to branch out to other toy lines. I'm over in the U.S. but I find the action force to be a great toy line. With that being said I see why Action Man is your favorite line over all other toys. For me it's the Adventure Team G.I. Joe line over here in the States.
Tony!!!!.... it’s completely off subject but have you seen the “hot toys” SAS Sean figure, it’s John McAleese.... The first SAS Trooper on the balcony at the Iranian embassy siege, it’s unbelievable!
Gets better and better each time I watch it, lol. With an Action Force 1:12 revival, have you discussed the recreation of the five teams in the Valaverse, utilizing modern interpretations? I can't help but wonder, as time goes on, will our love our toys become contagious, or will our toys be disposed of. It's very depressing. It's like toy companies just throwing away prototypes back in the day, or destroying tools, and now corporate greed prevents big toy companies taking chances.
After hearing the reasons the 5th team didn't make it I'm starting to see why the later years of GI Joe struggled, a bit too much sub-teams I guess. But that was a good batch of info you guys bought up there, nice video overall. Now I'm exited for the customizers making things based on that scrapped team.
Excellent Tony! What strikes me as odd, it seem like the 12" Action Man had more options as far as kit in the UK, but the 3 3/4" saw more in the US.I wonder if it was due to just relative production runs or other factors as well. And the Vamp looks stunning, as a kid, I would have loved to have had that as a vehicle for Snow Job.
For fans of Action Force, there's a Kickstarter for a new line of 6" scale figures. It looks like a company called Valaverse is spearheading it. www.kickstarter.com/projects/actionforce/valaverse?ref=thanks-tweet
Great video! Ironically, the decline of the British Action Man series paralleled that of Hasbro's G. I. Joe, whose popularity also scaled down in the 1970s; though Star Wars figures lacked the later level of articulation by the 1980s G. I. Joe: A Real American Hero. The British Red Shadows is definitely better than what DDP did when they revised it for their G. I. Joe comics in the early 2000s. Appreciate the multiple comparisons between the Action Man/Action Force & G. I. Joe as well. Can't wait for your next video. Please keep up the good work.
I remember many moons ago reading the page Ron posted on yojoe.com about the “mystery Flash” figure and wondering at what it could mean 🤔 And now we know! 😁
Really interesting video but i actually feel a bit down knowing there were these cool looking prototypes in the pipeline that i never got to play with. I guess in the end we got the best of both worlds with the GI Joe (arah) and Action Force merging together.
Oh my the S.A.S squad leader I had him around several times !!! Funnily enough it was these that made me want to join the Royal Marines which I eventually did !!! Brill stuff
Its basically GI Joe, right? Why change it? I know GI Joe is an American thing but does that preclude British kids from liking it? I'm British and loved GI Joe.
Fantastic video. Those lovely golden days of 1982 onwards. I loved growing up in the 70s and 80s. The original 5POA stuff was great.
One thing I marvel at in seeing some of the Action Force figures is that Palitoy was able to capture the look of the original 12" head/face sculpt in a much smaller scale. I never saw that accomplished with the 3.75" GI Joes.
That bombardier is really cool. It is neat to see what independent toy maker red laser army was inspired by.
I grew up in the 80s action force was great and i remember buying battle action force every Tuesday and saving my money to go into town to buy action force figures still have them along with my battle action force comics and original blueprint sheets you got with the vehicles
As a child I had bits of this. My observation looking back at these times is that you ended up owning whatever was on the shelf at the local shop when it was you’re birthday, rather than looking at stuff on the net and ordering what you liked the look of. Different times, great content and very interesting. I also owned loads of the later GI joe type stuff which I think was better. But never having seen the comics as a child never really understood the depth of this gear as a toy range:-)
1:51, I've only ever needed five points of articulation! 😉👍
Watching this video instantly transported me back to my childhood. I only had a few AF figures but always bought the Battle Action Force comic.
So many great memories came flooding back watching this ace vid. I still have all my AF figures and vehicles (luckily, I kept ALL my childhood toys) but seeing the original AF line and the packaging took me back to the day I walked into Benns Toys in Burnley and saw 'mini Action Men' ; I nearly maccaroni'd my trousers that day! MIND BLOWN!! Thanx for all these videos, they warm my soul.
These toy lines were incredible. Amazing to think there were more teams in the pipe. Now someone needs to Kickstart an awesome UK centric homage to these amazing toys
I love these Action Force videos so much.
Thanks! Being a HUGE GI Joe fan in the 80s, I was not even aware our brothers in Europe had made anything of the like until I was an adult. I was talking to one of the Hasbro designers at a con years ago and I asked him about the possibility of playsets being recast for the 25th Anniversary of GI Joe, as the figures had been recently released. He had informed me that some of the molds of discontinued were either not returned from overseas manufacturing or had been damaged to the point of non-use. He had mentioned South America!?!? It is such a shame 1:18 gets more love from us through S7, BFS, and other KS type companies than it does from Hasbro. Thanks for the info and now to watch another Analog toys vid!
Knew about the special weapons team from BFTB website and listings... but good to see this video and back story, 👍
Great video Tony! I feel intellectually fed.
That Palitoy Action Force playset is patterned after the Palitoy Death Star Space Station playset.
Tim Hayes it used the same plastic clips and chute except moulded in brown
This is a 60 Minutes (I'm old) deep dive quality video, Tony. Sometimes I wish you made more content but then I see the level and quality you put into each one and I am fine. Great as ever!
I wish I had the time to make more videos but they take me so long to produce. Quality over quantity good brother!!!
@@AnalogToys Indeed. Keep up the great work. We all appreciate it.
Incredible research.
I know nothing of this toyline but I am a sponge for great information, thanks for doing this.
Brick Mantooth thank you, I love your channel. Mego rocks!
Great video Tony, lots of info that I had to watch it twice to try and get everything 👍🏽
Now i know where black major and red lazer got the ideas for some of there colorways
Very interesting! I have GI JOE figures, but as of yet, no ACTION FORCE toys. I want to start collecting Red Shadows and Z-Force now!
Great video again, can never have too many Action Force vids!
Matt Herbert I agree
I recently read the first Action Force adventure, and man was it epic and miles ahead of G.I. Joe's first issue! Great presentation of the comics btw.
I got the SAS commando and a yellow version of these special weapons teams guys :) good to know what they are finally from.
In the 1970's I had a 12 inch action figure called ''Bullet man'' pretty unknown and rare these days. He had silver arms, red helmet and boots and he would sore in the air, along with a string he was placed on. Do you remember this ?
I have Bulletman in my collection
Awesome Video!!!
Awesome video. It is great to see this put together, especially for those who are unaware of the origins of what is now a released character in Bombardier. Just to add a point of clarification, though: Bombardier came a lot closer to release than a hand painted figure. Had it been hand painted, the Joe community would have probably dismissed it as a custom. Ron's figure was a factory-level Bombardier with swivel arms. The image shown checking the paint line at the bottom of the torso was actually done by Dave Tree at Ron's suggestion. It is wild to think that it came that close and causes me to wonder if there was a Vamp out there to match him. I'd think it could have likely been dismissed as a test shot rather than something even more significant.
Awesome video, great to see Dave Tree featured in it. Legend.
Wow. I had a massive collection and gave them away.
Hi, mate!
I have a MIP Robo Skull and I love the SPECIAL WEAPONS UNIT.... I felt specially that this line never was released as part of the regular series in 1984...
Fantastic Video Tony & Chris, really learnt something I didn't know. Would love it if the prototypes all turned up. Maybe reaction could do a line of figures.
Thanks once more, Tony, for your great videos!
I haven't seen that prototype air force team photo before
Brilliant investigation Tony.
Thanks mate.
Came here for a look-see in advance of your Valaverse Action Force video later today. Thanks for all the info.
I did get a RedLasers factory custom Bombardier swivel arm figure a few years back, and seeing videos like this and his writeup in the new Total Action Force Battle Years hardcover makes me cherish the idea of his character and this special weapon force even more!
Fantastic video! Thank you so much for the education!
The neighbour who gave the box of toys - the same Joe Ekins who wiped out the infamous Michael Wittman's tiger platoon?
Such a cool video.
Amazing video I only knew of the bombadier I had no clue that this could have been another sub team of action force!! Two of the best minds when it comes to action force just blew my mind!! Being a collector in the USA is tough trying to hunt these figures down especially the vehicles I would love to make a trip over the pond one day to hunt down action force in its native land! Keep up the great work Tony and Chris
Mike Smith in the uk you can pick up great bargains on action force toys on British ebay
This is a very fun and informational video. Thanks Tony!
with the yellow padding on Bombardier he's lucky his code name wasn't "Corn cob"
V&A Museum of Childhood - never knew that existed! I'll have to visit.
A great video once again. You definitely have a way of making a collector want to branch out to other toy lines. I'm over in the U.S. but I find the action force to be a great toy line. With that being said I see why Action Man is your favorite line over all other toys. For me it's the Adventure Team G.I. Joe line over here in the States.
Great video Tony
Excellent video Tony 👍👍👍
Superinteresting!
special weapons team was realized by Hasbro as Battleforce 2000
Awesome video!
Excellent video, as usual, Tony!
Great content. Thank you!
Wow - I had no idea this existed! Nice one!
Wow! I really liked this one Tony! I think I may have to try and score some of the smaller Action Man figures as I love Joes.👍
Amazing job Tony
Bill
great stuff ❤
Great video very informative
Tony!!!!.... it’s completely off subject but have you seen the “hot toys” SAS Sean figure, it’s John McAleese.... The first SAS Trooper on the balcony at the Iranian embassy siege, it’s unbelievable!
Gets better and better each time I watch it, lol. With an Action Force 1:12 revival, have you discussed the recreation of the five teams in the Valaverse, utilizing modern interpretations?
I can't help but wonder, as time goes on, will our love our toys become contagious, or will our toys be disposed of. It's very depressing. It's like toy companies just throwing away prototypes back in the day, or destroying tools, and now corporate greed prevents big toy companies taking chances.
Has someone already made the “It belongs in a museum!” joke?
After hearing the reasons the 5th team didn't make it I'm starting to see why the later years of GI Joe struggled, a bit too much sub-teams I guess. But that was a good batch of info you guys bought up there, nice video overall. Now I'm exited for the customizers making things based on that scrapped team.
Another quality video Tony, never knew of the 5th ACTION Force team
Excellent Tony! What strikes me as odd, it seem like the 12" Action Man had more options as far as kit in the UK, but the 3 3/4" saw more in the US.I wonder if it was due to just relative production runs or other factors as well. And the Vamp looks stunning, as a kid, I would have loved to have had that as a vehicle for Snow Job.
For fans of Action Force, there's a Kickstarter for a new line of 6" scale figures.
It looks like a company called Valaverse is spearheading it.
www.kickstarter.com/projects/actionforce/valaverse?ref=thanks-tweet
I dig that roboskull ship so I looked it up and yea it's extremely expensive and rare
Great video! Ironically, the decline of the British Action Man series paralleled that of Hasbro's G. I. Joe, whose popularity also scaled down in the 1970s; though Star Wars figures lacked the later level of articulation by the 1980s G. I. Joe: A Real American Hero.
The British Red Shadows is definitely better than what DDP did when they revised it for their G. I. Joe comics in the early 2000s. Appreciate the multiple comparisons between the Action Man/Action Force & G. I. Joe as well.
Can't wait for your next video. Please keep up the good work.
Well done video!
Is the Boffin figure using an Obi Wan Kenobi head? It sure looks like it.
No it isn't, its a Z Force radio operator head with a beard painted on.
Bob you are a legend!
I remember many moons ago reading the page Ron posted on yojoe.com about the “mystery Flash” figure and wondering at what it could mean 🤔 And now we know! 😁
They should've scaled down the Scropion tank and Spartan APC. What was the tank Action Force had before the MOBAT 4:26?
action force packaging is way better than gi joe, it seems more grand and special that you're getting to open or lucky to have gotten to purchase it.
A 5th ACTION FORCE TEAM!!!!,what sorcery is this
OMG is Will Riker!
Really interesting video but i actually feel a bit down knowing there were these cool looking prototypes in the pipeline that i never got to play with. I guess in the end we got the best of both worlds with the GI Joe (arah) and Action Force merging together.
It's too bad that there Wasn't an Air Combat Force or Air Strike Force for Action Force .
I want a few
Why does that look like the Cobra Hiss tank? Were these released in the U.S?
Didn't Z-Force also have the Wolverine?
Still have the z force command centre with jammer and gaucho it was definitely better than the gi joe one
Oh my the S.A.S squad leader I had him around several times !!! Funnily enough it was these that made me want to join the Royal Marines which I eventually did !!! Brill stuff
So...when is Stan Solo or some other enterprising fan going to produce these for us to own?
As if the old Action force toys weren't already interesting and worth collecting with only 4 teams as it was?
Absolutely!
I remember when action force gave away free figures with some comic titles 20 pence for a figure needless to say I got more a couple
ouch
Its basically GI Joe, right? Why change it? I know GI Joe is an American thing but does that preclude British kids from liking it? I'm British and loved GI Joe.
i would guess they didnt use gi joe so they could keep their own brand name alive
I’m sorry but as far as playability these five point toys have nothing on gi joes articulation
Has someone already made the “It belongs in a museum!” joke?