Action Man: Overview
The History of Action Man
Since its release the Action Man toy has been a firm favorite for young boys. This action figure provides great memories of childhood for men up to the age of fifty and is still enjoyed by children growing up today. This toy has really managed to capture the imagination of young minds and almost from the beginning there was a wide selection of accessories to keep the toy fresh.
The first Action Man toy came onto the UK market in 1966. It was based on an American action figure called GI Joe; this had been released two years earlier. Both of these toys had been put out on the market in response to the success of the Barbie doll. The toy industry was completely bowled over by the success of Barbie and the logic was that if it could for girls why not boys? This proved to be a correct assumption, but it is doubtful that anyone could have predicted the lasting success of Action men.
When it first appeared on the market, Action Man was very similar to the American GI Joe action figure. After a couple of years though this all changed and it took on a peculiarly British feel. During the first few years the focus was on Second World War and so the uniforms and other accessories available reflected this. As time went on though the doll began dealing with other themes. In the sixties there was also a lot more focus on providing action figures to represent the different branches of the armed services; this meant that you had an army, navy, and air force figure. Later this emphasis on armed service branches became less emphasized.
In 1993 Action Man was reinvented with a change in direction from military to more adventure themes. As well as a change in focus there was also a change in what children found when they opened the packaging of the toy. Instead of having an action figure that you could later accessorize with different clothes and equipment the box contained everything that was needed for one mission. An example of this would be the Action Man Snowboard Raider which comes with clothes, snowboard, chainsaw, and everything needed for this theme.
In 2006 the original Action Man was reintroduced to celebrate the toys 40th anniversary. This brought back many memories for fathers buying these for their sons; even the packaging was the same as the original. As well as regular action man there has also been some successful spin offs such as A.T.O.M. that was released in conjunction with a cartoon series of the same name.
Action Man was released by Palitoy under license from Hasbro. The company has had to deal with quite a bit of competition from others trying to copy the success of Action Man. These were usually poor imitations, and this explains why the company continues to be successful right up until today. In the early years Tommy Gunn was able to compete successfully with action man, but this toy had falling off the radar by the late sixties.
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Action Man: Overview
Action Man: Store
Action Man: Storyline
Action Man: The Bad Guys
Action Man: The Good Guys