Did you hear the one about the dad who gave his son an empty Action Man box? Its the Action Man Deserter he said!
I think I saw that deserter the other day.
A chap ran by the car dressed exactly like the Action Man footballer I had as a kid. Red top, white shorts, baggy red woolly socks and black footy shoes. I had to look twice! He had the same thin legs as my Action Man too! ha ha. All that was missing were the dog tags!
Googling the footballer again I was amazed to see that you get a new 50th Anniversary re-issue from Amazon for just shy of thirty squid! The picture above is one of their's. Oddly it's described as for adult collectors only and is not a toy! Why not?
Seeing it again reminded me of my own in the mid-Sixties. I adored Action Man and had loads of the uniforms. I had the cricketer too and I remember the plastic base it came with topped by fake grass!
Back in 2006 when I was a full-time old toy trader I sold a few Action Man figures I got as payment for a cellar clearance I did. It included the cricketer. Here's a snap of it from my attic office back then. Howzat!
Have you seen any real-life Action Men and do you like the sports figures?
I've got quite a number of Action Men, some from the '60s, '70s, & '80s, plus some of the Anniversary reissues. I got the 50th '66 footballer from Toys 'R' Us for about £15 a few years back, and mentioned the 'For adult collectors only' line in a blog I did about it. I can't figure it out either - if they were good enough for us when we were kids, why can't kids today have them? Could it be the hooks inside holding the elastic (assuming they're still held together the same way)? One thing I've noticed is that though the new ones look the same, they don't seem to hold their positions as well, especially the legs. However, they're mainly for display in a cabinet or on a shelf I suppose.
ReplyDeleteSounds like a brilliant collection you have Kid. If i'd started early i could well imagine having collected Action Man like you but I sank my shekels into Project SWORD toys and focused on those for years. Its a mystery why 50th Anni Action Man is not a toy. Our 6 year old selves back then couldn't have had them! Bizarre. Like you say, there's something in the make-up that's terrified the makers. Who is the maker by the way?
DeleteArt & Science is the name of the current manufacturer, believe it or not. Under license by Hasbro, just like the original.
DeleteTa Kid. Interesting. I actually saw a modern retro Action Man Army figure boxed for £14.99 in Toymaster today.
DeleteThat'll be the ones for kids with VERY limited points of articulation. Art & Science are supposedly working on collectors editions which will be more poseable - just like the '60s version I imagine.
DeleteTa Kid. So there are children re-issues as well as adult versions. Strange. I was at a big car boot this morning and didn't see a single Action Man. Very unusual. There's usually a couple nestling in a box somewhere.
DeleteThe same thing applies to die-cast models, with many re-issues and anniversary models having a silly age limit on them. Might it be that the maker can charge more for a limited edition Adult Collectable rather than a mere toy for children to play with - even if the two are identical ? Or am I becoming one of those warped Conspiracy Theorists ?
ReplyDeleteI suppose there's money in limited editions and collectors' editions Paul, although I have to say £29.99 for the Action Man Footballer on Amazon is even within my meagre means. Seems like a bargain, although a 12" articulated action doll in a toy shop wouldn't be that much. Would it?
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