There are countless GI Joe and Action Man knockoffs.
Here's another, new to me.
Active Man!
There's something awfully nice about the name. He's fit, he's healthy, he's active! ha ha
Looking at the carded sets on offer here on an online auction Active Man appears to do everything that Action Man did including blowing things up!
Are you an Active Man?
It's interesting...
ReplyDeleteI've been thinking about ACTION MAN recently -- because I still have my first generation dolls from the 1960s and, as I am now approaching retirement, I am starting to "declutter" and dispose of a lot of things.
I am looking at these dolls and thinking it's time for them to go.
But...
I remember seeing the first advertisements on TV for ACTION MAN (around 1964/5?) and asking my parents for one (I cringe with embarrassment now, recalling those moments; my parents were far from wealthy and I had no understanding of how little they could afford).
My father refused, though, because he thought it was wrong for a boy to be playing with dolls.
He did eventually relent -- it was on a birthday but I can't remember which one -- but it was many years after ACTION MAN came along and, I suspect, he changed his mind because all my friends had them.
In truth, though, I didn't really want an ACTION MAN.
What I wanted was a TROY TEMPEST doll...
I adored STINGRAY, as did two girls who lived in the same street.
They each had one articulated girl figure doll apiece -- I have no idea what they would have been.
One girl used hers as Marina.
The other used hers as Atlanta.
They were desperate for a Troy to join in their adventures and often talked about it.
Sadly, by the time my ACTION MAN came along, we had moved away...
I wonder if they ever got their "Troy"?
D.C.
Very interesting memory. I certainly never had a Troy Tempest doll figure. I had a Parker doll, which I adored. So have you treated yourself to a Troy Tempest figure as an adult DC?
DeleteHi, Woodsy.
DeleteI bought the Matchbox STINGRAY figures when they were released in the early 1990s, but...
They weren't very good, really.
What I really wanted as a child was a 12" figure -- something along the lines of the Fairylite THUNDERBIRDS dolls that came along later -- and which my parents and grandparents bankrupted themselves to get three of for me that Christmas (John, Virgil, and Jeff).
I am betting that was the Parker doll you had?
I can still remember them (my parents and grandparents) standing in the aisle of Woolworths and looking at up at the figures, with doubt on their faces.
God bless them.
My memory says they were 27/11 each...
Funnily enough, they turned up in what we would now call "bargain bins", eventually -- but I can't recall what the discounted prices were...
But those dolls meant a lot to me as a child.
It was like having a piece of the actual show.
Maybe that's why we still collect these things?
D.C.
Hi DC. Yes I agree. Memories of a cherished childhood are at the heart of nostalgia for the things we had and watched on TV. The Sixties were great for kids telly and toys!
Delete