I read an article on the BBC News website today that made me smile despite the sad news about the death of Sir Terry Wogan.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-leicestershire-35411078
Action Man is 50 years old!
There is no toy that takes me back to my childhood more instantly than Action Man.
My Action Men figures were the most important toys I owned (more so than my bucket of cars or even my Hornby train set). In the seventies there was one Christmas when I asked for a "Talking Commander" - my parents never worked so hard to find me a present. They left it too late to shop that year but in the end they managed to get hold of a figure, minus its box, because they saw a pair of legs poking out from a shelf-stacker’s trolley (in Boots of all places I think). I don’t think the shop assistant expected to sell the doll without its packaging but my folks weren’t about to take “no” for an answer. I have this picture in my head of my old man behaving a bit like Arnie in “Jingle All The Way”.
When I got the commander, I was delighted, I couldn’t have cared less about the box anyway.
On one memorable occasion, my dad came home from work with a box of second hand Action Man gear that he’d purchased from a colleague at the office. That was another happy day for me.
I had around half a dozen figures in all and had a variety of different outfits, kit and weapons. My friends had Action Men too and we would get together and have battles with them. A big shout out here goes to one such friend - Andrew Cursley if you read this post, I hope you remember these good times as well.
It is interesting to read the BBC piece about Star Wars figures contributing to the demise of Action Man. When I was a kid, despite loving the film (and being a lifelong fan of the franchise since), I never had any interest in Star Wars figures. At less than six inches tall, with no changeable outfits, no gripping hands, no movable knee/elbow joints, I just thought they were a bit boring in comparison to my 12-inch fully poseable Action Men.
When I was a teenager, I got rid of my Action Men, along with most of my childhood toys. When I was in my twenties/thirties though, I went about buying some more. And I still have them too, though they are not featured in my gallery (I really should do something about that).
The article details Hasbro’s plans to relaunch some anniversary orientated Action Man but aimed at nostalgic adults instead. I am without doubt in the target market for these figures – I’ll admit it, I already want some. I just hope that Hasbro doesn’t price them in such a way that they feel like a rip off.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-leicestershire-35411078
Action Man is 50 years old!
There is no toy that takes me back to my childhood more instantly than Action Man.
My Action Men figures were the most important toys I owned (more so than my bucket of cars or even my Hornby train set). In the seventies there was one Christmas when I asked for a "Talking Commander" - my parents never worked so hard to find me a present. They left it too late to shop that year but in the end they managed to get hold of a figure, minus its box, because they saw a pair of legs poking out from a shelf-stacker’s trolley (in Boots of all places I think). I don’t think the shop assistant expected to sell the doll without its packaging but my folks weren’t about to take “no” for an answer. I have this picture in my head of my old man behaving a bit like Arnie in “Jingle All The Way”.
When I got the commander, I was delighted, I couldn’t have cared less about the box anyway.
On one memorable occasion, my dad came home from work with a box of second hand Action Man gear that he’d purchased from a colleague at the office. That was another happy day for me.
I had around half a dozen figures in all and had a variety of different outfits, kit and weapons. My friends had Action Men too and we would get together and have battles with them. A big shout out here goes to one such friend - Andrew Cursley if you read this post, I hope you remember these good times as well.
It is interesting to read the BBC piece about Star Wars figures contributing to the demise of Action Man. When I was a kid, despite loving the film (and being a lifelong fan of the franchise since), I never had any interest in Star Wars figures. At less than six inches tall, with no changeable outfits, no gripping hands, no movable knee/elbow joints, I just thought they were a bit boring in comparison to my 12-inch fully poseable Action Men.
When I was a teenager, I got rid of my Action Men, along with most of my childhood toys. When I was in my twenties/thirties though, I went about buying some more. And I still have them too, though they are not featured in my gallery (I really should do something about that).
The article details Hasbro’s plans to relaunch some anniversary orientated Action Man but aimed at nostalgic adults instead. I am without doubt in the target market for these figures – I’ll admit it, I already want some. I just hope that Hasbro doesn’t price them in such a way that they feel like a rip off.
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