Action Force

Action Force was a brand of European action figures initially based on Action Man in the 1980s. It was also used to introduce G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero toys to European markets. Several publishing companies have produced comic books based on the figures.

The Action figures were first produced in 1982 by Palitoy Limited and released in two waves. They were a response to falling sales of the company's larger Action Man and the comparative success of the smaller Kenner Star Wars action figures, which the company was licensed to sell in Europe.

Called Action Force, the figures were a mixture of historical military figures (e.g. Desert Rat and German Storm trooper characters) and more contemporary soldiers (e.g. Arctic and Naval Assault characters). In contrast to G.I. Joe figures, the toys were kept international by including British, German, Australian and American soldiers. Unlike later releases, however, the first figures were not accompanied by file cards giving back-stories, nor were they featured in comic books (other than a series of mini-comics that were packaged with some of the vehicles, notably the AF-3 and AF-5).

Following the success of the first range of figures, a second, much larger group was launched in 1983. Action Force sales were about one million over six months in 1983, and the offering was expanded with a new wave of figures and vehicles released in 1984.

Palitoy Limited took a different approach with this second range of figures by grouping the allied action figures and enemies each with accompanying weaponry and vehicles (see below). At this stage, the figures were given comic book identities and were featured in a new range of stories in the Battle Action Force comic (see Battle Action Force tie-in below). The toys were also supplied with file cards giving a brief profile of the character. For key figures, these profiles were in turn expanded in Battle Action Force comics with their own multi-issue story lines (e.g. - The Black Major.)

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