Action man is 40

Seems an age doesn’t it, but this year Action Man is 40, I like probably many men who are above a certain age can remember playing with Action Man. My older brother had an action man before me, he had one not long after they were released, me, well when they came out with the upgrade called Eagle Eyes, that was the one I was given. Looking back now, it seems funny that something so simple could produce play time compared to what kids today supposedly need to keep their attention.

My Action man had the fuzzy hair, eagle eyes which could find anything and flexible hands as well. This was added to the whole range of extras it came with, tanks, parachutes, bikes, jeeps, mini tanks, these things, especially the tanks and armoured personnel vehicles were very tough, you could throw those at the wall and not see anything break, though I am sure I recall my mother being less than pleased when the paintwork was chipped for the 100th time as Action Man and his tank crashed hard into the wall.

BBC Story

Action Man's History

For those of you who are close enough to London and want to see Action Man again in many different guises, Hasbro recruited 40 artists to customize 40 original action man figures. It is at the Blink Gallery from the 16th to the 27th May.

More Information

For those who want to see more information re who the artists are and a more Action Man style site.

As for my Action Man, I have no idea where he is, I am figuring he ended up with my godson, along with all the extras he had, most of a carload actually. He was in pretty good shape when I finished with him, given him being close to indestructible, can’t imagine the worth today, probably nothing without the original box, which I think got so torn to pieces in the efforts to open it on a Christmas day back in the late 1970s.