Editing Action Man (section)

==History==
{{more citations needed section|date=November 2014}}

===Beginnings and success===
From 1964, Palitoy, a British subsidiary of [[General Mills]], was the UK licensee for Hasbro Industries. Palitoy developed from a plastics firm, established by Alfred Edward Pallett in 1909 and became one of Britain's leading toy manufacturers, until its closure in 1984.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://museums.leics.gov.uk/collections-on-line/GetSingleGroup.do?groupKey=85 |title=Leicestershire County Council |publisher=Museums.leics.gov.uk |access-date=2011-07-18 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110720134109/http://museums.leics.gov.uk/collections-on-line/GetSingleGroup.do?groupKey=85 |archive-date=20 July 2011 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

In 1964, Sales Director Hal Belton returned from the United States with a new toy called G.I. Joe as a present for his grandson. When he realised that it was well received by his grandson he "borrowed" the toy and presented it to the General Manager Miles Fletcher. Miles and his Production Director Brian Wybrow made contact with Hasbro at the New York toy fair the next year. Samples were acquired from Hasbro and marketing research was carried out – Palitoy employees were given samples to take home for their children to test. The controversy at the time was "should boys be playing with a doll". Palitoy (as Hasbro before) ignored these concerns and the word "doll" was banned when discussing the new toy. 

A name was needed and Gee Advertising was commissioned to come up with some ideas. A list was passed around the company (as remembered by Stuart Moore, designer of the successful Tiny Tears) for people to cast their preference. One name remembered was "Ace 21" because the mannequin had 21 separate components. Both Peter Watson, of Gees, and Les Cooke, Palitoy Brand Manager (later to become managing director), claim authorship of the name Action Man, but it was Sales Manager Harry Trowell who suggested the name to Miles Fletcher over lunch at the local pub, the Fox and Goose. Eventually after lengthy negotiation a licensing deal to produce the toy using Hasbro tooling and Far East sourcing was agreed in late 1965, just prior to the launch at the British Toy Fair in January 1966.{{citation needed|date=November 2014}}

In the early years, Action Man competed with the entirely British [[Tommy Gunn (toy)|Tommy Gunn]] by [[Pedigree Toys]] who were the producers of the [[Sindy]] doll. The Tommy Gunn figure copied aspects of Hasbro's G.I. Joe, released two years earlier in the United States. Regardless, Tommy Gunn was generally regarded as a higher quality in terms of equipment and accuracy of accessories, especially since the Action Man of the 1960s was little more than a re-packaged G.I. Joe. He was ultimately unable to compete with Action Man and was discontinued in 1968. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, many other companies produced competition for Action Man, but all were of the cheap [[Blow molding|blow-moulded]] variety, which produces thin-walled components lacking the articulation and sturdiness of the Palitoy components, which utilised more costly [[Injection moulding|Injection]] and [[Rotational moulding]] processes.{{citation needed|date=November 2014}}

Action Man was developed with primarily British themes from 1970 onwards: military, adventurers, and sportsman, as Palitoy wanted to distinguish their product line from the U.S. counterpart. (Bill) William A.G. Pugh was the head of Action Man's product development at Palitoy, and can be credited with the development of innovations to the product line which included the flocked hair and gripping hands, which crossed over to the G.I. Joe line. Hasbro realised adding a new feature to the manikin helped to maintain sales and developed the Eagle Eyes, which was adopted by Palitoy for Action Man,<ref>Michlig, J. (1998) "G.I. Joe; The Complete Story of America's Favorite Man of Action", Section 12, pp. 178–187</ref> and by extension to that of other Hasbro licensees.

One series that truly set Palitoy's line apart from Hasbro's was the "Ceremonials". Although Hasbro had a set of Cadet ceremonial outfits, they did not match the scope and range of the British versions, which also included a horse of the [[Life Guards (British Army)|Life Guards]] with full ceremonial regalia as an optional set.<ref>Hall, A. (1999) "Action Man – the ultimate collectors guide" Vol. 2, p. 5</ref> The non-military was also covered with adventurous elements such as mountain rescue, Arctic exploration, [[Scuba diving|scuba]] and [[standard diving dress|deep sea diving]]. One outfit was only available through the Action Man stars scheme; the [[Royal Canadian Mounted Police]] (and accompanying [[English Mastiff|mastiff]] dog). In the G.I. Joe lineup, this outfit was sold with figure in a variety of configurations through Hasbro Canada.

===Hasbro relaunch===
The military style Action Man toys made a brief resurgence in the early 1990s, but between 1995 and 2006 Hasbro used the name without any military theme as a modern adventurer complete with arch-enemies Dr. X and Professor Gangrene. Marketing changed from producing a basic figure with the option to buy several different outfits to each product being its own stand-alone figure, with included accessories such as an outfit and equipment for a given "mission". This specialisation together with improved production techniques led to figures with built-in abilities, such as karate moves or a working blowpipe. {{citation needed|date=February 2024}}

A tie-in [[Action Man (1995 TV series)|''Action Man'']] animated series was produced but was only available on video in the UK, because of broadcast rules about advertising to children: a toy could follow a TV production but not the other way around.<ref>Ian Harrison ''Action Man – The Official Dossier''</ref>

A 3 3/4 inch sized Action Man was sold in 2004 as part of a G.I. Joe 'Night Force' set sold exclusively at the Toys 'R' Us chain of stores in the United States.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.yojoe.com/action/04/actionman.shtml|title=Action Man (v1) G.I. Joe Action Figure - YoJoe Archive|website=yojoe.com}}</ref>

===Collectors' version===
{{Main|Action Man: 40th Anniversary}}
In 2006 Hasbro licensed reproductions of a variety of the original boxed Action Man figures, under the 40th Anniversary "Nostalgic Collection" banner, in a packaging format similar to Hasbro's G.I. Joe [[G.I. Joe: America's movable fighting man|"40th Anniversary"]] collection.

===Subsequent revivals===
At the 2011 [[New York Comic Con]], Hasbro distributed a catalogue titled 'UNIT E' featuring comic strips based on several Hasbro properties, some of which were defunct. Among the latter toy ranges was a new iteration of Action Man, dubbed 'The Action Man'. However, the comic was produced as a "brain storming" concept, and the comic's introduction specifically noted that none of the concepts within the book were guaranteed to ever see production or release.

The Action Man character was again rebooted by [[IDW Publishing]] in 2016 for a four-issue limited comic book series. The series was published to commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of Action Man, with the cover of each issue featuring the original Palitoy-era Action Man logo.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://www.idwpublishing.com/product/action-man-1/|title=Action Man #1|publisher=[[IDW Publishing]]|date=June 2016|access-date=11 February 2020}}</ref>