Action Man: Encyclopedia II - Action Man - Appearance

Action Man - Appearance

The original Action Man had a completely moulded painted head. The first innovation was a form of flocking giving the effect of a short "fuzzy" hairstyle. The Sailor (a very Royal Navy looking type) sported a similarly produced beard. This innovation crossed back over the Altantic and was introduced for GI Joe within a couple of years.

Gripping hands were the next feature to be introduced; the hard moulded hands of the original were replaced by rubber. The early rubber is prone to breakdown while later hands survive the years much better.

An improved head with "Eagle Eyes" followed later. A mechanism operated by a simple slide at the back of the head moves the gaze of the eyeballs back and forth - an improvement on the fixed stare of the original albeit at the price of a slightly larger head.

Towards the end of the original period of Action Man the flesh coloured pelvic area of the body was replaced with a blue section giving the effect of blue underpants rather than the sexless mannequin look; at the same time the body took on a more muscular tone.

In 1977, the official catalogue included four new figures. Three of them were variations on the standard Action Man; a cyborg Atomic Man (influenced by the Six Million Dollar Man), a dark-skinned (African ethnic) Commando Tom Stone, a red and silver superhero Bullet Man, and lastly a brutish Neanderthal look-alike The Intruder, which was a less articulated figure.

In 1980 two more figures not based on the Action Man doll were added: Captain Zargon (the Space Pirate) and ROM the Robot. At the same time Action Man gained a new set of equipment under the Space Ranger title. These were futuristic outfits rather than previous space suits which had been based on the equipment of the Gemini and Apollo missions.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Appearance", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki