Action Man is an action figure boys' toy launched in Britain in 1966 by Palitoy as a licensed copy of Hasbro's American "moveable fighting man": G.I. Joe.
Action Man was originally produced and sold in the United Kingdom and Australia by Palitoy Ltd of Coalville, Leicestershire from 1966 until 1984 (Palitoy also offered sub-licences to various toy manufacturers in various markets).
The figure and accessories were originally based on the Hasbro (US) 1964 G.I. Joe figure (for 1966–1969 production). Hasbro's G.I. Joe figure was patented in 1966 Even the specific method of attaching the appendages was patented as a "Connection For Use In Toy Figures" The first Action Man figures were Action Soldier, Action Sailor and Action Pilot. All were available in the four original hair colours: Blonde, Auburn, Brown and Black. They were accompanied by outfits depicting United States Forces of WWII and the Korean War. In later years, the figures and accompanying uniforms and accessories would more accurately reflect the forces of the United Kingdom. Action Man was subsequently reintroduced in 1993, based on the G.I. Joe Hall of Fame figure of that time.
Famous quotes containing the words action and/or man:
“To play is nothing but the imitative substitution of a pleasurable, superfluous and voluntary action for a serious, necessary, imperative and difficult one. At the cradle of play as well as of artistic activity there stood leisure, tedium entailed by increased spiritual mobility, a horror vacui, the need of letting forms no longer imprisoned move freely, of filling empty time with sequences of notes, empty space with sequences of form.”
—Max J. Friedländer (1867–1958)
“And how can man die better
Than facing fearful odds,
For the ashes of his fathers,
And the temples of his Gods?”
—Thomas Babington Macaulay (1800–1859)