Action Man - Appearance; 60s - 80s - Body Variations; 1978-84

Body Variations; 1978-84

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 minimally articulated figure. All were taken from Hasbro, though Atomic Man although taken from the same mould as G.I. Joe's "Mike Powers", was given flocked hair and a silver plastic "Heart Plug" with a black button in its center. "Tom Stone" was a repackaged African-ethnic Hasbro Muscle Body Action Adventurer, Palitoy never produced any of the ethnic figures in the line themselves. Both Bullet Man and Tom Stone utilized the body Hasbro patented: "Posable figure having one piece connector for torso, trunk and legs".

From 1978 to the end of the original period of Action Man in 1984, the body was replaced with an entirely new design; at a glance, the most obvious detail is fact that the flesh coloured pelvic area of the body was replaced with a blue section giving the effect of blue shorts rather than the sexless mannequin look; at the same time the body took on a more muscular tone. This body type was known as the "Dynamic Physique. This was mainly designed by Designer Ivor Edmunds, with help from Chief Designer Bob Brechin under the direction of Bill Pugh. Tooling and material selection was under the supervision of Process Manager Alec Langton. The tooling that produced the components for the Hasbro designed manikin were wearing badly and delivering poor quality mouldings; and because the tooling was, what is known as "family tools" ( all components to produce the limbs of the manikin were moulded on the same tool ) it meant that if one component was below standard the whole shot was potentially scrap. However what was happening in production was that the good components were used but there became an imbalance in the numbers of good components, so substandard mouldings were reworked to make them acceptable and good components were ground up with bad components and the sprues for remoulding. This was becoming very uneconomic. The mouldings for the new Dynamique Physique manikin were moulded on non-family hot-runner tools ( no sprues to be recycled ). That is a separate tool for each component. So it was easy to maintain equal numbers of components to make up the figures; and the quality was assured. Prototype tooling using the hot-runner system was organised by Alec Langton to prove the manufacturing and design, as well as provide sales samples and product for toy fairs. The brief for the design was to eliminate rivets and elastic of the Hasbro design yet maintain full manoeuvrability of the manikin. A construction based on snap-together components ( known as the " skeleton" ) covered by an outer moulding ( the "muscles" ) was devised for the arms and legs which were assembled by hand ( no jigs and fixtures needed ). The assembled limbs were held in a two-part torso ( " clam shell" design ) which was sonic welded together ( the only mechanical process involved ). The biggest challenge to the designers was the design of the hip area. The final solution, and thus maintaining the full manoeuvrability of the figure, was solved by Designer Peter Mansell. Figures from the prototype tooling were produced with green underpants, whereas in production they were moulded blue. The U.S. patent was applied for in November 1977 The Dynamique Physique figure continued until Action Man was "demobbed" in1984. A new marketing feature was required and in 1980 a notch was added to the neck ( like an Adam's Apple ) to allow the head to be held back in a " sharpshooter" pose. This was the idea of the son of John Hawkes, who was Design Director after Bill Pugh.

The talking Action Commander released in the late sixties issued eight commands at random (depending on how far out you pulled the cord); "This is your commander speaking", Enemy aircraft action stations", Volunteer needed for a special mission", Enemy in sight: range 1000", "Action Man patrol fall in", Hold your fire until I give the order", "Mortar attack dig in", and "Commander to base request support fire". The Dynamic Physique Talker introduced in 1978 had only five commands: "Enemy Tanks Approaching", "Give Me Some Cover", "Send Out The Patrol", "Whats the password" and "Advance In Single File"