Action Force is a brand of European

action figure An action figure is a poseable character model figure made most commonly of plastic, and often based upon characters from a film, comic book, military, video game, television program, or sport; fictional or historical. These figures are usually ...

s released in the 1980s that was based on the ''

Action Man Action Man is an action figure launched in Britain in 1966 by Palitoy as a licensed copy of Hasbro's American "movable fighting man", G.I. Joe. Action Man was originally produced and sold in the United Kingdom and Australia by Palitoy Ltd of ...

'' toyline. It was also used to introduce '' G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero'' toys to European markets. Several publishing companies have produced

comic books A comic book, comic-magazine, or simply comic is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panel (comics), panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are often accompanied by descriptive prose and wri ...

based on the figures.

History

First generation (1982)

The ''Action Force'' figures were first produced in 1982 by Palitoy Limited, and were released in two waves. They were created in response to the falling sales of the company's larger collection, ''Action Man'', and the comparative success of the smaller Kenner Star Wars action figures, which the company was licensed to sell in Europe. The figures are a mixture of historical military figures (e.g. Desert Rat, German Storm trooper) and of more contemporary soldiers (e.g.

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and Naval Assault). In contrast to the American-centric ''

G.I. Joe ''G.I. Joe'' is an American media franchise and a line of action figures owned and produced by the toy company Hasbro. The initial product offering represented four of the branches of the U.S. armed forces with the Action Soldier ( U.S. Army), A ...

'' figures, the ''Action Force'' figures were a mixture of international figures, including British, German, Australian and American soldiers. However, unlike later releases, the first figures were not accompanied by file cards giving backstories, nor were they featured in comic books other than a series of mini-comics that were packaged with some of the vehicles, notably the AF-3 and AF-5. :Figures :Vehicles

Second generation (1983)

Following the success of the first range of figures, a second and larger group of figures was launched in 1983. Action Force sales accounted to about one million over six months in 1983, and the offering was expanded to include a new wave of figures and vehicles that were released in 1984. Palitoy took a different approach with this second range of figures by grouping the allied action figures and enemies each with accompanying weaponry and vehicles. The figures were given comic book identities and were featured in a new range of stories in the '' Battle Action Force'' comic. The toys were also supplied with file cards that provided a brief profile of the characters. For key figures, these profiles were expanded in the ''Battle Action Force'' comic with their own multi-issue storylines (e.g. The Black Major). *Z Force: an allied infantry and artillery-based unit. *SAS Force: an allied special operations team. *Q Force: an allied ocean-based team. *Space Force: an allied space operations team. *Red Shadows: the unified enemy force, led by Baron Ironblood. The fifth team was to have been characterized as a 'special weapons' unit, initially believed to be called 'F-Force'. Later research revealed a pair of photographs from a toy catalog which showed the figures in different color schemes, along with vehicles featuring an 'SWS' logo instead. The catalog photographs also showed US G.I. Joe vehicles, which were released as part of the SAS Force and Z Force groups. These vehicles included a white and grey Jeep, a white artillery piece and a white missile battery. Both the action figures and the vehicles borrowed elements from the first generation models and the new casts licensed from the ''G. I. Joe'' toyline from

Hasbro Hasbro, Inc. (; a syllabic abbreviation of its original name, Hassenfeld Brothers) is an American multinational corporation, multinational toy manufacturing and entertainment holding company founded on December 6, 1923 by Henry, Hillel and Herma ...

. There was also an Action Force

fan club A fan club is an organized group of fans, generally of a celebrity. Most fan clubs are run by fans who devote considerable time and resources to support them. There are also "official" fan clubs that are run by someone associated with the pers ...

promoted both on the figures' packaging and in the ''Battle Action Force'' comic book. In 1984, additional figures and vehicles were cast, borrowing heavily from the G.I. Joe and

Cobra COBRA or Cobra, often stylized as CoBrA, was a European avant-garde art group active from 1948 to 1951. The name was coined in 1948 by Christian Dotremont from the initials of the members' home countries' capital cities: Copenhagen (Co), Brussels ...

ranges. During this time, the Action Force toyline branched out into

video games A video game or computer game is an electronic game that involves interaction with a user interface or input device (such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device) to generate visual fe ...

, audio stories on

cassette tape The Compact Cassette, also commonly called a cassette tape, audio cassette, or simply tape or cassette, is an analog audio, analog magnetic tape recording format for Sound recording and reproduction, audio recording and playback. Invented by L ...

stationery Stationery refers to writing materials, including cut paper, envelopes, continuous form paper, and other office supplies. Stationery usually specifies materials to be written on by hand (e.g., letter paper) or by equipment such as computer p ...

, and toiletries.

Third generation (1985)

In 1985, Palitoy ceded control of the European market to Hasbro following the death of Alfred Pallett, one of Palitoy's owners, and the winding up of operations at their Leicester factory. Hasbro purchased the Palitoy factory,

copyright A copyright is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the exclusive legal right to copy, distribute, adapt, display, and perform a creative work, usually for a limited time. The creative work may be in a literary, artistic, ...

s, and moulds and began to package G.I. Joe figures under the Action Force brand. In characterization terms, this move marked the end of the subgrouping of the Action Force team, and a new unified Action Force (or AF) also faced a new enemy in the name of

. The parallel comic book storylines also maintained continuity with a number of plot lines that blended elements of the second range of figures with the third, featuring the new characters as an international elite anti-terrorist unit of a wider Action Force. The Force was still backed up by the Z Force, SAS, other units fighting Cobra, the Red Shadows and even a re-animated

Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (20 April 1889 – 30 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was the dictator of Nazi Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his suicide in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the lea ...

and the

Nazis Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...

(despite being ostensibly set in the present day). The characters created by ''Battle Action Force'' were altered in the European market to have mixed nationalities in contrast to the US-centric ''G.I. Joe'' characters. Over time, however, the range evolved into an unreconstructed G.I. Joe force and its enemy Cobra. The ''G.I. Joe'' animated series was re-titled and re-dubbed for release in the UK. Any mention of G.I. Joe was replaced with Action Force, however, the G.I. Joe logo remained on vehicles and equipment shown in the cartoon.

Comics

''Battle Action Force'' tie-in

In July 1983, the Action Force characters initially guest-featured in a comic strip serial in ''

Battle A battle is an occurrence of combat in warfare between opposing military units of any number or size. A war usually consists of multiple battles. In general, a battle is a military engagement that is well defined in duration, area, and force co ...

''. The strip proved to be so popular that a further five promotional mini-comics were included free with every IPC publication in the weeks to follow. On 8 October 1983, Action Force joined the pages of ''Battle'' full-time and the magazine was retitled ''Battle Action Force''. The comic took on the role of providing backstories and storylines for the action figures. Following the closure of Palitoy in 1986 and Hasbro acquiring the various

intellectual property rights Intellectual property (IP) is a category of property that includes intangible creations of the human intellect. There are many types of intellectual property, and some countries recognize more than others. The best-known types are patents, co ...

to the Action Force toyline, the ''Action Force'' strip was canceled. The ''Battle Action Force'' magazine was subsequently merged with ''

Eagle Eagle is the common name for the golden eagle, bald eagle, and other birds of prey in the family of the Accipitridae. Eagles belong to several groups of Genus, genera, some of which are closely related. True eagles comprise the genus ''Aquila ( ...

''.

Marvel UK's Action Force comic

Following the demise of the ''Battle Action Force'' strips, a weekly ''Action Force'' comic was launched by

Marvel UK Marvel UK was an imprint (trade name), imprint of Marvel Comics formed in 1972 to reprint United States of America, US-produced stories for the United Kingdom, British weekly comic market. Marvel UK later produced original material by British cr ...

on 8 March

1987 Events January * January 1 – Bolivia reintroduces the Boliviano currency. * January 2 – Chadian–Libyan conflict – Battle of Fada: The Military of Chad, Chadian army destroys a Libyan armoured brigade. * January 3 – Afghan leader ...

, consisting of reprints of the US ''

'' comic book and new UK-exclusive short strips. The ''G.I. Joe'' comics were adjusted to fit into the UK strip's continuity and had all references to G.I. Joe replaced with Action Force, and the UK-exclusive strips maintained a separate continuity from the US ''G.I. Joe'' comic. The ''Action Force'' comic was canceled in

1988 1988 was a crucial year in the early history of the Internet—it was the year of the first well-known computer virus, the Morris worm, 1988 Internet worm. The first permanent intercontinental Internet link was made between the United State ...

after fifty issues due to low sales and was replaced with ''Action Force Monthly'', which was itself canceled after fifteen issues. The ''Action Force Monthly'' title printed new stories as well as reprinting stories from the weekly title. The magazine was released in the US under the title ''G.I. Joe – European Missions''. In late 1989, the ''G.I. Joe'' story reprints were continued in the UK ''Transformers'' comic under the name ''G.I. Joe the Action Force'' to conform to the toyline. The reprints changed back to ''G.I. Joe'' until they were dropped in 1991. In 1995,

Panini Comics Panini Comics is an Italian comic book publisher. A division of Panini Group, which also produces collectible stickers, it is headquartered in Modena, Italy. The company publishes comic books in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, France, Germany, Hungary ...

obtained the Marvel UK licence and began publishing an ''Action Man'' comic the following year without reference to Action Force or G.I. Joe.

Devil's Due revival

In 2005 and 2007, the Action Force characters were partially revived. The Red Shadows organization was featured in the two-part ''Dawn of the Red Shadows'' storyline in ''G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero'' (vol. 2) #42 and #43, following a series of mysterious attacks against both G.I. Joe and Cobra. This Red Shadows organization was led by Wilder Vaughn, a British military officer gone rogue, and viewed organized governments as corrupt and in need of removal. After this appearance, where they caused substantial damage, they have not seen again; Vaughn made a cameo in the Black Major uniform in a later storyline, stating Cobra had decimated the organization off-panel. The Action Force characters Quarrel, Moondancer, Hunter and Blades made cameo appearances in ''G.I. Joe: America's Elite'' issue #30 as representatives of

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO ; , OTAN), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental Transnationalism, transnational military alliance of 32 Member states of NATO, member s ...

Action Force in Germany

The second-generation Action Force figures were also released in

West Germany West Germany was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from its formation on 23 May 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990. It is sometimes known as the Bonn Republi ...

during the 1980s, albeit without the benefit of a comic book tie-in. The German toys went under the title of Action Force and fought the "Terror-Bande" (roughly translated as "Terror Gang"). The German release consisted only of the first wave of second-generation figures and characters (some 30 figures and vehicles), however, the characters and vehicles were still grouped in their subunits: anti-terror team (or ATT) corresponding to Z-Force; the special anti-terror team (or SATT) corresponding to SAS Force; the deep-sea anti-terror team (or TSATT) corresponding to Q Force; and the space anti-terror team (or WATT) corresponding to Space Force. Distributors, still concerned by Germany's actions during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, modified certain aspects of the Action Force range to appear less violent. According to researchers of the German Palitoy range, most of the guns supplied with the figures were replaced by "less violent"

stun STUN (Session Traversal Utilities for NAT; originally Simple Traversal of User Datagram Protocol (UDP) through Network Address Translators) is a standardized set of methods, including a network protocol, for traversal of network address transl ...

-weapons, laser-weapons or knives. Also, the

human skull The skull, or cranium, is typically a bony enclosure around the brain of a vertebrate. In some fish, and amphibians, the skull is of cartilage. The skull is at the head end of the vertebrate. In the human, the skull comprises two prominen ...

on the Red Shadow (or Terror-Bande) figures was removed from the toyline.

2009 and 2010 G.I. Joe convention revival

Action Force characters have appeared as limited edition toys and comic characters as part of the International G.I. Joe Convention, under the name Special Action Force or SAF (a riff on the SAS; not to be confused with the Philippines' real-life

Special Action Force The Special Action Force (SAF) is the elite unit of the Philippine National Police founded by Fidel V. Ramos, later the twelfth president of the Philippines. History Formed on May 12, 1983, by the now-defunct Philippine Constabulary (PC) as ...

). Instead of being an international group, the Special Action Force is solely a British team and that nation's equivalent to G.I. Joe, though they have several foreign

expatriate An expatriate (often shortened to expat) is a person who resides outside their native country. The term often refers to a professional, skilled worker, or student from an affluent country. However, it may also refer to retirees, artists and ...

members. In August 2009, a limited edition Blades (complete with "SAF Copter") was released in both toy and comic book character form as part of the 2009 G.I. Joe convention. He was portrayed as British rather than retaining the American nationality of the original character and assisted both G.I. Joe and their Argentine counterpart Commandos Heroicos. In April 2010 the Red Shadows and Black Major returned in o-ring style articulation form as part of the G.I. Joe convention. Dubbed 'Vacation in the Shadows' the set featured new versions of Black Major, the Red Shadow trooper, Flint and Cobra's Interrogator as well as six new 'Red Torch' figures who were part of the Red Shadow forces, armed with flamethrowers. In addition to the box set, other convention releases included Dolphin of Q-Force, a 3in Natalie Poole figure – based on the 1990s ''Action Man'' character and retroactively made an SAF agent – and Z Force's Jammer and Gaucho (who appeared in a three-pack with a new version of Joe medic Lifeline). Unlike Blades, Jammer and Gaucho kept their American and Mexican nationalities. Starduster appeared in the comic tie-in. The convention comic featured Flint vacationing in Europe with Dolphin and Natalie before running afoul of Black Major and Interrogator, who were planning an alliance between Cobra and the Red Shadows. In a twist ending, Natalie is brainwashed into being a Shadows sleeper agent.