During the late 1970s Hasbro was nicknamed ‘Hasbeen’ in the toy trade after the demise of GI Joe and later Super Joe. It was largely due to royalties for Action Man coming from Palitoy that helped the company stay afloat!

GI Joe was licenced all around the world by a number of different companies, Polistil of Italy, Ceji of France, Geyper of Spain, Toltoys of Australia, Schildkrot of Germany, Takara of Japan & so on. Palitoy improved GI Joe with the innovations it made to Action Man and by the time the 'Dynamic Physique' figure was on the market it, Action Man had truly become its own brand. Ive spoken to and heard from many GI Joe collectors that envy what we got here in the UK with Action Man.

Coming from the US and growing up with GI Joe and seeing the changes made from a "fighting man" to hunting a small ape, I was more than thrilled to see the amazing directions that Palitoy took the product. Weapons and uniforms that the US would never approach were readily available for Action Man, who didn't join the hippie commune that was The Adventure Team. Action Man also kept the 1/6 scale action figure alive when it was all but over in the US.

I remember when I was a kid, that when an Action Man was broken my mother would send it to be repaired at palitoy. Could you imagine a company doing that now. They were great and I have many fond memories of my childhood with my faithful Action Men (I still have them in loft).

Nice summation, I totally agree and believe that Palitoy made my GI joe experience better as a kid.

Excellent clarification for those who had questions! This is the definitive video on the subject!

That is really funny that people think it is a ripoff. Hasbro actually also licensed GI Joe over the world during the oil crisis, so almost all countries had its own version, officially licensed it from Hasbro, just with adapted names. Plus, the figure's molds came from them. In Brazil, for example, we have Falcon action figure, that is currently back into production with limited runs, but still under the agreement with Hasbro, as the usage of the molds does not end with time, and Estrela, the Brazilian manufacturer, does not use the GI Joe name, that is a different story.

you are quite right. palitoy was more of a partner to the US companies, they worked hand in hand. several companies came out with GI Joe ripoffs, cheaply made. many people don't understand the concept of licensing. please continue getting out the word.

These people should do more research ridiculous to make that statement!

Retroblasting rate the Palitoy Death Star higher than the Kenner if memory serves.

I will admit that I thought it was a rip-off back in the 80's but then the more I read about it the more I realized how much more creative Palitoy was with not only the 12 inch line but with the concept of the 3.75 Action Force figures and the play patterns they developed. Honestly, I found Palitoy had more love for characters like Mike Power (Atomic Man) and brilliantly used vehicles like the Big Trapper in a military green (which improved it exponentially). There was a lot of love and creativity there and I wish I had been able to get all of it when I was a kid.

All your videos deserve 10000000000000000000 likes and subs also I’ve been watching your channel for a year now and I got into your channel because of your Star Wars videos

I just kind of took it for granted that Action Man and G.I. Joe were the same, just different country versions. Actually, Hasbro might have been better off changing the name G.I. Joe to Action Man in the states, since G.I. Joe was spawned from the Vietnam War, and with the end of and controversies of the war, change him to Action Man. They sort of were doing this anyway, by making Joe into G.I. Joe and His Adventure Team line in the 70's. Should've just made him Action Man and His Adventure Team. Very enlightening!

Palitoy also made the Death Star in Canada. I had one and have fond memories playing with it. Wish I still had it!

Awesome 👍🏾👍🏾🤙 they where great as a kid to play with, 👍🏾

Personally I just think its great that kids in the UK and the US got to enjoy these toys and remember them. I own a good number of both. I also see it as perfectly natural and correct that there be some differences since each country has their own particular characteristics and patriotism. In fact I am a result myself of an American Dad and a British mother. I spent my childhood in both places and have a great pride in both countries. So if anyone picks a fight with either one they have picked a fight with me.

I got Action Man aged 8 in 1966, yellow hair, my older brother got black hair version. On both they were stamped GI JOE & a copyright on their butt. The next one I got didn't, this was in the UK, have you heard of this before? Really appreciate your videos, so many memories and learning about toys I was too old for, would've loved Action Force

As usual Spot On Tony setting the record straight for the misinformed. I didn't become familiar with Action Man until the 90s when the animated series hit the U.S. along with the Hasbro-Kenner 12 inch toy line. Even then i thought of Action Man as our Euro brother in arms marketed for what kids in Europe the UK Australia etc wanted. What was popular and sold in the US didn't translate overseas and Palitoy always quenched that thirst perfectly. My opinion the SOTW line was the finest Hasbro ever created unfortunately due to shirtless tree hugging hippies protesting The Vietnam War the series was cut short and The less political Adventure Team was born. I grew up with fuzz heads and Kung-Fu grip but after discovering all the Soldiers and Military heroes Palitoy produced in the 60's and 70's i found the line far more appealing.

Action Man became his own "Man" by the late 60s and was more of an influence on GI Joe after that. Great video👍

Very informative. I like that. Screw the haters. Keep up your good work buddy 👍🏻

I loved when I discovered Action Man. It gave me a whole new bunch of stuff to add to my collection. I'm glad he became his own thing. So much variety!

Thanks from Spain!!!!....see you soon!

In the 80s and early 90s Mazda were producing a small hatch that was an earlier version of the Ford Fiesta. It was produced under licence from Ford. It wasnt a Ford knock off. Likewise with a current Peugeot small hatch back that is licenced from Toyota. Ignore the ignorant people. Keep up the good work

I can't think or a more symbiotic relationship than the one between Palitoy and Hasbro for Action Man and GI Joe, and it looks like Hasbro have enough respect for Action Man and Action Force to consider it "canon" within the new shared universe they've been creating for comics/movies/etc/ Imagine a GI Joe movie where the Baron Ironbloood and the Red Shadows turned up and GI Joe got back up from Action Man and Action Force... You know you want it. I know I want it.

Action Man rocks

Awesome video Tony, very informative

Action Man, IMHO, is superior to GI Joe because Palitoy did more to increase the uniforms and vehicles. What I don't know is the manufacturing specs about the materials used to make Action Man vs. GI Joe. If you know about that aspect, please consider making a video about the quality of Action Man vs. GI Joe. And, you are 100% correct. Action Man was licensed to Palitoy based upon several books about the history of GI Joe and Action Man that I have read.

I was really not thrilled when GI Joe returned, having shrunk 6 inches, and having been reincarnated as the Village People action figures. Those were dark times for the kids who grew up in the 60's and 70's with real action figures (not dolls...even though they are)

I grew up in the 70's with the 1/6 scale GI Joe's and loved them. I'd never heard of Action Man until a few years ago on the internet, and have loved learning about him on your channel. I personally feel that Palitoy did a better job with Action Man than Hasbro did with GI Joe! So much more innovation and accessories than we ever got here in the States!

Great video!!

I consider them sister lines. While Action Man started as just releasing GI Joe to a new market, it quickly did it's own thing, with more sucess. People forget GI Joe did not do well in the late 60s early 70s due to the Veitnam War. Meanwhile in the UK Action Man was thriving with their own original designs.

Palitoy was the biggest toy company in the uk and they did a magnificent job of entertaining thousands of children in the 70s and 80s and they actually made some gi joes vehicles better

Thanks for clearing this up. I like what palitoy did with their version.

I love these figures. Always a pleasure to welcome.

Licensed partnership. How does that equal rip-off? In some cases Pallitoy even improved on the line, a great example on the table beside you, the RAM cycle and repaint of Scarlett. Your doing absolutely great work here Tony! Thank You!

@4:08 If my memory serves right, I think I have seen this photograph and some figures of these in a collectible shop in a mall from another city. I'd better get back there to confirm if they sell Action Man toys after the quarantine has been lifted.

Odd how all this fuss is made about Action Man and Action Force when Japan did the exact same thing with Henshin Cyborg and Microman and no one seems to bat an eye.

I do like your rants though

Well said Tony. Bit like saying the Royal Marines are a rip off of the U.S. Marine Corps or vice versa. One is British and the other is American but they are both great.

Each one took his own direction, thanks for another great Video

I never knew of action man until I found your channel Tony. You have really taught me a lot. Although I see a lot of re paints of GI Joe figures I never considered that a rip off I just assumed that the 2 companies were either sister companies or had a partnership. I really enjoy the repurposed items and repainted figures and vehicles throughout both properties! I’m on the hunt for an Action Force ATC & Night Force APC to add with my GI Joe standard APC. Keep up the great work Tony!

Nice clarification between G. I. Joe/Action Force. Remember getting several Joe figures on Action Man/Action Force cards like Rock 'n Roll & Stalker. They actually cost less than the original G. I. Joe carded figures, but the accessories & filecards were dead accurate to those of the US & Larry Hama's G. I. Joe filecards. One thing though, how come Action Force was international in nature (ie: Footloose was Scottish; I believe Lady J was Italian), and why was Sgt. Slaughter called Sgt. Slammer? I saw the Palitoy Death Star, and personally, I think its better than what Kenner did; at least it reflected the spherical design of the movie Death Star, compared to the free standing "building" look of the US version. The February release for Hasbro's G. I. Joe was meant to mark the simultaneous debut of Marvel's G. I. Joe comic, AND the animated G. I. Joe comic/toy commercials, as noted in Marvel's G. I. Joe Yearbook #1 in 1985. Still, another informative video, Mr. Tony. Thanks.

I didn't find out about Action Man until about ten years ago when I discovered him online. I never viewed him as a rip off. I always viewed him as England's G.I. Joe. I assumed that "G.I. Joe" was an American term and Britain had their term for it. Much like the difference between "fries" and " chips". We call them fries here, but they say chips in England. I live on the border of Canada and we have different terms for stuff too. So to me G.I. Joe and Action Man are the same thing. Although thanks to your videos as well as Toy Polloi, I have learned (at least it's my opinion) that Action Man has more quality and detail.

I remember having an Action Force SAS more or less in the early 80s

Cool video!

If anything, I've always viewed GI Joe and Action Man as cousins.

Well said pal!! Eff the haters!!

Great video-it is not a ripoff. Didn’t they just change the name away from the American-named G.i. Joe? General issue regular guy? When the Action Force comic book came out, we all knew it was just the British version of Joe.

Very informative, thanks. Although to be honest it seems odd to me. The the tight schedule coincidence for two weeks looks like one of the two companies could have caught wind of the other’s idea and started a similar development, just who knows who beat who.

Excellent! I don't know why it's a hard concept for some, all sorts of things are rebranded to fit their market. Just look at cars for instance. One thing I've always wondered, had the U.S. not been involved in Vietnam, and military toys had remained popular, where would the G.I. Joe line have gone. Action Man had a significant run after Hasbro stopped producing the Joe line.

Palitoy Death Star was sold in Canada too!

Nice to have two new videos in one day, with camera hog (😁) Tony telling it like it is! Seriously though, for collectors of G.I. Joe, Action Man and Action Force, this definitive information is exactly what we need and Tony is one of only a handful of dedicated fans who can be relied upon to provide us with this type of knowledge!

I wonder what bozo gave a thumbs down?....if you don't like it, just move along!....yet another tid bit from Tony the man!...I enjoy every one Tony, i just like your style mate.

Nicely done, Sir! :)

19,000 subscribers! Congrats! Let's see 20k!

Thanks for the information...I always thought of Action Man as a re-badging of GI JOE. For Action Force..are the figures the same Molds as Hasbro's?? The two weeks apart doesn't seem that decisive..as they both would have wanted to make a big splash at significant Toy Shows.

I'm not even a Action Man fan and even I know he isn't a G.I Joe knockoff beacuse he's officially licesned and even had his own cartoon in the early 2000's.

Repurposed and rip off are two entirely different things, anybody calling action force a rip off is clearly blind. Never really knew anything about action force but I love the 5 poa figure designs, I even made customs using marauders figures

My 3rd G.I.JOE action figure as a child was the Cobra ELL that I got for Christmas of 1989. It was on an ACTION FORCE card. For sometime my friends and I thought G.I.JOE A Real American Hero line was originally called ACTION FORCE worldwide. I still have it in my collection room. I'm now curious if the stamp on the toy is different from Hasbro release. Good show sir Tony. :) Regards.

But, which company is responsible for those creepy moving eyes? THAT is the real question! 👁👁

Most likely the same people who say Gobots is a Transformers rip off.

Clear debunking of incorrect information. No nastiness..... Refreshing to watch.

I actually think Action Man gradually did it's own thing and that's what I find amazing about it.

I really hope one day they rerelease the action man figures like they did for the 40th I would love to get into it's the price that puts me off but I'm saving up for my first figure so fingers crossed I'll get one soon

Thats what I thought. It was a licensed product. I kinda wish the Action Man had been available in tbe US as they seemed to be very cool.

I loved learning more history covering both Action Man and Action force. Thank you for another fantastic video.

I was always under the impression that the backwards thumbnail on GI Joe was not accidental like you imply at 2:34; it was intentionally sculpted that way because Hasbro wasn't able to secure a copyright (trademark? -- I am not a lawyer) on the human body. So they added the reversed thumbnail & facial scar as distinguishing features to allow them to secure the rights to their design. This way they weren't claiming rights over the shape of the human body, but rather that particular, mis-sculpted version of it. Later 12" GI Joe figures, like the '90s Hall of Fame line, retained the backwards thumbnail for this reason.

I don't own any action man figures but they seem cooler than to Joe especially the British uniforms

Naw, not at all a rip man. Great vid as always by the way!

It wasn’t an accident that they put the thumb on backwards, they did it just for being able to take down copies

Hey I'm surprised u never read my comment b4? I knew GI Joe got their idea from here.When I first saw an analog toy video I said to myself bet this is where GI Joe came from.Thx for schooling people with this that had no knowledge of such history.Be safe be blessed take care everyone.

I have gi joes from the US 🇺🇸in my collection, a few action man from England 🇬🇧, Geyperman from Spain 🇪🇸 I don't have Falcón from Brasil 🇧🇷 or aventureros de accio from Mexico 🇲🇽 not yet at least but as soon as I can I will get them in my collection. Thank you for all the valuable info. I enjoyed your video a lot.

Another excellent video, thank you.

I wonder if the Gi-Joe and Action Force ever had a comic team up or crossover.

Nicely put Tony 👍

First time i saw Action Man was in 90s,we didnt have G.I.Joe on tv here in Croatia,it was part live action but mostly animation, Action Man was played by Mark Griffin,he lost his memory and tried to find out who he is,also it had some lessons at the end of the episode.Main villain was Doctor X.After that there was 2000s version and Action Man was called Alex Mann

The name just sells better across the world as well, Action Man or Action Force. Much more appealing name for those outside of America. Ridiculous that Hasbro has let the Action Force brand name go. Another great video, you are spoiling us.👍

people picking on palitoy? that is funny. i saw so many true GI Joe ripoffs in the 70s it was hilarious. being in the states, i had no access to Action Man, wish i had. hasbro had lost their way by the mid- 70s. anyone remember fighting yank, sarge, yankee bravo, action jackson, bill champ, etc.... Action Man has some of the greatest military sets and figures i have ever seen.

My Action Force story is comic book related. And yes, I did think it was a "rip off" back in the mid-late 80s. My local comic shop started to receive this larger, almost magazine format comic called Action Force. It had Flint, Lady Jaye, etc. on the cover and I think they even went by different code names. But I didn't mind because the artwork was good and they were new stories. So whenever the UK comic came in, I excitedly scooped it up. However, then they started doing direct reprints of the American GI Joe in the Action Force comic. That killed it for me, and I dropped the comic. I was sad because they were doing so well with their original UK stories. I didn't understand why they had to "rip off" American GI Joe comics. This all happened back in the mid-late 80s so I don't have any negative feelings about it really, it was just one of those things I remember growing up reading comics.

My favourite Action Man from my childhood was Tom Stone,only one I still have 45years later.

As a child in the 60s I really wanted an Action Man - never got one, but had to put up with 'Combat Johnny'. Now he must've been a rip off!

More excellent content. Well done again!

Being from UK I was confused when I seen GI Joe when I got older because he looked the same. But this video explains it a lot better :)

All i can say is a Big thank you Gi Joe because without you we would never have had Action man and i would have never met my hero Don Levine Gi Joes Dad whom wrote his signature on a Box that i cherish very much when he visited Britain in 2006 .

Very well explained but you really shouldn't have to

Now nearly every upscale action figure has "Kung-fu grip".

Action Man is GI Joe repackaged for the UK market, same same. I heard how the uk version actually improved on the idea with eagle eyes, karate chop etc. I love these toys... never really saw action force tho, sadly.

I've got a message from the Action Man, "I'm happy, hope you're happy too!"

I always knew GI Joe and action Man were connected. Your documentary on Action Man really clarified it more

Those who think Action Man is a Rip-off of G.I. Joe are not looking at the wider legacy of both brands. After Hasbro got full ownership of Action Man, he was turned from a soldier to a covert spy, to an extreme sports star, to a spy again. I've stated this on a video somewhere, and I'll say it again: Action Man is a literal product of the times.

So actually GI Joe is the Rip Off!!! Got it!!😂😂😂 End of the day I thank all producers of these great toys all over the world that help fuel us kids with wonderful toys during are youth.......and 40’s and up!👍😁😂

Looking back, Hasbro was too caught up in "making toys that sell" rather than making innovative toys to realize the truth; Palitoy R&D, i.e. flocking and grabbing hands, was an asset to the industry! Hasbro would have been smart to keep Palitoy R&D on a separate, renewable, contract. The folks at Palitoy R&D truly loved the product. To be fair, GI Joe ARAH was a remarkable line in the first four to five years, while after that it became remolds in various forms. Such a shame they lost sight of the core fan base to GI Joe. An indication of this is the shoulder rivets. All shoulder rivets were painted. If one was to look at those shoulder rivets, the amount of paint left is relative to the amount of play that toy received. Great vid!!!!!!!

Explain..well done...

Anyone that thinks Gijoes brother Action Man is a knock off dont know the history of both. Like you said flock hair and kungfu fu grip came from Action Man as a matter of fact the grip hands are modeled off of the hands of one of the palitoy designers. The facts if its licensed it's not a knock off.

I love them also..it's all Hasbro! In my opinion! 😎

people say the same shit about Falcon and Comandos em Ação.

Hi am i right or wrong saying that i thought that pedigrees Tommy Gunn figure was a direct copy of palitoys Action man and because of that they were taken to court by palitoy .😮

I just recently bought a British military action figure from the Netherlands. He is absolutely amazing, I love him. He is complete with its military uniform. Blond shaved hair with blue eyes and a scar on his right face. But I'm not sure if its an Action Man or a GI Joe. On the back of the figure it says made in England politoy from hasbro 1964. Would it be an Action Man or a GI Joe?

When I hear these comments I always think to myself "Who cares?!?!?!" Hasbro licensed Transformers and I dont hear people making comments. Kids from different countries like the same toys. Leave it at that.

Hey analog I have two action men which are non talker and talker and I love action man