Hi folks,

The original 9 Action Force figures, trying to piece to complete a nice conditioned loose set was a challenge... the figures themselves are fairly easy, the real task is finding all of the correct accessories:  

Australian Jungle Fighter:


British Marine:


Commando:


Desert Rat:


Frogman:




Ground Assault:


German Stormtrooper


[u]Mission Pilot:


S.A.S:




Cheers
T'shot[/u]

They look great. I remember mates back in the day having these but never bought any myself. On my site you can see some of these figures you've photographed: https://thevintagetoyadvertiser.org/category/action-force/

First time I heard of this line. These are really cool! How many of these figures was there in the line? When were they released? Were these sold loose as in the advertisement or carded like regular toys?

Anyway, they really look neat. Even better than the original Kenner Star Wars figures, at least with respect to accessories!

Thanks guys

Artoo I absolutely love those French adverts, the sugar cube wall is genius
Hi JediPatrick, the figures were sold on blister cards, just like Star Wars figures. Check out theBlood For The Baron web site for their fantastic history & toy archive.
The folks at Palitoy really did an outstanding job on Action Force, it's a wonderfully designed & visually attractive little range to collect.

Here's the rest of my first series of Action Force, I've pretty much managed to have collected everything that was available in 1982 :
Commander:


This was the special offer mail away exclusive figure, I'm fortunate enough to also have the (& rarer) version with the alternate body:


U.S. Paratrooper:






AF9 (with Mountain & Arctic figure):






AF7 (with Deep Sea Diver figure):






AF3:

#








AF5 (Land, Sea & Air):

#




# Figures sold separately  

Action Force Headquarters:


This is a lot like Palitoy's cardboard Death Star playset, it even uses some of its (re-coloured) plastic components.


(These were taken a couple of years ago, thus, aren't up to my recent photographic standards )










T'shot

Going from the Palitoy sales catalogues, after the initial 9 carded figures were a success, these 6 figures were added to the range:

2 Para:


Arctic Assault:


Helicopter Pilot:




Naval assault:


Night Patrol:


S.A.S. Frogman:




Despite being mainly re-paints and creative mixing & matching of parts I still like these a lot, the Night Patrol figure's just amazingly cool looking.

And that folks brings to the end of my (and Palitoys) collection of 1982 series Action Force.. 1983 would
see a major change in direction for the brand:


But that's a whole other story....and collection

Thanks for sharing this line. I had heard of these and have one but never checked the line out. They are intriguing enough i think I may try to pick some of these up. Are any exceptionally rare or hard to get aside from the stated mail away figure?

Hi
Speaking strictly from the U.K. point of view on rarity here, loose figures themselves are fairly easy and inexpensive to track down on ebay at toy fairs & (until recently at least) at carboot sales.

The real challenge is finding all of the correctly coloured accessories. Just about every weapon was re-issued in 1983/84 moulded in black plastic and are far more plentiful in supply so, if you're not overly concerned about 100% authenticity, you can equip each figure correct kind of weapon.

The Aussie Jungle Fighters hat, which is removable, was a tough piece to come across & German Stormtrooper's 2 (tiny) stick grenades must rate as the hardest accessories I ever had to search for.. both are unique to the respective figures & were never re-issued after 1982.    

Fortunately nobodies started to mass produce repro weapons for Action Force (yet) so the chances of buying fakes are nigh on non existent  

I must mention that, for a range that only lasted a year, Action Force is a variant collectors dream. Palitoy  for either cost or manufacturing reasons simplified the paint applications on certain figures through the production run.. for instance the Stormtrooper lost his helmet insignia (as did the Marine) & the Commando's web gear stopped being painted.

Also, I feel I must mention this, rather surprisingly none of the figures issued with a grappling hook in 1983 came supplied with a rope, until the 1983 relaunch, you had to supply your own piece of string!      

Probably the strangest variant to appear.. a hybrid Mountain & Arctic Assault figure sometimes supplied with the AF9 snowmobile:

I forgot to mention that both the Land & Arctic Assault backpacks contain a fold up ladder:

.. although I reckon that, in reality, a simple rope would be more practical

The figures work well with Star Wars accessories..:

.. and are an army builders dream come true:


Action Force figures are also very photogenic & loads of fun for diorama pictures, especially in the great outdoors:







Being of the same popular scale as both Star Wars & G.I.Joe figures, Action Force also lends itself well to custom vehicle projects..here's a Harrier Jump Jet (produced by a company called Chap Mei) that I've re-painted in a 1970's style R.A.F. scheme: