I want to do a "Life on Mars"

[pocoyo_joe]

I'm glum today for the first time in my life I live in a Tory town, don't get me wrong I'm no Labour supporter but it's just another sign of how my home town Crewe has changed beyond recognition.

It all started going wrong when Woolworths shut and our Odeon became a McDonalds in the early 80s. The fields where I used to play as a kid are now housing estates. The toy shop where I bought my first figures is now a charity shop. The old building where I used to work (and where I was happiest in a job) is now also a housing estate.

I get nostalgic for the days of riding my Grifter (I had a bike before that but I can't remember it's name it looked like a Chopper but it wasn't a pukka Chopper) around Crewe (sometimes off to Nantwich) going to all the local toy shops to buy Action Force and Star Wars figures.

I don't want to make any kind of political point (I'm the least politcal person I know, I've never voted in my whole life), but I want to do like John Simms in Life on Mars and go back to the 70s or the early 80s.

On a side point, once Battle stopped doing Action Force stories did they eventually run a strip called Storm Force or something that was pretty close to Action Force but wasn't actually called Action Force? I have vague memories of "almost Action Force" stories done by the same crew that did the BAF stories, did this happen or have I just imagined it?

Of course it all could be down to the cheese I ate last night

[The Baron]

Yup, Storm Force was the strip created to fill the gap left by Action Force, it wasn't bad, but it wasn't great.

See http://www.internationalhero.co.uk/s/storforc.htm

Sounds you need a holiday!

[pocoyo_joe]

Yup, Storm Force was the strip created to fill the gap left by Action Force, it wasn't bad, but it wasn't great.

See http://www.internationalhero.co.uk/s/storforc.htm

Sounds you need a holiday!

LOL yeah a holiday would be great! plus I'm still recovering from my encounter with Rangers fans in Manchester last week!

Thanks for the Storm Force info, *phew* I really did wonder if I'd imagined them, thanks for the link.

I remember the main guy John Storm with his changing hands, very Action Man. I guess the strip didn't last for long, it mirrors the way GI Joe went a bit sci-fi in the late 80s with Serpentor, Raptor, Nemesis Enforcer et al.

Don't suppose they're are Storm Force strips on the web anywhere?

[The Baron]

Not that I'm aware of. Storm Force ran for a year in Battle and continued in Eagle for quite a while after they were merged.

[Quickfire]

Certainly appreciate the sentiment of going back to the 70s having finally seen LoM last month LOL. Not least for to arrive in all its glory in late 83...

As for Storm Force.. yeah, the Mole, who could forget him and his swizzle-armed sidekick! Such was the end of BAF. Wonder what Vanyo made of it all... At least he wasn't drawing penguins in the Arctic all over again.

[Space Commander]

It all started going wrong when Woolworths shut and our Odeon became a McDonalds in the early 80s. The fields where I used to play as a kid are now housing estates. The toy shop where I bought my first figures is now a charity shop. The old building where I used to work (and where I was happiest in a job) is now also a housing estate.

I sympathise completely. Now as an adult, I often drive to the places my parents took me as a kid, and I long for those days of innocence when my biggest concern was when the next Star Wars film was coming out, or if the campsite shop sold Starblazer and Battle Action Force comics.

I inadvertantly started a slew of letters written to the official UK Star Wars magazine (now renamed Star Wars Insider) when I mentioned where and when I bought my first ever Star Wars figure. I remember my first Transformer and first Action Force as well, of course. He was a Z Force Infantryman, (Space Commander was rare as Hell), and I thought he was really cool. I got him a Whirlwind Cannon! And eventually Space Commander arrived, too.

I get nostalgic for the days of riding my Grifter (I had a bike before that but I can't remember it's name it looked like a Chopper but it wasn't a pukka Chopper) around Crewe...

Was it a Tomahawk? I had one of those..., sort of like a Chopper for little kids.

[Red Laser]

I actually liked Storm Force and had some Eagle or Battle issues with them in not sure where they are now though.