Action Force - Post 1985

[paulitoy]

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Thanks to Scoobydie I now have quite a few toy brochures, so I'm slowly piecing together what was released and in what order.

I'll scan and show these 4 booklets which 'I guess' is most of the UK toy collection in the correct order for post-85 up to 1990.

This is all new to me, so please add corrections as necessary.

I'll show the booklets and then [when I get the time] I'll type up a list in chronological order.

[paulitoy]

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Early 1987 booklet[?, its dated as 1986] - a few 1985 toys still in the range such as the FANG and the Skystriker;

[paulitoy]

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1988 booklet - name change to 'Action Force: International Heroes'

Skystriker and FANG are still in the range, plus the return of the Hovercraft!

[jamarmiller]

cool! keep them coming I know about the US versions of these toys but its very cool to see these booklets from the UK with exclusive art, I always liked the brochures but only saw the US versions, so ya keep them coming!

[paulitoy]

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Another name change in 1989 to GI Joe: The Action Force.

This year introduced the 'Tiger Force' range which is interesting on two accounts IMO.

First, they were previously Cobra vehicles such the water mocassin [although the Snowcat was always an AF vehicle?], now rebranded as AF good guys vehicles. The story was that these were captured Cobra vehicles that had been refitted and re-used by AF.

Secondly, from a Palitoy Action Force perspective, they were almost a return to the good old days of Z-Force. Basically take away the green and add a [somewhat ridiculous] bright yellow. The vehicles and figures all had the common tiger print theme and a nice sense of unity to the designs.

[paulitoy]

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1990. Name change complete to GI Joe.

This booklet is tri-countrified [is that a word?] meaning its for use in Britain, Spain and Italy. Similar to the star wars tri-logo advertising that appeared
in 1983/4 to save on advertising and design.

All the toys shown were on sale in Spain and Italy, but there's a few asterixed items for the UK meaning they weren't for sale here.
Wonder why were treated like that? Maybe the toylines were doing better over on mainland Europe.

The Tiger Force line was extended to include a repainted Cobra Stinger jeep, or the good old SAS Jeep as most of us know her.


And hereth ends the history lesson!

[scoobydie]

Just found another different booklet from 1988, this time with the Night Raven ,
Mobile Command Centre , Tomahawk and other new vehicles advertised. No mention of International Heroes
though.
Funnily enough, like Tiger Force, the Night Raven was repainted along with the Sharc , Havoc, Sky Hawk to produce the Sky Patrol series in 1990.
The ever imformative Yo Joe site lists them all..............http://www.yojoe.com/action/subteams/

[paulitoy]

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Is the booklet definitely from 1988 And? If it doesn't mention 'International Heroes' on it then it logically would be from early '88 probably
before the one above. Interesting...

Any chance you could scan it in, or are you going to leave that delight to me? After what you told me yesterday, I guess your time
is in limited supply at mo!



Re: the Sky Patrol series, does anyone know if they were ever released in the UK as they are not on the 1990 booklet above. Perhaps they came
to the UK in the 1991 range?

It is interesting to see that Hasbro sent GI Joe in a 'mini-teams' direction with Tiger Force and Sky Patrol.

I mean this is surely Z Force and Space Force in an alternate [GI Joe] universe?

[scoobydie]

1988 leaflet

[The Baron]

Wow, great work there! Are there bigger scans available, by any chance?