Blood for the Baron!

I'm not so sure about them being timeless, OK with a stretch of the imagination they could still be set in the present day, but for one thing the level of tech is dated - I'm thinking of Red Jackal escaping the SAS storming his lair by turning out the lights, clearly this was before the days of night scopes. Another dated aspect is the storytelling itself, often "sophisticated computers" is used as an all-purpose explanation with a hushed air of mystery that does not fly in this century. We want specs, serial numbers and technical diagrams please.

On the other hand, very little has changed, our armies still use tanks and jeeps and machine guns and so on, Space Force are still as hypothetical as they were then (as far as we know). Terrorists still use human bombs. The UN is still the centrepiece. Kraken's still rock. Nobody is walking around with flares and sideburns saying "Groovy, Daddio". Factually speaking, I don't think there are any instances of an actual time frame given anywhere in the storyline. There are no dates referenced and no famous events incorporated.

I guess they hold up pretty well, considering. To me they're dated because I read them in the day but for people who are just discovering them I can see how they'd be fresh. I certainly feel that any sequels should follow on directly, not twenty-five years later.

I always thought Action Force were set in their own alternative universe, kind of a 50s or 60s that didn't really exist but could've happened. Action Force and the Red Shadows too, seemed to use a mixture of WW2 weapons along side 60s weapons and ever sci-fi weapons. The SAS were always using Tommy Guns and Grease Guns, the Red Shadows had WW2 era bazookas and Nazi uniforms. Z Force used SLR which okay the Brits used in the Falklands but were pretty old hat even then if we're honest.

Personally I like to think of Action Force being set in a post WW2 era that never had the Cold War and the spirit of the Allies continued after Hitler's death. The advanced tech of Space Force and Mutons, Red Laser et al, represent the kind of super science that was used in things like Flash Gordon and even TinTin.

I guess no-one else will agree but to me AF should be set in a fictional 50s/60s, with Britain still part of the big 3 with USA and USSR.

Someone already mentioned that DC and Marvel keep their comic universe in a wierd kind of state where heroes who should be pensioners are still in their 20s/30s and can still wear bright outfits. I see Action Force (and GI Joe) in much the same way, I just love the mix of WW2 and lasers/robots, the closest thing to Action Force in DC were the BlackHawks they mixed WW2 with super science too.

Larry Hama made GI Joe linked to the Vietnam war and so kinda made the Joes stuck to a certain era. the writers of Action Force never really tied the stories too much to the real world or a particular time, so Action Force could be set any time.

Did anyone else have those little Action Man story books from the 70s? In them Action Man fought in WW2 and the seemingly here and now, without any mention of his age or how he always looked the same no matter who he fought. In fact I have one book (the only one I have left) where Action Man teams up with GI joe to take out a Nazi wind machine that shoots down bombers over Germany. The Nazis use rocket packs and a tank that looks just like the Wolverine.

So maybe you should just let your imagination run wild, I guess that was the point of both the Action Force toys and comics to get you to use you imagination to create your own adventures (unlike Star Wars which seemed to be aimed at getting kids to recreate the films and nothing more).

I'll be writing and drawing my own Action Force story which will be set in 1983, It will be a prequel to The Very First Action Force story that appeared in Battle, so far I've come up with a plot, and it will feature The Red Shadows crossing swords with Storm Shadow and The Oktober Guard in Afghanistan , Working title at the moment is "First Blood" .. once I've written a script and painted cover I'll post it up here:)

There's a reference to 1984 in The Moondancer story when Red Shadows and some Nasa Extremists lol hooked up for the Apollo 18 mission so I figure those stories took place in the 1980's

fuzzchile wrote:There's a reference to 1984 in The Moondancer story when Red Shadows and some Nasa Extremists lol hooked up for the Apollo 18 mission so I figure those stories took place in the 1980's

Indeed, think that's right. LOfknL.

Let's consider the totally fkn obvious evidence.

Functioning Harrier 2 / GR3 mod. vs. so it's 82 at the earliest.

On Ascendancy refers to "Darwin! Recce'd it to scheiss with you boss before Goose Green!" prior to Galapagos infil and jaunt in general. Ergo, just after 82.

carried an SLR with no sense of irony.

serves his apprenticeship gegen Baader-Meinhof und RAF during the 70s.

grows up in 70s-80s Liverpool. Johnny Red wasn't around any more and a few UEFA cups had been won to make the 'pool relevant to the average BAFer.

Then by 84 is prancing like a tit in the Copernicus crater. Just as Return of the Jedi has made Star Wars supreme yet at the same time infinitely lamentable the year before and we all need some more original material to play with.

And was relevant, well, just because the busted the siege in May 1980 and made us all feel better about ourselves in a way that ... er.. Britischer schwein have not yet over-compensated for beyond looking like Falkland era und combined in one handy northern front amalgam. That noone will likely remember now. Unless you are Norwegian and laughed your bollocks off at the Royal Marines a few years back when they were issued 20 year-old kit. Actually, that was der schwarze cackling into his middle-aged beard.

And the killer facts. The kit came out late Summer 83, were the original po-mo take on the war on error. And shall be for evermore, amen.

The End. It's 1982 und der kampf gegen Eisenmupp has only just begonnen.



PS. I could go on. But it would get just a little bit f*cking boring.

PS. And of course the killer facts.

originally had a Commodore Pet CPU

had a Commodore 64 CPU. Along with certain upgrades.

For the infidels among you, substitute CBM for Spectrum ZX81 and that thing that followed it... er.. Spectrum Spectrum or whatever el Clivo called it.