New Action Man Swamp Patrol

[The Baron]

Excellent! Please let us know if you need any images or info, I'm sure many members here would eb happy to help.

[Red Laser]

I still haven't seen pics of this swamp patrol.

[The Baron]

Go to page 2, DA posted it as an attachment.

[Dragonrider1227]

I'd love to see more 12" Action Man but I can see that I think AM would probably work better as a 4" line similar to what they're doing with GI Joe now. I don't see the idea of Action Man and GI Joe both being 4" lines as "competing with each other". I would HATE it if they made Action Man and 8 inch line while GI Joe continued to be 4" because that means I couldn't have the two meet.
Oh, and for anyone who hasn't seen it yet,

[action-figure-supplies]

I'm guessing that since Tesco debuted the new Action Man toys at half price and now they're half half price (75% off) that they didn't actually sell well. No new stuff has been released either afaik. Maybe shrinking AM down to 6 or 8" would be a good move. 8" would match HM Armed Forces so the two could play together. Personally though I think AM needs to go back to his soldier roots but Hasbro are so scared of promoting "War" toys and anything relating to US involvement in Iraq & Afghanistan that it won't happen. HM Armed Forces and Dragon / BBI stuff all appeals to the war market so why not Action Man?

And a note about AM needing a female character, they've never sold well when done in the past. Action Girl tanked, Natalie Poole never sold and wasn't that readily available anyway. Boys don't want to play with girl dolls in general.

[jamarmiller]

I'm guessing that since Tesco debuted the new Action Man toys at half price and now they're half half price (75% off) that they didn't actually sell well. No new stuff has been released either afaik. Maybe shrinking AM down to 6 or 8" would be a good move. 8" would match HM Armed Forces so the two could play together. Personally though I think AM needs to go back to his soldier roots but Hasbro are so scared of promoting "War" toys and anything relating to US involvement in Iraq & Afghanistan that it won't happen. HM Armed Forces and Dragon / BBI stuff all appeals to the war market so why not Action Man?

And a note about AM needing a female character, they've never sold well when done in the past. Action Girl tanked, Natalie Poole never sold and wasn't that readily available anyway. Boys don't want to play with girl dolls in general.

the best thing they could do for ACTION MAN is to get him down to 3 and 3/4 ( 4 inch ) size like GI JOE. That way they could repaint and reuse parts and vechiles when needed from the present and past lines of GI JOE. they could use the legs of some characters to make up almost half of the new figures for example and save production and design cost.

When the smaller line becomes successful do what GI JOE has done in the past and also produce the 12 inch toys. Everything is moving to this size and Action Man definately needs too. 12 inch is dead, their too expensive and take up too much space. Only the old collectors want and collect them.

and ya Natalie poole wasnt even sold in the UK only in a few places in Europe, ( there is two variations ) I am happy to be a proud owner of her though. I just wish I could find Knuck, another one not sold in the UK

do you know if either one of them every appeared in the comics? I dont think they did

Hasbro also needs to keep these characters as core characters and continue making them to be a crucial part of ACTION MANs lore

Natalie Poole
Knuck
Red Wolf
Flynt
Rebel

ignoring them, or letting them fade away in obscurity is a bad idea.

They need to test the waters first by using old JOE molds and releasing a 7 pack of Heroes and villains based on the ACTION MAN X-missions movie ( 2nd movie ) and release it with a copy of the movie.

US fans haven't seen it and that 7 pack would be a nice bait and trigger thing

last thing, they need to make the RED SHADOWS the new enemy of ACTION MAN and his team. either drop Dr. X or make him a side enemy

but the RED SHADOWS should have a permanent place as his new enemy

[Thundershot]

I think these things go in cycles, 12" gets reduced to 8" or 6"down to 3 3/4"..then a few years later 12" is back in vogue all of a sudden. Look how popular the Mego 6" super hero's were until Kenner released Star Wars figures, then Hasbro followed suit. Then Playmates released T.M.N.T. & every thing goes back to 6" or 8" for a time.

[Dragonrider1227]

I can't help but think 12" Action Man could possibly sell better if Hasbro didn't keep recycling the same lame gimmicks that didn't sell last time. I mean, how often do we need to see

that?

Or that.
Basically, it might not be the fact that it's 12" and more the fact that Hasbro keeps reusing the same cheap, lame, gimmicks that no one likes
How about more stuff like this?

or

Fully clothed, fully articulated, and with decent accessories. Now THOSE are Action Man toys!
Heck, even this;

looks more fun than

I'm guessing that since Tesco debuted the new Action Man toys at half price and now they're half half price (75% off) that they didn't actually sell well. No new stuff has been released either afaik. Maybe shrinking AM down to 6 or 8" would be a good move. 8" would match HM Armed Forces so the two could play together. Personally though I think AM needs to go back to his soldier roots but Hasbro are so scared of promoting "War" toys and anything relating to US involvement in Iraq & Afghanistan that it won't happen. HM Armed Forces and Dragon / BBI stuff all appeals to the war market so why not Action Man?

Honestly, I would prefer the mid 90s approach to Action Man rather than realistic war toys. I don't think war toys "promote war" but I've never really been seriously into realistic toys. As a kid, I've always liked a sense of Sci-fi or fantasy to my toys. Hence why I like MAM and GI Joe: RAH, and the Adventure Team so much.
Seeing what's been selling well for kids lately like the "Rise of Cobra" theme, kids today prefer it that way as well.

[action-figure-supplies]

They need to test the waters first by using old JOE molds and releasing a 7 pack of Heroes and villains based on the ACTION MAN X-missions movie ( 2nd movie ) and release it with a copy of the movie.

US fans haven't seen it and that 7 pack would be a nice bait and trigger thing

last thing, they need to make the RED SHADOWS the new enemy of ACTION MAN and his team. either drop Dr. X or make him a side enemy

but the RED SHADOWS should have a permanent place as his new enemy

Most of the UK fans won't have seen the movies either, or the TV show, it was never shown over here.

I love the idea of the Red Shadows as Action Man's enemy but would prefer a full scale Action Force revival if Hasbro were going to create a new 3 3/4" figure line. Maybe they should release it as a European only range seeing as G.I. Joe doesn't seem to sell very well over here.

I agree with Dragonridere1227 though, if the new Action Man toys had more articulation and playability (and less lame outfits) maybe they would sell better. AM sold so well in the 60s, 70s and 80s (even the late-90s) because you could do so many things with him, from WWII to space war to fire fighter, sportsman, etc. New AM is stuck as this "extreme" hero. The different outfits meant you could have numerous AM dolls as numerous characters able to use numerous accessories whereas all the new AM dolls are "Action Man" with molded on weapons or clothes so if you want to change his skills or appearance you need a new doll. Playability should be the key factor, if something has good playability it will sell well to kids, and the kids market is what sells toys, not collectors like us lot. The rigid limbs make it harder for kids to dress Action Man so they should be well articulated and poseable.

[The Baron]

In all honesty the only way Hasbro could relaunch Action Force in the UK is if they can negotiate the rights for SAS toys. That was the hook at the time. I can't see SAF having the same edge, sadly.

Not to say they can't launch the Shads as part of GI Joe, though!