I think the key thing is age. I'm 35 now, Hasbro

hit me at that impressionable age when Star Wars toys were all the go. Like SteveD I was just a tad too young for the 'Action Man in Miniature'

range.
But there's no denying that my favourite figures were the repainted Joes.

was my

Leader and

ALWAYS lived to fight another day!
We were also swept up in the aftermath of the Iranian Embassy siege, so the option of

toys was the coolest thing ever ever ever, it was these that attracted me to the range, not the
When I got into the comic, then the

s grew on me big time. Being suicidal, brainwashed fanatics led to hours of kamikaze play and mayhem. I also loved the specialist teams concept and the matching uniforms therein.
When

arrived I felt betrayed. Now, had the toylines been an improvement it may have been an easier pill to swallow, but I don't think they were. The militaristic feel of

was gone, the

were gone, and by comparison, this new team seemed little more than a ragtag bunch of undisciplined misfits. I was also canny enough to realise that there was a rip-off factor involved. Half of the range were re-releases of toys I already owned with new stickers.
Also, both as a concept and as a design the

are far cooler than

. In the UK comic, the

are little more than mercenaries. OK, they display signs of fanaticism as the stories progress but the reason for this is never really touched upon. There's just something about the

having no will of their own, maybe even being trapped in their own minds while committing atrocities that just chills me, as much now as it did when I was 10. For my money, the

figure design exudes a menace like no other.
But by then I was hooked on Charley's War and Johnny Red so continued to read Battle Action Force. I swiftly got to like the new characters and of course was overjoyed whenever

,

or

made a return appearance.
By the time Hasbro Action Force and the Marvel UK comic hit the shelves the boat had sailed for me. I had moved on to Zoids. Again I continued to buy the comic as it had become my favourite medium, it was the Ancient Relics crossover which made me hunt out and buy the Transformers comics too and those are superb.
So as people have said, I don't think it's something you can really actually choose so much as it is a product of situation and environment. OK, so if I was 10 again and had a choice between Palitoy and Hasbro... I honestly don't know the answer! My heart says

but that may well be hindsight and nostalgia talking.
I think the two are separate entities with shared genealogy. Aside from scale the two have little in common in either feel or design. But I must say that in making this site and going through the Hasbro UK archives I have discovered a new love of the later Action Force. Seeing Annie and Eddie's treasure trove didn't help much either!
Excellent thread, snakeeyes! Would you object if I modify your opening post to include a poll?