1983: My Trip to London / G.I. Joe vs. Action Force!

Action Man: Action Force: London, 1983

In the summer of 1983, I found myself in London, England standing in the biggest toy store I had ever seen looking at a huge display of strange and intriguing action figures.  I had already stopped to stare at two guys wearing Sectaurs costumes introducing kids to the weird, new bug-warrior toy line.  I had also already seen massive sections for all kinds of new and wondrous toys that I'd never seen before, but in 1983, my focus was on G.I. Joe!

These are the 8 Action Force figures and vehicle that I picked up in London in 1983.

The strange figures in front of me were the closest thing to G.I. Joe in the store...in fact, some of these figures were actual G.I. Joe figures in a different package!  According to the packages, these figures were Action Man Action Force.  They were kind of like a cross between Star Wars figures and G.I. Joe; mostly 5 points of articulation and soft plastic (except for the ones that were just G.I. Joes in the wrong package) and using many of G.I. Joe's weapons.  I was hooked!

I kept each card backs from all of the Action Force figures that I got in 1983.

Some of the toys were flat out awesome, others were weird, and some were re-painted G.I. Joe!  The G.I. Joe MOBAT (tank), RAM (motorcycle), VAMP (jeep), MMS (missile launcher), FLAK and HAL (2 big guns) were all there, but painted differently.  The RAM came with Scarlett, but she had a green outfit and blonde hair!?  It was crazy!  I was allowed to buy more toys that day than I usually would have been allowed to buy in a month, but I was still limited, so I decided to focus on the stuff that was completely different from G.I. Joe...a decision that paid off in part, but meant that I missed out on at least one of the coolest pieces there.

This image was on the back of each Action Force package!

I wish so much that I had picked up that R.A.M.  Back home, the R.A.M. was one of my all-time favorite G.I. Joe vehicles, so having a different version would have been AWESOME!  Plus, it came with a variant of Scarlett.  Instead, I chose an underwater sled thing instead.  I rarely (if ever) involved my figures in any kind of water based adventures, so why I chose that particular piece, I can only blame on sensory overload...plus my mom probably decided that she'd had enough of the toy store and I had to make a last-minute decision!  It's also possible that the R.A.M. wasn't available or was simply so much more expensive that it wasn't an option.  I honestly don't remember...I'd seen a lot that day!

Q Force "Stingray" and "Shark" (one is the vehicle and the other is the guy), Sonar Officer, and Space Patroller

My mom had to have know that this stop wasn't going to be a quick one.  You can't put a kid in any toy store and expect him to leave in 5 minutes, but especially when that toy store is in another country and filled with toys he's never seen before!  And this wasn't just any toy store; this was Hamley's.  We had Toys 'R' Us, Lionel Leisure City, Kiddy City, F.A.O. Schwartz, KayBee Toys, and dozens of K-Mart, Richway, and Service Merchandise stores back home, so I was used to big selections of toys.  But Hamley's is probably the biggest toy store in the world.  This place was HUGE!  It took up an entire city block and according to the bag that came with my figures (which I still have), the store was 6 floors!  I don't know how long we were there, but my mom would probably tell you that it seemed like at least a month.

I kept all of the card backs from my Action Force figures in my original Hamleys bag from 1983.

I made one more bad decision.  The coolest of all the figures that I got was an S.A.S. Squad Leader.  I knew right away there was no question that he was the coolest one.  But unlike in the USA where Hasbro stopped making 12" G.I. Joe in the 70s, Action Man was still available in the 12" format and they had the S.A.S. guy in the 12" scale too!  I probably would have had to put back several of the 3 3/4" figures or the underwater vehicle that I got...or maybe both, but it would have been so worth it.  I never had any 12" Joes until I was a teenager and by that time, I didn't play with toys anymore, I just collected them.  I already knew what a huge mistake I'd made by the time we got back to the hotel, but it was too late.  To this day, that 12" S.A.S. is probably at the top of my list of "The One That Got Away" action figures.  Still, it was absolutely amazing that I was allowed to get so many figures AND a vehicle all at one time!  This NEVER would have happened back home.  I guess it was because this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, but whatever the reason, I was very excited to have these amazing, new action figures to include in my G.I. Joe adventures!

S.A.S. Squad Leader "Eagle," Z Force Captain "Skip,"& Z Force Captain "Tracker"

Are you familiar with the Action Force?  If so, what was your introduction to the line?  Tell me in the comments below!

If you collect toys, you should know about Toylanta, the best toy show in the Southeastern United States held annually in Georgia.  Visit Toylanta.com for more information.

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