Great series Tony. Really nice to get the back story on all of this. I always used to play with these thinking they had something to do with James Bonds Moonraker film. They still remind me of it.
I have many many of the action figures and vehicles from this line.... many years ago. Here in Spain were popular also! I love them! they are really military men. ACTION FIGURES COLLECTOR SINCE 1981
Tony, once again you have provided Action Force fans with an excellent mini-documentary, featuring a concise and informative script, that has been presented in such a professional manner, that it is nothing short of amazing!
Another excellent video, Mr. Tony. The Space Force is certainly striking. And it seems natural for the British Action Force, compared to the G. I. Joe Star Brigade of the 1990s; it didn't seem forced. The figures could be part of Gerry Anderson's SHADO of U. F. O. . Its too bad that these figures lacked the swivel-arm battle grip feature of Hasbro's G. I. Joe that was introduced in 1983, and that gave the Real American Hero line a decisive edge over Kenner's Star Wars figures. The female figure should've been made part of the lineup; it would've given the set a unique member. The Space Engineer's look seem to anticipate that of G. I. Joe's Payload, the astronaut / pilot of the USS Defiant Space Shuttle.
That Triad Fighter is amazing! Can only imagine the hours of playtime as a kid with that spaceship. Would have been great to see that troop transport developed.
A nicely done video on some nice looking toys 👍. The space vehicles from that team look more interesting than most of the ones from GI Joes Star Brigade in the 90s, to me that is 😅👍.
I remember having the Tri-Fighter as a kid with the original Space Force stickers, but then getting the new stickers for the Action Force re-issue with a copy of a magazine, which must have been the official one for the range.
Awesome piece Tony, i has no idea that there were so many other Palitoy parts used in the molds. The Falcon radar dish on the underside is something that I’ve been staring at for years and have never realised. Keep up the awesome work mate..👍
Great job Tony . ive never liked the 5 p.o.a. style action force figures ( i was a mego kid so i liked figure with alot of articulation) but ur videos are making me come around
Thank you for these videos it brings me back to my childhood I had so many of these over the years with many getting lost or broken but such fond memories of these toys
Tony, I just wanted to say thank you so much for your AF videos, they are wonderful. I share a similar story to yours moving from the UK at an early age, I ended up in Canada and have great memories of my Nan buying when she saw me or sending me Action Force as presents, it has brought back such great memories. Since I dont unfortunatly have those Action Force toys anymore, your videos have encouraged me to get them again, I'm so going to do that. Keep up the great work mate. Cheers Dan
The Commander's real name is Chuck Conners, I wonder if that is a direct nod to actor Chuck Conners who stared in the TV show "The Rilfe Man". Thanks again for your quality work 👍
Salute you, Sir! Bringing back memories of a childhood long lost. Mix and matching of such figures, had the space pilot, who would commandeer the Fisher Price Beta Explorer.
I love these. If this line had been available in the u.s., I would have been all over it. Though it is highly unlikely that I will ever encounter them here, I will be keeping my eye out.
Tony these toys look like GI Joe.Im sure this is where they got their styles from.Thx so much for the details and history of these figures.Be safe be blessed take care everyone.
Tony I am from Mexico and here it is very difficult to get the valaverse figures, however after 1 year I was finally able to get my desert rat, I admire you as an army person and as a collector.
The Cosmic Troop Transport seems like it would have been the Action Force vehicle inspired by the Star Wars Imperial Troop Transport. 2 people in the front, 3 segments in back, small double gun. I am sure Palitoy would have loaded in a bunch of new features and compatibility with existing figures.
If I may add a small correction to an otherwise excellent series of videos, the Cosmic Cruiser pilot was Hot Jets, who came in two boot colour variants. Moondancer didn't appear until the Triad Fighter debuted. But kudos for continuing excellent content. The pictures of 'lost' items and prototypes are worth the price of admission alone. Tremendous.
When you said the commanding officer was named Chuck Connors I immediately thought of the actor of the same name. Aside from that I was thinking the Space Force logo looks a little like the silhouette of the triad fighter. That might be a bit of a stretch, but either way I see a spaceship more than I see mountains or a lightning bolt.
These 5poa figures are in my opinion the best looking from that era. I really have no interest in vintage star wars figures but if they looked as good as these then I probably would. Can't believe these toys never made it to the states. Star wars toys sold because they represented a coop movie but these toys are cool on their own accord.
This is a fantastic series you are putting together. I got into GI Joe around 1986 in the US so it's fun to see the stories behind these figures that I've only seen pictures previously. Is that photo of the "Air Force" team the only evidence that surfaced before shifting to the Space Force? I actually like the blue and red color scheme in that photo.
_"What child didn't want to get three vehicles for the price of one?"_ - I loved utility in toys! Any time you could get an extra ship in another it seemed like great value (Alpha Probe - I'm looking at you!) The GI Joe Rise of Cobra Rhino from a few years ago with a helicopter in the tank was a great design.
Omg, I would have been all over these figures if we'd had them in Canada as a kid, they'd have mixed right in with Star Wars, Star Trek, Buck Rogers, Battlestar Galactica, and the Fisher Price Adventure People space characters.
I really love the uniform look to all these teams. Even the Joe repaints. I'm not knocking the originality of the GI Joe team, but these just feel more like a team unit. Although your right by saying Z Force and the SAS are the more popular, those units are just amazing, I have to say that this linez Space Force is mine. That Cosmic Crusier is just plain cool, that the design of the uniforms are down right spectacular! You get that Captain Scarlett, Thunderbirds, or Flash Gordon/Buck Rogers vibe, and I absolutely love it! And speaking of Flash Gordon, that logo, I pops for me. I disagree, it doesn't look like two mountains, it screams Sci-fi adventure! Bring on that Robo-Skull, in fact bring them all on, Ties, Cylons Raiders, Pirate Raiders, Cobra's Starfighter, it doesn't matter, Action Forces Space Force will handle them all!!! 😁
Love these toys. Fisher Price should have partnered with Palitoy to issue figures and vehicles in response to Hasbro/Kenner offerings. The Space Pilot helmet visor is upside down. The ridge on the helmet is meant to prevent the helmet from lowering past the edge of the helmet. Unless Palitoy intentionally installed the visors upside down. Look at GI Joe Flash. In addition, nobody seems willing, or knowledgable enough to answer the following question. The weapons and attachable accessories for GI Joe, 1982, 1983, some 1984, are made of a harder plastic, which allowed for greater detail, realism, and scale to the action figures. See Palitoy Space Force Flash's XMLR-1A laser rifle and Snake Eyes' Uzi 9mm, both molded in blue. In addition, see Destro's pistol, Gung Ho's M203 grenade launcher and Major Bludd's arrow launcher, provided in the Space Force Accessory Pack. Now for the question: Do you know why the later release weapons and attachable accessories were molded in a larger scale and in much softer (rubbery almost) type plastic? Palitoy seeking a partnership with Fisher Price (Adventure People) may have allowed the line to continue, with R&D team working from their studio. It also would have given the different teams a greater array of vehicles. Palitoy R&D were truly exceptional, consistently using what they had to minimize tooling costs, and creating a toy which expanded children's perception of the near future possibilities they may one day embrace as adults! Great job Tony!
I assume the AF 5PA figures were cast from the same type of plastic as Star Wars figures, which was quite flexible. So weapons could be put in their hands w/o fear of breaking the fingers or thumbs, however they would stretch after a while causing the hand to have a loose grip on weapons. But I know GIJoe figures (and the repaints used for AF) were cast in a much harder plastic and the thumbs were prone to snapping off. Casting these weapons slightly larger may have been an effort to make them stay in the hands of the 5PA figures (after lots of play stretched the fingers), and in softer plastic to reduce thumb breakage on the repainted GIJoe figures. Just a guess as I’m not familiar with the AF figures first hand.
@@majorblurred great name BTW. Having been a huge fan of GI Joe, and only ever breaking thumbs on the straight arm 82 versions, I think Hasbro changed the composition of plastic for the swivel-arm figures. The AF figures had the same material construction as Star Wars and Fisher Price. Saying that, from what I have heard, not all accessories could be successfully held by all figures. I find 70s and 80s toys fascinating as the toys were made with enough detail to differentiate, but with as few actual unique parts as possible. Palitoy applied this concept better than any toy maker out there.
@@bobastu Truth. The 82 figures had the biggest issues w thumb breakage even from normal play with weapons made for their hands. I’m still looking for a Zap with even one thumb haha. I just meant that they were more prone to break from a weapon grip than a flexible SW figure hands because of the hardness of the plastic. I’m also super into figures of that era and completely agree. A lot of people feel figures designed/made in the last 25 yrs are superior bc of their intricate detail and modern design, but to me the simplicity of the 70s-80s action figures added to the appeal. They left the detail and play that derived from it to the imagination which made playing with them so much fun in the first place, all the while keeping costs down. Plus, the simplicity and interchange of parts to make new figures also drove creativity in character development and direction of the story. I may be biased bc I grew up in the 80s, but it seems like he ease of creating a billion different figures with a million options just results in bland design and boring repetition. I feel like the limits that toy designers worked within back when I was a kid benefitted the end product more than can be measured. Without those limitations, we might not have Snake-Eyes, or dozens of beloved characters like him.
@@majorblurred YES!!!!!! I was super excited for the 25th line. I even bought every foil card figure. My oldest loved my old toys. He was seven. He got bored with the new designs and went back to the o-ring figs...too rubbery he said. Kids don't care about the added detail. Its like the Classified Line. Should have been more like Mego less like molded chunky pieces of plastic. I'm not opening that can of worms again. The point is kids want to play, adults want to pose. Kids want playability over detail, adults want detail over playability. At the same time, Kids don't want dumbed down crap.
It just goes to show huw much a child's desire fot certain toys or figures was often dictated by the colour scheme. The SAS and the Z-force green/black camo with red beret really stand out to me, even as an adult. Whereas voloyr schemes like the Q force yellow and blue is just to garish for me. I guess that explains why i loved certain figures like Optimus Prime, Boba Fett, Snake Eyes, Captain America, Spider-Man etc. Loved the colour combos like those.
this was a really cool informative video. cool to see where they repurposed GI Joe (and other lines) into their design. being from the US, I'd never seen any of these figures till just recently but pretty sure they would've been on the Christmas list if they would've been available here. probably gonna try and acquire some of the GI Joe vehicle repaints for my collection
This is really cool. These videos have really made me understand, respect, and grow to have a great deal of affection for the Action Force line and see them as FAR more thanmerely the British GI Joe. Tony, do you think the Tri-Fighter might have been an inspiration for the Super Powers Darkseid Destroyer or even the Silverhawk's Mirage? I can see the toy DNA running through all those vehicles.
Great video, up to your usual very high standards! Perhaps an Alien influence, if there was one, was subconscious? I think the figure looks a lot like Tereshkova.
I found it interesting that the Space Force Commander has a Birth Place of Cincinnati Ohio seeing how that was also the Headquarters for Palitoy sister company in the General Mills Toy Group Kenner
Great video! These toys are like a lost vintage toy line for me, living in the USA I had no idea about them. Very cool stuff! On a side note, where do you get those acrylic stands? I have some that are stadium tiered, but nothing like you have in these videos. I would like to get some myself. It's a great way to display items.
I recently purchased the Cosmic Cruiser off Ebay. Interestingly it seems to be the German retail release because of German dialogue on the stickers. But also, the space force emblems have been redesigned with an orange variant of the SAS version with the letters WATT instead.
I really wish I had been able to collect and play with these when I was younger. I wonder how the line would have progressed had General Mills not cancelled the Palitoy workshop's efforts and changed it to exclusively a GIJoe line. I have a feeling that we would have seen a much broader and deeper amount of characters and the evolution of the Action Force storyline would have been phenomenal. Do you think that this line will ever come back or was this just lightning in a bottle?
I'm honestly not sure why I never collected Space Force... Maybe because I already had Star Wars figures for my space fix. I dunno. I've always wondered since if that was a mindset shared by other UK 80's kids and if Space Force might be a rarer collectible than the other three teams.
Space force was a fairly small team they are not that rare but a complete space engineer and the triad fighter are fairly rare the action force triad fighter with the grey joe figure are really rare and can go for big bucks
Do these vehicles fit in the Cargo Bay of The Defiant or the Defiant like shuttle (forget its name) that was made several years after the original Defiant?
Baron Thomas no they renamed all the gi joes to be more British or European airborne became Italian mutt and junkyard were Spanish etc the recoloured gi joes like stalker was renamed jammer for z force snake eyes had grey accents renamed stalker and packaged with the panther and came from iceland
Oh man, i recently won a huge lot of action force vehicles, including a triad fighter. You wouldnt happen to know anyone who makes reproduction cockpits for the smaller triad pods, would you?
These are cool, but I need some context. Is Action Force considered part of G.I.Joe in the UK? I seem to remember hearing someone say that the leader of the bad guys became Cobra Commander in the UK comics. But I may be mistaken.
Space force was always the poor relation of AF, I wish they'd got more time in the comics. Equally I wish I had been able to purchase more AF guns pack, I was always losing mine.
not wanting to be a know it all but i think the first attempt at an Ellen Ripley action figure was the one for the unproduced late 70's 3.75" Alien line,from which Super7 launched after buying the molds for said figures. love all your content and have learned a great deal from it even though i was an avid collector and reader of Action Force in the 80's. would love to more unproduced toys,even if its just concepts,finding out about Special Weapons Force and Air Force in this video has metaphorically blown my mind. it would be great if they got released even if it was part of a kickstarter campaign along with re-issues and continuations of the 5 existing factions
