A.T.O.M 'Action man'

Even after the A&S fiasco Hasbro continue to besmirch the good name and legacy of Action Man by sticking the brand name on any old tat!


(photo credit Fightin' Irish and to be fair he probably took it as a joke. It's me who having the moan!)

A.T.O.M Action man is a cartoon series about a team of crime fighting teenagers who live in the fictional 'Landmark city'. Shouldn't that be 'Trademark rip-off' city'?

The series has an accompanying line of toys. I don't have an issue with either. Good luck to the people producing this stuff, it's not my cup of tea but then again demographically I'm obviously not it's target audience. What annoys me is that it's sold around the world as just plain A.T.O.M but has 'Action Man' added to the title in countries where the brand name has some customer recognition.

Honestly, they'd stick the Action Man name on a ken doll if they thought it would help in sell. Oh wait they did that already! If the action man trade mark was a pet dog the animal welfare people would take it off Hasbro to save if from further abuse.

A pointless moan by me I know but I just hate to see the good name of the' Toy of the decade', that means so much to us collectors, bandied about just to make a fast buck.

You have just about summed it up there Steve! In the day and age of digital printing you wuld think someone could make a half decent reproduction of the timeless original?

I suppose the bright side of "GI Joe" becoming an almost taboo brand name because of the military connotations is that the classic name and logo do not get indiscriminately slapped on to unrelated junk like this.

I guess this proves Action Man (the trademark and name) sells(?)

He just can't manage to sell himself...

Not sure what I'm trying to say, damn, I have more in common with Sleepy Joe than I thought...

and, am I the only one who thinks this guy looks like an Atomic Elvis?

gibri wrote:

... and, am I the only one who thinks this guy looks like an Atomic Elvis?

He looks to me like a cross between Johnny Bravo and Jaws from the James Bond movie franchise.

Action Man ATOM was developed by the UK Action man, team of which i was part of, Its a contemporary twist on the historic 12 inch figure the market share of which dropped off a cliff when the target market were mainly buying power rangers... set aside the historic Action man comparisons and the styling on these figures was exceptional! the short duration/volume, accompanied by tv programming will make these very collectable so whilst you are welcome to have a moan i would suggest the switched on amongst you start collecting now!

skorpion wrote:

Action Man ATOM was developed by the UK Action man, team of which i was part of,  Its a contemporary twist on the historic 12 inch figure the market share of which dropped off a cliff when the target market were mainly buying power rangers... set aside the historic Action man comparisons and the styling on these figures was exceptional! the short duration/volume, accompanied by tv programming will make these very collectable so whilst you are welcome to have a moan i would suggest the switched on amongst you start collecting now!

Fantastic to get an insiders view . What other secrets of AM the brand development story can you share ? It would be cool to hear some of that.

I'll keep any eye to for these- might have to have just one for the "story"... however I'm firmly with SKJ - The original VAM is what floats my boat

I also like a MAM .. if he is not too adventurey and we can make him into an honest squaddie

Take care

Yes,btw we all like the VAM military figures i was brought up with my German Stormtrooper, however military figures have limited apeal and most of European markets would not take overt military esp Germany for obvious reasons VAM was right for the time MAM was an extension of that within politically correct international market scope. ATOM was a further Extension apealing to the current target market so not necessarily to VAM purest's you can't please everyone but you do need to please your target market!

I'll stick by my moan for precisely the reasons I outlined in my original post. Placing the name 'Action man' on modern products that have zero lineage to the original VAM is nothing but a cynical marketing ploy. Kids may be a toy's target market but using a brand name that has nostalgic appeal to the dad's and grandad's who are actually buying the product doesn't hurt sales either. The flip side of that is illustrated by the fact that the A.T.O.M range didn't add the 'Action man' name in countries where the was no brand recognition for it. That's now important they felt the 'extension' legacy was.

This issue started of course with MAM. Giving the name of a defunct but well remembered toy line to a new and completely different range just to cash in on the 'Dad nostalgia' served them well but smacks of a lack of imagination and a laziness akin to when you see yet another rehash/remake of a Hollywood classic that's a shadow of the original. You just end up wishing creators would be more original. If the new product is so good it will sell on it's own merit without trying to cash in on someone else's legacy. Surely MAM was successful enough to have established it's own identity instead of muddying the Action man waters.

Every VAM purist is sadly well aware the classic range we grew up with has no place in today's political and cultural climate but re-introducing such a military themed figure to today's youngsters was exactly the nonsensical sales pitch A&S used to try and push their Ken-bodied dolls. Never has a toy deserved it's place in the discount bins more.


Action man ended in 1984. I just wish the toy industry and licensing companies would take that on board.

somekindajoe wrote:

Action man ended in 1984. I just wish the toy industry and licensing companies would take that on board.

For you maybe, Not for the kids of the 90's

skorpion wrote:

For you maybe, Not for the kids of the 90's

That generation of kids also had Max Steel. A line of 12 action figures who's creators at Mattel had the imagination to give a new, original name too rather than rehashing a previous generation's toy line in the hope of scoring some cheap brownie points.

somekindajoe wrote:

Even after the A&S fiasco Hasbro continue to besmirch the good name and legacy of Action Man by sticking the brand name on any old tat!


(photo credit Fightin' Irish and to be fair he probably took it as a joke. It's me who having the moan!)

A.T.O.M Action man is a cartoon series about a team of crime fighting teenagers who live in the fictional 'Landmark city'. Shouldn't that be 'Trademark rip-off' city'?

The series has an accompanying line of toys. I don't have an issue with either. Good luck to the people producing this stuff, it's not my cup of tea but then again demographically I'm obviously not it's target audience. What annoys me is that it's sold around the world as just plain A.T.O.M but has 'Action Man' added to the title in countries where the brand name has some customer recognition.

Honestly, they'd stick the Action Man name on a ken doll if they thought it would help in sell. Oh wait they did that already! If the action man trade mark was a pet dog the animal welfare people would take it off Hasbro to save if from further abuse.

A pointless moan by me I know but I just hate to see the good name of the' Toy of the decade', that means so much to us collectors, bandied about just to make a fast buck.

Nah, even putting Action Man on a Ken do wpuld be better with this monstrosity.

I mean, do they make shitty toys now because kids don't play with toys?
Or do kids not play with toys anymore because manufacturers only make shitty toys?

I'd wager it is the latter. Even barbies legs don't click and bend these days. You need to swap her to made to move to make her pose.
There is a reason that the Rhino Action Man Jeeps I had in the 90's are all bashed up. Not because my btothers an I were bad to our toys, but because our toys were awesome.

Kins now have it bad.

RealSarahdactyl wrote:

I mean, do they make shitty toys now because kids don't play with toys?
Or do kids not play with toys anymore because manufacturers only make shitty toys?

And on the rare occasion when they get things right (like original Monster High), the manufacturers promptly ruin the success by cutting costs, reducing production quality, and redesigning or "dumbing down" the original concept in response to a handful of Twitter complaints.