What does Action Man mean to you?

(I've started this thread as I can't find Dal's original one from a few months ago and I wanted to post in it!)

My Teddy!



Before you all start thinking a middle aged man with a teddy is a bit strange let me explain.    My grandparents bought this teddy on the way to the hospital to see me for the first time on the the day I was born. It was obviously the first thing I ever owned and equally obviously it's the thing I've owned the longest. It sits on a shelf in my bedroom and I probably don't even look at it for months on end but if I lost it I'd be devastated.
How attached you can be to a pretty financially worthless inanimate object really got brought home to me this week when Joe and Hank went off to Flocktastic. I would say I didn't lay in bed at night worrying about them but you'd know I was lying! The thought of them in a little cardboard box getting kicked around the maelstrom of the Royal Mail postal service really wasn't inductive to a good night's sleep!



So what does Action Man mean to me? Well certain ones are a tangible link to the past, old comrades you've know for years..either that or I'm getting far to sentimental in my old age!

Great post Steve!, nice teddy too!, I have one somewhere, but no doubt packed away in a box somewhere! (and now I am going to have to find it!.., git! ).
Anyone who has spoken to me knows, Jake and my oldest four other vam are my favourites, I call them the CH5 (Childhood5). They have all been re built since their many adventures when I was a kid, would I be without them?, any of them? not on your life!

Jake



The lads, (from left to right, Goldie, Tom Stone, Jake, Smiley Joe and Pepe) The CH5

The best childhood ever in the best place ever with the best parents ever.

Simple really.

I still have my Action Man, but unfortunately my two teddies are lost with the partner split, I miss them a lot, but at least my Action Man survived that, along with all the other traumas both me and him have been through these last 40 years or so...

What Action Man means to me is a link back to those care free days of the late 60s and early 70s of playing outside in the dirt and grit. In the 21st Century, an ability to live out dreams and fantasies with him that I couldn't even imagine back in 1970!

Here is my original Action Man - Tom K, looking better than ever and just back from a cool trip to Prague...



Wish I had my teddies to post up here, would be great fun!

sirsidneyruffdiamond wrote:

The best childhood ever in the best place ever with the best parents ever.

Simple really.

Yes this sums it up for me too. It was a very happy period of my childhood.

somekindajoe wrote:

(I've started this thread as I can't find Dal's original one from a few months ago and I wanted to post in it!)

Before you all start thinking a middle aged man with a teddy is a bit strange let me explain.  

Er hang on mate ,no need to explain! after all you are posting on a site where we all collect a childhood toy ,our mutual friend !
and action man reminds me of my happy childhood and the man who introduced him to me my fantastic DAD

somekindajoe wrote:

(I've started this thread as I can't find Dal's original one from a few months ago and I wanted to post in it!)

My Teddy!



Before you all start thinking a middle aged man with a teddy is a bit strange let me explain.    My grandparents bought this teddy on the way to the hospital to see me for the first time on the the day I was born. It was obviously the first thing I ever owned and equally obviously it's the thing I've owned the longest. It sits on a shelf in my bedroom and I probably don't even look at it for months on end but if I lost it I'd be devastated.


So what does Action Man mean to me? Well certain ones are a tangible link to the past, old comrades you've know for years..either that or I'm getting far to sentimental in my old age!

Lol, I thought I was the only one! Introducing Panda, I've had her nearly 53 years.

She shared the maternity cot with me!

cool, another teddy survivor !

Wish I still had my original AM from my childhood but alas they are long gone.

The only surviving toyswie are a couple of Star Wars figures.

When the 40th sets came out they brought back so many memories of my childhood, hours and hours of fun with the best toy ever!

'Panda' looks great Brian..and I feel a bit more normal knowing it isn't just me!

somekindajoe wrote:

'Panda' looks great Brian..and I feel a bit more normal knowing it isn't just me!

Yes, but it might be just you and me!

heres mine

47/48 years young

very cool

skj sparkle snow ( why is it you all start with the letter s ) either we are all normal or nobody is and i know what i think it is

Awwwww snow white your chimpanzee looks so cute. what's the story behind him can I ask ?

Here is my Peter Polar Bear who I got for my very first present from my parents for Christmas 1988 .

cool bear mate

Thanks Dal .

...do you know what? I recently saw a new 'vintage' teddy that I thought could replace my 'lost' one...I might just have to go and buy it!

Great to see our "softer" side

Im very lucky to still have my origional AM and some uniforms from when i was ten namely the red devil suit, the commando it came in the box with and the guardsman uniform. The frogman suit has dried out but the mask and air cyclinders ect are still ok. Oh and my armoured car from the same time.

Unfortunately I don't have any of my original VAM. I still have a few ragged bits of clothing (and I do mean ragged) But I still have my cherilia german motor bike and side car.

I think my oldest toys that I still own would be my Pelham puppet Giant and pirate, still in their boxes.
The pics are not mine though.

Sadly, I don't have my original teddy bears, as they went to my daughter many years back and I'm not sure where they are now and I do not dare not ask...

But, happily I do have my Action Man and my wife also bought a new teddy this year (not for me honest!) and here they are together all snuggy and cosy... oooh! did I really just say that?

Action Man is a link back to the past when life seemed much rosier and less stressful. The figure is a representation of us the human race, it stimulates personal play and interaction with the figure, via posing it and using the minds eye for fantasy action adventure, this can be done alone or in a group with others, it has strong educational values too. My scalextric and Tri-ang/Hornby trains are also a reminder of those happier times.

Action Man should never be used for 15 minutes of fame, or in a selfish way. The toy represents a hero, a role model and close companion for some who didn't have a dad around, it also helped make new friends, it broke down any barriers with other kids back in the day.

Action Man will easily outlast all the latest technology and gadgets, the toy doesn't have obsolescence built in like nearly everything electrical these days. Action Man is still popular 40+ years later, it will outlast a Windows 8 computer, an iPhone and your washing machine! Stuff iPhones for kids! let's get toys back on their Christmas wants list again.

Clivvers shall never comply, or drink sprout juice

Well said Clive
A hero in his own right, he has brought entertainment and imagination to all who have been lucky enough to own one (or more) , as the adventures were and still are never ending and something that was a magical seed in a childs mind all them years ago, and so powerful to still be loved when that child gets in his fifties, now that's something marvelous, we all know the feeling that this foot tall superhero has given us, from the very first meeting all those years ago to the new thrills he still brings us all, this is a life long friendship that is a gift created in yours and my minds from our loyal and un-biased companions pass his spirit on to all our children and don't let them be clogged up in i-pads and electronic games world Give them back the real meaning of play and really great toys to enjoy
Long Live Action Man and what he stands for