ACTION MAN

Tom Stone 1977

Period: Flocked Head

Dates: 1977 until c.1979

Cat No: 34070

Tom Stone 'A Member of the Action Man Team' Description:

In 1977 Palitoy released the Hasbro designed 'Tom Stone' key figure. He was introduced as 'A Member of the Action Man Team'. He came in basic camo fatigues and carried a Heckler and Koch sub machine gun and wore a green elasticated parachute regiment beret. His body construction was of a significantly different and inherited design (of the US muscle body GI Joe) to Action Man and is prone to falling apart because of degradation of plastics in the connecting pieces. There is a suggestion this figure may have been imported as early as 1976, because of the 'older' style side panel artworks similar to the mid-1970s boxes for the Soldier, Sailor, Adventurer, but 1976 figure boxes would generally have a gold sticker on celebrating the 1976 Toy of the Year Award.

Action Man Tom Stone:

34154:

TOM STONE: Camo jacket (one popper), camo trousers (one popper), Heckler and Koch MP5A2, green cloth beret with metal Parachute Regiment badge, short boots, information leaflet, Equipment Manual.

Notes:

Tom Stone is basically the later 'muscle' body GI Joe - the 'Black" Adventure. The black muscle body Joe can be passed off as the Tom Stone figure if dressed accordingly, since he used the Joe body without changes (same patent/markings). In the US there was also a bearded talking figure available with this headsculpt. Thanks to Hussein Holland for this detail.

Tom Stone's camo shirt and trousers should have the Action Man clothes label with the bullet holes omitted from the Action Man Logo (they had long since disappeared since the first 'beachhead' jungle camo fatigues of 1966 of similar but not identical design). They have only one popper holding the front together and same is true of the trousers. The green beret is elasticated and oddly carries the Parachute Regiment Logo which is more correctly sited on the more familiar red beret. The body typically has its stringing of arms and neck disintegrate to powder, requiring repair. The pants' waistband include the AT (Action Team) logo as this figure was of US origin. The hips are not so prone to aging. The main featured figure on this page has reproduction hands, but we show the original hand separately next to the new, in an accompanying image. He carries a Heckler & Koch MP5A2 (actually correctly pronounced 'Coke') with elastic strap, not to be confused with the similar more common SAS type. Two box designs were issued in a short space of time, making them both a rarity, particularly the 1977 version.

Tom Stone's head sculpt dates back as far as 1970, and his gripping hands (1974) and muscle body to 1975. The flock hair and gripping hands (Kung-fu Grip in US) hands enhancements were actually developed by Palitoy in the UK on Action Man and adopted by the US.

Tom Stone beret and badge of the Parachute Regiment