ACTION MAN GRIPPING HANDS SOLDIER 1973 TO 1976

Released in 1973 the Gripping Hands Soldier came to personify ACTION MAN through the 1970s and into the 1980s.
The Soldier Uniform and accessory was based on the British Army Working dress of the early 1970s and consisted:
Sweater (Various weaves and stitching)
Green Trousers
Beret (originaly cloth/later black plastic with silver plastic cap badge),
Khaki belt (No slider)
Scarf (originaly horizontal weave later vertical)
SLR Rifle ( First Issue elastic strap post 1975 plastic)
Thimble - for putting over Action Man hands easing dressing figure (First Issue metal and more and later nylon material)
Paperwork: L259 and later L513 Star Awards Cards, L364 and L345 instruction leaflets and Equipment Manual - 1973, 1974, 1975 and 1976 versions.
Cat: 34052
Analog Toys: / torturedgeniusfilms
Action Man HQ Website: www.actionmanhq.co.uk/

[@davidneal9368]

That's the exact action man I had with the green beret

[@edwardkohout3494]

Wonderful! As usual! Great job Gary. Thanks for posting.

[@jfilm7466]

The new beret was a real improvement too.

[@deopersad2915]

Awesome thanks, yeah I have 1 of the older ation man with flocked hair and hard hands, and others with gripping hands , I had to get new hands for them as the old ones where destroyed or had none, I still want to get a original painted hair and hard hands one day 👍🏻

[@justMe-rd4sw]

01:33 that's mine, I'd love one again, best present I ever had. Christmas 1975.

[@Kneon_Knight]

What has always puzzled me about the gripping hands aka "Kung Fu Grip" is why it hadn't appeared earlier in the Hasbro G.I. Joe line. Similar hands, molded from PVC, were used for Louis Marx's "Stony Smith" and "Johnny West" figures from 1964 and 1965, respectively. Then again, Hasbro made a lot of bizarre decisions regarding G.I. Joe, especially toward the end of the line in the mid-70s.
I thoroughly enjoyed this video, especially for the discussion of the many uniform variations. Well done, as always, and thank you for sharing this with us.

[@brianford8493]

Brilliant......ta!

[@mikekelly6555]

Best video yet. One of the he most popular boxed AM. Great showing the different versions and what leaflets etc go with them.. excellent..

[@falconmg6486]

Sensational video. Lots of very interesting information. The version here in Brazil, the Falcon, arrived in 1977 already with the “Kung fu grip” hand.

[@TheSkullReviews]

Well done review, very informative and well laid out.

[@GarysActionManChannel1970]

Thanks 😊

[@edwinsmith-jones6205]

Hi, great video. I have a question, if anyone can help, did this figure ever come with a dog tag?
Thanks in advance.

[@TheToyBoy1978]

I personally can't stand those original berets so I'm glad they changed them for the plastic variation. Also glad they changed the material of the woolen jumper to Nylon because those woollen jumpers loose their shape and its not easy finding displayable example.

[@GarysActionManChannel1970]

Woolen jumpers were still turning up in 1979

[@TheToyBoy1978]

@@GarysActionManChannel1970 yes, I'm curious to know exactly how that came to be. You'd think any overstock would have already been used.

[@GarysActionManChannel1970]

@@TheToyBoy1978 The weave on later woolen was much closer together than mid seventies

[@ytrezazerty1]

there are 6 variations of the box...

[@GarysActionManChannel1970]

I guessed there'd be more but have listed the main ones - this hobby os always uncovering new variations - thanks for commenting 👍