Palitoy Royalty - the men who built the Death Star

Evening all, I went to a vintage Action man meet today and met the two chaps in the photo below. Dave on the right produced all the art work for Palitoy Action Man until very near the end of the line and Bob on the left designed many of the Palitoy releases. They both left Palitoy when Hasbro stopped separate design process in the UK and unfortunately were unable to shed any light on the Toy Toni scandal.

On another note - Bob designed the Palitoy Death Star and Dave produced the art work (Dave's son is on the box)! I felt like I was in the presence of Royalty, I don't get that star struck when seeing the actors from the films

both really nice guys, Bob was trying to convince Dave that he produced the Palitoy Cantina artwork too but he wasn't having it. Sadly Palitoy didn't keep any examples of their lines, and what Action Man Bob had went to Vectis a while back (he hinted that he may still own a few Star Wars goodies).

Bob also designed some of the Action force lines including the TIE and Death Star cross over pieces.

Despite featuring his son Dave doesn't even own a Death Star, but he does still have all the transparencies for the Palitoy posters that were included in the boxes - a disaster if they fall into the wrong hands, I've asked him to email me photos but i'm sure he must get many similar requests.

Dave brought along his original Action Man art work - the helicopter below was a favourite of mine

anyway thought I had to share, and great that there are still some Palitoy original pre-production pieces in the UK and the guys that made them are going strong

Great - I bet you were lapping it all up - would be great if Dave could get these guys down to FF

Awesome story Spoons. It'd be great to get these guys down to FF at some point.
It'd be interesting to hear what brief Palitoy gave him when creating the Death Star. I'm assuming cheap as possible :lol:
I'm very surprised he doesn't have one locked away in a vault somewhere. I've got all sort of crap lying about from jobs done in the past.

FF was my first thought too guys (not that I've been yet)

The do was in Quorn near Loughborough and I think they are still local to the Midlands - hopefully Dave will get in touch and I'll suggest it otherwise the admin on the AM forum know both and I'm sure would be happy to pass on details

I was indeed lapping it up - I felt bad discussing Star Wars at an Action Man meet though, very bad form :lol:

Fave gets these guys for his Roll out Roll call convention.

I remember that SAS Action Man helicopter. It was BAD ASS!

Maulster79 said:

Fave gets these guys for his Roll out Roll call convention.

I remember that SAS Action Man helicopter. It was BAD ASS!

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Damn right it was Brilliant toy line. If I was going to look at collecting something else then Action Man/Action Force SAS would be in the running.

That Action Man event looked pretty cool 8)

A great day x-pack, and some really nice guys. You should start collecting

I only joined the AM forum a few weeks ago an that was enough to want to go to the meet. There's still a lot of play value with Action Man

My son and I were launching the red devil off the top of a slide the other week

I would love to have the autograph of the Palitoy death star guy. Thanks for sharing. 8) 8)

tiefighterboy said:

I would love to have the autograph of the Palitoy death star guy. Thanks for sharing. 8) 8)

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I'll see you right at the next June meet Todd, they offered today but I genuinely was star struck, no idea what I was saying and didn't take them up on it

If it wasn't for Star Wars I'd be putting all my attention on collecting Action Man now, as I expect a lot of us would. The Action Man dress uniforms would be worth the same amount as a Yak Face MOC!

If I had a son, throwing a Red Devil out of a window would be a rite of passage. Then we'd go out and hunt a stag with spears.

It would indeed be great to be able to speak with such toy royalty. I have fantastic memories of buying and playing with Action Man. I remember being disappointed that I wasn't able to buy (or ask for as a present) any of the Action Man SAS line because by then I had flung myself full force into Star Wars.

I'd like to set out a display of Cyborg and Micronauts at an Action Man/Action Force meet, as both lines were of course Takara's take on G.I Joe. Cyborg has G.I Joe's body! The small sized G.I Joe was in turn based on the multi-jointed design of the Micronauts, so they're all basically part of the same history (and family).

Craig

Bob was at last year's Roll Out Roll Call and shared some of his stories about being at Palitoy and the huge crossovers that went on between Star Wars and Action Force. Really interesting stuff but what stuck with me were his stories of the closure of Palitoy, it came across at times as pretty ruthless.

ODB said:

Bob was at last year's Roll Out Roll Call and shared some of his stories about being at Palitoy and the huge crossovers that went on between Star Wars and Action Force. Really interesting stuff but what stuck with me were his stories of the closure of Palitoy, it came across at times as pretty ruthless.

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The nature of business, not so good for collectors

I was amazed that he wasn't on the SW scene as he's apparently been doing AM meets since 99

Craig some interesting links there, I was only aware of the smaller micronaut line - I might have to find one of those larger ones 8)

spoons said:

A great day x-pack, and some really nice guys. You should start collecting

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Only thing that has the edge over AM is that Star Wars was more my generation. I was just a little bit too young for the 70's AM stuff, which is what I remember. Didn't stop dad buying it for me ....aka - himself :wink:

spoons said:

tiefighterboy said:

I would love to have the autograph of the Palitoy death star guy. Thanks for sharing. 8) 8)

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I'll see you right at the next June meet Todd, they offered today but I genuinely was star struck, no idea what I was saying and didn't take them up on it

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Actually the guys sons autograph on a copy of the deathstar image with him in it....classy. 8)

Despite featuring his son Dave doesn't even own a Death Star, but he does still have all the transparencies for the Palitoy posters that were included in the boxes - a disaster if they fall into the wrong hands, I've asked him to email me photos but i'm sure he must get many similar requests.

Looks like you had a great day out spoons and like a few on here Action Man was the first thing I really remember being into before Star Wars consume my life (and bedroom).

My older cousin had a lot of AM goodies that I used to play with and then it was on my Birthday and Christmas list for a while. Here's the one vehicle I remember getting -

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Vintage-1970s-Action-Man-Pursuit-Craft-/261506949797?pt=UK_ToysGames_ActionFigures_ActionFigures_JN&hash=item3ce30762a5

I used to love that vehicle and had an eye eyes talking Action Man to go with it ( when I say talking it came with a backpack that had tiny records in it which said phrases).

The other thing that I really remember about my AM days was that it was the first time I remember hearing the word Palitoy, due to the adverts on TV. I think that's where my love of all things Palitoy first started.

As a side note I noticed you mentioned that the Death Star came with posters and wondered if you meant the catalogue that came with it or something else? I only remember my Death Star coming with this paperwork -

http://theswca.com/index.php?action=disp_item&item_id=51053

Other than the instructions I can't remember anything else but it would be good to know if there was something I've forgotten.

Ian

You should look at my limelight thread Ian - a boxed Pursuit Craft there

You misunderstood me on the Death Star. Dave designed the box and also designed the posters that came with later boxed vehicles - the ESB Palitoy posters that came with the AT AT etc. not sure whether he did the tri logo ones.
I'd guess he did the bounty hunter offer flier too as he said he worked alone

I was under the impression the Death Star came with the 1980 poster. It seems as if the Death Star was available in 1980 along with the rest of the Star Wars range. I believe we had to wait for the bulk of the ESB items (which are not pictured) to arrive in 1981.

I didn't get the Death Star first hand because by the time I had decided to ask for it as a Birthday or Christmas present, they had all disappeared from the shops. Mine was a second-hand one that I found in 1981 – 1982.

If we're talking Action Man, the best toy that I ever owned was the mighty Cherilea Military Truck. I cannot describe how awesome that was.

http://gijoe.ebcutler.com/galleries/foreign/cherilea.htm

Craig.

That 1980 poster is rare and was quickly superseded by the common 1981 poster. The majority of Palitoy Death Stars came without the poster as they were produced in the earlier Star Wars range. I havent seen one with this poster yet.

Jason

Oh, and would obviously be made up if Bob and Dave came to a Farthest From and took on a couple of seasoned vintage collectors in a Generation Game style
assemble your own death star against the clock.



Jason

Simply Sci-fi said:

I was under the impression the Death Star came with the 1980 poster. It seems as if the Death Star was available in 1980 along with the rest of the Star Wars range. I believe we had to wait for the bulk of the ESB items (which are not pictured) to arrive in 1981.



http://gijoe.ebcutler.com/galleries/foreign/cherilea.htm

Craig.

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The poster you've attached Craig is one I have but I think mine came from my local toy store (Martins), as they used to put a few posters and catalogues out on their sales desk for people to take. The only other way I would have had this poster is it came with a mini rig I bought (as that was the only vehicle/playset I had from the ESB range). I am however pretty sure that I picked it up for free.

The catalogue I mentioned earlier was definitely the one that was packed in my Death Star which I received for christmas 78. I don't remember getting any catalogue with my Cantina playset but I also picked up some more of the same catalogue that came with my Death Star from the same toy shop during the Empire era as they had a stack on their sales desk so I grabbed a few more.

Thanks for clearing up the poster mention as well Spoons.

Ian