h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

GI Joe had a brief comeback in the UK in... oooo... must've been around 1994 or 5. Then it disapeared and Hasbro brought out Action Man. The original few Action Men were quite sensible... a standard soldier, a jungle fighter, a ninja... and... okay, a spaceman. Their nemesis was the evil Dr X.

They got progressivly sillier after that - I've just looked in Argos and found 'Snowboard Extreme' Action Man, which isn't too bad... but there was a race driver Action Man not too long ago.

I could be wrong but I seem to remember him having a show that predated the toys. He was an extreme sports star that moonlighted as a super hero. he had the power to instantaneously run through all the possible actions he could take and use what beat the bad guy. this usually involved a matrixesc slow motion acrobatics sequence in which action man would create an unlikely series of events similar to the incredible machine. Later in the series his power change to being able to move really fast for a short period of time.

There was an Action Man cartoon which was mysteriously never broadcast on Sky One when it was scheduled, but was available as videos. I'm fairly sure he was a full-time soldier in some kind of elite task-force though, with no super powers.

it was on fox on there sat morning line up
yes i watches saterday morning cartoons.. whats your point.

The original (or vintage)Action Man was produced in the UK by Palitoy from 1963 to 1984 under licence from Hasbro in the US.Like his American counterpart he was a military figure with a large collection of uniforms from the army,navy and airforce.
When Hasbro relaunched Action Man in 1993 it was decided that he should be an adventurer rather than a soldier.As such he can be an explorer,an extreme sportsman,a secret agent and so on.