Holy guacamole! I had no idea anyone else remembered these. Our local newsagent had them and I would often get one if I had money when I collected my Beano, Topper or Dandy comic as a child. I forgot about the fact that you could pull them apart so easily; but I really did that. They came with loads of accessories, and for a child who did not often get extra cash except for birthdays and Christmas, they made a huge impact on my toy box. Will have to track some down.
This is my memory of them also. Hung up in the newsagents in those little cigarette-packet sized boxes. I would do the same, spend my meagre pocket money on one of these and a comic or some sweets.
I am so happy that I found this video, I remember these fondly from my childhood but I could not for the life of me what they were called. I'll have to have a look on EBay now to see if I can get some.
I had loads of these guys as a child along with the mountain play-set thing. I sold them all at various boot sales but really don't regret it, unlike other toys I sold. I want all my MASK toys back!
We're a knock of matchbox MAC but I loved them when I was 7 lol. Love to collect them again. I was lucky my grandfathers friend owned a toy shop so I had pretty good access to MAC figures
Spent many hours playing with Action Jacks. The head coming out was a bonus. Pretended they were androids. Falling to bits once hit with lasers. All mine were bought from the local street market.
They sold these in South America in the 80's. I have a complete unopened set of the original figures. But not in boxes, mine are in blister packs. Great toys.
Just bought some Matchbox MAC from a local charity shop today for a real cheap price as it brought back a lot of memories for me so I starting searching and found your video on the cheaper Action Jacks which I also had as they where more available to me as a child back then. I had the whole gang too, loved taking the heads off and changing the body parts which I don't think you can do with the Matchbox MAC? I so need to find some accessories but a quick search on Ebay does not throw up too many in the UK
Another superb blast from the past, I had a few of these. Dirt cheap and great fun mixing and matching. These used to get battered, the stunt men of my action figures. I wish you hadn't reminded me of them, something else for me to seek out. Great vid Dave, thanks!
Cheap and cheerful! (I could have said 'nasty' there!) I remember buying these guys from a local newsagent as late as the end of the 80's. They were on the cheap plastic 'impulse' toys rack near the counter along with things like those soft matchbox planes that were two pieces you slotted together and threw. I had a bunch of different types, but I recall most having the Cowboys and Indians figures. Good times.
Your M.A.C. figure is one of the later ones - the original 1974 figures were a lot smaller. My brother and I went crazy over them - and used them as Space: 1999 figures. I had one with a white suit, and painted one arm black to represent Commander Koenig. My brother had an orange suited one, and so, he was Alan Carter. They were great. I still have the cool 6X6 buggy somewhere. Action Jack, too, we had loads, the thing being, if you went to a different town, chances were the shops had ones you hadn't got, or ones in different colours. A cheap, but brilliant toy.
the mobile action command figures shown are the mk2 version with better body shapes. the originals were more blocky like androids, and were coloured to suit their uniform roles. eg army jeep had dark green body, ambulance had white body, fireman had red, diver had black for wetsuit, they had a paper sticker, central on their flat chest. figures originally came with their particular vehicle, and also the mobile action command centre base which was an open back mountain, with secret doors for all vehicles. i owned all , collecting as they were released. great toys.
As much as I like your toy reviews, I also enjoy your use of British expressions. "Cheap and Cheerful." I feel like I learn a little about British culture when I watch your videos. Thank you!
Do you remember the airfix adventure sets that were released in the late 1970's? There was a diver with treasure chest & an octopus an archaeologist with a Egyptian mummy and a jungle explorer with a giant venis fly trap. My favourite toy ever
I had these in the 80's basic, but really loved them. I used to use strong as a death slide and they would slide down the string really well. Do O remember a jeep for them?
These were available in South Africa. I had the fire fighter. Still remember the packaging clearly. Simple printed boxes. What remains of my figure is the helmet, axe and backpack. Figure is nowhere to be found.
I remember those, l had a bunch of the army guys, l think they were between $2-$5 here in U.S. the action jack was about $2 & the mac's about $5 Im not sure what the difference is or was between dollar vs. pound, l forgot to tell you l like your new opening!! great video☺
I'd been trying to remember the name of these toys for the last few days, then this video appears! thanks. does anyone here remember a similar cheap pocket money toy from this era, more robotic style figures, swappable heads etc. the heads had spaces you could see through similar to bionicle and underneath they had this flat, red square? it's been haunting the edges of my memory for ages.
Would you perhaps be thinking of Kenner's Microbot line? It came out in about 1971. If not, they still look like they'd be cool to collect: www.plaidstallions.com/kenner/microbots.html
A bit before my time but i I do vaguely remember having some of these as a child, more than likely pre-owned as alot of my toys were up until i was 5 or 6, when you've got the likes of star wars & action force figures aswell, you'll more than likely have fonder and stronger memories of the later 2 franchises than these guys here! Interesting video though nonetheless!
I had tons of these. They were great. But you’d be lucky if yours still managed to stand up like the ones in this video after you’d played with them for a bit. The joints were very loose. They used to come in little boxes.
You can read more about M.A.C. here: www.mobile-action-command.de/eng/index.php?seite=startseite There were three separate releases of the vehicles over the 70s. The first series had six vehicles in different coloured housebrick-sized boxes, the second series had the same vehicles but used a common style of box graphics, and the third series dropped one vehicle, added three new ones, and added the larger figures you have there. Prices started at about £1 for a box with a vehicle, figure and accessories, but weren't really comparable in price with the Action Jack figures which came out in the 80s. Figure packs were much rarer, so most people only had figures with vehicles. Though for a while the surplus mixed smaller figure packs were sold alongside the later larger figure vehicle sets. There were a couple of vehicle colour variants and blister packs sold in the rest of Europe and the US, and later bagged versions to dispose of old stock. Also US home shopping catalogue companies would bundle pairs of vehicles and figures into their own plain brown cardboard box packaging. Intact blister packs are particularly rare, as are some US variants where a smaller figure appeared in a vehicle only introduced in the third series (a Police Patrol Vehicle). Prices for a cardboard boxed vehicle vary considerably depending on the completeness of the accessories. No one series is more valuable than any other. As for Action Jack, the initial line-up was six figures, Security Patrol (Blue), Sea Rescue (Yellow), Doctor (White), Snow Patrol (Orange), Commando (Dark Green), Fire Rescue(Blue). There was then a second range of 6 with a Cowboy (Dark Green), American Indian Brave and Chief (Red-Brown), Union (Dark Blue) and Confederate (Grey) soldiers, and a Mexican Bandit (Orange). There was then a third range of six with a military and military police theme, all dark green, dark blue or black. With the exception of an astronaut. These all came in cigarette-sized packets with two plastic sprues of accessories in random colours, though the figures were always the same colour. Series 1 all later appeared in blister packs. There were then themed double-packs with the Doctor + Snow Patrol, Security + Fire Rescue, White and Orange Astronauts, and Two Road Builders with some accessories cloned from Playmobil. There was also a larger construction site boxed set, a larger astronaut set (with a rocket and lander cloned from some other toys and completely out of scale for these figures), a larger cowboy set with four figures and horses, and a larger rescue set with a helicopter and boat (more on these...) There were three blister packs of a simple rescue vehicle with a figure. One was the doctor with a crudely moulded and far-too-small yellow helicopter. Another was the Sea Rescue diver with an orange boat, which was a clone of a military wartime inflatable made by Britains. And then there was a figure in a kayak with three floating marker buoys. What made this one unique is the figure had mixed colours of blue legs, white torso, and flesh-coloured arms. The kayak exists in two forms, with a red top and yellow bottom, and vice versa. And finally there were three clockwork vehicles that came in rectangular boxes like the M.A.C. vehicles. One was a red fire engine with small yellow ladders clipped to the side, another a white ambulance and the third a blue police van with yellow/green window panels. Each of these came with the corresponding series 1 figure and accessories. These vehicles were basically a box on wheels similar to the M.A.C. medical vehicle with an enclosed rear, offset driver's seat and a rotating siren on the top. The key was oversized so when unwinding it would lift the side of the vehicle slightly, causing it to turn, or it could be removed to let the vehicle run in a straight line.
I remember the the action jacks may have had just a couple back in the day but my tiny tuffys did it for me...had some as a kid and played with them for hours..and now as a big kid I have a large collection of them now :)
I remember these, always something i could buy with left over sweets money. I had forgot about MAC until now though, but i know i had one of those for some reason. Just googled them, my brother had the command mountain! Hopefully videos on MAC are coming :)
Hey Toy Polloi, this isn't exactly your area of expertise but I have a Lego stormtrooper helmet with a head stuck inside it. I guess there was sand or something in the head because it's jammed in there and I can't get it out. I've carved i huge hole into the head but it's stuck.
If you have already started cutting at the head inside. I would continue to do that until you can break enough away to get some grip. Or glue in a lego rod, so that you have something to pull on.
Hey Polloi, what kind of paint do you suugest to restore Smurf- blue on uhm, Smurfs? I've still got all my beloved childhood Smurfs, but the paint on a lot of them has been damaged. I can't use the usual Humbrol or Games workshop acrylics on them, for they are made of a flexible more rubber/latex whatever they used in the seventies... Perhaps you have a suggestion...
You're right, they were released as M.A.C.- Mobile Action Command in the US and distributed by Matchbox. Here's a link to a website dedicated to the entire toy line---- mobile-action-command.de/eng/index.php?seite=startseite I think we had only two sets: fire fighting unit and one of the air rescue copters. Thanks for the video.
Love these. I've been wanting the yellow one with orange helmet, but only found some loose with no accessories. I do own a few M.A.C. sets and adore them, even though I never had any of them as kids. I also found out that M.A.C originally released the first wave of figures in a slightly smaller, thin, blocky style - I did a short comparison of the two versions in my Omocha Ichiiba Toy Festival video from last year: ruclips.net/video/81bBoXklGyw/видео.html
![C64: G-Fellow of CODE7 - Compokiller [2024]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/M53aUcUyoK4/mqdefault.jpg)
I had hours of play fun with these figures. I really liked them as a child.
Had a few of these in the 80's i loved them ,thank you ,i haven't seen one since i was a boy.
I had loads of these as a kid, they were ace!
When I was a child I had one MAC and two Action Jack... A lot time of fun... Miss that time.
I used to love these. This brings back Great memories. Thanks.
Holy guacamole! I had no idea anyone else remembered these. Our local newsagent had them and I would often get one if I had money when I collected my Beano, Topper or Dandy comic as a child. I forgot about the fact that you could pull them apart so easily; but I really did that. They came with loads of accessories, and for a child who did not often get extra cash except for birthdays and Christmas, they made a huge impact on my toy box. Will have to track some down.
This is my memory of them also. Hung up in the newsagents in those little cigarette-packet sized boxes. I would do the same, spend my meagre pocket money on one of these and a comic or some sweets.
I am so happy that I found this video, I remember these fondly from my childhood but I could not for the life of me what they were called. I'll have to have a look on EBay now to see if I can get some.
I had loads of these guys as a child along with the mountain play-set thing. I sold them all at various boot sales but really don't regret it, unlike other toys I sold. I want all my MASK toys back!
I have a large collection of both Action Jacks and Mobile Action Command figures and set.They are absolutely fantastic little toys.
any spares ?
any spares ?
Had loads of these figures but I remember them in little boxes when purchased
We're a knock of matchbox MAC but I loved them when I was 7 lol. Love to collect them again. I was lucky my grandfathers friend owned a toy shop so I had pretty good access to MAC figures
Remember my dad getting me these out of the newsagents! Loved them cheap but highly playable
Spent many hours playing with Action Jacks. The head coming out was a bonus. Pretended they were androids. Falling to bits once hit with lasers. All mine were bought from the local street market.
That'll be the pieces I found in my lego box. Will keep an eye out for the rest of it. :)
Got 18 of these great toys I used to buy them from newsagents on the way home from school.
They sold these in South America in the 80's. I have a complete unopened set of the original figures. But not in boxes, mine are in blister packs. Great toys.
I had them in Chile, back in the late 80s, early 90s. Yes, they were fun.
Had the MAC medic as well as a couple of Action Jack figures. Also had a couple of Airfix Eagles. Always stood out as the box art was so well done.
Loved action jack as kid
Had had these when i was a kid... Worth a lot of money now if you can find them...
Interesting feature popping the head out to change the body parts.
Just bought some Matchbox MAC from a local charity shop today for a real cheap price as it brought back a lot of memories for me so I starting searching and found your video on the cheaper Action Jacks which I also had as they where more available to me as a child back then. I had the whole gang too, loved taking the heads off and changing the body parts which I don't think you can do with the Matchbox MAC? I so need to find some accessories but a quick search on Ebay does not throw up too many in the UK
Another superb blast from the past, I had a few of these. Dirt cheap and great fun mixing and matching. These used to get battered, the stunt men of my action figures. I wish you hadn't reminded me of them, something else for me to seek out. Great vid Dave, thanks!
Cheap and cheerful! (I could have said 'nasty' there!) I remember buying these guys from a local newsagent as late as the end of the 80's. They were on the cheap plastic 'impulse' toys rack near the counter along with things like those soft matchbox planes that were two pieces you slotted together and threw. I had a bunch of different types, but I recall most having the Cowboys and Indians figures. Good times.
I used to buy these from a local newsagents with my pocket money around 1980 or so. There used to be a few vehicles as well which were good.
Your M.A.C. figure is one of the later ones - the original 1974 figures were a lot smaller. My brother and I went crazy over them - and used them as Space: 1999 figures. I had one with a white suit, and painted one arm black to represent Commander Koenig. My brother had an orange suited one, and so, he was Alan Carter. They were great. I still have the cool 6X6 buggy somewhere. Action Jack, too, we had loads, the thing being, if you went to a different town, chances were the shops had ones you hadn't got, or ones in different colours. A cheap, but brilliant toy.
looking for the 6wheel atv as it was known,,, bigger mk2 figures didn't always fit vehicles..
These bring back some memories but I remember the box more than the toy. I can't recall which one I had...... Fireman ! I had the Fireman.
the mobile action command figures shown are the mk2 version with better body shapes. the originals were more blocky like androids, and were coloured to suit their uniform roles. eg army jeep had dark green body, ambulance had white body, fireman had red, diver had black for wetsuit, they had a paper sticker, central on their flat chest. figures originally came with their particular vehicle, and also the mobile action command centre base which was an open back mountain, with secret doors for all vehicles. i owned all , collecting as they were released. great toys.
I never saw them..they look cool
As much as I like your toy reviews, I also enjoy your use of British expressions. "Cheap and Cheerful." I feel like I learn a little about British culture when I watch your videos. Thank you!
Ha ha. I thought that was a worldwide saying, I guess not.
Toy Polloi Maybe it is and I'm just uncultured. Either way, please don't stop using it. It's part of the fun of the videos.
Thanks. Glad you enjoy my quant Britishness :D I'll add a few more in for you in future.
Toy Polloi I sincerely look forward to them!
Do you remember the airfix adventure sets that were released in the late 1970's? There was a diver with treasure chest & an octopus an archaeologist with a Egyptian mummy and a jungle explorer with a giant venis fly trap. My favourite toy ever
I used to get these in the early 80s from Cannock indoor market, in the box packaging.
I remember these when I was young.
I'm lovin your channel man! Vintage toys FTW!
+Cdog Cdog Thanks. Just subbed to yours. I'll take a look later.
We're a knock of matchbox MAC but I loved them when I was 7 lol. Love to collect them again
another great video mate!!
I had these in the 80's basic, but really loved them. I used to use strong as a death slide and they would slide down the string really well. Do O remember a jeep for them?
These were available in South Africa. I had the fire fighter. Still remember the packaging clearly. Simple printed boxes. What remains of my figure is the helmet, axe and backpack. Figure is nowhere to be found.
El amarillo fue mi primera figura! Ahora los consegui de nuevo.
I remember those, l had a bunch of the army guys, l think they were between $2-$5 here in U.S. the action jack was about $2 & the mac's about $5 Im not sure what the difference is or was between dollar vs. pound, l forgot to tell you l like your new opening!! great video☺
I remember the medical guy and all of the accessories....
I'd been trying to remember the name of these toys for the last few days, then this video appears! thanks. does anyone here remember a similar cheap pocket money toy from this era, more robotic style figures, swappable heads etc. the heads had spaces you could see through similar to bionicle and underneath they had this flat, red square? it's been haunting the edges of my memory for ages.
Tiny Tuffys / SRL Heroes might be the one you mean. I have a video on those as well.
that wasn't what I'm thinking of, but thanks for the reply😀
Would you perhaps be thinking of Kenner's Microbot line? It came out in about 1971. If not, they still look like they'd be cool to collect:
www.plaidstallions.com/kenner/microbots.html
There’s probably loads of the accessories to these buried all over my childhood garden. And all these rich kids, sweets and one of these 🤣🤣🤣🤣
I don't know those figures 😮 gonna have to research, they look like something I played as a kid but not the same.
Great video 👍🏽
I used to have both figures. 1 of the better quality one and loads of the cheap ones.
I don't have any figures but still have quite a few accessories.
just picked base up in box on ebay....ecstatic...
A bit before my time but i I do vaguely remember having some of these as a child, more than likely pre-owned as alot of my toys were up until i was 5 or 6, when you've got the likes of star wars & action force figures aswell, you'll more than likely have fonder and stronger memories of the later 2 franchises than these guys here! Interesting video though nonetheless!
I had tons of these. They were great. But you’d be lucky if yours still managed to stand up like the ones in this video after you’d played with them for a bit. The joints were very loose. They used to come in little boxes.
I had the cowboy and soldier and indian had a few of those
You can read more about M.A.C. here:
www.mobile-action-command.de/eng/index.php?seite=startseite
There were three separate releases of the vehicles over the 70s. The first series had six vehicles in different coloured housebrick-sized boxes, the second series had the same vehicles but used a common style of box graphics, and the third series dropped one vehicle, added three new ones, and added the larger figures you have there. Prices started at about £1 for a box with a vehicle, figure and accessories, but weren't really comparable in price with the Action Jack figures which came out in the 80s. Figure packs were much rarer, so most people only had figures with vehicles. Though for a while the surplus mixed smaller figure packs were sold alongside the later larger figure vehicle sets.
There were a couple of vehicle colour variants and blister packs sold in the rest of Europe and the US, and later bagged versions to dispose of old stock. Also US home shopping catalogue companies would bundle pairs of vehicles and figures into their own plain brown cardboard box packaging. Intact blister packs are particularly rare, as are some US variants where a smaller figure appeared in a vehicle only introduced in the third series (a Police Patrol Vehicle). Prices for a cardboard boxed vehicle vary considerably depending on the completeness of the accessories. No one series is more valuable than any other.
As for Action Jack, the initial line-up was six figures, Security Patrol (Blue), Sea Rescue (Yellow), Doctor (White), Snow Patrol (Orange), Commando (Dark Green), Fire Rescue(Blue). There was then a second range of 6 with a Cowboy (Dark Green), American Indian Brave and Chief (Red-Brown), Union (Dark Blue) and Confederate (Grey) soldiers, and a Mexican Bandit (Orange). There was then a third range of six with a military and military police theme, all dark green, dark blue or black. With the exception of an astronaut. These all came in cigarette-sized packets with two plastic sprues of accessories in random colours, though the figures were always the same colour. Series 1 all later appeared in blister packs.
There were then themed double-packs with the Doctor + Snow Patrol, Security + Fire Rescue, White and Orange Astronauts, and Two Road Builders with some accessories cloned from Playmobil. There was also a larger construction site boxed set, a larger astronaut set (with a rocket and lander cloned from some other toys and completely out of scale for these figures), a larger cowboy set with four figures and horses, and a larger rescue set with a helicopter and boat (more on these...)
There were three blister packs of a simple rescue vehicle with a figure. One was the doctor with a crudely moulded and far-too-small yellow helicopter. Another was the Sea Rescue diver with an orange boat, which was a clone of a military wartime inflatable made by Britains. And then there was a figure in a kayak with three floating marker buoys. What made this one unique is the figure had mixed colours of blue legs, white torso, and flesh-coloured arms. The kayak exists in two forms, with a red top and yellow bottom, and vice versa.
And finally there were three clockwork vehicles that came in rectangular boxes like the M.A.C. vehicles. One was a red fire engine with small yellow ladders clipped to the side, another a white ambulance and the third a blue police van with yellow/green window panels. Each of these came with the corresponding series 1 figure and accessories. These vehicles were basically a box on wheels similar to the M.A.C. medical vehicle with an enclosed rear, offset driver's seat and a rotating siren on the top. The key was oversized so when unwinding it would lift the side of the vehicle slightly, causing it to turn, or it could be removed to let the vehicle run in a straight line.
Una consulta, saves como reparar el color original del celeste ? Saludos
they released a cowboys and Indians set and an army set. I had loads as a child. brown bodies for the Indians and a different head
Did these come in little packets( small looking cigarette packet)?
I remember them in my local paper shop.
+Stephen Rushton They did indeed.
Toy Polloi
I also remember next to these on the shelf some sort of small cowboy action figures that were cheap.
There were. Tiny Tuffys / SRL Heroes. I have reviewed a couple of them before. I must do one on my whole collection.
Toy Polloi no not them, the were( if my memory's right) looked more like a playmobile figure if that makes sense. Big brimmed cowboy hat.
I remember the the action jacks may have had just a couple back in the day but my tiny tuffys did it for me...had some as a kid and played with them for hours..and now as a big kid I have a large collection of them now :)
❤
I remember these, always something i could buy with left over sweets money.
I had forgot about MAC until now though, but i know i had one of those for some reason.
Just googled them, my brother had the command mountain!
Hopefully videos on MAC are coming :)
me too.. collecting again now
Hey Toy Polloi, this isn't exactly your area of expertise but I have a Lego stormtrooper helmet with a head stuck inside it. I guess there was sand or something in the head because it's jammed in there and I can't get it out. I've carved i huge hole into the head but it's stuck.
If you have already started cutting at the head inside. I would continue to do that until you can break enough away to get some grip. Or glue in a lego rod, so that you have something to pull on.
Hey Polloi, what kind of paint do you suugest to restore Smurf- blue on uhm, Smurfs?
I've still got all my beloved childhood Smurfs, but the paint on a lot of them has been damaged.
I can't use the usual Humbrol or Games workshop acrylics on them, for they are made of a flexible more rubber/latex whatever they used in the seventies... Perhaps you have a suggestion...
+Duco Maritiem Not something I have ever looked into. I'm sure there must be a collectors forum where people will have done this. Or a Facebook group.
These were great you can change parts and we're very cheap
You're right, they were released as M.A.C.- Mobile Action Command in the US and distributed by Matchbox. Here's a link to a website dedicated to the entire toy line---- mobile-action-command.de/eng/index.php?seite=startseite
I think we had only two sets: fire fighting unit and one of the air rescue copters. Thanks for the video.
Awesome! Do you know if the MAC toys were released in America?
yes they were...bought some from there..
yes they were.. i buy some from there..
Is the rumour true that these were based on the Six Million Dollar Man toy line? The likeness is supposed to be that of Lee Majors.
Based on big jim line
looks more like matt smith dr who 11
If Aldi made Action Mac
Damn! nice new intro
+Marvel Section Thanks. I have a few new ones themed to match the contents of the video. So you'll be seeing those coming along soon.
Love these. I've been wanting the yellow one with orange helmet, but only found some loose with no accessories. I do own a few M.A.C. sets and adore them, even though I never had any of them as kids. I also found out that M.A.C originally released the first wave of figures in a slightly smaller, thin, blocky style - I did a short comparison of the two versions in my Omocha Ichiiba Toy Festival video from last year: ruclips.net/video/81bBoXklGyw/видео.html
cheap and cheerful. i have never heard that expression before
cheap garish plastic, other than that they're great!
I don't know these.