Is he a joe or something else? Is he a generic guy like the 12 inch joe or is he the extreme sports adrenaline junkie like the cartoon?

I think of him as sort of a james Bond type character for the Hasbro universe. If I were doing the Hasbro cenimatic universe Iwould start with action man and use him to bridge the other universes together like Nick Fury. I saw rumors that Idris Elba was being considered for the next 007 movie. I don't think the audience would accept him as James Bond, but him as a British secret agent is a great idea that hasbro should steal and cast him as Action Man.

I tend to see him as the European equivalent of Joe Colton -- the guy who started it all, and to some degree, is still involved. I was very pleased to see the 3-3/4" Action Man figure in the Night Force 6-pack some years ago.

I see him as the James Bond of the GI Joe universe.

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I see him as the guy who cost us a decent Tracker repaint.

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I actually didn't see him at all, until HypnoHustler's custom in this past celebration struck a chord with me. Then I had to make a copy of it. Now I have to figure out how he fits in. I will be following this thread for ideas ...

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Me too, add in the theory that 007 is just an agent designation passed from agent to agent throughout the years and Action Man can look different and exist in every version of GI Joe.

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Action Man, like 007 is a title. The Original Action Man was dubbed so in WWI. He worked for the ministry of intelligence. The man who held the title in the 1970s, Matthew Exler, was a peer of Joseph Colton and the Adventure Team. In the 1980's Action Man and his small team of support specialists was expanded to form formal team with small stable of operatives who handled black book ops. Another notable individual whose held the AM title is Alex Mann (and his Team Extreme). The current AM is Ian Noble who is very young and has quite a reckless streak.

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For me, he's an SAS member of the International Action Force. My timeline has 80s action force set in the 1970s. When Ironblood becomes Cobra Commander, the AF is disbanded and GI Joe is form. After GI Joe is disbanded, the international AF is created to fight SKAR and Dr X. This team also includes post-soviet Oktober Guard, Street Fighter, and MK Special Forces.

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In my 'verse he's pretty much the character he was on the Action Man cartoon and in the current IDW Revolution 'verse. Pretty James Bond-ish. I hadn't really thought about Action Man being a title until the IDW series, but I think it's a solid concept that allows for more of a history, once that dovetails nicely with the fact that Action Man as a toy has been around nearly as long as Joe.

My breakdown as stands is Joe in the US, Oktober Guard in Russia, Action Force as a UN equivalent to them and recruiting from all over the world, and A.T.O.M. in the UK. Using the characters from the Action Man ATOM revamp from the late 2000s. The acronym stood for Action Teens On Machines there, but that's awful. Some of the characters are interesting though, especially the villains, so I've rebranded them as the Advanced Tactical Operations Ministry, which is itself attached to MI6. Think Queen and Country or the Sandbaggers only fighting more Skullmen and Red Shadows. Action Man himself has recently found himself attached to this group and is annoyed with the politics of it.

Bingo.

James Bond, but younger. MI6 who works with Action Force and has worked with the Joes, but isn't actually with either of those teams.

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