Action Force in Germany
The second-generation Action Force figures were also released in West Germany during the 1980s, albeit without the benefit of a comic book tie-in. The German releases went under the title of Action Force who fought the "Terror-Bande" (roughly translated as "Terror Gang"). The German release only extended to the first wave of second-generation figures and characters (some 30 figures and vehicles) however the characters and vehicles were still grouped in their sub-units: anti-terror team (or ATT) corresponding to Z-Force; the special anti-terror team (or SATT) corresponding to SAS Force, the deep-sea anti-terror team (or TSATT) corresponding to Q Force and the space anti-terror team (or WATT) corresponding to Space Force.
Without comic back-stories, the figures were given context by the following statement (translated) which was retrospectively attached to the German packaging:
"The world of Action Force. The story of Action Force takes place in the year 2011. The world population has for a long time lived in peace and liberty, united under the rule of a democratic world regime. Baron Ironblood, the last criminal, strikes terror with a gang of enslaved adventurers, with intelligent robots and the world's most innovative weapons. His goal: to take over the world. Action Force was set up by the world government and fights this dangerous enemy with various special units: ATT, SATT, TSATT and WATT. Their orders: all terrorists must be captured, no one shall be killed."
In a country still concerned by its destructive past, German toy distributors modified certain aspects of the Action Force range to appear less violent. According to researchers of the German Palitoy range, most of the guns supplied with the figures were replaced by "less violent" stun-weapons, laser-weapons or knives. Also the human skull on the Red Shadow (or Terror-Bande) figures was removed from the toyline.
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