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Concept
Action figure
Summary
An action figure is a poseable character model figure made most commonly of plastic, and often based upon characters from a film, comic book, military, video game or television program; fictional or historical. These figures are usually marketed toward boys and adult collectors. The term was coined by Hasbro in 1964 to market G.I. Joe to boys (while competitors called similar offerings boy's dolls).
According to a 2005 study in Sweden, action figures which display traditional masculine traits primarily target boys. While most commonly marketed as a child's toy, the action figure has gained widespread acceptance as collector item for adults. In such a case, the item may be produced and designed on the assumption it will be bought solely for display as a collectible and not played with like a child's toy.
Articulated dolls go back to at least 200 BCE, with articulated clay and wooden dolls of ancient Greece and Rome. Many types of articulated figures date to the early modern period, including the artists' mannequin and the Japanese ichimatsu doll. The modern ball-jointed doll was first created in Western Europe in the late 19th century. From the late 19th century through the early 20th century French and German manufacturers made bisque dolls with strung bodies articulated with ball-joints made of composition: a mix of pulp, sawdust, glue and similar materials. These dolls could measure between and are now collectible antiques.
Besides the articulated doll, another important precursor to the action figure is the toy soldier. Military figures have been found in ancient Egyptian tombs, and have appeared in many cultures and eras. Tin soldiers were produced in Germany as early as the 1730s, by molding the metal between two pieces of slate. As industry and demand advanced, so did production methods, with hollow casting first being utilized in the 1890s and polyethylene figures becoming common by the 1950s. The toy soldier market, ubiquitous thanks to its history and mass-production methods, would therefore become a natural home for the military-themed action figure.
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