Action Force: Red Shadows Hyena & Red Jackal

When Hasbro's re-invented G.I.Joe line was looking for capable hands of distribution for the U.K. it found itself Palitoy. Palitoy had also been the licensee of Hasbro's original G.I.Joe 12" toys and were introducing a 3 & 3/4" line of figures based on those toys just as Hasbro was. Palitoy's line was called Action Force and maintained the same Star Wars style of construction they had been used to while issuing Kenner's toys. They slowly integrated Hasbro's G.I.Joe designs into their own line until the company ceased operations and was bought out by Hasbro entirely.

Many of the Palitoy branded G.I.Joe releases featured some minor paint changes, and some changes were quite extreme. The enemy Red Shadows Hyena tank set offered both. The set consisted of the Hyena tank, and it's driver Red Jackal.



The Hyena as you can guess, was an original color release of Hasbro's Cobra H.I.S.S. tank. It featured a vivid red color, and all new sticker decoration in its early release. The number of decals really needs to be noted too. The entire cockpit is lined, and panel outside feature 3 to 4 times the number of decals the Hasbro release originally had. The addition of all these stickers did not detract from its look though, in fact it made it very unique and interesting.



Red Jackal was a slightly re-touched Destro figure. The tweaks in decoration came by covering Destro's open chest with a red shirt with Red Shadows skull emblem, and trimming the collar in white instead of red. Unlike the Hyena, these changes didn't make him stand out or look very original. He still looks like Destro first and foremost. A cool and fun figure nonetheless. In the U.K. Action Force story, Red Jackal would eventually end up turning into Destro anyhow, so the lack of a truly unique look didn't really matter.