In 1995, an animated Action Man series with live-action segments was released by DiCnote where Action Man was part of a Global Defense team called Action Force (including Knuck, Natalie, Jock, and their dog Raid) but has complete amnesia and only tends to have minor flashes of memory at various times. The Action Force is often called upon to deal with the threat of a paramilitary organization lead by Dr. X.
Tropes associated with the 1995 cartoon series include:
- All There in the Manual: Action Man's lost past was detailed in the series bible. One page is available here.
One noticeable detail that wasn't clarified in the actual show is that Dr. X is Action Man's adoptive brother. - And Knowing Is Half the Battle: Every episode ends with a live-action segment of Action Man giving a life lesson to the audience, such as not watching too much television and to be respectful towards people with disabilities.
- Big Bad: Dr. X is the main antagonist, given that pretty much every episode involves Action Man and friends thwarting his plans.
- Canon Immigrant: Natalie Poole was the only original character from the series incorporated into the comics, she appears as a member of Action Force in G. I. Joe versus Cobra #3 (2010) and as a member of Team Extreme alongside Action Man in Revolutionaries #7(2017), part of the Hasbro Comic Universe published by IDW Publishing.
- Every Episode Ending: Each episode ends with Action Man reflecting about the missing memory he has recovered during that episode.
- Genius Cripple: Jock/Jacques is a Young computer whiz in a wheelchair, and he even has some hand-to-hand abilities due to AM training him in a zero gravity scenario.
- Giving Them the Strip: In the episode "Fountain of Youth", Knuck is forced to take off his boot before running away from a pressure mine he stepped on.
- Herr Doctor: Dr. X is Dutch in this series.
- Landmine Goes Click: In "Fountain of Youth", Knuck steps on a pressure mine. To escape, he unties his boot and does an unnecessarily impressive backflip as the mine goes off.
- Large Ham: Dr. X who is a standard megalomaniac looking to rule the world.
- Mad Scientist: Professor Gangrene is a demented scientist assisting with Dr. X's schemes.
- Morally Ambiguous Doctorate: Dr. X is of the "evil" variety.
- No Ending: The series ends without the core story of Action Man's former past life being resolved.
- Not Quite Dead: At the end of the series, Dr. X appears to be wiped out in a grenade explosion with only his robotic hand left, but later the hand is shown moving by itself while Dr. X is heard laughing maniacally.
- Quest for Identity: The Action Man has no memories of his past life, with a main plot point being his unending journey to follow every lead he can to piece together the clues and recover his forgotten past.
- Spell My Name With An S: Jock or Jacques? The latter pronunciation is particularly valid, on the assumption that the name is French (plus the fact that the guy's voice actor used a French accent).
- Toyless Toyline Character: Jacques and Ursula were the only prominent characters to never have their own toy.
