YMMV / Action Man (2000)

• Complete Monster: Dr. X is the mastermind of all the evil in the series, committing all his crimes in the name of evolving humanity into perfection for him to control. X kicks the series by off by kidnapping, torturing, and bodyjacking the young athlete Brandon Caine, using his body to form the Council of Doom and carry out a variety of atrocities against humanity. Seeking to weed out the weak and useless parts of humankind and replace them with a "Neo-Humanity" of his own design, X unleashes lethal plagues, threatens nuclear winter holocausts, and attempts to copy his mind into every human on the planet to reign supreme. X's supposedly well-intentioned goals are disproven time and time again with his sadism and egomania, before he finally snaps and drops all pretense of improving humanity to instead try to drag an asteroid down to Earth and wipe out all life on the planet—including his own Council of Doom—before creating a new race of humans in his own image.
• Cult Classic: Although it doesn't have a huge fanbase, it is still very fondly remembered by Action Man fans for its writing, characters, and story (at least for the first season).
• Fashion-Victim Villain: Gangrene wears the remnants of a labcoat on his shoulders, yet a punkish net on his torso. Being an ugly, wizened man with a bad case of mutations, not a young villain or someone who might fit the style, this comes across as unbearably naff. Ironically, this echoes many toy figures of Dr. X himself, which often depict him wearing Hell's Angel attires and the like.
• Genius Bonus: The AMP Factor is loosely based on the concept of Laplace's Demon, albeit in miniature. Another nod to an old-timey science theory occurs in the aforementioned peace summit episode, where one of the warring nations is known as Phlogistan, a play on phlogiston, an antiquated theory of heat exchange best known today for its appearance in Tom Strong.
• My Real Daddy: This show is widely considered by fans to be the only good quality Action Man series. The 1995 show is generally considered So Okay, It's Average at best, since it suffers from being cheesy at times, dated and having an inconclusive story, while the CG movies (''Robot Atak'', ''X Missions'', ''Code Gangrene'') are considered to be very poor quality.
• Narm: Dr. X calling Alex Mann by his actual name while he's a dude in distress would be more impressive if he did not call him "Mr. Mann". Although, when X was in his original body, Campbell Lane's delivery of the line actually managed to be somewhat chilling, a nice example of Cold Ham.
• Rescued from the Scrappy Heap: Prior to this show, during the 90s, Dr. X was portrayed as something of a joke villain in actions figures and commercials, not only being a Generic Doomsday Villain, but also possessing some very questionable costume designs that just don't fit a Mad Scientist, such as mohawks, ponytails, tank-tops, sleeveless leather jackets, etc. This is why it's refreshing to see his character get fleshed out into a more well-written and believable character in this series. He starts out looking like a decrepit Dark Lord on Life Support and only acquires his "classic" look by stealing the body of an athlete in line with his new characterization as an Evilutionary Biologist obsessed with physical perfection. Even after he gets flanderized in Season 2, it is still a step up from how he was portrayed in the 90s. Unfortunately, his character is reverted back to the cheesy and ridiculous caricature in Robot Atak and X Missions, something most fans were understandably not happy about.
• Seasonal Rot: The first season had a major Story Arc of Alex learning to master his AMP Factor while Dr. X seeks to exploit it through various schemes, with an element of tragedy as Dr. X completes his most diabolical one of stealing Brendan Caine's body for himself. The second season throws all that dramatic power and continuity away for childish simplistic near-isolated stories of Alex jousting against Dr. X in his stolen body.
• Unintentional Uncanny Valley: The CGI itself is really dated to 2000, as the characters look incredibly off and robotic by today's standards.

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