Action figure groups online

Your son's interest is a form of scholarship. He might start a group himself, have a show and display them and write a companion booklet to go with it. He can take some actions to engage others who may be looking for action figure pals farther away from where he lives physically. Maybe go to comic-con. Maybe he can start a blog. With your support and with a bit of creative thinking he can finds ways to find others who share his passions.  

I Sperg said:

We arrived at the scene of the accident (somewhat "winded", as running whilst making crash tender noises will do that to a body)

There, past the wreckage of the aeroplane, on the tarmac, lay action man's head... 

He's gone but not forgotten.

Ahh I used to love playing with my Action Man figures. I had a huge collection and boy did we have some adventures!

We travelled to far off worlds, to the desert, went deep sea diving and occasionally Barbie would come out of nowhere and do their hair - my sister used to suddenly appear with her dolls.

I remember I used to sort my Action Man figures, put them in an order, all the army soldiers together... I've always had a keen interest in organising things, I now realise this is a trait of autism.

I don't know of any forums sorry I can't be any more help.

These are in person groups I am referring to.

Why not go on MeetUp or similar online group finder?

You can look for Mother/child autism groups for kids. Many have lists of activities they do. Even if he isn’t a group kinda kid… he might find one friend who likes his interests.

I'm afraid I do not know of any online Action figure groups, so cannot help you with that.

However, as a mother, I would be wary of allowing a child of your son's age to 'socialise' online, unless it was supervised by you or another appropriate adult. Even if you could find an online group that catered to his age and interests, you would have no way of knowing if the people he was communicating with were genuine, or unsavoury adults posing as youngsters, in order to groom children.

I Sperg said:

There, past the wreckage of the aeroplane, on the tarmac, lay action man's head...

Poor Action Man. 

That's the best part of your anecdote (in my opinion).

I just think that there is a likelihood of unsavory people lurking on such forums, and it's probably not a good idea to allow a 12 year old autistic child on such forums by themselves, considering that he really wants someone to talk to about his personal interests, and will latch onto anyone who will listen to him, which can become dangerous if it's the wrong person. Everyone can seem nice at first, and gain someone's trust, but then they can start suggesting and pressuring them into doing things. That's where it gets creepy. 

I mean action figures are neat, but sports could teach him things as well, exercise is good for health, and for building confidence, and for setting personal goals.

Maybe get him into an art club at school, so that he could create things out of clay, or draw things. Chances are there are other students who will like action figures, comic books, and the like.

How times have changed!

By the time my generation hit twelve Most "action men" I knew of had fallen to either improvised weaponry or for the well heeled or well connected lads a carefully aimed air pistol.

The most lurid "action man doom" I witnessed was at lanagar aerodrome a while back, when a guy had built an RC cessna big enough to fit action man. Unfortunately the batteries in the radio were weak causing a loss of control shortly after takeoff, followed by a stall, ending in an uncontrolled arrival of the aeroplane in an unusual attitude further up the runway. 

We arrived at the scene of the accident (somewhat "winded", as running whilst making crash tender noises will do that to a body)

There, past the wreckage of the aeroplane, on the tarmac, lay action man's head... 

Not a helpful post, admittedly, but I bet one of our older members will have enjoyed it.