Colliders, properties, aaahhhh! Head exploding.
Yup, my custom action is working. It's really just the EnableBehaviour action customized for a collider. The action is here if you want to proof it:
http://hutonggames.com/playmakerforum/index.php?topic=1556.0(disable collisions won't work for me. it would solve part of the problem. i needed to turn off collision, movement scripts, and gravity. loads of little things, so turning off the collider seemed the simplest solution. in my game, you can pick up creatures in one place and drop them in another. while i'm dragging them around with the mouse, I need for them not to wiggle, detect actions, or to drop w/gravity.)