12" Captain America box and 12" Hulk box

[ScottA]

Why did the 12" Captain America and 12" Hulk each get a unique box instead of a red version and a pink version of the 12" Spider-man box? Surely they could have replaced Mr. Fantastic (knowing he wasn't going into production) with Hulk and off they went to the printers.

Any one have any idea why they were singled out? Just wondering with the question of the 12" Mr. Fantastic.

[vintage spideyfan]

I've often wondered that myself. I've also wondered why Batman wasn't released on a card like Spidey was.

[cjefferys]

Well, Hulk's box by necessity is a completely different size (shorter and wider), he wouldn't even fit into the regular 12" boxes. But why Mego didn't carry over the design and colour schemes with Hulk and Cap is something I always wondered about too. They didn't even get the "Worlds Greatest Superheroes" logo (even the 12" Superman the Movie figures got that). It's as if Mego was marketing them as stand alone figures, not a part of a series, I don't know why they decided to do that. Well, maybe Hulk because of the popularity of his TV show, but why Cap?

[ScottA]

I can understand Hulk needing a new size package but the pattern could still have been the same. I wonder what the reasoning was.

[MIB41]

If I had to guess, I would say it had a lot to with costs associated with making a full colored box at that point. Look at how many 12 inch Batman and Spiderman figures were left warming shelves? It might have just been a cost reduction decision, as would come later with the 8 inch line when they placed characters on backer cards that didn't even match. Then again, maybe all of that conjecture is completely wrong and they did it simply as part of the red, white, and blue color scheme for the box.

[samurainoir]

Would it have anything to do with the fact that the initial wave of Superman, Batman, Robin and Spiderman (the lone Marvel figure) were driven by Parkdale Novelty (the Canadian distributer who footed the bill)?

I can't remember the years that Captain America TV movies came out, but didn't the 12" Hulk kind of fall within the realm of the TV show? It's the ripped shirt that he came with that leads me to thing that. Perhaps with these high profile TV exposures, they thought they were strong brands unto themselves? Much like Superman transitioned to his own line of 12" Figures.

Something else to consider with the Parkdale thing... there are stacks of the unfolded Batman, Spiderman and Hulk boxes kicking around up here in the Great White North, not so much with the Captain America.

[samurainoir]

Okay, I took a quick peak at the US releases of Batman and Robin (with the fly away and magnetic hands) leads me to believe that the 12" driven by the US were given their own individual branding...



vs the initial Parkdale Novelty (and other International) solid colour boxes.