Captain Action needs to get it together...

[ZICA]

Boy that cartoon looks like BLEEP. Don't they realize us old farts that are buying these silver age sets have zero interest in anime kiddie crap?

They're trying to tap into a new market with the cartoon and I can completely see why they would want to do this. All of us old farts aren't going to live forever. They just need to find a way to appeal to both markets, kids and old farts, which has been done successfully with other properties.

[drquest]

I haven't seen it do that on any of them, but post up one side by side if you don't mind. Heck I'm sure Round 2 will send you a new head if you asked.

[Mego MkIV]

So who are they pitching the cartoon to?

[enyawd72]

They're trying to tap into a new market with the cartoon and I can completely see why they would want to do this. All of us old farts aren't going to live forever. They just need to find a way to appeal to both both markets, kids and old farts, which has been done successfully with other properties.

Well, I think they're making a huge mistake. They're worrying about trying to appeal to a new demographic which may or may not pay off when they already HAVE a demographic...US. We're lined up and practically begging to throw money at these guys, they just need to get some actual product made and stop screwing around with all this other stuff.

[Earth 2 Chris]

^Yes, but there aren't enough of us to sustain ANY of these lines alone. They need to make the property relevant to a younger, more plentiful audience.

Chris

[enyawd72]

^Yes, but there aren't enough of us to sustain ANY of these lines alone. They need to make the property relevant to a younger, more plentiful audience.

Chris

I truly believe they'd be doing just fine with both the adult collector and kids market, IF they had any current product out. They really don't need to develop a comic, cartoon, or anything else to sell costume sets of Batman, Superman, Spider-Man, etc. Those properties have their own built-in recognition, not to mention the support of current film, television and comics. The time, money, and resources allocated to all this frivolous stuff would be much better spent IMO on developing and manufacturing more costume sets.

[Earth 2 Chris]

I truly believe they'd be doing just fine with both the adult collector and kids market, IF they had any current product out. They really don't need to develop a comic, cartoon, or anything else to sell costume sets of Batman, Superman, Spider-Man, etc. Those properties have their own built-in recognition, not to mention the support of current film, television and comics. The time, money, and resources allocated to all this frivolous stuff would be much better spent IMO on developing and manufacturing more costume sets.

I'm not sure. As much as I love Captain Action, the concept really wasn't that successful, even in the original run. The razor/razor blade concept was ultimately shown to be less appealing than just having figures of the characters themselves, without an "actor" portraying them. Mego's WGSH ran 10 years, and maybe would have ran longer had Mego not bit the dust. In the original CA's last year, Ideal even began to distance themselves from the costumes in a scramble to save the line, and focus on CA as a hero himself, with the final photo boxes not showing the other super heroes CA could change into.

As for we, the older fans, being all that's needed to keep a line afloat, unfortunately I don't think that's the case. Cloth-costumed action figures have not done well at traditional retail in the last several decades. Famous Covers, Hasbro DC and Marvel 9" and of course Retro-Action all fizzled out before their prime. Of course there were other factors like bad sculpting (FC) weird exclusives (DC and Marvel 9") and horrible distribution (RA), but ultimately, the manufacturers found that the appeal of this kind of toy, even with these strong characters, just wasn't there among the younger crowd. It's just a hard sell without the nostalgia factor.

I do wish the CA guys could give us more answers on what is going on with the figures and costumes, but I think that is more on Round 2's end. The CA guys own the property, and they need to get it out there to as many people as possible. It can only help our chances of seeing more product WE want to see.

Chris

[MIB41]

I think the novelty of Captain Action is (and will always be) he is ONE figure who can be all of these different heroes. THAT is the gimmick. THAT is the sell... Hence the name. So the character's true merits lie in the licensing of the outfits he wears, NOT in what he is as a character by himself. The contradiction (and irony) here is that Round 2 is composed of nostalgia buffs from that original era who are such diehards, they want to make him more than he was ever truly designed to be. And in their hast to rush him into all of these other concepts, they're losing focus on what made him semi-popular to begin with. Round 2 should be in the licensing business to make costumes. Not expand a nondescript figure who can NEVER be as popular as those costumes he wears. If the consumer ever wants Round 2 to expand the base character himself, they will say so. Unfortunately Round 2 is doing what THEY as fans want to do, instead of reading the market and listening to the customer. That cartoon has zero chance of working. Just as the comics did. You have collector priced product on the shelves; adult-themed comics unrelated in comic shops; and now their going to make a third incarnation to attract the kiddies? None of these support the other. So you have a meaningless merchandise campaign that doesn't reflect the concept of a cartoon or the comic book. It's about as backwards as you can get. NOTHING they try to do will ever bring more interest than a Spiderman costume, a Superman costume, or any other popular licensed character. Lets be honest here. They don't understand their own product. And because they're such diehard fans of that figure, they're going to lose a ton of cash trying to force people to like HIM, instead of the costumes he wears. It would be like Mego making Clark Kent figures and accessories instead of Superman figures. They just don't get it.

[levyguy]

I agree-Captain Action is one hero who can become many other heroes. That's how Ideal marketed him.
I wish the comic book would be the original Captain Action and Action Boy, and they would release the Superman, Batman and other DC sets and bring back Action Boy finally and DC sets for him.

[enyawd72]

MIB41 said it better than I did...it's about the COSTUMES, not the Captain. Clive Arno might as well be Mann E. Quinn because that's all he really is.
Heck, all they need to do is look at Ebay prices on the originals...it's the costume sets that go for big bucks, not the figure.

[Earth 2 Chris]

I get all that, to us, that's absolutely correct. But to the guys who own Captain Action...they don't own Batman or Spider-Man. So they have to try and position the character to be something on his own, so their property can make money and be worthwhile for them to continue to put out there.

Now Round 2...they need to make some more costumes and get them out there!

Chris

[Remco Monster]

The character choices have turned me off. The only one they have released that I really care about is Spidey. If they would do Green Goblin and other Spidey villains, Lizard, Electro, Rhino, etc., I would be back on board. I would go crazy for a 70's Ghost Rider.

[levyguy]

They are waiting too long to release Superman & Batman sets.

[MIB41]

Round 2 just put up some photos on their Facebook page... finally. One was a look at the new CA packaging which was already revealed some time ago. The other was packaging for Dr. Evil that shows Red Skull, Brainiac, Loki, and the Joker as costume disguises. September/October is the release dates for the repurposed figures. New price point - $19.99 for the figures. I think the costumes for Iron Man and Wolverine are due around October too. Once again, believing is seeing with this company. So we'll see what happens.

[rche]

Lady action being made by Tonner?