So, is the Round 2 Captain Action line officially dead?

[Ninersphan1]

Ditto, the AT joes flew out of Wal mart so fast I'm still stunned Hasbro didn't follow them up with anything, especially with the 50th anniversary. Now the 40th sets did languish, but maybe that was more a price thing. Those AT joes were perfect price.

[MIB41]

Ditto, the AT joes flew out of Wal mart so fast I'm still stunned Hasbro didn't follow them up with anything, especially with the 50th anniversary. Now the 40th sets did languish, but maybe that was more a price thing. Those AT joes were perfect price.

It's been long rumored the At Joes were overstock of the 40th, repurposed to sell off. In my hometown, they hung around until discounted and that was the end of them. But the greater point is that most collector friendly figure lines don't routinely see pegboards or shelves in a common store today. Captain Action is not immune to that either. The fact that he sold somewhat successfully in the beginning with Round 2 does support there is a real market for that original idea. It just wasn't sustainable at those volumes. I think scaling production to meet demand is a common sense approach. Cherry picking what one likes from an old toy line doesn't make much sense if you want to rebrand him because the visual queues are all still there. It would be like Warner Bros saying, "We want to rebrand Batman from 1966 for a $200 million film, but we're leaving his costume the same." Well old-schoolers would be thrilled, but modern audiences would be baffled.

One only has to look at reviews on Youtube that further supports that idea. Heck you have people in their 30's that don't understand Captain Action's look. They think he looks like a Village People reject. Of course to people like us who grew up with him, we can laugh at that assessment because we understand they can't relate with that original idea. But for someone who is wanting to revise and rebrand the character to appeal to someone between 15 and 30, that is something they best take notice. You can't make him for a new generation if you want to stay glued to a near 50 year old appearance. Keep the logo and scrap the rest. Rebuild him from scratch. But as long as that vintage suit and hat are on him, he will be tied forever with the 60's toy line... as he should be. You can't erase 48 years of history with a new tag line. In my opinion , he has to be completely redone to fit what today's generation might find appealing. And that means, you probably lose the old timers in the process. If it works, so be it. But at least it would belong to today's generation without any confusion on the differences. Right now, the way he looks, he still belongs to our generation and those who love him like that.

[ODBJBG]

I've never heard anything of substance that the AT Joes were "repurposed" 40th figures. While it's probably true that Hasbro was keen to use the refurbished tooling again, these certainly weren't excess stock flocked to be AT guys. They are clearly a different run and Hasbro had to go in and redo the KFG hands.

And the AT was "relaunched" after the success of two other AT releases in specialty stores like Hot Topic. They were a big enough hit that Walmart wanted in on the action.

If anything the AT was saddled with the "failures" of the 40th line, as it's very possible they would have considered some AT sets in the same vein as the 40th stuff, had the latter 40th stuff not moved as well as they had hoped. But that's pure speculation either way. The 40th line can't really be looked at as a failure either, IMO, as they produced a ton of stuff in a short amount of time. Probably too much too quick in a time when the 1/6 market was highly competitive at the retail level.

That said, I agree with you on scaling to demand. Captain Action is a niche product, that could have some success and make some inroads, but it needs a clear focus and an idea. And not dopey superhero costumes.

[wise guy]

Captain Action in classic form( for collector's) should look like his retro self ; however a new Capt. Action designed for new collector's should have started by ditching the
speedos on the outside of his pants. As an old time collector it does'nt bother me but it might look a little weird to younger collectors

[KLAATU]

I've only looked at one of the recent comics (I think it came with one of the action figures), but I wonder why they never did the updated look that was worn by his son. No speedos.

[enyawd72]

What is an AT Joe?

[Boywonder0]

What is an AT Joe?

Dwayne, here it is directly from Wikipedia: "G.I. Joe Adventure Team (AT) is a line of action figures produced by the toy company Hasbro. The line is well remembered by the inclusion of features such as "Kung-Fu Grip", "Life-Like Hair" and "Eagle Eyes" ".

[PNGwynne]

^They're fun--they were the last 12" Joes, and a non-military theme; they included Bulletman & Mike Power, the Atomic Man.

[PNGwynne]

Seems to me the higher-end niche market worked very well for the (extensive!) reissues of the 40th anniversary Palitoy Action Man.

[Jayniac]

Captain Action

Well said. That also underscores the biggest contradiction this last effort couldn't get around - Buying a figure for EVERY costume. The heritage of Captain Action never supported that idea since he was originally the "9 in 1 hero". And with the new era of 1/6th scale bodies stacked up by other endless figure lines, too many consumers simply bought the costumes and bypassed the pricey Captain entirely. Can you imagine anything different occurring if CAE tries to make elaborate hero costumes for their $200 version? The incentive to stay away will be even greater. So it's a concept with a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Well put, MIB41! They should forget about the Captain Action Figures & just concentrate on the Costumes! They can start by finally producing The Rocketeer Costume!

[Ninersphan1]

Very interesting read on a Joe site regarding the good captian

https://patchesofpride.wordpress.com/

[ovenmitt]

There was NO market for Round 2 Captain Action 12" figures and Marvel costumes! You had to buy a $20 costume + a $30 figure for it = $50! Moms could buy a $10 Marvel 12" Titan complete figure!

Even the 1998 PlayingMantis Captain Action 12" figure dressed in a character costume for only $20 did not sell!

I liked the R2 Marvel costumes- Spider-Man, Thor, Loki, Wolverine, and IRON MAN! Build-a-costume HAWKEYE! Captain America's face was goofy.

The R2 guys made all these promises like doing different versions of characters like Captain Marvel!

Then R2 got DC Comics license!!! Superman, Batman, Joker, Brainiac and a build-a-costume Aquaman were promised!

Then a NEW 12" R2 LADY ACTION with Wonder Woman, Supergirl, Batgirl, and Catwoman! Julie Newmar I believe and Adam West Batman!

TRU opted out of Iron Man and Wolverine costumes! Diamond sold them. But I thought TRU was going to give DC costumes a shot!

And what happened to Captain Action ELITE announced last year?

All these empty promises! Now Sideshow is doing 12" DC and Marvel but $200+!

My money's with FTC Mego 8" DC, Batman 66, etc! Just hope DST EMCE $80 Mego Marvel sets get cancelled and FTC gets Marvel license!

[MIB41]

* Sigh*... This dead horse comes back for another beating. CAE has blamed EVERYONE for their ineffectiveness to move product. First, it was TRU's "fault". Then it became Round 2. Now, with nothing left to pick except themselves or the consumer, of course they roll the consumer under the bus. I love it. Nothing like killing your marketplace by calling your chief consumer "too old". That explains why FTC is exploding with success on their retro merchandising campaign doesn't it? Bottom line: CAE has tried to move Captain Action into a field where very little retro product goes - mass market in brick and mortar stores. I've said it two dozen times - Tailor your product to the market that will support it. FTC has manufactured close if not more characters in their history than Mego did, but FTC is not a mass-producing company like Mego was. In one year (1972) Mego sold over one million Action Jackson figures. I would be surprised if the entire industry of retro product sold a quarter of that much product in one year. But then again the industry's biggest producer is not lining shelves at TRU, Walmart, or Target to achieve their success. They have their own warehouse of goods that sell directly to vendors and consumers. But they manufacture what the market will support. They're not sitting around scratching their heads about whether they can survive if they can't sell 10,000 figures issued to brick and mortar stores who have to get their portion as well.

I firmly believe CAE loses simply because they have a poor business model. They're trying to push the Captain like he's the next toy craze. That's not going to happen. He fails because they manufacture more than the market will absorb. His current license holders are delusional. They are no bigger than Castaway in scope but PRETEND like their Hasbro pushing the next line of Joes. No one is fooled. This is not rocket science. And what they call "expanding" the license is only diluting it into obscurity. They're simply selling their license to anyone who will give it a shot so they make a buck. If the porn industry wanted to make rubbers with their logo on it, they would do it. Until they have an image to sell, they have nothing to promote to a crowd outside of the collector market. Sticking your image on anything is not the best move since the core idea was vague even in the 60's (and proved to lose the modern consumer at TRU stores a few years ago). If you don't have your image and purpose nailed down, then what are you doing? And with complete respect to Craig and his project, it may be a different scale, but the general look and theme is about the 60's toy line (especially with this insistence to push images of the CA car). I love it, but you're singing to the same choir as those 1/6th scale figures. Plus the fact there needs to be funding for it, means the collectors are needed there as well. There's not a burger flipping kid out there that is going to give their money to this project so they can make a figure only his father or grandfather relates with. Need it also be said that figure will only be made in the same number that the COLLECTOR market will support. So it's not like Walmart is looking at this and saying, " We'll fund it!" The collectors decide and they are the ones who pay extra to have it. That is not expanding the license to a different target audience. I'm sorry but scale alone is not enough to pull this character into a new consumer market. If you're going to push a 60's image then only expect the "old consumers" to give it a look.

If FTC had this license they would have obliterated Ed and Joe's business model in the first six months. They would make the 12 inch figures and push new DC costumes nonstop like they do for their 8 inch scale. Hell their doing 18 inch figures and play-sets now. Ed and Joe can't even figure out how to push license costumes that EVERYONE wants. Get out of the mass market clouds and come down to earth. If you guys want to service Captain Action, then use FTC as a model for success. If you can't afford to move in that direction, then accept the fact you have limited means to actually do anything with this license and sell it to someone who can. The business is out there. They just don't know how to make it profitable for themselves. They still think it's 1966. Wake up fellas. The retro market is supported by us 'old folks'. If you want to make a figure for a new generation then drop the ridiculously generic name from the 60's; drop the 60's costume; and call it something new for today's age. Captain Action belongs to our era and no one else outside that core base truly understands it....PERIOD.

[enyawd72]

Nice. Yeah, blame the people who already bought EVERYTHING you put out and have been practically BEGGING you for new costume sets for the last two years.
MAYBE you should've taken all the money you spent on stuff like t-shirts, hats, comics, mugs, etc. and even Arctic CA and made some more of the costume sets you kept promising...You guys should change your name to "Scapegoat Toys"
Oh, and how's that animated series coming along?