Art Design: The front of the Retro Box reproduces the original style of the 1960s Captain Action box. Sadly, the Racer X costume which is shown on the box cover was never released (see below for a photo of the Speed Racer prototype set that was also never released)! The back of the box has a good illustration of Dr. Evil as he was depicted in the 1960s Captain Action comic books which were issued by D.C. Comics.
The Headsculpt and Figure: Captain Action had the original articulated body and the hand with the trigger finger back in 1965! Long before Kung-Fu Grip, Captain Action could hold GI Joe's weapons a lot better than GI Joe. The new "Retro" Captain Action has blue eyes surrounded by white, and his eyebrows are distinctly painted. The earlier version just had two little black dots for eyes (see photo right, Captain Action with a fuzzy beard and hair custom flocked by Club Hair for GI Joe). Unfortunately, this aesthetic improvement was not enough. Blue eyes could not save Cap. Production was stopped shortly after the Retro boxed versions were issued by Playing Mantis.
Outfit and Gear: The Retro Captain Action is dressed in his standard blue and black bodysuit with a blue belt, naval Captain's hat, lightning sword, and ray gun and boots.
History: If you don't like the black and blue outfit, Captain Action can always change into a vintage 1960s Superman, Sgt. Fury, Phantom, Flash Gordon, Buck Rogers, Captain America, Batman, Spider-Man, Green Hornet, Lone Ranger, or Tonto outfit with face-mask. The original 1960s Captain Action had many characters that were popular in that era and which were also supported by comic books, newspaper comic strips, cartoons, and television series.
The New Era: Unfortunately, when the new series came out in 1997 it had been about thirty years since the Green Hornet and Kato had been on TV, and such characters as Flash Gordon, The Lone Ranger, and Tonto had not been popular for many years. The only new set that had any claim to popularity was The Phantom, which had several comic books and a cartoon still being produced. Playing Mantis created some great new sets like Kato (for all fans of Bruce Lee), and some new villains for Dr. Evil (Ming the Merciless and the Kabai Singh costume set). It also issued two different versions of the Green Hornet, Kato, The Phantom, and The Lone Ranger (the first-wave version came with figures, the second-wave versions were carded costume sets that had re-tooled masks and some new gear and clothing). But Playing Mantis had a bad deal with Toys R Us that became part of the price-fixing litigation. The sets were too expensive at $29.99. These figures were eventually on clearance at many stores for as low as $4.99. Many collectors bought the sets just to use the bodies for replacement parts or to transfer the heads from other figures onto the Captain Action articulated bodies. Below right is the ERTL Don Levine Fireman (which looked like Tom Selleck) with his head switched to a Captain Action body, and he becomes MAGNUM, P.I.!
Marketing: By the time Playing Mantis had sorted out all their marketing problems the Captain Action series had been cancelled. So the second-wave costume sets were basically post-mortem and only available via comic book shops and exclusive online dealers. The Speed Racer and Racer X sets were never delivered. A Johnny Quest set of figures using the Captain Action bodies was also advertised for pre-orders and then it disappeared.
Where are they now? Playing Mantis was shortly afterwards purchased by RC2 which also owns ERTL and Racing Champions.
Price: The Captain Action, Dr. Evil, and Action Kid retro boxes were originally being sold at $19.99 and can be found for less on e-bay and some online dealers.
Epilogue: Sadly, while the Captain Action body and hands were better than GI Joe back in 1965; Ideal Toys never marketed their product very well, and the line was cancelled after only three years (just like the Star Trek TV Show). The Playing Mantis version of Captain Action lasted about the same amount of time. Unfortunately, Playing Mantis' best ideas were never produced. The masks and costume sets for the characters from the Speed Racer and Johnny Quest TV shows are now just prototypes in the collection of some unknown hobbyist. Due to so many mistakes and bad luck, the second era of Captain Action ended with a thud. Maybe Captain Action was just unlucky? Micheal Eury authored a glossy deluxe format Captain Action book for collectors which has great photos and the complete history.
Grade: B+
