Captain Action was an action figure created in 1966, equipped with a wardrobe of costumes allowing him to become Superman, Batman, Spider-Man, Captain America, Aquaman, the Phantom, The Lone Ranger (and Tonto), Flash Gordon, Buck Rogers, Sgt. Fury, Steve Canyon, and the Green Hornet. Captain Action was the Ideal Toy Company's answer to Hasbro's G.I. Joe—although the protagonist dolls of both toy lines were created and designed by the same toy-and-idea man, Stan Weston.
After just a few years, the Captain Action line declined in sales, in 1968, Ideal Toys discontinued it. Though Captain Action was produced for only two and a half years, the characters and accessories have become amongst the most fondly remembered, and expensive to obtain on the collector's market, action figures of the era.
After 30 years off the market, Captain Action was revived in 1998, by retro toy company Playing Mantis (Captain Action and Dr EVil posted
HERE with Group pictures
HERE). In addition to Captain Action and Dr. Evil, costumes released boxed with Captain Action figure were The Lone Ranger (in red and black outfit), Tonto, Flash Gordon, his never-before-made nemesis Ming the Merciless (with a new flesh-tone Dr. Evil figure) - posted
HERE, The Green Hornet, and his never-before-made sidekick Kato (pictures
HERE with updated / improved body version
HERE). The line met with lackluster sales, and carded costumes-only were issued separately: Green Hornet, Kato, Lone Ranger (in blue outfit), Tonto (Lone Ranger and Tonto posted
HERE), The Phantom (pictures
HERE), and his never-before-made enemy Kabai Singh (posted on my toy blog
HERE). Also revived was Action Boy (now called Kid Action, due to Hasbro owning the rights to the name Action Man - pictures posted
HERE) and retro long box packaging for Captain Action and Dr. Evil. The changes made little difference in the general sales and the second coming of Captain Action ended in 2000.
Since 2005 Captain Action Enterprises holds the licensing rights and has been producing an array of new merchandize, including statues, toys, comics, trading cards, collectibles and apparel. In March 2011, Round 2 Corp. and Captain Action Enterprises announced plans for a redesigned 1/6 scale Captain Action figure.
Now for the latest cooperative effort between Phicen Limited, GoHero, and Executive Replicas: Lady Action from the Captain Action comic series comes alive in 1:6 scale!
Scroll down to see all the pictures.
Click on them for bigger and better views.