July 15, 1977
I don’t remember much about my seventh birthday party. With it being summer, I’m sure it was held outside. It’s a safe bet all of the neighborhood kids were there, eating sheet-cake and pounding paper cups full of lemonade and Pepsi. Disco still played on radios, in between commercials for some weird new movie called Star Wars. One thing I do remember clearly is the gift my grandmother gave me, a distinctively rectangular package wrapped in the Sunday funnies. I tore my present open eagerly, to discover my months of pestering had finally paid off.
“Thanks, Gram! He’s just the one I wanted!”
“He’d better be. I drove all over Hell and creation looking for that Mister America doll.”
Well, she got his name wrong, but at least she got the figure right. Seven-year-old Anthill tore open his Mego Captain America and raced off to battle. Almost 40 years later and all that’s left of my first Cap figure is the memory, but I’ve more than made up for his loss over the years. Starting with Mattel’s Secret Wars line, I bought pretty much every Captain America figure produced for mass-market. Now it’s 2016 and I find myself wondering: just what the heck do I do with them all?
(Re-)Birth of a Franchise
When Stan Lee and Jack Kirby revived Steve Rogers from his 20-year hibernation in The Avengers #4, they had no idea they were kick-starting a franchise that would continue to pay dividends for decades to come. Bringing the character into the modern age only made sense: at one point the good Captain sold close to a million comics every month. He had earned the goodwill of the American G.I.s who now had kids of their own, so he wasn’t as left field as Marvel’s current crop of oddball characters. Most importantly, the company already owned the copyright. Cap was relaunched will due fanfare in the pages of The Avengers and history was made, again. Marvel wasted no time in licensing Cap, with Marx Toys providing the first modern plastic interpretation of the patriotic hero. When Mego acquired the license to produce Marvel action figures in 1973, Captain America was one of the first two characters produced.
Captain America and Spider-Man (along with the Hulk) were the face of Marvel licensing from the 1970s onward. If a Marvel item were manufactured, there was a good chance Cap’s grinning mug was on it. Honestly, I was more familiar with the character from his appearances on rack toy junk than in actual comics. That changed in the 1980s when I discovered the joy of my local comic shop. By the time Mattel produced a version of Cap in their Secret Wars line, I knew enough about Steve Rogers to find the oversized, identity-revealing “secret shield” unacceptable. Even so, I bought the figure for the same reason I bought Kenner’s Super Powers Superman: because he was a brightly clad ass-kicker who looked good on the shelf.
As the years wore on, I delved into the bask-issue bins, developing an appreciation for Cap as a character and not just a cipher. I faithfully bought 1991’s Marvel Super Heroes (mostly for his shield, which was a perfect fit for Secret Wars Cap), the Electro-Spark Captain America from ToyBiz’s 199x Spider-Man line, and whatever other star-spangled dregs I might find.
A Legendary Entrance
Then, the Cap-figure-to-end-all-Cap-figures was released in Marvel Legends series one. Okay, maybe that isn’t exactly true, but it seemed that way at the time. The first Marvel Legends Captain America made everything that came before it seem antiquated and quaint. The amazing paintwork, impressive sculpt, and mind-boggling 30 points of articulation added up to the finest representation of that character to date. Then, in series eight, ToyBiz took another pass at the character, this time in his Ultimates incarnation. I bought it automatically, as I did any new Marvel Legend I found on the pegs back then, but I was less than impressed the second time around. Sure, there was more articulation, but the figure suffered for it, looking misshapen and oddly bulbous. Still, I could live with two very different incarnations of Cap on my toy shelf. But then things got complicated.
ToyBiz last visited the character in its Face-Off series. When the license changed hands, Hasbro came out swinging with their First Appearance Captain America. Of course I bought him, but between the lack of paint deco and his weird M & M peanut-shaped head, I was no longer feeling it. As the line picked up steam, more Marvel figures were produced, and I eventually ended up with additional red, white, and blue buddies. While each had its own merits, none of them really replaced that Series One Cap for me. And yet, I kept buying them.
Capped Out
The movies are what broke the cycle for me. That first movie Captain figure in his World War 2 gear is nicely detailed and well-sculpted, but I just didn’t like it. The fact it peg-warmed forever didn’t help, either. And while I picked up other versions of Cap in the Terrax series and the Target three-pack, nothing could sway me to embrace MCU Cap. I passed on both versions offered in the Avengers series, along with the Winter Soldier incarnation. I was simply Capped-out, and I wasn’t alone. Cries of fatigue were sounding from the collector community, but they fell on deaf ears.
Unlike the fans, Hasbro isn’t worried about the overexposure, with two new Cap series slated for 2016. The first one is hitting pegs as we speak and features some long-awaited villains, some key allies, and, yes, another version of the Captain. In a bid to keep things interesting, Hasbro has included an alternate “Cap-Wolf” head, representing our hero during the height of bad 1990s comic book writing. It’s a cute gimmick, and so far collectors seem on board with it. More worryingly, the Cap in the next series features a “launching shield” device, pissing off older collectors who are the line’s bread-and-butter and regressing action figures as a whole 10 years in the process. Hasbro is trying to add spice to their golden goose, but what they need to do is step back and let him breathe.
I get it: as an Avenger, Cap is one of the most recognizable characters in the Marvel stable. But the company is running one of their chief assets into the ground, primarily due to his overexposure in merchandising. It’s fine if he’s the moral center of the 616 universe; it’s great that he’s the First Avenger and linchpin for the whole MCU. What he doesn’t need to be is plastered on every piece of plastic crap from here to Tipperary. Thanks to comic events like Secret Wars and a well-developed cinematic Phase Two, Marvel has a new circle of characters to merchandise. It’s time to let them do the heavy lifting and let Cap have a little rest on the front porch. I’m not saying retire, mind you — just give the old timer a little breathing room. It’s the least we can do for him. Oh, and stay off his lawn. He hates that.
Discuss this article on the Fwoosh forums!
