# Lisa, Captain Action questions



## BatToys (Feb 4, 2002)

Hi Lisa,
I collect Captain Action. If you could please answer these questions:

I wish the retro costume boxes were done first instead of the book type boxes, 
why didn't PM start with retro?

Was a line planned for a female version of Captain Action?
I think that could have been popular.

Were copyright issues a big problem?

The Superman/Batman planned two pack- any photos exist?

What other Captain Action items were planned if it had continued?


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## Da Queen (Mar 11, 2005)

*Hmmm....*

Ahhh, the 'ol Capt Action. Here's what I remember about the Cap....really bizzare people obsessed with the Cap who kept sending in outfits they designed made of toilet paper and duct tape.  These same folks would then follow up with phone calls to see if their creations made it into production and one of them actually cried when we said, "thanks, but no thanks." The CA folks had their own BB, moderated by Gwen, for a very, very brief period. In short, they were far too few in number to even sustain a BB at the rate of $50 a month (see Inc article). 

As for your questions, BatToys...

I'm not sure why the book type packaging was selected over the long box. I was not privvy to planning sessions like that. Probably to appeal to the younger generation would be my guess. That was always a concern. I can tell you that I gave two sets to two boys about age 10. These kids were into all things "action" and if CA would have been in a long box, he wouldn't have gotten a blink from these kids. However, the design of the new box attracted them because they could see all the goodies and it looked like other packaging out there, but the play factor didn't last long. I think that's because they couldn't relate him to anything such as a hit movie or cartoon show. Think about it...you older collectors who remember these things are really few in number and PM also had to appeal to the next generation. I think Bob Plant was the packaging person for that project. Bob always did brilliantly creative work, so I'm sure he did what was best for PM.

I'm not aware that there were any copyright issues, plans for a female version or photos of a two pack. As for other CA versions...I can only speak of the ones we used to sit around and joke about in Customer Service...especially when these TP & duct tape creations came in....

Bear in mind, BatToys...I was just the lowly CS Manager. Sorry I can't provide you with more definite answers re this line. I'll share with you what we told the CA guys when their BB was shut down..."The Captain was great in his day, but it's a new day now and the guy just isn't a viable product." Maybe Dave or Bob Plant can give you better answers.

Moi!


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## Zorro (Jun 22, 1999)

What was the other action figure PM revived? Action Jackson? _That_ one was obscure even to myself.


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## PhilipMarlowe (Jan 23, 2004)

Zorro said:


> What was the other action figure PM revived? Action Jackson? _That_ one was obscure even to myself.


Thanks Zorro, now that stupid jingle from the 70's commercials will be running thru my head for days...

"Action Jackson is my name,
Bold adventure is my game,
Anything you want to be just call on me,
Action Jackson!"

Now "Big Jim", he was _obscure_! I had the one with "flexing" muscles and a big rubber bald eagle on his arm whose wings flapped.


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## Zorro (Jun 22, 1999)

Wasn't Big Jim gay?


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## PhilipMarlowe (Jan 23, 2004)

Well, he was over thirty, never married,neatly groomed, and kept his RV playset impeccably neat.


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## Steven Coffey (Jan 5, 2005)

I had to look up Capt action on google .I had no idea who he was.Does any one remeber Jungle Jim ?He was around in the early 70s .He was the poormans GI Joe.


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## Zorro (Jun 22, 1999)

PhilipMarlowe said:


> Well, he was over thirty, never married,neatly groomed, and kept his RV playset impeccably neat.


And apparently, anatomically impressive. In a marketing scandal similar to Aurora's "Rated X For Excitement!" Mattel was forced by retailers to recall the figures and place orange price stickers over the offending box-art. It cost the company millions and hastened the demise of the action figure. But Big Jim now holds a special place in the hearts of a small but _very _devoted group of adult collectors.


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## PhilipMarlowe (Jan 23, 2004)

LOL!
Either there were several versions (that's apparently the olympic version) or I had a version made in response to the scandal. Mine came in lumberjack attire complete with plaid shirt and axe, and an eagle. I also remember he had "steel" bands that fit over on his biceps, they'd pop off when you flexed his arms in a display of manly muscle power.

But that gay stuff is just rumors and innuendo, just look at Jim and his "longtime companions" Big Jack & Big Josh. No way are these guys anything but the manliest of men, just check out the picture below.










No way those guys are gay!(Not that theres anything wrong with it)

BTW, I found that pic on a ad currently running on eBay, it wasn't a set-up joke.


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## ChrisW (Jan 1, 1970)

Dang, that's funny!


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## PhilipMarlowe (Jan 23, 2004)

I'm starting to have my suspicions about Captain Action and his sidekick Action Boy as well......


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## PhilipMarlowe (Jan 23, 2004)




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## PhilipMarlowe (Jan 23, 2004)




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## PhilipMarlowe (Jan 23, 2004)




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## yamahog (Nov 19, 1998)

I dunno what this guy's general proclivities are, but he does hang around the reading room at our local public library.


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## PhilipMarlowe (Jan 23, 2004)

Just a couple of manly guys going for a Sunday drive and a little antiqueing:


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## PhilipMarlowe (Jan 23, 2004)

Hey Lisa, now _this _ woulda been a great superhero costume for Captain Action!


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## DinoMike (Jan 1, 1970)

AAARRRRGGGGGG!!! Fraggit... now I'm gonna have to use the sulfuric acid on my eyeballs again. Thanks a LOT....


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## flyingfrets (Oct 19, 2001)

*never mind...wrong thread*


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## Da Queen (Mar 11, 2005)

*Too funny!!!*

Ya gotta love that seashell purse! Just the thing with beach season coming up and all! :thumbsup: Wish I had one.  And that little Liberace Salute to America number looks suspiciously like one of those duct tape & TP creations we recieved. Was that you that sent it in, Phil???  

BatToys...looking at these pictures, it's all coming back to me...I suddenly remembered what other CA issue was on the drawing board...Pedophile Captain Action!!! 

Look at these pictures guys. Look real close. Now, I ask you...can you start to guess why CA isn't such a hot property these days???? 

Moi!


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## flyingfrets (Oct 19, 2001)

yamahog said:


> I dunno what this guy's general proclivities are, but he does hang around the reading room at our local public library.


*WOW!  Now there's something you don't see everyday..."Villiage People" dolls!!!  *


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## Otto69 (Jan 2, 2004)

*Whoever made that Blackhawk figure...*

Is a blasphemer and needs to be punished. Uh, wait I mean he needs..oh heck, forget it.

I remember the original Captain Action quite well as I had one of the original ones. Even as a kid I clearly viewed him as being some sort of poor mans GI Joe (which I also had), but the thing that redeemed him was the wide variety of costumes that could make him into any superhero. The problem was, there was only one of him and multiple copies of his identities, so he could never play WITH anyone else unless you bought another Captain Action. Of course the same shortcoming existed with GI Joes, but I already had a few of those (the pre 1970's, non peace loving Joes) and they frequently had to repell zombies or zombie infected GI Joes from their GI Joe HQ using all of the hand grenades, sub machine guns, pistols, rifles, and .30 Browning heavy machine guns in the well equipped arsenal of their pillow-surrounded HQ . Basically Captain Action was relegated to playing in the car on long trips or when grandparents went to the bank, since you could carry 1 figure and a pile of alternative ID 'packs' easily.

YYYYYYY - MMMMM - C - A! We're going to the YMCA...


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## PhilipMarlowe (Jan 23, 2004)

Da Queen said:


> And that little Liberace Salute to America number looks suspiciously like one of those duct tape & TP creations we recieved. Was that you that sent it in, Phil???
> Moi!


You just lack the vision to realize what a great action figure "Crime-Fighting Liberace" could be. I thought at least you would see the accessory potential, at the very least he should come with a pekenese, an ermine lasso of justice, and a stack of iron clad non-disclosure forms.


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## Otto69 (Jan 2, 2004)

*Darnit!*

Now I can't get Liberace's voice (as the Great Chandell, on Batman) out of my mind. Curse you!

Hmm. An Adam West Batman and Chandell kit. THAT is what PL should release next!

Heck, why not do all the popular villains:

- Frank Gorshin as Riddler

- Penguin

- Mad Hatter

- Julie Newmar Catwoman

With interlocking bases maybe...


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## Zorro (Jun 22, 1999)

I had the Batman and Captain America outfits as a kid but no Captain Action figure, so G.I. Joe wore the costumes instead. I particularly remember how badly the Batman cowl - actually 2 pieces - fit over G.I. Joe's head, and also that his blue vinyl cape had these sort of grey horizontal lines on them. I think the lines were supposed to represent folds in the cape but when IDEAL cut the patterns for the capes they did it at a 180 degree angle from the lines. Anyway, Captain Action _was_ a cool Sixties toy line - truly the first Superhero action figure, but I'm not surprised that PM's revival of the line tanked, especially considering that they couldn't get the licensing for the more popular characters.


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## Otto69 (Jan 2, 2004)

*The best thing about the 1960's figures...*

..was that petro-chemical scent when you first opened the package. Johnny West was the best for this, but Captain action and his disguise packs also had the same comforting smell.

I wish I could get a car air freshener that smelled that way...


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## PhilipMarlowe (Jan 23, 2004)

Da Queen said:


> Look at these pictures guys. Look real close. Now, I ask you...can you start to guess why CA isn't such a hot property these days????
> 
> Moi!


It was really funny the pictures you got when you googgled Captain Action and Big Jim. None of those were posed as a joke, they were all serious pictures from collector sites. I loved that one of Big Jim & co outside their RV, it's from an ad currently running for three loose figures and the RV. That's a pretty flamboyant "Lone Ranger" costume too, not to mention Captain Action's amphibious antiquing vehicle!

Lotta old action figure memorys dredged up by this thread, does anybody remember a late sixties/early seventies action figure of knights? I recall having a silver one as a real young kid, both he and his horse had very elaborate full armor you could take on or off, and were about GI Joe size IIRC. As I said, I had the silver one, his mortal enemy or partner (I don't remember which) was gold.


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## Otto69 (Jan 2, 2004)

I believe the knights were put out by Marx. They were re-released a couple years ago. I just checked out www.marxtoys.com but it's strangely "unavailable". I think the knights were in the same scale as Johnny West.


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## Zorro (Jun 22, 1999)

The Noble Knights by MARX. Here's Sir Stuart, The Silver Knight.










... and I'm pretty sure the Blackhawk/Village People guy Yama posted is a converted MARX Black Bart figure from the Johnny West line.


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## PhilipMarlowe (Jan 23, 2004)

Otto69 said:


> ..was that petro-chemical scent when you first opened the package. Johnny West was the best for this, but Captain action and his disguise packs also had the same comforting smell.
> 
> I wish I could get a car air freshener that smelled that way...


Don't even get me started on Johnny West, a "cowboy" who sported vinyl vest, hat, and chaps. I guess it gets real lonely out there on the prairie.

And I don't even wanna know why they called his nemesis "Black Bart".

And that's the knight I had Zorro, I can still remember all the weaponry. I'll have to ask my Dad what Christmas that was, I'm pretty sure it was the sixties. And his horse had wheels that didn't work very well.


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## A Taylor (Jan 1, 1970)

I think the new packaging for Cap was due to the insistance by Captain Action copyright holder Barry Krause that each outfit include one of the figures (not a stupid idea, since he made a lot more money for his license fee for the more expensive package). Since the retro packaging couldn't be used (the specs were all wrong if you included the figure), PM went with all new packaging.
I know this tore at Bob Plant's very soul and that he fought as hard as he could to get the retro packaging re-instated. By the time that happened, the line was all but dead, unfortunately. Bob is a talented guy and smart as hell, but the limits imposed on the line by various sources made it an iffy proposition from the start.
I hate that the Speed Racer and Jonny Quest outfits/dolls were never released.
AT


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## Da Queen (Mar 11, 2005)

Bob was always one of my favorites at PM...such a class act...and he had the coolest office there! Oh the toys!!!!!! Primo stuff! His office always got the most "ooohhh's and aahhhh's" whenever we gave a PM tour. I hope Bob is doing well....

Hugs!
Lisa


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## StarshipClass (Aug 13, 2003)

Da Queen said:


> Ahhh, the 'ol Capt Action. Here's what I remember about the Cap....really bizzare people obsessed with the Cap who kept sending in outfits they designed made of toilet paper and duct tape. These same folks would then follow up with phone calls to see if their creations made it into production and one of them actually cried when we said, "thanks, but no thanks."


  So what was wrong with my outfits, anyway? They were very economical (can't get much cheaper than duct tape and toilet paper) and looked really cool!

 Seriously, that is friggin' hilarious! :thumbsup: Good one!


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## lonfan (Feb 11, 2001)

PhilipMarlowe said:


> Thanks Zorro, now that stupid jingle from the 70's commercials will be running thru my head for days...
> 
> "Action Jackson is my name,
> Bold adventure is my game,
> ...


HI Lisa! Great to see you Here...

PHILMAR- I gotta tell you a little Triva Fact regarding the BIG Jim Product Line, I'm a Collector of Action Figures and when I was 7-8 I had Jim and All his Buddies and Vechiles.Anyhoo The Big Jim With the Falcon (or Eagle) on his Arm was Named "Big Josh" (I dunno but the Whole Line had some Kinky Names "BIG Jim" Big Josh Big Steve and DOCTOR STEEL Lol) Anyhoo The Josh Came with the Bird they ALL came from Mattel (okay still with me?) So Fast Forward 15 or Twenty Years Later Mattel Releases The "He-Man" Collection They Actually had the Nerve to RErelease JUST the Bird (from the Big Josh Figure) And they threw a Rubber Saddle on it and Sold it for TEN BUCKS BY IT'S SELF as a Ride for the Smaller He-Man Figures!!! GAWD the real kicker to me anyway,is that I got the ORIGINAL Bird AND Figure from Sears for $4.99 back in 1974!! lol

JOHN/LONFAN


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## Otto69 (Jan 2, 2004)

*Well...*

There was a guy dressed as an Indian who was a "companion" of Johnny West.


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## PhilipMarlowe (Jan 23, 2004)

lonfan said:


> HI Lisa! Great to see you Here...
> 
> PHILMAR- I gotta tell you a little Triva Fact regarding the BIG Jim Product Line, I'm a Collector of Action Figures and when I was 7-8 I had Jim and All his Buddies and Vechiles.Anyhoo The Big Jim With the Falcon (or Eagle) on his Arm was Named "Big Josh" (I dunno but the Whole Line had some Kinky Names "BIG Jim" Big Josh Big Steve and DOCTOR STEEL Lol) Anyhoo The Josh Came with the Bird they ALL came from Mattel (okay still with me?) So Fast Forward 15 or Twenty Years Later Mattel Releases The "He-Man" Collection They Actually had the Nerve to RErelease JUST the Bird (from the Big Josh Figure) And they threw a Rubber Saddle on it and Sold it for TEN BUCKS BY IT'S SELF as a Ride for the Smaller He-Man Figures!!! GAWD the real kicker to me anyway,is that I got the ORIGINAL Bird AND Figure from Sears for $4.99 back in 1974!! lol
> 
> JOHN/LONFAN


While I have no idea what my Big Josh cost, I can tell you _exactly_ how much his RV playset was. At the time my mom worked for a wrought iron door company, and she got me a "job" putting together and stapling their catalogs and order forms into one easy-to-mail brochure with one of those big construction-type staplers. I got paid the princely sum of a penny apiece, and had to do 16,000 to cover the RV and tax (Musta been $14.99). I did it in three days at night after school, had huge blood blisters and cramped hands, and put myself out of a job because that was enough to last them a loooong time.


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## lonfan (Feb 11, 2001)

Yeah Remember When Things were affordable? lol I used to buy AURORA'S for $1.25 per Glowbox and Prehistoric Scenes were 2.50 for the Cave or Tarpit A BUCK for the Cavepeople and 4.99 for the Wholly or Spiked Dino Hell even the T-Rex only cost $9.99! Ahhh the good old days I only wish I could have built em' HALF as well as I do TODAY! (And that ain't Squat! Compared to YOU GUYS!!!) But yeah My Birthday is Next week this Kind of stuff Always is fun to think about as I Bid farewell to another Year. lol Whats that "Easylistening" Song that goe's "Walkin' Through The Park And Riminessing" Hey I can't Spell But anyhoo Now I'm Gittin' Misty See ya' lol

JOHN/LON


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## lonfan (Feb 11, 2001)

BTW PHIL- It's A wonder after ALL THAT WORK on your Fingers you can even DO ANY MODELING!! lol

JOHN/LONFAN


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## StarshipClass (Aug 13, 2003)

The prices of certain things like houses and cars have gone up about 10X so the toys you mention, if you apply the same factor would be much more in inflated dollars.

As an aside, believe it or not, the current price of gasoline is roughly equivalent to what it was in about '68 to '70 in non-inflated dollars.


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## Monster-maniac (May 6, 2000)

The Knights were put out by Marx in the Noble Knights line which was reissued about 6 years ago. They also had Erik the Viking and Odin the Viking Chief. My brothers and I had most of the figures from Marx's Best of the West collection and I had the knights and vikings. We had a lot of fun playing with those as a kid. The custom figure looks like Captain Maddox from the Best of the West line. He was in the Cavalry along with the General Custer figure. 

Oh the memories of the battles they had with our GI Joes. Tons of fun for a kid that grew up in the pre-video game/VCR era. We would reenact the horror/sci fi films that we had recently viewed with our action figs as the characters of the film. 

Jeff


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## Otto69 (Jan 2, 2004)

One thing about those "cheap" plastic kits. In 1960's and 1970's dollars they weren't that cheap. Cars were $4,000 or so, houses were $10-30k, but income wasn't that high, and inflation was. Wives didn't work (much). When you factor in the cost of paint, brushes, cleaners, etc along with those kits, it wasn't cheap. Credit cards were hard to get, and not trusted by a lot of people (perhaps with good reason). I still have a newspaper column from a late 1970's paper where the question asked of the "man on the street" was "Do you use your credit card while traveling?"

Then again, when I got back into kits a couple years ago I was shocked that even a basic kit could be as high as $25 .


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## Dave Metzner (Jan 1, 1970)

As a comparison.
In 1970 I bought my first new car. A 1970 Thunderbird.
The car was loaded - Power windows,power seat, power door locks, Air, Cruise, all the toys, a 390 horsepower 429 engine, Tilt steering wheel Firemist paint. (I still have the window sticker!)
I wish I still had that car!! (but, then, with today's gas prices I couldn't afford to feed it!!!{7mpg around town 14 or 15 highway})

The sticker price was $6230.08.
Today a basic entry level Focus is about what? $14000.00
The 1996 Mercury Grand Marquis LS sitting in my garage was $29800.00 new! Bet you can't touch a new one for that price!

When I was working the floor in the hobby shop I had several customers complaining about the cost of kits. My usual answer was something like 
"Why not, a 6000 dollar car now costs $30000.00 or 4,0000.00 and a candy bar used to cost Five Cents"

(BTW I'm old enough that I bought lots of nickle candy bars and penney candys as a kid!)

Dave


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## flyingfrets (Oct 19, 2001)

I had most of the Marx Knights. Wish I'd known when they were reissued...I'd have bought the whole lot again! They also did an astronaut figure (I think he was maybe a little smaller scale than the knights or Johnny West. Anybody remember him or his name? Was he part of a line or just a single figure? No, it wasn't Matt Mason...I had all of those too. This guy was one of those solid 3 pound hunks of plastic like the knights).


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## Zorro (Jun 22, 1999)

flyingfrets said:


> I They also did an astronaut figure (I think he was maybe a little smaller scale than the knights or Johnny West. Anybody remember him or his name? Was he part of a line or just a single figure? No, it wasn't Matt Mason...I had all of those too. This guy was one of those solid 3 pound hunks of plastic like the knights).


Why, you're talking about Johnny Apollo! Opened a Greek restaurant down on the corner in '72, right after he retired from NASA. Best spanakopita in town!

http://www.robotnut.com/action/a24.htm

I actually had MARX's _first_ 12 "action figure"; Stony Smith - a 3 pound hunk of plastic with moveable arms and neck only - from the collar bone down to the boots, there was no articulation. He wasn't much competition for G.I. Joe, but he did get MARX started in the all-plastic boy's action figure market.

http://www.users.vance.net/grayarea/marx/jw1249stony.html

... bore a striking resemblance to Johnny West come to think of it.



And my best friend Chris had Secret Agent Mike Hazzard, who bore a striking resemblance to Kevin Spacey.

http://www.users.vance.net/grayarea/marx/jw1207.html


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## Steven Coffey (Jan 5, 2005)

Didn't MARX do Cowboys and Indians figures as well ? I remember when I was 6 years old having both and they where the same construction as the Johny Apollo figure.


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## Zorro (Jun 22, 1999)

Steven Coffey said:


> Didn't MARX do Cowboys and Indians figures as well ? I remember when I was 6 years old having both and they where the same construction as the Johny Apollo figure.


Yes, but some of them died tragically at Little Big Horn or Wounded Knee

http://www.users.vance.net/grayarea/marx/jw1236custernbox.html

http://www.users.vance.net/grayarea/marx/jw1205geonimo.html

... or on The Trail of Tears

http://www.users.vance.net/grayarea/marx/jw1248cherokee.html

... or became tragic figures after killing their best friends.

http://www.users.vance.net/grayarea/marx/jw1230garrettnbox.html

... but, at least one changed his name and became the star of the new HBO series "Deadwood".

http://www.users.vance.net/grayarea/marx/jw1270samcobrawbox.html


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## PhilipMarlowe (Jan 23, 2004)

You see the prices on those!? Mom & Dad _were_ right, I shoulda taken better care of my toys!


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## Zorro (Jun 22, 1999)

... or were the stars of "The Wild Wild West", but found their heads attached to other bodies when MARX couldn't work out the licensing fees.

http://www.users.vance.net/grayarea/marx/jw1229tommaddox.html


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