With Toy Fair in New York last week, we’ve seen some exciting announcements. Usually this should be in Mark Gelineau’s arena, and he does have a few previews/reviews coming. But creative company Let’s Be Onyx (LBO) caught my eye with their revival of action figures too old for Pulp Arcana Studios. However, in that eye comes a grain of salt. The big chunky kosher kind.
Because I’ve seen some of this before. LBO has had Captain Action in their stable for several years. If you’re not familiar, he’s an action figure who doesn’t just change uniforms–he changes faces to become other heroes. The license owners even continue publishing novels of his adventures.
LBO has a booth at Comic-Con consistently featuring an imminent Captain Action revival. In 2018, their partner Atomic Toybox announced a revived figure that would get a somewhat generic but cool warrior astronaut suit to match Dr. Evil becoming one of the Martians from Mars Attacks. Then the suit that made fans really sit up and take notice: Dave Stevens’ The Rocketeer.
A couple of years ago LBO took pre-orders for Captain Action and The Rocketeer suit that they teased last week. Their plans to expand the world of Captain Action took a backseat to what would probably sell fastest. That’s fair. I can love Captain Action and acknowledge that many people don’t know what it is.
From the Toy Fair photos, you can see they have an exciting line-up. You may note that includes a redesign of Captain Action, who in each revival has looked mostly the same as he did in the original Ideal Toys release. Dr. Evil got a glow-up, too. I’ve seen an Action Lad, concept art for a Lady Action, and the biggest boldest moves: Major Action and a new villain, Professor Fangs. I can’t lie. I’m dying to see them out in the field.
So far this seems pretty critical of LBO, and that’s not the intention. This is just to cut through a little of the hype. Because what most fans don’t seem to really get is that the ever-changing wonderful world of tariffs has messed up most of the boutique action figure companies. In October, those who had already pre-ordered The Rocketeer received an email with an update. LBO decided to change factories in order to provide a higher quality figure. Though still vague, the collective did say 2 of their 3 options were not in China so hopefully would not be as affected by tariffs.
So… maybe this year? Maybe more costumes, too. They’ve entered into an agreement with Universal Products & Experiences to create high-end toys featuring iconic properties such as Universal Monsters. Put Dr. Evil in a Creature from the Black Lagoon suit? I’m in. When it comes to being a fan of action figures at the 12″ scale and with such detail, it’s all become a waiting game. In the grand scheme of things, this is such a paltry issue.
But it would still be nice to get that Rocketeer figure.
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