Over
the last fifteen years practially every comic book property has had an action
figure line or an action figure. Marvel Comics has Marvel Legends. DC Comics
had DC Universe Classics. Even indie characters like Witchblade, Shi, Dick
Tracy, and Monkeyman & O’Brien have had their own action figures. However,
there’s been one major comic book character who hasn’t made the transition from
comic page to plastic:
Archie
Andrews.
Archie
and the gang from Riverdale are LONG overdue for a super-poseable six-inch
action figure line. Archie is an iconic comic book property that’s been a part
of American culture for generations. Kids know who Archie is. Adults know who
Archie is. You’d think with every comic book character getting an action figure
line and selling like hotcakes some company would have gone out of their way
and given us Archie Legends or Archie Comics Classics toy line.
But for the past fifteen years toy
collectors have gotten…Nothing.
I
don’t know if it’s a licensing issue. Or if the Archie Comics’ owners don’t
want to take advantage the booming action figure market. Or if toy companies just don’t want to
take the risk on Archie. But with smaller toy companies like Super 7 and NECA
raking in millions on all sorts of properties like He-Man and even old video
games like Contra, I’d like to think someone would have given us an Archie
Comics Classics toy line already. It’s money in the bank.
I
know there’d be lots of people ready to buy a six-inch super poseable Archie
along with Jughead, Betty, Veronica, and Reggie. And lots more who’d buy Josie
and the Pussy Cats with their instruments packed in. And even a few more to buy
a super-poseable six-inch scaled Sabrina The Teenage Witch with Salem packed
in.
And
maybe if the line does well over a couple of waves maybe we could get some
obscure characters like Lil’ Jinx, That Wilkin Boy, and…Pepper!
Archie
Comics Classics is a toy line that probably wouldn’t cost that much money. Tooling
up a couple of basic buck bodies wearing casual clothes wouldn’t be that
expensive. A smart toy company owner could probably mix and match torsos,
overlays, and paints to make variants of characters from different eras in the
Archie’s history like 50’s Archie (Classic plaid pants and “R” Sweater), and Archie
as Pureheart the Powerful and Jughead as Captain Hero. Even toss in a few
swappable heads for different facial expressions and different characters.
The
possibilities for Archie Comics Classics are endless. I can see a dozen ways to
easily sell Build-A-Figures of larger characters like Big Moose or Big Ethel by
mixing and matching Archie characters from different eras. Or diorama pieces
like Pop Tate’s Cho’klit shop and parts of Riverdale High. All it takes is for
some creative toy executive to have the vision to take the Archie Comics
property and bring it to toy stores.
With
the TV show Riverdale coming to CW soon, I’d think there’d be some plans to get
some merchandise out to to take advantage of the Archie brands’ exposure to the
public. With there being six-inch plastic versions of every character out there
from Superheroes to wrestlers and video game characters, this is the right time
for Archie to launch a toy line. I’d love to have a six-inch scale version of
Archie and the gang to hang out with Superman, Batman, Iron Man, Spider-Man, The
Hulk and John Cena on my Toy shelf. Make it happen Archie Comics!
Shawn, Donald Trump won the election.
ReplyDeleteblog on it: http://shawnsjames.blogspot.com/2016/11/donald-trump-is-president-wtf.html
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