Past Opinion Articles

Article for the week of 7/1/09

Are people too action figure happy
By Puns McKenna

I understand that action figures are a really great achievement for some, but I have to ask the question, are people getting action figures of themselves too easily? There has to be some sort of standard for getting an action figure made of yourself, right? Has anyone ever thought of guidelines? Let’s take a look at some possible guidelines.

First and foremost, I think you should be relatively famous. If you aren’t famous, what’s the reason for giving you an action figure? Secondly, I think you should have either done a very important, life-impacting role; or you should be a positive role model for the youth of today. Thirdly, you can’t already have an action figure made. Honestly, do you really need multiple action figures to represent you? I can see casting the mold for one figure and then making accessories to go with it, but there’s really only one way to capitalize on your looks.

Take a look at some of the people who have multiple figures. Michael Jackson, Will Shatner, Angelina Jolie, Air Bud… See what I mean? Multiple figures for one person or dog as the case may be. Think of the cost that goes into manufacturing these things. You have to purchase the plastic, pay the artist to design the mold, heat the plastic to melt it, cast the figure, shave the flashing, paint the figure, package it, market it, ship it, and pay for shelf space to sell it.

It sounds pretty expensive to me. Why would anyone want to spend that much money on more than one figurine of any particular person? Sure the figurines could be projected to make money, but it’s notoriously true that sequels even of famous figures, make less than the original. Seems to me that it’s a losing proposition either way. You make one figurine of a famous actor’s best role, and then you set yourself up for making more. It’s just a money pit. There should only be one figurine per famous actor, I’m telling you. More than one is just a waste.

Maybe we should have a selection board to decide who gets figurines made of themselves. It would be a simple job to do. You just decide if the actor/actress in question has either made a positive role model of themselves, or whether they’ve made a real contribution to society. It would only take a committee of two or three, just to be fair, to deliberate the truth of the matter. It might not seem to be fair to the actor/actress, but what we have to keep in mind the public and what’s fair for them. It wouldn’t be fair to flood the market with a bunch of junk that isn’t going to sell, would it?

If we have safe guards in place, we won’t have those problems. We’ll be protecting the public, the actor/actress, and the toy companies that make the products. In my book that means everyone wins.

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