Action Heroes

As if we needed further evidence of the crass commercialization of popular culture, there comes now from a company called HeroBuilders (“The Last American Toy Company”) a trio of new action figures, not superheroes from comic books, or manly heroes from movies or TV programs, but rather three studly characters from current TV commercials – the “Old Spice Guy,” Dos Equis’ “Most Interesting Man in the World,” and the “Mayhem” guy from Allstate Insurance:

It takes a bit of imagination to see the resemblance between these action heroes and their commercial counterparts (though the Dos Equis guy is in a tux, holding a beer bottle, and the Old Spice guy can arrive “Anatomically Correct!” (if you’re at least 18 and pay an extra $10)). And I can’t imagine what kind of “action” these characters might play out in a young boy’s room, though they do come with some snappy action dialogue (Old Spice, Dos Equis, Allstate). But then I don’t think these action figures are targeted to boys, if their cost ($49.95-$59.95) and slogan (“Here are the men you wish you could be and the Men your women wish that you were”) are any indication. No, I think they’re headed to the top of my next year’s Christmas wish list. Fortunately, Christmas is still ten months away, so there’s plenty of time to forget.