Three Wishes

I can still picture the corner in Three Wishes toy store. Located in Crossroads shopping center, it was by no stretch of the imagination a warehouse along the lines of Toys 'R' Us or Kay Bee Toys. Instead, it was a small to medium retail space that was crowded with the toys of my youth. I kept primarily to the first two aisles on the right. If I went straight down the center, I could find plastic model kits and Airfix toy soldiers of all eras and armies. The aisle behind it remains the grail of my toy dreams: the GI Joe aisle.
For many years my grandmother would take me to Three Wishes to give me - ironically one wish. I could buy one toy for my birthday. I knew what I wanted, and I knew what my conscience told me (and what my mother reminded me: "Your grandmother is not made of money."). On those summer days I would stand in the dim light afforded by the towering shelves and consider my options. I could buy another model plane or box of Afrika Corps soldiers and have our neighborhood experts come by in a day or two to criticize my glue and paint technique. I could get new molds for the thingmaker, or some glow-in-the-dark Goop. I could get a new GI Joe, or some new equipment for the Joe and pals.
Then one year it was different. Among the GI Joes I spotted a character I had only seen for a moment on TV - Captain Action. We were a solid Hasbro GI Joe household, and I was making an awful brief of toy etiquette by branching out like this, but here's the deal: Captain Action wasn't just any action figure. It turns out that Captain Action was secretly all the super heroes - he had all the costumes and abilities of Superman, Batman, and the Lone Ranger. He was made by Ideal.
I brought him home that day. He stood a head shorter than the standard GI Joe, but I didn't let that bother me, he had a ray gun and a sword. I even got an extra prize - the Batman costume. Go ahead and fight the commies if you must, I'll be back here fighting crime on the home front. Each one of the new costumes came with a comic that explained Captain Action's connection to Flash Gordon, the Phantom, or Aquaman. It really hit me where I lived.
Captain Action's retail life was only a few short years, but I still carry a bit of a torch for him. When a retro-repro came out a few years ago, I bought one to share with my son. It was nearly impossible to find any of the super hero costumes for him, and I cursed myself for not taking better care of my originals. Still, I have my memories, and that's where Captain Action rules - thanks Grandma.