by Patrick Gibbs
Happy New Year! 2015 is finally here, and I don't know about you, but I haven't seen any hoverboards yet. Yes, it's been 30 years since the original Back to the Future was released, and as you may recall, that movie ended with Marty, Doc, Jennifer and Eeine zooming off to the year 2015 to fix a problem with Marty's future kids.
In honor of that, we'll be looking at Funko's ReAction figure series, a fun collection of retro figures, beginning with their selections from the time travel comedy adventure classic, Back To The Future.
BACK TO THE FUTURE (1985)
This is one of my all time favorite films. Pure entertainment simply does not get any better than Robert Zemeckis' witty and insightful take on the relationship between teens and their parents, and the possibilities (and dangers) that could come with the capability for traveling through time. Michael J. Fox became a superstar, and Christopher Lloyd's Doc Brown became one of the most inconic characters and perfromances in popular cinema.
DOC BROWN
This figure is 3 and 3/4th inches tall (the standard for the ReAction figure series) and is instantly recongnizable as the beloved character in his radiation suit, preparing to take his first voyage back in time. The style for this series leans more than a little in the cartoonish direction, and that choice is probably most successful with this particular figure.
ARTICULATION:
Very basic: extendable arms and legs and the ability a bendable waist that approximates sitting down, though the knees do not bend.
The ReAction figures are advertised as "Fully posable," but that is a really relative term. I have to confess that the '80's G.I. Joe figures kind of set the standard to me for mauneverabilty in playtime with action figures, with the bendable elbows, swivel action wrists, bendable knees and legs that kick as high as a Rockette. If you wanted to make your figures fight (a strong likelihood given the word "action"), nobody has ever beaten G.I. Joe. So when I read "fully posable" and it's not up to Joe standard, it always annoys me a bit.
ReAction figures are much closer in style to the original Kenner Star Wars figures, which had the advantage over Joe in terms of staying standing, and in individual detail. As a kid, every time a new movie came out that I loved, I dreamed of owning a Star Wars style action figure from the film, and ReAction has really tapped into that desire.
ACCESSORIES:
Doc comes with a remore control for his beloved DeLorean, so he can send his dog Einstein (who would have been a GREAT accessory) back in time.
You can purchase the figure for $9.99 plus shipping right here by following this link, and he is available in most toy stores.
THE GOONIES (1985)
Excecutive Producer Steven Spielberg wanted to make a film that turned goofy, misfit kids just like he had been, into Indiana Jones style heroes. As an 11 year old, this appealed to me to no end, and I will always have a soft spot for the film, but I have to confess that despite it's huge cult following and beloved, pop culture classic status, The Goonies just doesn't hold up to me like Back To The Future does (Ed. Note: ditto). The comedy is decidedly juvenile and much of the time just not that funny, and the action (which has always been my favorite element) is solid but hardly at the Indiana Jones level. It's a fun movie with some genuine heart, but every time I sit down to watch it and recapture the sense of wonder it once inspired, it's simply not there.
Let's take a look at two popular characters in ReAction figure form:
CHUNK
The token boisterous fat kid of the group, Chunk was kind of a 12 year old John Candy. He stands 3 and 3/4 inches tall, and one gets the distinct impression that Jeff Cohen, the actor who played the role, had some input in the figure, as he is noticeably slimmed down from the character we see in the film, both in the stomach and in the face. He genuinely does bare a strong resemblence to the actor, but only if you saw him appearing in anything a few years later when he started to grow and lose his babyfat. In terms of capturing the character, they've done a mediocre job and erred on the side of making him too handsome.
ACCESSORIES
Chunk comes with a small knife which fits nicely into his hand, but be careful not to drop it, because you're not going to find it again. If you're buying this to play with, that knife is going to be missing for good in a day or two at the most.
SLOTH
The deformed and mentally challenged son that the villainous Mama Fratelli doesn't talk a lot (and keeps locked up), Sloth has a heart of gold and a surprisingly bulky and imposing physique for someone who stays tied to a chair eating fish heads. Sloth and Chunk become best friends, and the big guy ends up becoming the muscle of The Goonies.
Unfortunately, the figure really doesn't reflect this. On the box he is marked as 3 and 3/4 inches, the same as Chunk, though he does stand just a little bit taller. But like Chunk, he is considerably slimmed down, and his shoulders are nowhere near wide enough. They have captured the face quite nicely, though.
ACCESSORIES:
Sloth comes with a pirate hat to recreate one of the film's best moments, as Sloth, who has an affinity for Errol Flynn films, especially Captain Blood, shows up to rescue his new friends from certain death by using a knife to slide down the sail of a pirate ship, cutting it in half as he reaches the ground (I have actually given Chunk's knife to Sloth, whom it really belongs with.). The pirate hat also has the advantage of adding to the height difference, but this Sloth still doesn't look like he could pick up Chunk with his forearms and hold him high above his head.
SIDE NOTE: As a side note to get back on the good side of Goonies fans, including the one who gave me these figures for Christmas, just thinking about the Captain Blood sequence makes me want to watch this movie right now.
The ReAction series is a lot of fun, and features a wide variety of figures, mostly from '80's films like Alien and The Terminator, but also includes some '90's like Pulp Fiction and my favorite of the series, The Rocketeer, and even has some early 2000's, most memorably in the Firefly set. To fully appreciate them, you have to have fond memories of the movie figures of the '80's and realize that Funko is very specifically going for an homage to those figures and the movies themselves.
That's it for this week. Next time we'll be taking a look at some larger, more detailed figures. Until then, have a safe and happy 2015, and don't pay more than $18 for a Pepsi Perfect ;)