We’ve had a lot of toy
content on this blog since last Christmas and I apologise for that, this blog
was never meant to focus on one particular thing – I promise I have some
non-toy posts brewing. However I just finished my index for Movie Maniacs and
it made me want to do a countdown so more toys today I’m afraid.
An index? Yeah, I make
visual ‘indexes’ for personal reference, they have pictures and names for
everything released in that line (they’re usually for toys or video games) and
despite requiring a fair amount of work I generally don’t post them anywhere
because they use images stolen from all around the internet, I have posted the
odd small index on here before though and because the index is important to the
backstory of why this post exists, here is my newly finished Movie Maniacs
Index:
 |
| click to enlarge |
Movie Maniacs, first
unleashed in 1998 by McFarlane Toys and running for 7 waves over 7 years, ended
up being somewhat revolutionary (in the field of action figures) – it produced
highly detailed (and poorly articulated) action figures of various horror and
movie icons made for and sold to adults. That doesn’t sound to amazing today when there are dozens of companies doing such
things and one or two who’s whole business is built around this but what Neca
do today, what Diamond do today, what Mezco do today, what Hot Toys do today –
the bloke from Spawn was doing last millennium and doing it well, McFarlane
Toys had got their shit down by the time the line debuted and the results were
a shocking consistent line in terms of quality and sheer awesomeity so this was
a surprisingly hard countdown list to narrow down.
12. John
Shaft
Movie Maniacs
3, 2000
Who? Titular
character of the 2000 film Shaft, a
remake of the 1970s television show – played by Samuel L. Jackson
Why? There’s a
weirdness to Movie Maniacs (one that isn’t related to it being made up of
figures of human fly hybrids and murderous hillbillies) caused by McFarlane
choosing to use the line to produce figures of then-current licenses1
he’d got as well as by-then firmly established movie icons, leaving almost
every wave2 with at least one choice that seems completely baffling
today and none of them stand out more than the random inclusion of a modern-day
urban detective. The John Shaft figure sticks out like inflamed testicles on a
small Chihuahua in a line filled with monsters, madmen and the people who
fought them but he’s a simply a fantastic figure of Samuel L Jackson. His
likeness is perfect, and the posing of his limbs has managed to catch every
ounce of the pure coolness that makes up Sam Jackson, the reason he’s so low is
simply because he’s a little boring compared to all the others on this list, he
is – after all – just a bloke in a roll neck sweater, though it’s also a
testament to how good this likeness is that a bloke in a roll-neck sweater
ended up getting voted above King Kong and Jaws3.
11. Blair
Witch
Movie Maniacs
4, 2001
Who? Unseen
antagonist of the 1999 smash hit horror film and exemplar of clever marketing
that was The Blair Witch Project. How
can you make a figure of a character you never see though? Such questions do
not stop eccentric millionaires like Todd McFarlane! He was basically given
carte blanche to design whatever he liked for the monster.
Why? This is
so ridiculous that I can’t help but love it; they made a figure of a character
you never see! It’s bonkers! The fact that it turned out to be a really
wonderful and really quite original witch design was just the icing on the
mental cake. It IS a very McFarlane toys design but in 1999 McFarlane Toys’
design aesthetic was shared by the film industry anyway so no harm there. What
McFarlane and his boys produced was an emaciated thing that had a distinctly
tree-like feel to it (one of the two versions had a full-on tree like head,
that’s my favourite of the two) that’s a perfect for something so closely
associated with forests from a film entirely set in one. If you were a Blair
Witch fan (and I was and still am) this was our only way to see the witch and
that was damn special – and frankly the small glimpses we’ve had haven’t
matched up to this figure.
10. Norris Creature
and Spider
Movie Maniacs
3, 2000
What? ‘The
Thing’ in a form it took after it’s impersonation of the character Norris was
exposed (via defibrillator), from the 1982 marvel that was John Carpenter’s The Thing, the remake of The Thing From
Another World.
Why? While not
100% accurate (something that would have been bloody difficult in 1998 and
still would be pretty hard to do today) the Movie Maniacs Thing figures
completely captured the design and feel of The Thing’s signature (and fucking
stunning) physical effects – and by that I mean they were exceptionally
grotesque – lovely. There were two in the line, both in the same wave, Blair
Monster (the big one at the end) and Norris Creature (the spider one) and the
reason Norris on here and Blair isn’t? For me the Norris-Thing is what I think
of when I think of ‘The Thing’ both as a film and a ‘character’ and this is my
list so I can be as biased as I want, plus he came with the spider-head and
that thing is just magnificently unsettling in-film and magnificent unsettling
as a small accessory, so it had value for money as well as everything else. The
reason it’s so low though is that I’ve never been happy with the paint jobs on
the Movie Maniacs Thing figures, they’re just simply way more colourful than
the film’s props and use a few too many washes for me liking.
9. Chucky
Movie Maniacs
2, 1999
Who? A My Buddy Good Guy doll possessed by the
murderous spirit of Billy Bibbs from One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest and the
main antagonist of the Child’s Play franchise, this is his look from Chid’s Play 2.
Why? Because
his size, look, articulation and rooted hair this figure looks and feel slike
the Good Guy poseable figure that undoubtedly would have been released
alongside the full size Good Guy dolls during their (fictional) day in the sun
as a toy fad but one that’s also possessed by a murder! To further explain, in
the 1980s toy companies developed this habit of making small action figures of
toys that were primarily based around soft toys or dolls – Care Bears, Wuzzles,
Rainbow Brite, Gummi Bears, Teddy Ruxpin, they all had ‘em – but because these
were marketed towards girls or a unisex audience they were called ‘poseable
figures’ or ‘poseables’ for short and as Chucky is a possessed toy from a big
80’s toy fad (in-universe) based around a doll it makes sense that there’d have
been a poseable figure for him and McFarlane accidentally made it a reality.
What’s important is that I HORDE these, I have a complete set of Care Bears bar
one (Champ Bear! I can’t find that mustard coloured prick anywhere) and a
complete set of Wuzzles for instance, you can get a life-size Good Guy (Chucky)
replica doll from multiple manufactures but Movie Maniacs made the replica of
the Poseable Figure (which doesn’t exist remember) that I’d’ve wanted more than
that doll had it been 1988.
8. Candyman
Movie Maniacs
4, 2001
Who? Say his
name three times and he’ll come and cut your nuts off, titular bogeyman of the
1992 film Candyman, was played very effectively by Tony Todd
Why? As far as
I know this is the only figure of Candyman, which seems like something of an
oversight on the part of the whole toy industry if you ask me but if this is
destined to be the only plastic Candyman then ol’ Tony Todd could do a lot
worse, the likeness is damn good (from most angles), the coat looks comfy and
the torso came out nice and grizzly. It’s not perfect, the torso is stuck in a
twisted position that can look very odd in some poses and the likeness isn’t
spot-on, which might beg the question of “why’s it’s higher than Shaft?”
because of two reasons a) Candyman is far less boring a design (and far better
suited to the line) b) I like Candyman
better than Shaft.
7. The Tooth
Fairy
Movie Maniacs
V, 2002
Who? The
villain from the (then-upcoming) 2003 movie Darkness
Falls, which I guess was tipped to be a big thing in horror when McFarlane
got the licence – that didn’t happen.
Why? Darkness
Falls is a shit film (I think it’s Rotten Tomatoes score is something like 7%?),
I can get through it ok because I like the whole ‘coming back to a town with
dark memories’ thing and because I think the Tooth Fairy is a sweet-ass villain
but I think most people would need at least a Mystery Science Theatre 3000 (or
RiffTrax) commentary to make it half way. However just because the film she
comes from is crap that doesn’t mean that the Tooth Fairy’s figure is equally
shite, in fact it’s the complete opposite which shouldn’t be too surprising as
she’s number 8 and thus above stars of not-crap horror film like Psycho and
Halloween. Her figure is just an amazing
work of detailing, texturing and colour and with her wings open becomes a
bloody impressive presence on your shelf – she’s effectively the toy
collector’s version of the stone angel gardeners get and just as impressive.
6. RoboCop
Movie Maniacs
7, 2004
Who? The
murdered cop Alex Murphy is reborn as a cyborg lawbringer in the future,
titular star of RoboCop from 1987 and
its subsequent sequels and television series.
Why? I have a
theory that Movie Maniacs RoboCop is slightly overvalued by ‘at-the-time’
buyers and fans of the series because it took all 7 series to get a figure of
him, that was certainly true for me and it seems to be true for a few others
from the blogs I’ve read so I’m saying it’s a fact, live with it. However the figure that we waited for turned
out be quite frankly beautiful, he may lack the articulation of the newer Neca
figures (and McFarlane never made a glow-in-the-dark repaint of him, a wasted opportunity
if ever there was one) but the colour and sculpt of this one is just so
visually appealing, you could use him as a Christmas ornament. Personally he
reminds me slightly more of the Kenner action figures than the film version but
I have NO problem with that at all, he was the sole highlight in Series 7 –
which was otherwise dominated by Texas Chainsaw Massacre characters and a poor
likeness of Michael Biehn but Murph’ would have stood out in any wave. So why
is he only number 7 then? Well because his positives boil down to ‘he looks
pretty’ and because a RoboCop figure is hardly a unique thing and this isn’t
the best RoboCop out there - which is a bit unfair but I have to find some way
of ordering these.
5. Sarah
Connor
Movie Maniacs
V, 2002
Who? Destined
to give birth to the saviour of the future, this is the character as played by
Linda Hamilton in Terminator 2 –
Judgement Day when she’d become a confirmed badass and an escapee from a
lunatic asylum.
Why? Unlike
RoboCop this is my favourite figure of Sarah Connor and unlike RoboCop I REALLY
like Sarah Connor and I’m particularly fond of (read: sexually obsessed with)
the T2 version of the character and that’s totally playing a part in this
figure’s ranking as well, pathetic yes but still a reason. McFarlane released
three versions, each with a different head (hair down, hair up, wearing a cap),
all of which were included in Neca’s recent Ultimate Sarah Connor which of
course was better articulated but I wasn’t quite as happy with the sculpt, I didn’t
like the face as much (I’d say the likeness was no better or worse, I just
didn’t personally prefer it) and that just continued all down the figure, I
can’t really elaborate on why this is I just simply prefer the McFarlane
sculptors’ Linda Hamilton efforts.
4.
Pumpkinhead
Movie Maniacs
2, 1999
Who? Titular demon
from the 1988 horror film Pumpkinhead
(yeah, not much to say here really)
Why? Simply
put: Pumpkinhead is a cool toy (you
read that in Tom Hanks’ voice and you know it) – taken completely separately
from his liscence, just as a monster toy, Pumpkinhead works – he’s a tall,
twisted, detailed monster with a bendable tail that looks familiar enough to
fit in with other monsters but still original in his own way (he kind of looks
like a Xenomorph that’s been peeled). Now combine that fact with the fact that
he’s actually a very good Pumpkinhead figure – he’s accurate, he’s surprisingly
well articulated for a McFarlane release and he’s in-scale (roughly) – and bam,
number 4 slot filled.
3. Special
Edition Eric Draven
Special
Edition, 2000
Who? The main
character of the 1994 film The Crow
(based on a comic book created by James O’Barr) who was played by Brandon Lee,
son of Bruce and who famously died while filming the movie, strangely fitting
as Draven is a murdered musician brought back to avenge his and his fiancé’s
murders.
Why? I have
only kept 2 Movie Maniacs, this is one, number 2 is the other. Now I am more
than willing to admit that Neca’s Draven figures are actually far better
likenesses while this one is a little more cartoony but I rather like that
about it, perhaps I’m more accepting of it on The Crow because it started out
as a comic book? I’m not saying it’s better than Neca’s offerings, just that I like
it as well – probably because the whole figure captures the essence of Eric
Draven perfectly; god that sounds really pretentious doesn’t it? But it does,
or at least to me – the pose, the…swagger of it, it’s just so CROW. The reason I’m
putting the special edition the ‘fish tank’ re-release from 2000, on here is because
it came with a crappy stand, - really,
the stand is really pathetic, it’s a plastic stand with a cardboard backdrop but
that backdrop is of the circular window that Draven was thrown from in the
movie, it’s an exceptionally iconic thing if you’re a fan of the film (and I
REALLY am) being able to pose this figure
- who’s walking at you like the undead thing he is and loving every scare – in front
of that, that iconic thing where this character died, is just so fitting and so
pleasing to me as a fan.
2. Edward
Scissorhands
Movie Maniacs
3, 2000
Who? Johnny Depp
was built by Vincent Price and fell in love with Winona Ryder so Tim Burton and
Caroline Thompson could make a comment about American suburbia, titular
character of Edward Scissorhands from 1990 and technically the figure should
just be called ‘Edward’.
Why? The sheer
detailing in this sculpt alone should get it into a top 10, every stitch, every
zipper, every scissor has been put onto this and they’ve all had their detailing
painted, something that most companies would consider the exact same thing and
burning $100 dollar bills in piles but hey, detailing and paint apps aren’t
uncommon for McFarlane toys of this era so why so high? 1) the sculpting has a
delicateness that’s not only rare for McFarlane and it’s macho heavy metal
output but also perfect for the character 2) the likeness is excellent 3) they
managed to get that hair looking that good on a 6” piece of plastic – which may
well be magic and 4) like with The Crow this somehow catches the pretentious
sounding essence of the character, only with a much better likeness, I really
wish they’d made Kim4 to hug him, he needs a hug.
Runners-up are pretty much the whole line but if I must:
variant Leatherface (Movie Maniacs), Norman Bates, Michael Myers, Ghostface
(Movie Maniacs 2), Ash, Blair Monster, Bundle Fly, King Kong (Movie Maniacs 3),
T-1000, Jaws5 (Movie Maniacs 4), T-800 Endoskeleton (Movie Maniacs
V), Alien Queen (Movie Maniacs VI), the Dracula two-pack (2003) and Stealth Predator6
(a 2003 McFarlane Collector’s Club Exclusive).
1. Lord of Darkness
Movie Maniacs 6,
2003
Who? Basically
it’s Satan as played by Tim Curry (who apparently isn’t a demon in real life -
pfft like I believe that), the Lord of Darkness was the main antagonist of the
1985 fantasy film Legend.
Why? There was
never any debate here; the Movie Maniac’s Lord of Darkness is fucking
magnificent in every way a figure can be which is perfectly fitting because the
character himself is magnificent, a magnificent bastard sure but still
magnificent, everything about the pose they gave him screams ‘I am fucking
awesome’. See how much I’m swearing? That should tell you my level of
enthusiasm for this piece of plastic, I so wish I’d kept him and have no idea
why I didn’t7. This exuding magnificence the combines with a spot on
headsculpt with a spot-on expression (‘pissed off and evil’ about sums it up)
and McFarlane’s usual level of detail and painting so it just stands head and
horns about the rest of the line – he’s a huge devil, he’s Tim Curry, he’s
wonderfully made and so he’s number 1. As for why I’ve put the regular release
and not the deluxe edition like with The Crow, once again the main addition was
a base and while it’s a million times nicer than The Crow’s I honestly don’t
care about it in the slightest, that window is feels important to me while
Darkness’ treasure just doesn’t feel important enough to pay out the extra cash
- but then I like The Crow a LOT more than I like Legend.
And there you have it,
Movie Maniacs was a schizophrenic but superb line that fulfilled a lot of toy
fantasies for nerds in the late nineties and early noughties, Neca may have
outclassed it with several franchises (most notably Nightmare on Elm Street,
Terminator, Alien and Predator) but a lot of the figures still stand up well,
either as good representations of their characters, as the only representations
of their characters or just by looking bloody cool and I’ve love to see a new
line like this (or Neca’s Cult Classics or
SOTA Toys’ Now Playing), one that
could allow for one or two figures from smaller cult films or films without the
depth of character roster or profile to support a whole line of its own – wave one
needs to include the Killbots.
1
Which I suppose is great news if you’re a fan of Species II or Darkness Falls
and especially if you’re a big fan of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre remake.
2
Wave 2 doesn’t have this problem, its entire line-up had become iconic or cult
classics by 1999, the most recent movie represented was Scream, by then three years old and already a modern classic and
today considered on-par with the other great horror franchises.
3
I have my individual issues with all three of the big sets released in the line
– the Jaws set is basically just a plastic diorama, out of scale with the rest
of the line and doesn’t include a whole shark, King Kong has likeness issues
(and most King Kongs do, people seem to just sculpt ‘big monkey’ rather than O’bie’s
big monkey) and is again wildly out of scale (they were making 18inch versions
of figures, there was no excuse) and I’ve never been fond of the ‘art style’
used on the Movie Maniacs Xenomorphs, including the Alien Queen.
4
Winona Rider’s character
5 I
may have issues with them that kept them out of the top 12 but Jaws, King Kong
and Alien Queen are still impressive
6
like their eternal cross-over partners I was never that impressed with Movie
Maniacs Predators either, I didn’t like the bodies mostly, but I’m always
willing to make an exception for c-thru Predators.
7 from
this list I owned all but Chucky and Sarah Connor as a teenager, now I own
Sarah Connor and was able to find a Ghostface at a bootsale but that still
means I only have four figures left – sadnesss. Movie Maniacs average around
twice their original retail price these days on the second hand market too –
the Thing and Jaws stuff are especially expensive.
