Action Figure Fails

As a child, I loved action figures, however, sometimes when I peeled back the plastic covering off the cardboard and held the little plastic man in my hand, I noticed that he looked nothing like the heroes I idolized on screen. I don't know if the technology didn't permit correct features or if the powers that be at the toy factory were too confused or careless to look at the real life characters as a blueprint. I felt cheated. Oh well, here are a few action figures gone wrong.

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Luke Skywalker
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Just like the barrel chested, machine gun blasting, roided out Luke Skywalker I remember.  I love the scene where Obi Wan approaches him in the gym while he's bench pressing old droid parts and choking down space-protein drinks.  Those male-ballerina pants are a nice touch; they probably make Luke more nimble.


Rambo
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He's ripped, dangerous, skilled, and wildly out of proportion.  I have never seen this toy in person, but I'm sure the only way to make it stand up on its own is to nail its feet to the table and superglue the leg joints in order to prevent gravity from yanking down his massive pumpkin head.  He kind of looks like a dwarf with state of the art prosthetic legs to bring him up to average height.  Another thing: I have noticed that a lot of these older action figures had hip joints that gave the torso part of the pants a sort of diaper look.  That was very confusing as a seven year old.  


John Travolta
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Hey look!  A beige tinted toy of Shrek wearing a wig with a free picture of John Travolta™ on the cover!


Wayne Knight / Dennis Nedry / Newman
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This is interesting.  This is supposed to be Wayne Knight's character, Dennis Nedry, from Jurassic Park.  You know, Newman from Seinfeld.  I'm not sure where to begin.  First, he's in good shape.  Was it politically incorrect to add body-fat to an action figure in the 90's?  The hair is too light, I never saw him wear those sunglasses, that shirt, those gloves, or even having a gun.  I like how they always try to make action figures look cool, even if they're the token dweeb.  "Glasses, curly hair, overweight, Hawaiian shirts?  I wouldn't touch that with a five foot pole!  Just change everything, no one will notice."


Men In Black
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Here come the... wait, who are these guys?  For Will Smith's character, I give this designer a C-;  he still somewhat resembles the character, but only because he can hide his features behind those sunglasses.  For the Tommy Lee Jones design?  F.  He looks like Beavis as an old man with slicked back hair.  And what's with the strage purple tint around his mouth?  Was there a scene I forgot about where Agent K ran out of oxygen?  I would have gladly given these plastic strangers to my little brother to gum on.  


Tom Cruise from Mission Impossible
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BOO!  Scared you Ethan Hunt!  This one even comes with a plastic syringe so he can inject human growth hormone before missions.  The little red suspenders were a nice touch; they maintain his boyish cheer.  In the movie, there was a deleted scene where Hunt gets his head caught in a vice which squishes it, and they tried to capture the morphed head shape in this figurine.  Unfortunately, the scene never made it to the screen, so the look didn't connect with young consumers.

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EvanE
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  • I HAD THAT!!!! HIS ARMS POP OFF. IT ALSO CAME WITH THAT DINOSAUR THAT KILLED HIM
  • for the men in black ones i believe if you went and looked at the short lived wb saturday morning cartoon, you'll see that they resemble those characters and not the actors.
  • This figure was based on the Novel version of the character I believe.
  • Woooow! No matter how you cut it, that was a disgrace to the actors, lol.
  • That's gotta be from the same mold as Prince Adam's action figure from Masters of the Universe.
  • The lack of resemblance to the actors sometimes has to do with licensing fees, not shoddy sculpting.
  • What? No Brokeback Mountain action figures?
  • Also the Men In Black was a comic book before being a movie or cartoon.
  • OK.......Wut Else To Say But......We R Only Human N God id Not Make Us Perfect.....But To Watch A Movie n Den Duplicate A Molding Of Da Characters,,, Sculpting A Shady Resemblance n Having No Remose...Is Jus Terrible...On Da Desgner n Da IDIOT Who Puts Dem On Da Shelf Or STores To SELLL......But One Things For Sure We Still Go Out N Buy Dem No Matter WHAT.......PAC
  • Luke Skylwalker's face reminds me of Forever alone :)
  • bonner
  • The face actually resembles the Tor Johnson mask.
  • They aren't even based on the movie. They're based on the Men in Black comic book by Marvel Comics, wich came out ten years before the idea for a movie was ever conceived.
  • They look pretty cool actually.
  • I remember the Mission Impossible action figures. They weren't that popular, but this figure is based on the movie. It's the part when Ethan has to break into CIA headquarters, but he does it as a fireman along with Jean Reno's character.