Funko and Super 7 Go Retro with New ReAction Action Figures

The power of nostalgia strikes again! Back in 2012, toy companies Funko and Super 7 teamed up to finish what Kenner started back in the '70s by producing a line of 3 and 3/4-inch action figures based on the movie Alien. This partnership marked the beginning of the ReAction line of action figures, one that later expanded to include similar-sized action figures based on the Six Million Dollar Man TV series.

I'm guessing that these ReAction figures must have been a success, because that would explain the recent announcement by Funko and Super 7 to produce even more ReAction figures based on characters from Back to the Future, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Escape From New York, Firefly, Goonies, Nightmare Before Christmas, Predator, Pulp Fiction, The Terminator and other popular films and TV shows from the '80s and '90s. These figures are currently available for pre-order over at Entertainment Earth.

I find it amusing that even after the arrival of highly detailed yet reasonably priced action figures from companies such as McFarlane Toys and NECA, fans and collectors are still willing to spend money on even less detailed action figures that have a design aesthetic similar to Kenner's during the late '70s and early '80s. On the other hand, I have no room to judge--after all, the expanding ReAction line will also include figures based on classic Universal Studios monsters, figures that I'm assuming will appear similar to the 3 and 3/4-inch Universal Studio monster figures that Remco released during the early '80s.

Remco's Universal Monster action figures.

Even though I never collected any of Remco's Universal Monster figures, I eyed them with great curiosity and fascination back in the day when I was just discovering classic monster movies. Remco's line had Dracula, Frankenstein's Monster, the Wolfman, the Mummy, the Phantom of the Opera and the Creature from the Black Lagoon; the ReAction line will have the same set of characters along with the Invisible Man. Thus, while I prefer to collect figures that have greater detail, such as Diamond Select's line of classic monster figures, there's a part of me that wants to spend a chunk of change on ReAction figures so that I can have classic Universal Monsters rub elbows with more contemporary horror icons such as the Alien, Predator, a T-800 endoskeleton, and slashers such as Micheal Meyers and Freddy Krueger.

Check out the ReAction Figures and More blog for updates about additions to the ReAction line of figures.

Lego Update: Ghostbusters and Star Wars

With its first theatrically released movie debuting in a few days and more licensed merchandise on its way, Lego is doing extremely well for itself. Here’s an update on two geek-centric licenses that Lego has in its ample portfolio:

Ghostbusters: While a third Ghostbusters movie remains stuck in development hell, Lego is moving ahead with its first Ghostbusters Ectomobile kit in honor of the first movie’s 30th anniversary. The kit was designed by Brent Waller as part of Lego’s CUUSOO project, a project that allows fans to submit their own designs to Lego for possible release. The kit will include minifigs of all four Ghostbusters and the ghost Slimer. Waller’s original design included flashing lights and working sirens, although it hasn’t been determined if these features will be part of the official kit. The kit will be released later this year.

Another Lego fan, Alex Jones (a.k.a. Orion Pax), also designed a playset based on the Ghostbusters’ firehouse headquarters. Although this playset is not scheduled at this time be a Lego-licensed Ghostbusters kit, you can click here to see the incredible amount of detail that Jones put into his brick-based recreation of Ghostbusters HQ.

Busting ghosts, Lego style.

Star Wars: As part of its ever-expanding line of Star Wars kits, Lego has been providing previews for its summer 2014 line of new licensed kits. While most of these kits are based on vehicles and locations from the original trilogy, two are based on vehicles from the upcoming Star Wars: Rebels animated series: The Ghost and Phantom. According to details that have been released about Rebels, the Ghost is a ship that will serve a similar purpose in the series as the Millennium Falcon did in the original trilogy--namely, as the ship the heroes use to go on missions and transport cargo that’s crucial to the Rebel Alliance.

The Phantom looks to be a smaller vehicle than the Ghost, with a smaller crew and lesser transportation capabilities. It looks like a Y-Wing fighter that has been stripped down and repurposed to function as a shuttle.

The Art of Tron: Uprising (Part 4 of 4): Landscapes

In this final post of this four-parts series devoted to the art of Tron: Uprising, we'll be taking a look at the various Grid landscapes in the world of Uprising.

Of the many aspects of Tron: Uprising that I've covered in this series, the Grid landscapes illustrate the paradoxical nature of the Tron universe. It is a world-within-a-world, something that is both infinitely vast and infinitely small, something that is derived from common technology we can see, hear, touch and use yet remains invisible to almost every human being. Adding to the Grid landscapes' ethereal aura is the omnipresent neon glow that appears to emanate from the Grid itself. Since the Grid and everything within it exists in a sunless, electronically-generated space, it is up to the Grid itself to provide light sources for its virtual inhabitants.

Emphasizing the artificiality of the Grid in both Tron: Legacy and Uprising is the contrast between the cities where the programs live and the wastelands that exist in between the cities. The sleek, multi-leveled environments of the cities represent virtual space that has been organized by careful construction, while the harsh, formless wastelands represent the ostensibly endless amounts of virtual space that has yet to be refined and given purpose by programming. As such, there is no real "natural" world within the Grid; everything is artificial, and therefore anything that has no foundation in programming is inherently crude and discordant. This is what made the arrival of the isometric programs (a.k.a. ISOs) from the wastelands such a surprise to both Kevin Flynn and the programs he produced--that structure, function and intelligence could arise from an unformed space and without deliberate creation.

Click below to see the portfolio of Grid landscapes from Tron: Uprising.

I pulled the above pictures from the sites of Joseph Feinsilver, Alberto Mielgo, Annis Naneem and Robh Ruppel, artists who contributed their talents to the production of Tron: Uprising, as well as from other sources. Additional art can be found on the Tron Lives: Uprising Art site.

The Art of Tron: Uprising (Part 3 of 4): Buildings and Interiors

In this third of four posts devoted to the art of Tron: Uprising, we'll be taking a look at the buildings and interiors that the characters inhabited in Uprising.

Even though Tron: Legacy is a direct continuation of the events in Tron, it differed greatly from the first film in terms of the programs' behavior and environments. The programs in Tron adhered to the programming that their users at Encom gave them, while the programs in Legacy behaved according to how Kevin Flynn structured the environment that he built for them in the stand-alone Grid. Tron: Uprising gave fans a closer look at the relationship between the Grid programs and their environments, and what Flynn might have had in mind when he originally built the Grid.

Unlike the Encom programs in Tron, the Grid programs in Uprising build, populate and maintain locations that are akin to locations built for humans: offices, garages, medical facilities, night clubs and shipping container yards. By building human-like environments for the Grid programs, it would appear that Flynn hoped to foster humanoid behavior among the programs (e.g., emotions and free thought). Nevertheless, the Grid is still a virtual, digitally-constructed environment with its own unique properties, such as the Escheresque area of compressed space that was seen in the Uprising episode "The Stranger".

Click below to see the portfolio of buildings and interiors from Tron: Uprising.

I pulled the above pictures from the sites of Jojo Aguilar, Joseph Feinsilver, Vaughan Ling, Alberto Mielgo, Annis Naneem and Robh Ruppel, artists who contributed their talents to the production of Tron: Uprising, as well as from other sources. Additional art can be found on the Tron Lives: Uprising Art site.