Pixar simply can do no wrong, at least not yet. Even when one of their films is less than Academy Award material (Cars), it still ends up producing one of the best selling toy lines for Mattel.
Most animated movies don’t produce successful toy lines though, especially not action figures. For action figures to be truly fun, there needs to be confilct, and the type of conflict normally seen in animated movies is situational, less evil bad guy.
This can make it tough for adult fans of such movies who are looking for collectibles or 3 dimensional representations of their favorite characters. Gentle Giant is now working with Pixar to produce a series of maquettes based on their films, and the first to be released – Wall-E – has hit the porch. These maquettes are the usual poly-resin type material, and run around $100 – $125, depending on where you pick them up. The production run numbers are pretty small considering, and they only produced 1000 of Wall-E. As a companion piece, you can also pick up Eve, and they are producing both Remy and Linguini from Ratatouille. No word yet on others in the series.
If you have any questions or comments, drop me an email at mwc@mwctoys.com. If you’re looking for more reviews like this, check out my site at Michael’s Review of the Week – Captain Toy.
Wall-E Maquette by Gentle Giant
Gentle Giant has been hit or miss the last couple years, and they’ve never been able to capture the magic that their Star Wars series of mini-busts had. Even that line has lost almost all it’s lustre, and you can still pick up their concept McQuarrie Boba Fett bust, an exclusive to the San Diego Comic Con, at their web store. But so far, things are looking good for these Pixar maquettes, and it’s a license that could pay dividends for quite some time.
Packaging – ***
Wall-E comes in a box, without any window to allow you to see the actual maquette. A window wouldn’t do you much good anyway, since he comes in two pieces – his head and his body – which you attach. The head attaches to the body by way of a metal post.
There’s also the usual cool baseball card style Certificate of Authenticity, a collectible these days in it’s own right.
Sculpting – ***1/2
Although this is an animated character, he doesn’t have the usual level of simplistic detail. Pixar made Wall-E a very real looking robot, and that means this maquette needs plenty of small detail. GG has done a nice job reproducing the beloved ‘bot, right down to the rivets. With a combination of sculpted textures (sometimes smooth) and paint, they’ve captured the look of metal in resin.
He’s in a rough period here, with lots of dings, dents and scuffs, many of them sculpted into the basic square body. While we saw him in varioius stages of damaged to clean throughout the movie, I think this is the most iconic look for him. The proportions are good, and at about 6 1/2″ without the base, he looks pretty good with other sixth scale figures.
Paint – ***1/2
The paint work almost gained that extra half star, but for one issue.
I love the damage and dirt, which has been applied liberally and realistically. The paint work has also added quite a bit of realism to the metallic look, improving the sculpt as any great paint job should. There’s lots of detail work, and while the dirt tends to blend some of the color pallette, there’s enough variation here to remain interesting.
The issue? Ah, that’s easy – the stickers. Wall-E’s name on the front of his body is a sticker, as is the energy gauge on his chest. At this price point, I was expecting a high quality tampo sort of print job, not an obvious sticker.
Design – ***
As I mentioned earlier, it’s somewhat unique that the statue of Wall-E does not attach to the included base. Of course, with those wide treads, there’s no chance he’d ever topple over. Even so, it’s generally accepted that a statue should attach to the base, so it was a bit of a revelation. It’s also a nice feature, in case you’d rather display him without the white disc.
And white disc is really all the base is. That and a nameplate. The nameplate isn’t of the character but the movie, but since they are one in the same in this case, it’s a moot point. I’m very disappointed with their design choice with the base. It’s supposed to look like the inside of the ship of course, but I would have much prefered something from Earth. Considering all the cool potential with the vast junk yard Wall-E spent most of his life in, this plain white base is quite a let down. Had they gone with an Earth design, we could have also gotten the cricket hiding in there!
The design of Wall-E himself is much better. They’ve gone with his pensive appearance, with his hands clasped in front and a wide expectant look in his eyes. It reminds me of when he was hoping to hold Eve’s hand, or early on when he was watching My Fair Lady, as is surely GG’s intention. The pose fits the character, reminds me of perhaps the best part of the film, and is dynamic enough to give him some visual pop.
Value – **
At a retail of $125, you’re paying a pretty hefty price for a 6″ statue. Because Wall-E is about as wide as he is tall, he is bigger than the usual 6″ statue, but breaking that $100 mark is still quite a stretch. The production run is so low, however, that it’s going to be tough to impossible to find a real deal.
Things to Watch out For –
The metal post that holds the head in place can easily damage the resin body, so take care inserting it or removing it. It’s a tight fit too, so you might want to turn it slightly as you work it in or out. But be careful!
Overall – ***1/2
The price point is high at some places, but if you’d ordered back before he shipped, you could find stores selling him for $100. Unfortunately, demand was greater than supply this time around, and finding one now is going to take some patience and dedication. In fact, the Remy maquette from Ratatouille is selling out fast as well, while the Linguine and Eve seem easy enough to get. Gentle Giant could easily have a winner on their hands here, as collectors who love the Pixar movies have had very few high end choices. If they can produce a Sully, Mike, Buzz, and Woody this nicely, they’d all move extremely well.
Where to Buy –
Options are a bit limited already, as these are selling quite well:
– Urban Collector is sold out of Wall-E, but they still have Eve for $100.
– Things From Another World is also sold out of Wall-E, but likewise have Eve still available for $100.
– Entertainment Earth is also out of Wall-E (are you seeing a pattern here?) but have Eve for $113.
– The UK collectors can pick up Eve (no Wall-E) for 80 GBP at Forbidden Planet.
– and there’s always ebay.
Related Links –
Wall-E has actually had a fair share of product produced so far:
– there’s the nifty iDance and Interactive Wall-E’s, as well as the U-Command Wall-E.
– in the action figure area, there’s the smaller figures, as well as the larger deluxe figures.
Are the Oscars As We Know Them Doomed? We Can Only Hope….
WALL-E was one of the best films to come out of 2008.
I admit – I was wary of Wall-E. Cars had left me a little cold (and the creepy, post-apocalyptic, human-less but made by humans world it was set in was just disturbing), but Ratatouille was more enjoyable than I thought it was going to be, and my faith in Pixar was ready to be fully restored. And it was. It helps that I experienced the film sitting beside my 4-year-old nephew, who was in the process of taking in his very first movie on a movie theater’s BIG SCREEN. It was a magical time from start to finish, and the DVD brings it on home. If standard definition is still your cup of tea, then I recommend the 
Kudos to Stephen Colbert for reviving the tradition of a pundit holiday special – just like the George Plimpton celebrations of yore – with 
While I don’t think it’s quite the revelatory masterpiece that the hype made it out to be, I did enjoy 
After a pair of unsatisfying “best-of” compilations spanning the show’s entire run, we finally go back to the beginning for a proper complete first season set of 
After her turn in the Christmas special “The Runaway Bride”, some were worried about Catherine Tate reprising her role of Donna Noble as the 10th Doctor’s new companion in the fourth series of 
There’ve been a boxful of previous soundtrack releases for the Indiana Jones films, but now we’ve got 
If you’ve been patiently avoiding the single-disc releases for the next seasonal batch of that happy chap that lives in a pineapple under the sea, then you’ll rejoice in your purchase of 
Criterion sprinkles their cinematic fairy dust and delivers to film geeks another stellar special edition, this time for the acclaimed 1965 adaptation of John le Carre’s 
I view the remastered editions of the original Star Trek to be a unique aberration that sometimes succeeds in providing a richer experience than the original effects work, but often just plays as just an awkward exercise. Still, you can now wrap things up with the release of the final season, 
It’s been edited to remove Kermit, but Jim Henson’s 
By now, when one goes into a Werner Herzog film, one expects an experience wholly unique. That’s certainly what you get with 
Fans of The Who have been waiting years for a pristine release of the band’s 1977 concert in Kilburn, North London, and 
You know, I didn’t think I’d get anything out of 
When it first premiered, I had Bones pegged as one of those quirky shows that couldn’t possibly survive the network ignoramusi for long. But here we are with 
The idea of Will Smith playing an antisocial ex-superhero who gets hooked up with an image consultant played by Jason Bateman seems like it should delight me to no end, but 
The third season of 
A&E Home Video has leapt into the world of high definition with a pair of pre-existing catalogue releases that certainly set the stage for some nice drops in the future. First up is the inaugural season of their interstellar documentary series 
Full disclosure time. I consider my very first crush to be on Punky Brewster. Just to show how aware I was at the time, as a wee lad, I even knew that the precocious Punky was played by a girl named Soleil Moon Frye – who I vowed I would one day marry. At least that’s what I told my friends while we played in our junk wood playhouse at the top of the hill behind Quantico base housing all those years ago. I never did marry Soleil (her loss, really), but I did watch her show. Now, thanks to those pop culture machiavellis at Shout! Factory, I can relive that long-ago crush with all four seasons of 
It’s hard for them to dig themselves out of the hole the show has been going deeper and deeper into the past few years after its stellar first few seasons, but they at least attempted some course correction during the 7th season of 
It’s a legendary concert and now it’s gotten a suitably reverent release with 
Minoru Kawasaki is a bizarre filmmaker whose bizareness is matched only by that of his films themselves. Don’t believe me? Check out the psychological thriller starring a 6-foot office-working 
Tick another one off the list, as the fifth and final season of 
One of my nephew’s favorite Nick shows is The Fairly Oddparents, so I’m sure he’ll eagerly devour 
I am not the target audience. At all. But I know the target audience is probably screaming in giddy anticipation for the release of 
A staple of my 80’s Nick At Nite viewing returns with its sophomore outing in the form of 
There were times during the 3rd season of 
The pants-loving foursome is back in 
Continuing the tradition begun with Monsters, Inc., we’re gifted with another beautiful collection of production artwork and designs for Pixar’s latest flick with 
Anyone with even the slightest knowledge of sci-fi (or Dick Tracy, or The Venture Bros.) surely must have dreamed of the day that mankind would finally develop the technology needed to realize the video watch. That’s right – the ability to watch incredibly sharp video on your wrist. And view pictures. And listen to MP3s. Well, the dream has been realized with the 
Though my favorite Billy Joel album remains the severely underrated Turnstiles (I spent an entire summer with a friend tooling around in his VW bug listening to “Summer, Highland Falls”), a close runner-up would be the album that saved Joel from being dumped by his label, and cemented him as an artist to be reckoned with – 1977’s The Stranger. In (belated) celebration of the album’s anniversary, we get the fully remastered 2-disc 
And while we’re on the topic of expanded revistings, I must mention the new deluxe editions of both the eponymous 
Just when the summer doldrums were beginning to set in, I found out just why everyone has been fawning over 
While we still can’t the series itself on DVD, at least we can watch the camp glory that is the Adam West 
Even 20 years later, 
Any flick that’s smart enough to cast both Patton Oswalt and Mindy Cohn is – at the very least – worth a viewing. Written and directed by Daniel Waters (the writer of Heathers), 
From the director of the upcoming Pineapple Express comes a smart, gritty little indie flick about an escalating blood feud amongst a group of half brothers in the Arkansas back roads. In 
To be honest with you, the only reason I ever watched 
If you’re in a pinch and need an entirely watchable, inoffensive romantic comedy to fill out a date with, look no further than 
It’s certainly not a comedy classic, but there’s a goofy, almost 80’s quality about 
I’m sure you’re just as shocked as I am that 
If you’ve been missing the true-crime stories with a sly presentation that was City Confidential, then you want to check out the marriages gone sour stories recounted in 
Kyra Sedgwick is back as homicide investigator Brenda Johnson in the 3rd season of 
Karl Malden and Michael Douglas are back on 
The crew of the Planet Express return in the 2nd of the 4 direct-to-DVD adventures that manage the rare feat of resurrecting a show with not only the same level of quality of the original run, but above and beyond it. 
If you were to transplant Grosse Point Blank to Belgium, you’d wind up with 
If I have one disappointment with the soundtrack album to Pixar’s 
I’ve spoken many times of my Anglophilia, and my fascination with the oftimes bizarre and eccentric history of England. With that in mind, it’s understandable that I dug right in to 
The History Channel’s dramatic recreations of classic wartime aerial combat makes their high-flying return with the complete second season of 
I don’t know why exactly it is that it seems the bulk of today’s kiddie flicks compare unfavorably to the classics of yesteryear. Maybe it’s that manufactured sheen that it all seems to have – CGI is a sterile tool, and it adds a cold, uninvolved feeling to modern children’s films. Case in point is 
If I had a time machine, somewhere on “to do” list would be to travel back just a few short years to when people like Michael Eisner and Jeffrey Katzenberg proclaimed 2-D animation a dead artform and slap them over the head with a copy of the film 
I’m all for goofy, well-written fun in kids shows, and 
Genre-bending shows are always a gamble on network television, as viewers are usually slow on the uptake and executives are quick to lower the axe. Occasionally, one slips through the cracks and is given some legs – such as 
Despite the hokey kitsch value the success of the Broadway musical version has brought it, 
If you were to take that early 90’s HBO staple Dream On and transport it to Showtime and reinvent it as an edgy dramedy about a sex and drug addicted author (David Duchovny), you’d have 
If you were to ask Roland Emmerich to remake Caveman, the result would be 
Ignore that abysmal Roland Emmerich flick, and delve into the real pre-history with 
Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko, John Romita, Curt Swan, Fred Hembeck… Yes, Fred Hembeck. Destroyer of universes, gentle mocker, ooner of lamps, and master of four-color mirth, our very own Fred Hembeck has been honored with 
Although my interest was certainly piqued, I in no way expected to be as swept up as I became in HBO’s miniseries on the political life of our 2nd president, 
Going in, I had my reservations about 
As far as classic seasons go, I’d have to include the 4th season of 
I’ll never escape a jungle prison with nothing more than bubblegum and a fire ant, but I admit to feeling just a little bit MacGyver-ish when wielding the 
Not realizing just want kind of legs the series would wind up having, Fox originally released the first season of 24 as a borderline bare-bones DVD set. Eager to rectify that mistake (and get fans to purchase a second version), we’ve now got 
Rest assured that not only is Steve McGarrett back in the fourth season of 
After losing themselves in the wilderness of HD-DVD for a year, Paramount has come in from the cold with a full embrace of the high-def victor, Blu-Ray, with a clutch of releases to get up to speed. They all sport the same bonus features as the standard definition discs (save for Bee Movie, which does have some exclusive materials), but fancy-pants cinephiles can now pick up 
There’s always something mildly off-putting about reunion movies featuring the aged cast of beloved TV shows. Maybe that’s because they’re usually frozen in our memories looking and acting like they did when we last saw them, regardless of how time has since treated the actors. Such is the case with the pair of flicks contained on the 
If you made up the story of Raymond Burr’s life, you would call it a an outrageous soap opera fabrication – but the truth is just as outrageous as fiction, as you’ll discover in the biography 
Since everyone and their brother seems to be releasing westerns from their catalogues these past few months, it makes sense that Lionsgate would want to revisit 
I think I’m going to coin a new term for 
If you never got around to picking up either 
Not one, but two more actresses get the featured collection treatment – Sophia Loren and Catherine Deneuve. The 
The one-armed man is still on the loose in the first volume of 
When a TV show is successful, there’s always the a certain amount of curiosity as to whether the characters would transfer to the big screen. Sadly, Don Adams’s Maxwell Smart did not do too well in the transition, which meant the sublime genius that was Get Smart became the tepid disappointment of 
It’s a bit of a grab bag, but 
All good things must come to an end, and so must things that lived a few years beyond their shelf life – the eighth and final season of 
Having long ago given up on watching it since being disappointed when after its first few outings on Adult Swim and the first season DVD, I was curious to see if my opinion would be changed by the second season of 