Indiana Jones coming back to the big the big screen has given
Hasbro a reason to give us new Raider's figures. If you've
visited the site before, you'll know that I'm a pretty big fan
of the vintage Kenner Indiana Jones line. I will say that
I don't have a complete collection. I don't have a
complete Well of Souls or Ceremonial Belloq. Also, I don't
have any pieces of the Streets of Cairo set.
The Streets of Cairo set featured a cart and market place
accessories. It also came with the "Monkey Man." The
mysterious figure that spies on Indy as he tries to outwit the
Germans. The Monkey Man accomplished his mission by using
a monkey with a sweet tooth.
In the vintage line, Kenner apparently figured kids wouldn't
buy MM by himself. So they turned him into a deluxe
figure.
In today's world, even characters with 10 seconds of screen
can make a single carded release. So, this time around
Monkey Man makes his appearance without all the fruit and
baskets.
Appearance:
The Indy films are full of actors playing multiple parts and
the Monkey Man is no different. The Monkey Man was
portrayed by
Vic Tablian, who also portrays the duplicitous guy who tries
to shoot Indy in the back during the opening sequence.
I'm sure that was done to save money, but it also pays tribute to
the serials the Indy films were inspired by.
This figure reminds of a guy you would find in 40's
swashbuckling film. The sneaky backstreet informant or
pickpocket. Of course, that's what he is. He's an
average one-eyed guy in robes trying to make a buck.
The outer robe looks pretty close to the screen
version. The horizontal stripes are the right approximate
thickness, or at lest close enough at this scale. The only
real issue with it, is MM had a bit of a cuff on each of his
sleeves. That may have been a continuity thing, though.
Present in the pictures I found, but not in other scenes.
The
under robe looks okay at first glance. There are a couple
of things that kind of strange about it. First, it would
have been nice if the neck was sculpted slightly open. It
would have made it look that much more real. Second, the
stripes are off on this portion of his costume. They're a
little larger than the film version, and also the colors are a
bit off. Again, at this scale, they're not bad.
The strangest thing about the under robe is it's design.
It's glued to his front like an apron. I'm sure this was
done to cut down on expense and bulk. But, it makes for
one odd looking figure when you take his outer robe section off.
These
couple of picture will give the customizing crowd an idea of
what they have to work with under the robes. I was
thinking without the outer robe, he might be able to become a
Cairo Henchman variation. That'd be more work than a simple
repaint, however.
When I saw the figure in the package, I thought Hasbro had
re-used Fireside Padme's
scarf. It's not, but it I had to find her to be sure.
In this case, the scarf doesn't have the cut in the back to get
it on and off, which is a huge improvement. However, I
don't recall him having a scarf like that. Maybe some
small tied cords or something, but not this little brother
choking monstrosity.
The
paint work over all is good. With all of the stripes on this
figure, it could have went horribly wrong. For the most part
the stripes look okay. The tops of the arms are a little
funky, but not bad.
His face and head are probably some of the better work I've seen
on one of the new Indy figures. The one eyebrow and eye
don't seem TTFT angry eyes huge.
There are two areas where the paint could have been improved.
One, the skin tone on the hands and face don't quite match.
Overall, I think the skin is too dark. I asked Mrs. Nerd for
an unbiased second opinion and she thought it was fine. So,
you'll have to decide for yourself.
The other area where this guy could have been just a little
better, is his appearance. Monkey Man in the film was a
filthy alley dweller, this guy looks like he just got his outfit
from the drycleaner. A little wash would have helped, in my
opinion.
Fun:
The
robe hinders MM's movement a bit. But, the arms are nicely
articulated. What I can't figure out, is his ankles.
They are articulated. He did ride a motorcycle in the
film, so maybe they were planning on that. Of course, he
couldn't sit on it with his robes. So, who knows what they
were thinking? Deluxe soft goods, motorcycle riding Monkey
dude in the future perhaps?
He does come with two accessories. A knife that we
never saw him use in a film and his monkey, of course. A
sheath or place to stash the knife would have been a nice touch.
The knife reminds me a bit of the knife the thug in the
marketplace pulls on Marion.
The Monkey is the same one from the Cairo Marion two-pack.
Marion's monkey is the one on the right. I think the paint
work on the Marion Monkey is better, and more screen accurate.
The painted nostrils on MM's are just spooky. The paint on both
seems to be second rate compared to the paint on the figure.
The monkey sculpt has a curve to the bottom to fit to an arm or a
shoulder. The articulated tail can help that as well.
A bendy tail would have allowed for more poses, especially when
putting him on a figure. For a "Monkey Man" figure, I
expected a bit more from the monkey. I mean the figure has
"monkey" in his name, for crying out loud.
The
single carded releases are coming with "relics." They are
miniature versions of some of the more memorable objects Indy has
come across. Each comes packed in a small "crate."
Presumably, so you can build your own warehouse scene. It's
awfully tempting to scan some of these and make a printable sheet
for download. Maybe if somebody asked me nicely....
Inexplicably, Monkey Man comes with the Nurhache Urn from "Indiana
Jones and the Temple of Doom." The sculpt on the item is
good. It doesn't open for the truly curious. What would have
made it better is if it had been molded in a translucent green
white, with a darker green wash. That would have made it
look closer to the jade it's suppose to represent.
Overall:
One of the issues with the vintage line was that
Indy didn't have enough foes to go up against. Out of
11 figures, three were Indy and two were Belloq. It's good
to see plenty of bad guys with the new Indy line.
Of course, Monkey Man never met Indy face to
face. But now, thanks to a little plastic magic, he can on
your desktop. Or, he can lurk the back alleys of your
streets of Cairo diorama.
Engineernerd Score: 87/100
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