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Sculpting - ***1/2
Yep, this is a bank, but the real question is - does it look like the
idol from the film? Here's a photo of one
of the originals (there were several made for the film) that
came from the famous Forest Ackerman colleciton.
Some
versions of the idol have had pupils, and whether or not it should have
been debated on various boards. This one, like the one in the Ackerman
collection, does not, and I prefer that look. There are others that
claim the idol had brown
glass eyes that moved, and were supposed to follow Indy
around the room. That's not the look they went for here, thank goodness.
This
idol is a lightweight, hollow plastic. The sculpt on the movie props
was fairly rough, and somewhat soft. You'll notice here that the lips
and teeth are much more sharply defined and cut, and the hair 'braids'
are not as straight looking. I actually prefer the rougher appearance,
and the sharper definition of the sculpt, while not perfectly screen
accurate, is more appealing to me from an aesthetic point of view.
Of
course, she has the little guy shooting out from between her legs.
Depending on which version you compare this too, he might appear to
have his head tilted too far up...or just right.
After looking at
dozens of photos from screen captures to photos of the supposed actual
props, I have to say that I'm very pleased with this one. It's not
absolutely perfect, but it's extremely close, and the casual observer
is going to recognize it instantly.Perhaps even better, they're going
to assume it cost a whole lot more than $20.
And
if you were wondering, the bank is a very good size, standing about 8
1/2" tall, and about 6" deep or so, depending on where you measure. In
fact, in my hands it seems a little *too* big, compared to the on
screen vesion, but not enough to be an issue.
Paint - ***1/2
I'm not positive that this has been painted. I haven't taken a knife to
the bottom of it to check my theory, but I'm pretty sure it's cast in
this glittery gold/bronze color, making it tough to do much damage to
it with normal handling.
The
color isn't quite as screen accurate as the sculpt though. It was most
definitely gold on screen, with that very bright iconic shine that only
gold seems to have. The color here is certainly shine, and it's
glittery, but it has a slightly darker almost bronze look to it, even
in bright light.
However, the color is even and
consistent, with
very few odd spots or marks on the surface. As I said in the sculpt
section, it certainly will appear on the shelf like a much more
expensive collectible than what it is.
Design - ***1/2
The design is pretty straight forward - make it look like the on screen
version, and yet allow it to operate as a bank. They've pulled off both.
The bank slot is up high on the
back of the head, invisible from the front, and even relatively
unobtrusive from the back.
The opening is in the bottom of
course, and is plugged tight with a plastic stopper. It's large enough
to easily accommodate coins larger than US quarters, but let's face it
- after buying all the other Indy collectibles this year, you don't
have any change to put in it anyway. Ah, the irony.
The
slot in her head would be easy enough for even a basic customizer to
fill in and sculpt over. The color matching might be tricky, but it
wouldn't be THAT hard. And since this is a bank, you could easily fill
it first with something heavy, giving it the kind of weight it so
rightly deserves.
Value - ****
If yoiu go shopping for ANY plastic bank in this scale, you'll spend
almost as much as this guy costs. And yet he's licensed...and doubles
as a film accurate movie prop replica! You can get him for just $16 at
a couple of my sponsors (see below) and at that price he's a steal.
Things To Watch Out For
-
Not a thing.
Overall - ***1/2
How can you not love this thing? At this price point, you're getting a
great representation of a well known movie prop. There's some minor
issues, but they are just that - minor. And considering how little you
get these days for $15 - $20 on the collectibles market, this little
bugger is an eye poppingly good value. I expect we'll see this showing
up on a lot of Best Prop Replica of 2009 lists come next January.
Score Recap:
Packaging - Bupkis
Sculpting - ***1/2
Paint - ***1/2
Design - ***1/2
Value - ****
Overall - ***1/2
Where to Buy -
Online options include:
- Things from Another World
has it at $16.
- Urban Collector
has it at $16.
- CornerStoreComics
has it listed at $17.
- Entertainment
Earth has it listed at $18.
- Clark
Toys has him at $18.50.
- in the UK, Forbidden
Planet has it for 14 GBP. Just search for 'idol'.
- or you can search ebay using
the sponsor MyAuctionLinks.
Related Links -
I've reviewed a whole lot of
Indiana Jones merchanise this year:
- the best of it all is the Sideshow Premium Format Indiana
Jones.
- in a similar scale is the Ultimate Quarter Scale from DST,
and Sideshow also has their 12"
Indy.
- there was the recent Medicom Professor Jones Sr.
- one of my favorite new Indy
collectibles is the Mighty Muggs from Hasbro, and I've reviewed waves 1, and 2. Of course,
they've already been canceled.
- for the sixth scale
collectors, I recently checked out the Hasbro
mail away Ark.
- on the cute side, check out the Adventure Heroes.
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