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Tron SDCC 2010 Comic-Con Exclusive
"The
following is a guest review. The review
and photos do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Michael Crawford
or Michael's Review of the Week, and are the opinion and work of the
guest author."
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Guy Klender checks in tonight
with a look at another of the SDCC exclusives - Tron! Take it
away, Guy!
In the summer of 1982 I walked to the garage, took my fathers chalk
line from the toolbox and carefully marked out squares on the
driveway. The blue lines of the chalk shown bright
against the black of the fresh asphalt, and there, laid out in front of
me was my very own TRON grid. I put my glow-in-dark
Flynn into his yellow light cycle, pulled the ripcord, and raced him
down the gridŽ. In my mind, he and I were escaping the
Recognizers and Sark. I was immersed in the world of TRON. I
had all the toys, though there were few, and as often as I could I rode
my bike to the arcade to plunk quarters into the TRON video game,
always hoping to get past level 5.
Twenty-seven years later I am back on the grid. Not on my
parents’ driveway, but in the rows and aisles of San Diego Comic-Con,
and there, in aisle 37, row 1, the Recognizer once again casts a
looming shadow over me. As I walk under the towering black and orange
menace I gaze at walls of new TRON toys. Not just four
figures with glow-in-dark paint and a few light cycles, but figures and
vehicles that light up and race up walls, figures with illuminated
faces that talk, and data discs that emanate blue light and
sounds. We have entered a new age of computers and a new age
in toys.
Welcome program…to Comic-TRON.
150,000 people descended upon the San Diego Convention Center for the
annual International Comic Con and the streets were filled with the
images and sounds of TRON. Banners hung from every street
lamp with images of speeding light cycles, new heroes and heroines, and
Jeff Bridges as Flynn.
Wednesday night, as a member of the press, I was able to get into the
exhibit hall early, but not before a massive line had formed behind the
light cycle at the TRON booth and in minutes all 100 allotted vintage
figures had been sold. The door had been open only… 3
minutes. I stood and watched the thousands rush over only to
hear, “Sorry we are sold out for the
night”. With only 1500 being made this
exclusive was going to be harder to get than I had thought.
Thursday morning the line for Hall H wrapped around and around and
around, like a ride at Disneyland--something about that seemed fitting.
The 6,000 of us that were lucky enough to get into the room donned 3D
glass, cheered and stomped as our voices were recorded for inclusion in
the film, and left breathless at what we had seen. I was 11
again, with desire to live in the world of TRON, to race light cycles
and hurl electric Frisbees around. When the
presentation was over I sprinted to the TRON booth, but alas the 350
for the day were long gone. As my want for the vintage figure
grew, my desire for the new figures grew even more. We looked like
children gazing into a department store Christmas window display,
crowded around and looking in at the glowing delights. It
took forever just to get close to the window to peek in, as I believe
all 149,999 other people were in front of me at the booth.
TRON fever was in full force and when the masses were told the toys
would not be out until October you watched as their smiles drifted
downward, not wanting to wait to have all these cool toys. I
knew how they felt as I made a mental list of how many flying data
discs I would be buying so I could have TRON disc wars with all my
friends, now in their 30’s, a disc battle we could not have until now.
Friday morning, when the doors opened, within minutes the line
stretched down to the end of the hallway to get to the booth and
security had to request over and over to come back in 30 minutes when
the line died down. The line never did “die down”.
What did was the number of figures and vehicles left for the day, and
when I got back to the line that number was zero.
I was prepared for Saturday, and was there 3 hours before the place
opened. At 6:00 a.m., lines snaked in every direction around
the building and over the grass. I’m sure most of these
people are here in line to see the new Harry Potter thing I assured
myself, but as I asked what each line was for the answer was
always…”TRON figures”. Damn. I was 3
hours early and still wasn’t going to get one.
Sunday: My last chance. It is still dark out but
I’m one of the first 25 people outside the exhibitor’s hall.
When the clock strikes 9:00 am, and they let us into the hall, I’m
off. My hours of speed walking on the treadmill pay off, as I
zip down the aisles, in and out of hordes of people and around
trashcans and other obstacles, careful not to be caught
“running”. Here I am. I’m in line. I have
a number. I have my cash in my hand and my face glows as I near the
counter and ask for, “one of each please.”
Here now programs…the review of the San Diego Comic Con TRON exclusive.
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Packaging
- ****
This was one of the reasons everyone wanted one so badly. He
came inside a replica of the TRON arcade cabinet of the
1980’s. The shape of the box almost identical to the game I
put so many quarters in. Graphics of TRON and of Sark and “TRON Vintage
Figure” are on the side. The front has light cycles,
recognizers, tanks, 1 and 2 player buttons, coin slots, 25-cent
markings and even the little lock on the front, so the guy at the end
of the night could come and collect all those quarters. A
hole in the front with “TRY ME” allows you to activate the light up
feature and see in through the window. What really blew me
away was the joystick, the crystal blue plastic with the tiny red
trigger and the TRON logo, it is fantastic attention to detail that
sets this apart. They could have easily not done the
joystick, or made it a graphic printed on paper but instead they
sculpted this tiny thing and made it perfect and it pops out at you
immediately. The front clear plastic allows you to see the
figure inside but also hold some secret messages. LIMITED
EDITION 1500, CREDITS 1, and HIGH SCORE 82,079 FLN. That last
one if Flynn’s name of course but also the release date of the original
film. There is a series of numbers as well as the Pi sign on
the front and I believe that may be a clue to something else as well.
Packaging
2.0 - ***
The cabinet opens and TRON is inside a black tube. The button
that lights it up on the front is an identity disc from the
film. It is not molded in color but rather black but it is
neat they even did his disc for the button, when a flat round circle
would have worked fine. The tube, a black plastic cylinder
with a smoked black plastic curved front hold the figure. The smoked
plastic can be taken off the front, and I prefer him this way as the
light is even brighter but if the room you display him in is bright
this allows you to still see the light up feature, but if you keep him
inside the arcade cabinet I would take it off so he is still protected
from dust but glows bright when you look in the window.
Sculpting
- ***
All the little lines and squares and circle of the film suit are cut
in, and when the light hits the blue paint he comes to life.
The facial sculpt may or may not be Bruce Boxleitner it is really based
more on the movie poster and the iconic scene where TRON is able to
communicate with Alan, his user. He is posed with his hands
reaching up to grab his descending data disc, his feet wide on the
circled platform, a power pose if ever there was one.
Paint
-
***
There are gradations of gray all over his suit, they are subtle but
really make him come to life. The blue electric lines are all
perfectly clean with no slop and in something so small I would have
thought there might have been some. The face is pasty fleshes
tone, the eyes and features almost grayscale and at first you are not
sure if it is right but when you watch the film again you see that gray
dead color on the characters that throws you off when seeing the figure.
Articulation
- Bupkis
This is really more a statue or light if figurine than action figure
but damn he is cool, to think that they are making one for the new
movie that light up and move and speak.
Accessories
- Bupkis
Unless you consider the arcade cabinet package an accessory he does not
come with any. However in this pose and for what he is I did
not expect any either.
Fun
Factor - **1/2
The score is three full stars if you had the excitement of getting it
at the Comic Con and being part of all the madness and excitement over
TRON there. You will hit the light up feature over and over
when you first get him, you will jiggle the joystick, and when your
friends come over you will, “just have to show you this
thing”. For a statue that you really don’t play with, he is a
lot of fond and brings back lots of wonderful memories.
Things
to Watch Out For -
He is packed tightly inside the cabinet box so gp slow when opening it
up to remove him. Also I would not jerk the joystick around too much as
just like the original game joysticks there is nothing worse than when
they break and you can’t get a good game let alone high score out of
them.
Overall
- ***1/2
While not so much an action figure as it is a statue, a number of
factors contribute to the TRON vintage figure's overall high
score. It's superb, detailed packaging in which the figure is
sure to be displayed is as much a part of the figure itself as the
sculpt and painting. Nostalgia here figures a great deal into
the
cool factor and collectibility of this piece, as evidenced by the
thousands who stood in line at the SDCC TRON booth hoping to score one
of these limited babies, and acquisition was tightly
controlled.
The light-up feature is a major factor in the overall score as well and
at such a reasonable price point for a highly coveted, detailed
representation of such an iconic early 80's film, it earns it's solid
overall 3.5 stars.
Where
to Buy -
EBay maybe.
I did not see too many of these popping up the way most of the SDCC
exclusives do. I believe it’s because if you were lucky
enough to get one of them, you wanted it badly and not simply for
resale value on the black market of toys.
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This product was purchased for the review by the reviewer.
Photos and text by Guy Klender.
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