Well, finally, two companies have stepped up to the plate to create well-sculpted, respectfully done figures of the United States presidents- with TALKING FEATURES. Both companies, Talkingpresidents.com, and Toypresidents.com, have both recently released figures of the 40th President of the US. I was NOT impressed at all with the job Toypresidents.com did on Reagan( though I must admit they did a SPOT-ON likeness of our current president, George W. Bush). However, Talkingpresidents.com seemed to really have something interesting on their hands. I had planned to purchase the figure EVENTUALLY, but when I saw it one day while shopping at Toys R Us, I KNEW I had to have it. Here’s the lowdown:

Packaging - ****
GORGEOUS box art. The various shades of colors on the box really help this piece stand out. It honestly doesn’t look like ANYTHING else on the shelf, which makes it that much more obvious to the naked eye, and that’s a good thing. On both sides of the box are various pictures of Reagan, all during epic moments of his presidency, including when he took the Presidential Oath for his second term, in 1985- I just wish they’d have included when he took Oath for his FIRST term, in 1981, but I’ll let it slide. The back of the box details most of the lines in the voice box of the figure…but the best part of all: BELOW the details of the sound bits are excerpts from his farewell address to the nation, in 1989. Now THAT’S attention to detail!

Then, of course…there’s getting it OUT of the box. THAT is twisty tie hell. It’s not that there’s a lot OF them…but the one or two they do have, they decided to tie all over the body of the figure, meaning you may have to remove some of Ronnie’s garments to free the figure, to begin with. LUCKILY, his apparel goes right back on with ease, so I won’t bother taking a star off for the twisty ties.

Sculpting - ***
Well nothing stays perfect forever, but can still come pretty darn close! Truthfully, I don’t think ANY of the Reagan figures ever released have EVER captured the Great Communicator’s likeness perfectly- maybe it’s just THAT hard. Regardless, Talkingpresidents.com gave it their best, and it still comes RIDICULOUSLY close. The classic Reagan “snear”, as I’ll call it, they got PERFECT. Unfortunately, I don’t think his age was perfectly captured in this figure…he looks just a BIT too young- there honestly could’ve been a FEW more wrinkles in his face…that would’ve pretty much sealed the deal for me. Otherwise, best likeness I’ve seen yet of Reagan, from ANY figure. And then again, to QUOTE the Great Communicator “I will not make age an issue of this campaign…”, so well, there ya go.

Paint - ***1/2
True- there’s not really a lot to paint here, but what DOES need to be painted is naturally what really matters. Overall, the paint application on the Gipper’s face is just plain great. The shades of color, as well as the paint wash both came out as winners here- now if they could’ve only kept “within the lines” for this figure. I went thru ALL the Reagan figures at TRU, and EVERY SINGLE ONE had some paint slop at his hairline. With some of them, it’s more obvious than others. Otherwise, it looks great. His shoes were the other area requiring paint, and luckily, they were solid black- so THAT’S not easy to screw up.

Articulation - **1/2
Ok, granted, I know you’re not gonna give this figure to your kids to have beat up their Ninja Turtles or Batman figures- he’s meant to be a display piece. Regardless, I would’ve liked at least FOUR more points of articulation on him. He’s got neck, shoulders, and leg articulation. If they could’ve thrown in some shoulder and knee articulation, I think I’d be in love. His arms and hands are also not really sculpted in a position where you can do any amazing poses. And due to the way his suit getup is done, unless you’re willing to remove the outer suit, he’ll wind up being posed looking like he’s doing the Nazi salute, even if you DO just want to pose him as if he‘s waving to you…. 

Accessories - Bupkis
Unless you’re willing to count his shirt, pants, and suit as accessories, he’s got nothing. Maybe they could’ve thrown in that cowboy hat he had, or something….

AS for the shirt, pants, and suit, though- EXCELLENT job. It looks nicely hand-stitched, and accurately detailed- as it SHOULD be.

However, as for his voice feature, he has so many sound bites, so I’ll just give you three of them, here:

“I have only one thing to say to the tax increasers- go ahead, make my day”

“Mr. Gorbachev, TEAR DOWN THIS WALL!”

“There you go again”

Value - ***
Yeah, this IS a limited edition figure, and one meant for adult collectors, not little kids, so that DOES tend to bring the price up quite a bit. Regardless, at $25...it just seems a LITTLE expensive to me. If the price were about $5 cheaper, I’d add another star. 

Overall - ***
I’m very glad to own this figure, and I recommend it to ANY fan of Reagan, as well as most any Republican, PERIOD. Granted, it doesn’t have loads of articulation and all, but seriously, it’s a display piece- plain and simple. This’d also make a GREAT Holiday gift for one of your right-wing friends! …in fact, I recommend some Ukranians pick up a couple of these, from online…and put one near Vladimir Putin’s bed…it might scare some much-needed sense into him. :D

Now, being a fan of the Reagan administration, and a die-hard ‘80s fanatic, I of course have to lay down some cash to get his Vice President, George H.W. Bush( in time…no hurry). I’m also hoping we eventually see figures of Col. Oliver North, and British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, as well as figures of Reagan’s opposition- Ayatollah Khomeini, Mohammar Qaddafi, Leonid Brezhnev, Yuri Andropov, Constantin Chernenko, and the most legendary of them all, Mikhail Gorbachev. And as Yakov Smirnoff would likely say in this instance “In MY country, ve hang figures in effigy. In America, you display them on your shelves. Vhat a country!” :D

SCORE RECAP:
Packaging - ****
Sculpt - ***
Paint - ***1/2
Articulation - **1/2
Accessories - Bupkis
Value - ***
Overall - ***