Thanks to Malcolm over at Unpunched for showing off his newly-purchased E.T. figure from NECA, because if he hadn't, I wouldn't have know it was out there. And man, am I glad this toy is out there.
I have loved E.T. ever since I first saw it in theaters as a kid. I have told the tale many times on this blog about how I cried my eyes out at the end, wore an E.T. baseball cap every day and ate nothing but Reese's Pieces for a year, so I won't re-hash all of that and instead just go into what I think of the figure.
Malcolm had mentioned on his review that this figure "is the ultimate E.T. I was envisioning in my head as a kid." I couldn't agree more. But I'll take it even further and say that this is even better than what I had hoped for as a kid.
The original E.T. that came out in '82 was disappointing to say the least. Although I loved it, it just had no place among my other toys. It was too big for one thing and I had really wanted an entire line of 3 3/4" E.T. movie figures, but no dice. I would eventually incorporate a small E.T. PVC figure into my action figure adventures.
This new figure from NECA, though, is pretty much a straight up home run.
I used to make fun of NECA's figures for pretty much being statues. But their attention to detail an increasing articulation has occasionally gotten some cash out of my wallet. However, if they keep up the kind of quality and posability that I'm seeing in this E.T. figure, then I may have to become a regular NECA collector.
I especially love how posable the head and neck are on this figure, allowing E.T. to look in many directions, such as up into the night sky.
Or perhaps at the end of his finger, wondering how he got ketchup on it.
The few small downsides (and these are really minor nit-picks) would be the aforementioned ketchup finger, which I know is supposed to be his light-up healing finger, but the paint app just doesn't equate.
Also, while I'm thankful that he even comes with accessories at all, they are a little underwhelming. His white blanket (the one he wore like the shroud of Jesus after coming back to life) is an odd, plastic thing that i think would have been better made of actual cloth. The spilled bag of Reese's Pieces is nice, but I would have liked to have seen the actual name of the candy and packaging art on the bag, but I know how licensing can be. And the final nit-pick with the accessories is in the "extra neck" that it comes with. Now, first of all, it's not that much longer than the neck that's already on the figure, so they would have been better off making the head fit completely on the shoulders like it did in the movie and then having one neck piece that is longer. But I guess the thing that bothers me the most about the neck piece is how disturbing it looks out of context. I mean, just look at the thing...
Over all, I love the heck out of this figure. I probably won't be buying the other figures in the series (like Drag E.T. or Bathrobe E.T.), but I would have loved an Elliot figure.
Still, this is the embodiment of everything I loved back in the '80s and he sits, as we speak, on my desk, keeping me company, reminding me of a simpler, more innocent time and occasionally looking at the ketchup on the end of his finger.
That's it for today, kids. Beeeeeee goooooooooood...
