Truthfully, I didn't even watched Wreck-It-Ralph when it first hit the big screen last year. But I've always been intrigued on how John C. Reilly was gonna pull this one off. I mean, I know the man from crazy comedy flicks like Talladega Night, Stepbrother, Walk Hard and the upcoming Marvel action feature film, Guardian of the Galaxy, but venturing into Disney's territory? This I gotta see. I really wanted to see this movie since they involved many of the classic video game characters of yesteryear in the flick eg. Streetfighters, Pac-Man, Tapper (among my favourite!) and the lot. Check out the full listing of video game characters that appeared/mentioned in the film here. Of course, Wreck-It-Ralph, the Felix Fix-It Jr game itself and numerous other games & characters were fictional but you just gotta love it how Disney introduced them to blend seamlessly with the rest of the 'real-world' arcade games already familiar to us. Wreck-It-Ralph now ranks among the best Disney animated film for me and my better half..no joke! Even our son got really hooked and we've actually lost count on the number of times he had spent watching the film since we got him the DVD. But trust me, this is one flick you just gotta see on blu-ray...it's that good of a visual treat! And you can imagine the look on the little man's face when we came across the action figures in the clearance bin at the TRU sale held recently near our place.
Read more....
The haul
I think Thinkway Toys made a number of figures from their 6" scale line. Perhaps this was just Series/Wave 1? I didn't google whether there exist Series/Wave 2 so some of you might have a better insight on this. Ralph came in 2 versions, his 'normal' look and the other was how he looked like when he stormed through the 'Heroes Duty/Doody' game. You might wanna look at the back of the card back for a better look on these. Wreck-It-Ralph and Felix Fix-It-Jr came from the same wave and Vanellope Von Schweetz was in the 'Sugar Rush racers' wave (there were also 2 other racers but we were unable to find them anywhere). We didn't pick up the 'Heroes Duty' Ralph (a decision I grew to regret later on when I got home) but instead we went for the regular Ralph, Felix and Vanellope. Our son was ECSTATIC!
Here's a look at the individual packagings and card backs. I love the way Thinkway packaged these. They're very colourful and such a joy to look at. A bit sad to see that I'm gonna rip them open in just a few minutes time to get to the figures.
Wreck-It-Ralph
Let's start with the titular character shall we? For a start, the action figures look exactly the same as they appeared on-screen so that's a big plus in my books. Unsurprising enough, both on-screen and action figure Ralph reminds me a great deal of John C. Reilly, a hallmark of Disney's animation film really, where the animated character does resemble the real-life voice-over actor/actresses of some sort.
Ralph has some pretty decent articulation for this standard of toy. I'm pretty sure that this line is primarily aimed for the kids so it's safe to say that many of us weren't really expecting that much of articulation on these figures. Boy we were wrong. The articulations are pretty wild on these figures. Well, not 'G.I. Joe' wild but at least Ralph and Felix have ball-jointed hips, which is something that even most VOTC Star Wars figures do not have!
Ralph has elbow joints and we're able to turn his feet to better make him stand. This is already good enough as Thinkway clearly does not anticipate Ralph to emulate the Iron Man 'landing' pose and such.
There is a lever at the back of Ralph's bulging body. You've guessed it right, this one is for you to re-create Ralph's 'wrecking' action feature.
Once you fiddle with him, Ralph can actually stand around on his own without any need for a stand. You're also able to pose his arms into your preferred positions before you press the lever down and.....*BAMM!*...."I'm gonna wreck it!!!"
Vanellope Von Schweetz
Vanellope is the outcast of the Sugar Rush game. Well, we all thought that was what she was before the final reveal at the end of the film. I think it's a pretty good deal by Thinkway when they packed in her Candy Kart together with her action figure.
Articulation-wise, Vanellope is not as good as Ralph or Felix but I guess it's ok as most of us plan to pose her in her Candy Kart anyway. If you look closely, the scale between Vanellope and her Kart isn't really accurate. I reckon the Candy Kart should be a bit bigger to truely be in scale with Vanellope.
Both Vanellope and the Candy Kart are very well produced toys. I especially like how the Kart turned out to be albeit the scale issue. However my son quickly pointed out that there should've been some 'pink' at the front tip of the Kart. What an observant little fella!
By the way, it was my son's idea to use the 'glittery' foam as the base to shoot pictures of Vanellope with....you know, to simulate that 'Candy Land' look from the film. Creative 5-year old mind!
Here's Vanellope with 'Stink brain'!
Felix Fix-it Jr
Honestly, I'm really impressed with the amount of articulations put into this action figure. Like I said before, a 'G.I. Joe' this ain't but Felix here will put some of the Star Wars VOTC figures to shame. I love it that he has a good intricate detail on him. Just look at the name 'stitch' on his shirt.
Felix also comes with a lever on his back for you to 'smash' his magical hammer around...you know, to fix things.
This is perhaps the best figure among the three (3). My son is very fond of Felix too as he carries him almost everywhere he goes, more frequent than Ralph himself. He even asked whether there are figure of the Nicelanders (them penthouse folks in which Ralph terrorizes) to go with Felix.
Before I forget, Ralph and Felix each came with a 'display' piece/accesorry. Both accesories are supposed to resemble the Nicelanders penthouse wall in which Ralph wrecks. Ralph is able to 'smash' his wall and it could pop into pieces. Felix can simulate his 'fixing' move on his wall accessory. Nice touch by Thinkway.
THE REBEL'S VERDICT: These are pretty solid and sturdy toys. It can definitely withstand the many long play hours (I suspect many kids or even adults will want to literally 'wreck' these figures!). I think that they're such a joy to look at so those adult collectors looking to get these for their 'adult' display will not be disappointed. For people who really enjoyed the animated film, then these would really make an excellent addition to your DVD/blu-ray piece. My only grouse is that there is no King Candy/Turbo figure to go with these three. The kids will enjoy these more than the adults, but like I said before, they make superb display items for your collectible shelves. My wife and I can't be happy enough to get these for our son....it's among his favourite animated film ever thus far and TRU's markdown prices certainly helped us in making the leap for these figures!
Comments