Damn you, NECA. I almost got away from your insipid retro temptations!
Last fall I acquired the blue-coverall’d Jason from NECA’s Reel Toys line, and while not being a scale I collect with any kind of regularity, I thought it was pretty cool for what it was. Jason was a good tester figure for me, since I don’t have any major attachments to him. There have been other very cool figures in the line that I almost bit on, but for the most part, I was able to avoid them, albeit narrowly in the case of figures like Eddie.
But then I saw Snake Plissken in his Escape From New York glory and had to buy him on sight.
Funko almost did me as dirty with their ReAction figure of the same character, but the craftsmanship on this one really blew me away.
Now, this is generally the part in my review where I espouse my affinity for said character and drone on about what a iconic and important part of my upbringing said character was. Well, that would be a little less then genuine for me to do so about Snake Plissken. Kurt Russell, on the other hand, absolutely was, but I really didn’t enjoy Escape until I was a bit older and could enjoy it somewhat ironically, as us cool kids were wont to do in the nineties. I didn’t pretend to enjoy the sequel, though, not even ironically…..I frikken loved that movie! No shame there!
Hideo Kojima didn’t have to wait until Snake Plissken achieved cult status. Obviously as much a fan of the 80’s action genre as I am, Kojima cribbed enthusiastically from Plissken, some times in just straight-up homage, throughout the Metal Gear saga. So, in a lot of ways, I think of MGS, I think of Escape. And when you rattle off the various snakes, you almost have to include Plissken, like an honorary patriarch of that f’ed up family.
Snake seems to be reaping the benefits of coming into this line as it’s getting into a groove. The soft goods are excellent, and the options of having him displayed with or without his jacket and shirt make it very easy to slip up and say “play with” instead of “display.” His accessories are almost as iconic as his outfit, and they are done just as faithfully.
Okay, I have to slip into gun-nerd mode for a second here. Since I was in high school, and received my firearms refresher course from 90’s Hip Hop, I have known that Snake’s quirky main arm was NOT an Uzi. That there, ladies and gentleman, is a MAC-10. Snake’s is in purely pistol form, without even a skeletonized stock, but it does get the crazy upgrade of a suppressor longer than the pistol itself, and a rifle scope. MAC 10s have a lot of infamy around them, since they are a gang-banger favorite, but the truth is it was kinda a lonely bastard in the spheres of military and police use, and a lot of them got sold overseas. And then found their way back. Hrm.
Anyway, back to accessories- He also has his S&W 4″ revolver, also with silly scope, his tracking band, and an extra hand that can be used with his throwing star.
Also of note here is that Snake is using an improved body under his gear- he has the more modern combo of bicep cuts and ball-jointed hips, and this does make him a more impressive figure in terms of posability. He only loses a little in the knees, due to his excellent looking boots. Can’t win em all, I suppose.
Again, this isn’t a regular collector scale for me, and so I’m always a little hesitant to recommend something that even I don’t know what I’m going to do with. But I can tell you this much, on the virtue of his solid execution alone, Snake is very much worth the asking price. And while band mascots and horror characters aren’t enough to push me over the edge, action heroes are. And if we see more of those coming in this Mego-style line, there’s no way I would want Plissken to be left out.
