I feel like I’m slowly inching my way towards my dream figure/line of a 6-inch scale Crow. I hit 12 inches with the excellent Hot Toys version, and now I’m hopping in the time machine for a retro 3¾ version of the Crow.
In 1978 I was able to see an extremely early advanced screening of The Crow way way before it debuted in 1994, which was a year after it was initially supposed to debut, but tragedy struck with the death of the star Brandon Lee, delaying things. Unfortunately, seeing this movie so far in advance, the laws of time didn’t allow me to warn anybody of the events that would occur. I could only watch the movie. And, of course, right after the movie, which was so cool I’m sure my face may have exploded, I wanted an action figure of the main character.
In a bout of furious synchronicity and wish fulfillment, I happened to find a lone Crow figure hanging on the pegs directly to the right of the rather new Star Wars figures, which were based on that new science-fiction/fantasy-type movie that had exploded into theaters the previous year. I immediately begged my parents for the figure, and even though they had just spent money on the movie (about $2.50 each for the three of us), the figure was less than two bucks, so they said I could have it. I didn’t see any of the bad guys like Top Dollar, T-Bird, or Skank, but that was OK. The Crow was cool enough on his own. Besides, I had a bunch of Star Wars figures that could stand in for them. Han and Luke wouldn’t mind being a couple of scumbags that the Crow could smack around, would they?
The packaging was very nice, with a scene right out of the movie I just saw on the front, just like the still shots that were on the Star Wars cards. I always loved that sense of realism that it gave the figure inside, like they were actually rooted to a property that was real and thriving somewhere. It jump-started the imagination in very specific ways, like this was all happening just around the corner, and if you turned your head quick enough, you might be able to catch a glimpse of it.
He had some nice sculpting on his body. As for his head, he looked enough like Brandon Lee’s Crow character — at least as much as I was used to from the Star Wars figures I had, except they seemed to go a bit heavy with the eyeliner, more towards Alice Cooper than Eric Draven. But otherwise it was Crow-like.
While I hoped for a gun or at the very least a sword, he did come with the the weathervane that he used in his climactic battle with Top Dollar, so that was a nice bonus. Unfortunately he was completely unable to hold the weathervane due to how thick the handle is in comparison to his hands. Seemed like such an odd mistake to have made.
While he wouldn’t be able to pull off the more gymnastic abilities he had in the movie, I was used to the stiffness, and if Luke could fight Darth Vader without bending his knees, then I didn’t really mind that Eric would be a bit straight-legged also.
Being able to watch the movie 16 years before its official debut was pretty cool, but finding an action figure of the main character — even if he’s not totally “perfect” — right after seeing the movie was icing on the cake. You really never know what you’re going to find in a toy aisle if you know where to look.