Kasual Friday shows that mini figures can be as large as their big screen counterparts in their Super Stars line!
While you will have no trouble identifying the characters in the Super Stars line, if you have not been paying close attention to Kasual Friday, you have been missing out. A pop-culture company that creates everything from apparel to toys based off of page and screen’s biggest icons, KF has been putting together a lot cool product for just about every walk of geek life. Our pal Scott George (formerly of Hasbro) has been spearheading a lot of different initiatives and the KF footprint continues to increase new properties and product. Hagop and I got the chance to catch up with them at Toy Fair this year and Scott had a whole slew of new Super Star figures on display, so I am excited that we get to bring them to you now, just in time for the holidays!
Personally, I think the Super Stars line mission is pretty simple: to bring iconic characters in classics looks to a fun and collectible format. Stylized and miniature figures are all the rage these days and it looks like Kasual Friday is looking run with guys like Funko for a big piece of the “small” action. With collector space becoming more and more limited each day, this line gives you the opportunity to a nice character presence on your shelf, without hogging valuable real estate. Diversity looks to be the name of the game, too, and any self-respecting fan boy/girl can find something to love in this format.
So that bring series one to the fore, and it incorporates everything from Army of Darkness to Robocop. Featured in this assortment are Ash (Army of Darkness), two versions of Rocky, Ivan Drago, Apollo Creed, Clubber Lang, two Robocops and even the original comic book version of the pulp hero, the Phantom. Whew! The KF crew is certainly covering their bases with this initial offering, so you can go all in or pick and choose a specific property that tickles your fancy. While I have to admit that Army of Darkness is probably my favorite property of the bunch, I find the gang from Rocky to be the best figures of this particular bunch.
As I said, the Super Stars figures are small (about 3.25 inches) and they are actually figurines, as they do not have any articulation. I think the main goal is to give us come iconic representations of the characters, rather than charge in on the action figure front. Let’s face it, toys are expensive these days, so a format like this is good for space, and for the wallet. So, being able to build up a nice pop culture shelf at a reasonable rate is a good thing, especially in the quest to bag the ever-elusive casual collector. These will look good in a toy room, but also in a home theater, study or at work in the office. I know that I will be keeping Clubber on my desk at work, if people are going to walk in thinking they can expect anything other than pain, they will realize quickly that it is not their day.
The stylized take on these is definitely apparent but not to the point where it becomes overwhelming. A lot of the vinyl and low-run items get a little derivative for my tastes, so while these have a unique personality, the character is not lost to a structured philosophy. Most of the mass is in the upper part of the body on these guys and the head sculpts have hard lines and angles. I think that works well for the subject matter and all things considered, a realistic approach is just not the way to go for a line of miniature figures. There is something very endearing about a lil’ Ivan Drago and tightly-contained Cold War stereotype.
Overall, likenesses on the characters are all pretty good, but there are certainly some that shine over the others. From one end of the gamut to the to the other, I find Ash to be the weakest and the Rocky crew to be the best. I think Clubber and Apollo are my two favorites overall, but the Phantom and classic Robocop are definitely on point. Don’t get me wrong, I still like Ash, but I don’t think the likeness of Bruce Campbell is as strong as that of Carl Weathers’ Apollo; he needs more chin or something. Since there are a couple of iterations of Rocky, I am sure we will get another crack a different version of Ash sometime in the future.
It looks like Kasual Friday is planning a full pop-culture take over, and their Super Stars line is a fun execution both for the collector and, ahem, (k)casual fan. This first assortment is available now and from what I understand, more are in the works. Dutch from Predator would be most welcome in this line, along with Die Hard’s John McClane and countless others. So, Kasual Friday definitely has fertile terrain for more of these little guys.
*Thanks for reading and thanks to Scott and KF crew for sending these little big men along!