I’m not a statue guy. I’m not saying I don’t enjoy them as art pieces or admire them from a display standpoint, but I barely have the space for the vast amount of articulated things I’m interested in, so I have to set some lines in the sand somewhere. I’m also not a “figurine” guy, which is in the statue family, in terms of non-moving. More or less. So I don’t buy those either. Unless I think something is cool, then I have no lines, no sand and barely a leg to stand on. So basically I don’t buy things until I want to buy them. Haha I’m going to die penniless.
I’ve been contentedly ignoring Medicom’s Ultra Detail Figure line for some time. It’s been running for quite a while, and has pumped out inarticulate figures based on a wide array of properties both foreign and domestic. I knew that they had been making Peanuts figures, but since I’m usually on the lookout for things of the mobile nature, the fact that they were static meant that I glossed over them.
Then I saw the preorder for Charlie Brown’s sister, Sally.
Sally is my favorite of Charles Schultz’s creations. I love them all, but there’s something about her inescapable, pragmatic devotion to her own narcissism and internal logic that never fails to hit me right in the funny bone. I think from an early age I related to her hatred of school and it just snowballed from there. I could also relate a bit to her Christmas wish: “All I want is what I have coming to me. All I want is my fair share.” Ain’t that the truth?
Content to ignore the UDF figures, I happened to notice the preorder for Sally on Amiami. She was relatively inexpensive, so I figured I could go ahead and get just one.
How many times have the words “just one” ripped open a sucking chest wound of toys. It’s like if kleptomania was a communicable disease. Or something.
The same thing that always happens, happened. If I had Sally, I’d have to have Charlie Brown, right? She would be all alone without her big brother.
THAT MAKES SENSE.
And of course, I’d need her sweet baboo, Linus, to go along with her. She’d have her love interest, Charlie Brown would have his best friend.
But if I get Linus, I’d have to have Lucy. You can’t split up the Van Pelts.
And if I’m climbing down this rabbit hole, I’d need a Snoopy and Woodstock, you know. And hey, Pigpen is coming out, why don’t I preorder him, because because because.
Well … yeah, that’s how it works. Soon I’ve either bought or preordered every individual figure still available.
They’ve pumped out a ton of Snoopys, from astronaut to tennis player, but I decided I was going to stick with the vanilla Snoopy.
And then, of course, I got the Snoopy with typewriter, because nothing is so iconic as Snoopy sitting on top of his doghouse and pounding out “It was a dark and stormy night …”
This is all Sally’s fault. And she’d no doubt be thrilled.
I was surprised once I had them in hand. Number one, they’re very faithful and earn the “Ultra detail” appelation. They capture the unique nuances and tics of Schultz’s artwork in 3D, which can be a hard thing to pull off well. The biggest surprise was their weight. These aren’t hollow, lightweight things. These each have a nice, meaty chunk to them that makes you feel like you got your money’s worth.
Each figure does a good job of capturing the essence of the character. Linus is sucking his thumb and clutching his security blanket with a closed-eye contentment. Charlie Brown is smiling optimistically, even if he has little reason to be so happy in the grand scheme of things. Lucy looks extraordinarily pleased with herself as usual. Snoopy is … Snoopy.
Despite my concrete resolve to refrain from buying a bunch of Snoopy variations, I wonder how much longer I’ll keep from buying the World War I flying ace version.
While I managed to get in most of the ones I wanted before they were completely gone, I did miss out on Schroeder, who is sold out everywhere and barely shows up on eBay. Maybe he’ll get a re-release at some point.
If you’re a Peanuts fan and aren’t averse to having something just standing on your shelf doing absolutely nothing, then you might want to pick up your favorite character. They’re surprisingly high quality for a decent price, and, at just under 4 inches in height, they don’t take up much space.