It has only been a few months since the passing of Toys R Us, so there is a decided pang of sadness still whenever I see or pick up something with a “TRU Exclusive” badge on it. Even if that something is nearly 18 years old.
In 2000, Toys R Us had picked up an exclusive line to coincide with the 20th anniversary of the E.T. movie which was coming up (for 2002.) The line was a pretty ambitious grouping of action figures and larger interactive dolls that would repeat lines and sounds from the movie, as well as to each other when used together. But if you were a Legends collector in the early 2000s, this line caught your eye for one big reason.
For a time, especially around 2003-2005, these E.T. vans could be had on the cheap, either on clearance at TRU or online. For whatever reason, my local stores never restocked them, and having missed them at their initial $40-ish price point I never picked one up, despite being interested. Recently, a few showed up at some decent EBay prices, and now I finally have a couple!
We’re obviously not going to spend much time on the interactive features- unfortunately both examples had cheap corroded batteries (from the factory) that have eaten away at the contacts during their storage. But from the packaging, the features initially included lights and sounds, and putting a figure near the doors would activate a movie line and open the door automatically. I don’t know how well this actually worked in practice, but it’s a neat sounding idea if nothing else.
In the movie, if memory serves, the vans used were Ford Econolines with the bulged camper roofs. The toy version is a more standard cargo model, but the slope of the windshield makes it look more like a Chevy/GMC Rescue van. I bring this up because if you’re a Stranger Things fan, this might be the perfect companion piece to your Funko figures. The scale is a little stumpy, as I’ve become accustomed to in 6″ figure vehicles, but not to the degree that you really lose any realism. It sizes up close to the venerable Cowabunga Carl TMNT van, actually being a little shorter and narrower.
One of the nice side effects of older vehicles intended for less poseable figures is that the cabins generally will accept slightly larger newer figures without much trouble. That’s true here, where a Mezco Punisher figure just needs to watch his head getting in the drivers side.
The non-electronic features of the van include rubber tires, 6 functioning doors and a roof hatch, a pull- out medi-bay that has a computer console and an ET-sized cot, and a couple of buttons and swing functions for those doors. On the drivers door, there is a push button to open, and the roof has a switch that opens both halves of the hatch.
Many, many, many of these quickly became Punisher vans, and with damn good reason. With the unassuming nature and realistic style, this van makes a great stand-in with some paint and optional weapons parts. Of course, I had to build one. Truthfully, “build” might be stretching it- I painted it and added a smartgun, and some gear in the back. I couldn’t bring myself to really significantly alter the base vehicle, because it just works as it is. It’s very easy to load this van up with all types of weapons, bikes, figures and so on.
But with that sorted quickly, I’m really content to leave the other one essentially factory. The roles for this in a collection are practically unlimited- getaway van, ambulance, Ironhide, repair van, turtle van, A-Team van, delivery van, and so on. Most of those may not be very glamorous, but if you are building playsets, photo shoots, backdrops, these kind of vehicles are pretty essential. Without the functioning lights and sounds, which I suspect will become only more common unfortunately, these may come off a bit simple. But really they are very finely designed and detailed vehicles that show a lot of quality in their production.
Which makes it’s extra sad they have become somewhat rare. They had evaporated long before TRU closed its doors, and because so many of us put them to work, the secondary market is pretty sparse. And worse, the chances of getting something like this in such an exclusive line have gone from slim to almost none. And that’s a damn shame. We are are far from feeling all of the residual damage of losing a toy industry titan, and I hate to end a throwback on a somewhat down note, but I don’t see Target or Wal-Mart taking a chanice on many mainline Star Wars or Marvel vehicles, much less an anniversary collection with a sweet ride like this.
