I miss the days where random movies would warrant a series of action figures. Nowadays it seems that even big-budget character-driven movies go under the radar in the toy aisles (X-men First Class, anyone?). But the 1990's were a different story. It was actually pretty ridiculous how many movies got the action figure treatment. Congo is one of those lines that probably had a lot of people shaking their heads. I personally loved the book as a teenager and I really enjoyed the movie as a result. Congo is a story about an African expedition by a team of American scientists for rare impure diamonds (needed for some newly emerging laser technology). Their travels take them deep into the jungle where they encounter the remnants of a long-forgotten civilization "haunted" by ghostly monsters (spoiler: feral albino apes). It sounds a little hokey, but it's actually pretty clever and exciting. I don't really remember how well the movie portrayed the story, but I remember liking the visual of the ruins and the jungle a lot. Karen Ross was the leader of the expedition. Let's check her out below!
Karen comes with an "Ultra 'Laser' Cannon" and a Power Diamond. From what I recall, there aren't any laser cannons in the book, rather the impure diamonds are used as semiconductors for long-range communication devices... but a guess a 1980's cell phone wouldn't exactly be the exciting accessory the kids would be clamoring for.
The diamond can also fit into her obligatory yet functionless backpack peghole.
Time for a Comparison Pic!
Cheers!
I kept thinking the body looked familiar, then when I saw the gun thing I realised the body is from the Kenner Aliens Ripley figure!
ReplyDeleteThe weapon is Ripley's flame thrower. Looking rather bizarre as a diamond canon...or whatever it is!
Actually this Karen Ross would be a pretty cool character to add to my Kenner Aliens collection. We missed out on a couple of the Aliens women. (though we did get Ripley & Vasquez)
Jumped on eBay & grabbed a Karen Ross. She will be Corporal Ferro from Aliens (who flew the dropship).
ReplyDeleteThey made up a few characters in the Aliens toyline anyway, & many figures looked nothing like they did onscreen...so Karen will fit right in. hehe
Wow that's a fantastic observation! It doesn't surprise me at all that Kenner would re-use old molds (Robin Hood anyone?), but I didn't pick up on this one. I'm totally going to review Ripley this week now. I wonder where the rest of the line came from now... hmmm.
DeleteWhat a shame the figure looks nothing like Laura Linney, since is possible that is the only action movie Ms Linney would ever do. The movie was pretty bad, too and has aged horribly. Even Laura (yes i've met her) said that all actors have a turkey movie.
ReplyDeleteLove your blog BTW. I am planning my own which will feature countless female action figures. Got inspired by yourself no less.
Keep up the good work, since i got quite a few figures by tour recommendations.
Wow I never realized that was Laura Linney in the movie. Granted, I haven't seen it since the 90s - and I didn't really take note of her until years later, but still. Kenner's movie figure rarely ever looked like their actor counterparts. I think the closest might have been Kevin Costner's Waterworld figures.. but maybe that perfect mullet is distracting me from the actually face sculpt. In their defense, I believe a lot of these toy lines went into production before the movie was even out - so I think they were often working blindly.
DeleteCan't wait to see your blog! Post it on here when you're up and running and I'll follow it :)