Goonies Toys Never Say Die

(not just because they’re inanimate objects.)

The Goonies is one of those movies which has been on the losing end of retrospect; there’s been a considerable backlash against the once-classic over the past few years, with many now-adult fans revisiting the movie and feeling it doesn’t hold up nearly as well as they thought they did.  Maybe I’m just too immature, but I still have a blast with the adventures of Mikey, Sloth and the rest of the Goonies each time I see it.  So I was totally stoked when Funko and Super7 revealed the property would be part of their Kenner-style ReAction toy line.

The Goonies ReAction series delivers all four of the main Goonies– Mikey, Mouth, Data and Chunk, as well as Sloth (whose Superman-shirted variant was sold at Comic Con, while his standard issue figure is on the way).  That’s the best character assortment possible, since it gives us all the A-list characters in a single wave.

When the prototypes of these figures were first revealed, none were shown in relation to one another, so I was concerned that the Goonies would be too big to fit in scale with their deformed friend or other adult ReAction figures.  Thankfully, this is not a concern, as the scale of our four heroes is consistent with 3.75″, leaving them standing just shy of 3″ tall.  Not only that, but the sculpts actually read as kids– slight tweaks to the proportions of the figures makes them appear legitimately child-like, not just really tiny adults.

Each Goonie also includes an accessory– Mikey comes with the skeleton key, Mouth the treasure map, Chunk a Baby Ruth bar and Data one of his claw gadgets, which plugs into a hole in his jacket sleeve.  The gear certainly makes sense for each character, and each piece is very nicely sculpted.  I would also say the portraits are quite well done.  The point of the retro aesthetic is to replicate the vintage toy design from the early 80s, so obviously these are not 100% accurate actor portraits, but in my opinion each face most certainly reads as their respective character in an easily identifiable way.

So the Goonies ReAction figures certainly have some things going for them, which is why the drawbacks tend to stand out all the more.  I think the biggest offender is Chunk… and no, I’m not talking about the lack of paint design for his plaid pants and Hawaiian shirt (I feel the switch to solid colors is very much in the retro aesthetic).  It’s his arms, which are as long as an adult figure’s, giving him a bad case of gorilla limbs.

I’ve been a defender of the design and sculpt work on many of the Funko/ Super7 ReAction figures– as I feel some critics are either too young or too disconnected from the source material these figures are trying to emulate– but there are a few flaws which cannot be forgiven, and Chunk’s monkey arms are most definitely among them.

There’s a few other things which seem like a bummer, too, like Data’s trenchcoat, which is sculpted onto either leg.  I feel like this (bad) choice was made on some figure back in the 80s, too, but it just looks weird, and robs the figure of a 360 degree effect.  I would have much rather seen sculpted sleeves and a vinyl coat like the Kenner Ben Kenobi, or even a cloth coat like the Firefly Mal Reynolds.

But these design drawbacks are certainly not enough to rob the figures of their inherent coolness.  I guess how much you like these figures will hinge on your feelings on the movie– if you’re in the newly formed anti-Goonies camp, this is really just toys of a bunch of kids– but I’m quite happy to have them as part of my growing retro collection.

The Goonies ReAction figures are in stock now at Mike’s Comics N Stuff. Click Here to order yours today!