Metropolis ReAction Figure
Item No.: No. 80071 Manufacturer:Super7 Includes:n/a Action Feature:Just look at that shine! Retail:$17.99 Availability: January 2021 Other: Star Wars Fans Need This
This 2019 figure is maddeningly good. I put her next to some actual old Kenner figures and some fake "custom" Kenner Star Wars guys, and she belongs. That's tough to do. I've had my eye on it for years but didn't buy it until this summer, and I am kicking myself for waiting so long. Having her with my other 3 3/4-inch toys is like going back to 1982 again.
A lot of people are in the quasi-Kenner figure business, and Super7 did a pretty good job with it. And so has Hasbro, whose The Retro Collection figures are convincingly faux 1980s in spots, and whose Marvel Legends 375 guys are a little too good. Super7 has made both figures from real Kenner prototype designs and their own original creations, like Silver Maria. This one may be the best faux-1970s thing we've had so far. Based on the 1927 film Metropolis where the actual costume was a non-shiny gold, Super7 has made this figure in multiple colorways. Sure you can get gold or copper or whatever but silver is screamingly 1980s, like the weapons from your old Tomy and Takara robots.
The 3 3/4-inch figure looks a lot like C-3PO, and rightly so - the early designs of C-3PO looked a lot like Maria's brother. When coated in silver chrome, you can see the family resemblance. Early Kenner C-3PO figures were sometimes very light gold, but not quite silver. It's easy to see this figure as a sibling to what Kenner did with the thin wrists, open and useless hands that can't hold anything, and five points of articulation. You can see some greebles sticking out of her head and various flourishes on her arms and legs, giving the movie costume a mechanical appearance that's not quite as ornate as C-3PO - but similar. The hands and forearms are very much like Kenner's 1978 protocol droid, with big chunky boots and a rather striking frame.
The German movie aesthetic in the robot face in the movie is completely paved over thanks to the silver chrome finish, which softens a lot of hard edges and makes her look a heck of a lot more like a toy from the glory years of action toys for kids. I doubt Kenner or Mego would've put this out in their space toy lines back then, but when you put her next to her contemporaries she looks like she fits right in. What's funny is Kenner's silver Death Star Droid actually has painted black detail - Maria has none, she'll be your mirror.
Maria has a classic Kenner-sized foot peg hole compatible with anything from Kenner Star Wars up to the mid 1990s when The Power of the Force 1995 revival made a smaller foot hole. She can hang out in a lot of your old playsets and vehicles. She stands, she sits, and she feels like an old toy - if slightly more fragile. Her legs push very close together so she may have issues swinging them both forward, but if you do, she can sit in your old vehicles and really looks great. The reflective finish lets her light up an otherwise dark interior, popping out as a shiny fixture behind dark tinted windows in your toys.
I love the way this figure looks so much like an old Kenner or Palitoy release. If you're older with your childhood Kenner toys (or replacements) she'll fit in with your Mini-Rigs and other off-camera stuff. Also if you have Hajime Sorayama prints, this might be for you - the silver coloring and Kenner aesthetics make it a figure I wish more people had a crack at. If you have an old Kenner droid collection, she fits in nicely with 2-1B and FX-7 and the rest. Go blow $20 here. It's worth it. You've paid more for less... I assume.
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