2002-12-23 - 11:32 a.m.

While skulking around Manchester, NH with dear Nate-kun, I found this in the Toys-R-Us:

Yessir, it's my Holy Grail of action figures, Tri-klops! Of course I bought it (where else would I get the card back scan from, foo'?) and also picked up Teela so he wouldn't get lonely. It's an incredibly nice action figure, as you can probably tell from the picture.

Features:

- The visor does indeed spin. He has a red, a green, and a blue eye, just like the video projector we had in the communications building auditorium for a while. There's a clear bit at the top of his skull so if you hold him right, light shines through the "dominant" eye. It's really keen. Also, you can pretend he had an extreme trepanning accident if you wish.

- Swinging arm action! While the kiddies may wish to use this for boring things, like clumsily hacking away with a sword, or punching Teela in the stomach, I like to think he's primed to make the "raise the roof" gesture, if he were ever in a rap video, or to pound the desk if he were ever made Editor of the Daily Bugle ("Parkeeeer! Get in here!")

- Comes with Doomseeker robot. If only you could buy these things loose... I'd have Tri-klops spying on all my other action figures all the time. Though I don't know what nefarious schemes Cardcaptor Sakura and Fry could possibly be up to.

- Knees are bent. I don't know why this bothers me. Perhaps because on the show, he's got the best posture of anyone. Perhaps because this makes his figure appear shorter than Teela's, making her the dominant one. Perhaps because I worry about him getting proper lumbar support. However, the figure's height combined with the bent knees gives him perfect balance to sit on the bottom of my steering wheel.

- Hands are surprisingly slim. I guess it doesn't do to have stubby fingers when you're constantly tinkering with delicate machinery.

- The back of the card refers to him as "evil three-eyed villian." I think they could have come up with something better like "Warrior, Scientist, Whipping Boy" or "Tri-klops: Damn cool" but hey, at least I've got the figure. Also of note is the fact that the card is tri-lingual, and in french he is a "monstre de l'enfer a trois veux." So I guess "Evil Three-eyed Villian" is better than "Three-eyed hellmonster".

Oh, I could go on and on about Tri-klops and the close friendship he's struck up with my Vash the Stampede figure, but I've got to go help plan the menu for Christmas dinner...