Hot Toys Disney Up MMS Vinyl and Cosbaby Figures

[JeffSaylor]

Cool collectibles from the Academy Award winning film…

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I'm sure that this reviewer is not the only fan that was skeptical of the Disney/Pixar film Up when it was first teased before it's release in 2009. The story of an old man flying away in his house seemed whimsical, but it was hard to believe kids would identify with an elderly character. But when the film was finally released and the story revealed, suddenly the gained more depth and it was clear that Pixar had once again created and amazing film. The movie went on two win two Academy Awards (including Best Animated Feature) and became the second-ever animated film nominated for Best Picture.

Hot Toys has now produced some fun, high-quality collectibles to celebrate the story and adventure of an old man named Carl Fredricksen, a young wilderness explorer named Russell, Dug the talking dog, and the giant exotic bird Kevin. Carl and Russell are not only brought into cute and super-deformed Cosbaby series, but are also captured in high-quality additions to the MMS Vinyl product line.

Cosbaby Carl & Russell:

Carl & Russell come boxed together in a colorful window box collaged with artwork, photographs, maps, and dictionary excerpts. Out of the package, you can see that while they are heavily stylized and capture all the details of the characters, it seems forced to get them to meld with the Cosbaby style. They feature the same minimal articulation that the series is known for including articulation in the neck, arms, and legs, wrists and ankles. While Russell in particular has quite a few different colors used and a more detailed Wilderness Explorer uniform with badges, he also suffers from a sub-par paint job with a lot of runs and overlaps. Carl is painted extremely well on the other hand, which can certainly be attributed to his more muted color scheme.

MMS Vinyl Carl & Russell:

Each of the two vinyl figures come separately boxed with packaging designs similar to the Cosbaby set. Two huge differences are the addition of character bios on the back and removable inserts that can be placed together to form a diorama scene for the two characters, which really add to the quality of the presentation. But where these two figures excel is on the incredible sculpting. There is so much quality and detail put into the sculpts that they could easily be confused for original production maquettes. Carl features a textured coat, wrinkled face, and trademark, removable tennis ball-footed walker. Russell is even more detailed than Carl with a variety of sculpted accessories around the figure such as pans, a flashlight, mug, bugle, sunscreen and more, as well as a butterfly net with a real fabric net. He also includes a decal sheet to apply the various Wilderness Explorer logos on his gear, and labels for all of his Wilderness Explorer badges.

Most of the time there isn't much difference between the paint on the prototypes and finished product with Hot Toys collectibles, which is why its surprising that the figures' paint isn't quite as crisp or airbrushed like the original pictures. The paint apps are flat and look lifeless without airbrushing. Carl and Russell are both accurate in their paint apps, and Russell is extremely colorful, but both characters suffer from horrible pink accents on their faces that make them look like they have pink-eye or some skin disease, perhaps caught in the jungles near Paradise Falls.

OVERALL: With the planned Up collectible line from Jun Planning canned with their financial troubles before it could be released, Hoy Toys is the company to go to for fans of the film. Disney collectors won't find a better representation of the characters than the MMS Vinyl figures, and Cosbaby fans won't want to miss another addition to the ongoing series. You can find both sets of characters available now at your favorite on-line retailer from Hot Toys.

For more photos of the Cosbaby Up figures, check out the gallery HERE

For more pics of the outstanding MMS Vinyl Up characters visit the gallery HERE

Review Samples Courtesy of Hot Toys

Review and Photos by Michael Klein

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