ToyCyte: Toy Culture Collected

If I believe one consistent thing about life, it’s that there can never, ever be enough monkeys. And yes, I’m well aware the ‘monkeys’ and ‘apes’ are different creatures, but if you can’t beat me in a spelling contest, you’re seriously all monkeys to me. Give me a context and I’ll improve it with a monkey – and so will Hot Toys. Coincidentally, spelling bees are #1 on my list of ‘things that can be improved with monkeys’.

It’s always refreshing when a toy company approaches an older or classic license instead of leaping onto the next big hit-or-miss thing, so Hot Toys snagging the Planet of the Apes 12″ license (after Sideshow Toys has kinda let it lapse for a few years, and Diamond only addressing the 8″ Mego reproductions), is pleasing. They’ve announced three figures, two of which have never been in this scale before : General Ursus, a Gorilla Soldier, and a Gorilla Captain, the latter two being the army builders which make a monkey army so threatening, and Ursus the uber-Ape measuring in at an extra inch.

With Hot Toys’ website describing them as having ‘real-like Ape hair’, a ‘man catcher’, all kinds of wacky post-apocalyptic future-weapons, and  over 32 points of articulation each, I’m interested in seeing how deep they explore the whole monkey mythos. Let’s assume that a ‘man-catcher’ is a hamburger under a box held up with a stick and some string.

Also keep an eye out for their set of 6 Cosbabies, coming before the end of this winter. The set will include deceptively innocent mini-versions of Dr. Zaius, Zira, General Ursus, Taylor, Cornelius and a generic Soldier Ape.