Movie Actor Look Alikes

| | | | | | |

ACTION FIGURES AT WAR

Movie Actor Likenesses

Ok, some of these aren't that close, but then I'm not a sculptor nor do I claim to be. Still these are just fun figures to do and own. I will be adding more as I go along.

Some of these figures are kitbashes, some are customs and some are straight out of the box! But they are very fun to own and I hope to have them doing cameos in my photo stories to come.

Angelina Joline from 'Tomb Raider'

I am a HUGE fan of Lara Croft. My daughter used to play Tomb Raider for hours on end and while I never got into the game I have many hours and days of treasured memories of me watching her play. Here is a Playmates Lara Croft headsculpt and motorcycle outfit transplanted onto a Blue Box toys Perfect Body figure. The boots came from a 21st Century Toys Matilda figure. I also swapped out the crummy pistols for the CY Girls Desert Eagles. I completed this out with a BMW motorcycle I got from New Ray.

Harrison Ford from 'Raiders of the Lost Ark'

I got this outfit from a trade I did with Ransome Chua. This is an outstanding outfit that now has a treasured place in my collection. The head is a Dragon U-Boat Commander spare head. I trimmed the neck down about 1/8th of a inch and it popped right on a Hasbro neckpost. The body is an ME Hasbro body. I used this body rather than a super articulated body as the outfit seems to have been tailored for this body size.

John Wayne in 'Sands of Iwo Jima'

Sands of Iwo Jima is a classic John Wayne movie. This is a recast Dragon head done by JD Finney and repainted. I mounted this on a Formative OA body and dressed him in the carded SOTW 1st Marine Division outfit. The helmet is a Hasbro helmet as the SOTW one was just to small to fit. I took the camo cover from an early SOTW helmet, tea dyed, recut, added seams and then a brown leather chinstrap. The only other thing I did was to add a shoulder strap on the Handy-Talkie.

Audie Murphy in 'To Hell and Back'

Audie Murphy played himself in the movie 'To Hell and Back'. Congressional Medal of Honor winner, Audie also went on to star in several westerns. This figure is straight out of the box from Hasbro. While Hasbro usually doesn't make figures that are that accurate looking this one tends to be an exception. I can only knock his boots as being inaccurate as US WWII combat boots were brown not black and although his uniform looks brownish, it is actually the correct color of dark olive drab. For some reason his uniform doesn't scan very well. His division insignia is edged in yellow which is also incorrect, this was not done with 3rd division insignia till after the war. Despite those flaws, I really like this figure and he came with an outstandingly detailed .50 caliber Machine gun on a tripod as well.

Sean Connery as James Bond in 007

As near as I can tell, this figure wasn't intended to be Sean Connery, but he bears a striking resemblence to him. Made by Power Team he has a body similar to Action Man with comparable articulation. I dressed him in a Ken tuxedo to finish him out. I plan on giving him a shoulder holster with his favorite sidearm the PPK, but I have not finished his shoulder rig yet.

Elvis Presley

Elvis has NOT left the building! Here he is as made by Mattel for the Barbie line and this figure is straight out of the box. Here Elvis is dressed in his Army uniform from the 1950's. He actually did serve in the army and refused special treatment. This is one of those cases where all his clothes are a dark olive green but for some reason they will only scan as a solid brown color. For a glorified Ken doll, this figure has a surprising amount of articulation and the head is mounted on a neck post like Hasbro heads. He has shoulder, elbow, knee and waist joints. Unfortunately no wrist articulation. He does come with his duffle bag and a 1/6 scale set of dog tags. This uniform is very nicely detailed and cut.

I'm so confused. It's an impersonator, no it's not, it's Elvis...

Lee Emery

Lee Emery was at one time an actual Marine Drill Instructor and is well known for his roles in various movies because of his 'colorful' langauge! This figure is from Sideshow Toys and straight out of the box. His uniform is wonderfully detailed and he has a voice box that gives this figure an 'R' rating. Some of his 'censored' sayings are,

"YOU JUST PUSHED MY BUTTON AGAIN YOU SORRY SACK OF ****"

"WHAT IN THE **** IS YOUR MAJOR MALFUNCTION?"

"ARE YOU TRYING TO BE CUTE?", "WHAT IN THE **** IS IT GOING TO TAKE TO MOTIVATE YOU IN ANY *** **** WAY?"

and more! Enough to make his plastic body melt. Now I wouldn't buy this for a kid, but it certainly makes it a hit with the collectors!

George Clooney from 'ER'

This is a figure from Blue Box International and it's a really well done figure. The likeness is pretty much unmistakable although whether BBI actually tried to do this or not is in question. I have kitbashed this figure just a bit as his web gear didn't quite satisfy me and I thought I need a carbine carrying marine more than another Garand rifleman.

What movies has George done you ask? Well there are a few of them actually, but nothing I would rather remember as his movies have pretty well tanked. However his role in ER has been quite good and was enough to propel him to stardom. As for the Marine outfit. I don't honestly remember if he ever played a role as a Marine, but I bet he would be a good one. Something about him just seems to fit.

Jackie Chan

Who doesn't know Jackie Chan? Has been in more movies than there are cards in a deck. Originally an unknown in China, Jackie Chan made a name for himself because of his spactacular martial arts stunts, abilities and for doing all the stunts himself. Today Jackie admits that was probably the dumbest decision he ever made, but in China actors are a dime a dozen and you have to have an angle if you want to get anywhere. When he starred in his first movie here in the US, he couldn't even speak english, but as with just about anything Jackie is a quick learner.

This figure is made by Playmates. I have changed his clothes out as I originally bought this figure for his shirt and wanted to use that on another kitbash I am working on. His articulation is limited and I would say he is probably pretty close to an Action Man figure. His head is enormous and his shoes are molded on his feet. Still you just have to laugh anytime you think of Jackie Chan. The master of slapstick martial arts!

Telly Savalas as Blofield

This was made by Sideshow Toys. Telly Savalas as Blofield from the 007 movie "On Her Majesty's Secret Service". This head is so well done and painted that he looks way to real! I plan on customizing Telly Savalas from his role in "Kelly's Hero's". I'll have pictures when I finish.

Gene Wilder, Marty Feldman and Peter Boyle

Young Frankenstein

Mel Brooks and Gene Wilder's Young Frankenstein has become a cult classic! Gene Wilder as Dr. Federick Frankenstein, Marty Feldman as Igor and Peter Boyle as "The Monster" kept me laughing for a long time (I'm STILL laughing!). There are just to many classic moments of brilliant comedy here. If you haven't seen this movie, the Comedy Police are on their way, you have no excuse, buy it TODAY!

This set was made by Sideshow Toys and they took the color out because the movie was done in Black and White.

Steve McQueen in 'The Great Escape'

The Great Escape was a classic! This figure is straight out of the box from 21st Century Toys. My only criticism is I don't like the leather clothes 21st does, they are so thick and the zippers are huge. The rest I like. Steve McQueen comes with a German motorcycle, an MP-40 submachine gun and a choice of two left hands, one gloved and one gripping hand. He comes with a baseball, but in the movie I believe this was a handball.

Tom Hanks in 'Saving Private Ryan'

This head has an interesting story. As I understand it, Hasbro was going to come out with a Tom Hanks figure in time to coinside with the movie release. However, at the last moment Mr. Hanks nixed the project as he didn't like the headsculpt. What to do with 10,000 heads? I suppose they told their manufacturing plant to dispose of them and 10,000 heads of two types (one clean shaven, one with a beard growth) appeared on the global 'black market' to anybody who wanted one. I got mine at the 21st Century convention in 2000 for around $10. This figure is truly a kitbash with stuff from all companies, Hasbro, 21st, Dragon, SOTW and Cotwold Collectibles. I now have my own Captain Miller!

Kirk Douglas

Dragon is nortorious for doing likenesses of people. However they do not seem to like to purchase rights to do so. Dragon makes the likenesses or near likenesses then they call them something else or constantly 'hint' on their website about the figures. This one was obviously Kirk Douglas right down to the dimple on his chin. However as near as I recall Douglas never played in a movie as a Paratrooper, but I could be wrong. No reference to Mr. Douglas was done on the packaging. Instead Dragon called this figure, 'Danny'.

James Cogburn in 'The Cross of Iron'

The Cross of Iron was never that popular a film. It was pretty spectacular though and I remember it fondly as a war movie. This figure is another Dragon figure straight out of the box and in the tradition of Dragon no reference was made to the movie or the actor but the figure was called, 'Steiner' and there is little doubt to his identity as they even gave him the signature captured Russian submachine gun. Sgt. Steiner was the lead character in the movie and if you get a chance to see The Cross of Iron I highly recommend it.

Jude Law and Ed Harris in 'Enemy At The Gates'

Jude Law played Vassili Zaitsev and Ed Harris played Major Koenig in Enemy At The Gates. Another outstanding movie based on a real life event of two snipers opposing each other. Of course Dragon didn't make flat out reference to the movie or actors, but this was sold as a set of two or you could buy the figures separately. Dragon changed the movie character names to 'Mishka' and 'Kater' used on the boxes. They even changed the name 'Enemy at the Gates' to 'Duel At Stalingrad'. Of course the reason Dragon does this is to avoid paying royalties or for rights to use likenesses. This set is a very nice one and I was glad to add it to my collection.

Keanu Reeves and Carrie-Anne Moss in 'The Matrix

The Matrix! Ah, where do I start. Obviously I love this movie. Keanu Reeves plays Neo (above his 'real' world image, below his matrix image), Carrie-Anne Moss plays Trinity and Laurence Fishburne is Morpheus. I also have two more figures, another Neo and Trinity in their black trench coats, but those two have yet to escape from their boxes. There was one more figure made that I know of and I believe all the figures were made by N2 Toys. One more Neo figure dressed in his trench coat but far better detailed and also 3 times more in cost than the versions I got from TRU. Hopefully there will be more figures in the future. I would like to see the rest of the Nebecanezer crew and some Agents in the future, but by the time the next movie comes out perhaps there will be whole new line of figures to go broke over.

Keanu Reeves & Laurence Fishburne in 'The Matrix'

Steve Irwin, the Crocodile Hunter

"Crikey! It's Steve Irwin, mate! I know your probably saying right now, "Steve Irwin isn't a movie actor. He's a TV Personality!", well he did do a cameo in 'Dr. Doolittle 2', so THERE!

Ok, so it's just the head, but this is a start. I got this from Target on a 'stretch Armstrong' body for about $6.00. Of course a few months later he finally went on sale and the last time I saw him he was priced at $1.74, but that's my luck. Getting the head off the stretch body was a pain but I did it. Now I'm looking for a good articulated body with a skin tone close to Mr. Irwin. You would think this would be an easy kitbash but not so. Still looking for good clothes for him and while there are lots of good khaki shirts and pants out there, the right cut and size for whatever body I finally select will be another matter. When I finally get around to finishing this guy I'll post pics!

Chris Rock

Chris Rock has starred in movies, been on MTV and probably just about anything else you can think of. I love this guy. Anybody who can make me laugh this hard is ok in my book.

This is a Power Team figure from M&C Toys and while it may not have been intended to look like Chris Rock, it is a pretty good likeness. This picture is the figure as he comes out of the box, I have not done anything to him other than gave him the equipment he came with. I wasn't going to buy him as I don't collect modern stuff, but when I saw Chris Rock looking back at me I just HAD to have him.

Cage, Slater and Beach in Windtalkers

These figures are made by Dragon and are all straight out of the box. Nicolas Cage objected to his figure being sold with toy weapons so Dragon included a 'Free Gift' pack separately with his weapons and equipment. This set is different than any other Dragon set in that it was licensed by Mikeran so references to the movie and actors are on the packaging. Unfortunately as you can see the likenesses are not that great. And true to form with Dragon, the allied uniforms are not what we come to expect with their German counterparts in quality. Still I enjoyed Windtalkers despite flaws in believeability and I am a fan of Nicholas Cage. Not to mention... I LOVE Marines!

Windtalker Headsculpts

Steve Buscemi as Mr. Pink

The movie was Reservoir Dogs. Steve Buscemi played Mr. Pink. This figure is made by Palisades and is one of the Series 2 figures. It has really good articulation and the headsculpt does resemble Mr. Buscemi but it isn't a great sculpt. The clothes are pretty loose and the stitching isn't that tight so the figure is not bad but not top quality. He does does come with lots of cool accessories. A coffee cup, cigarette, pack of cigarettes, lighter, a really nice but non-functional valise and a stand. Also comes with a shoulder holster rig that took a little imagination to get on but worked. Strangely you get a holster but no weapon to put in it.

COMING SOON!

Bob Hope (if I can find where I stored him!)

Hogan's Hero's

HAND SWAPS - changing out 21st Century Toys 'Matilda' hands

I couldn't resist when Matilda went on sale for under $10 at my local TRU. I couldn't stand her hands though as she couldn't hold anything and her left hand was practically useless. I removed her original hands then removed the mounting post from each one. I then took a pair of CY Girls hands and removed the pin holding the pegs in and swapped the pegs for the 21st ones. There was a substancial space gap so I made some 'washers' cut off the CY Girls peg mounting. After that I just ran the pins back in the CY Girl hands and carefully popped them back on Matilda's arms.

HEAD SWAPS - Putting DML heads on 21st/Hasbro bodies

This is much easier than it looks. I found these instructions on the back of a knock off head pack designed to fit DML bodies. I found it works very well and involves very little in the way of modification.