I just saw District 9 last night (I’ll try to get my review up on my other website, Biggerboat, sometime soon), and naturally I came away wondering about the toy potential of the movie.
To my knowledge, no company’s announced having scored the license, which reminds me a bit of how toy companies missed the boat with The Matrix (and then we got those mediocre N2 figures before McFarlane got the license after the hype had died down and buried it with McStatues).
However, one enterprising customizer has created this supremely badass custom prawn mech, which already has bids over $500 on eBay. I have to believe a few toy companies are taking notice.
At the very least, I’m sure we can expect Sideshow-style statues in the near future. This thing certainly blows away the design of the mech in the $1200 Avatar statue Sideshow announced today (which isn’t Sideshow’s fault–it’s James Cameron’s).
Here’s the description:
This auction is for a District 9 “prawn mecha” custom action figure.
This piece has been customized to look like one the giant robot star the new District 9 fallen movie.
This is the first and only piece of it’s kind!
He is scratch built and fully poseable!
He has ball jointed shoulders and elbows, hinge and ratcheted hips, knees and lower knees, and ankles.
He has had multiple paint applications and alot of work put into him! I think i did a good job of making a toy of this awesome machine and i hope you do too!
He is roughly just under 9 1/2″ tall and should be in scale roughly with your 3 3/4″ collections!
If you are a fan of unique toys and of the new film then this might be for you.
What the hell is Avatar? I thought that was a cartoon about a bald eskimo kid that that rides a flying waterbuffalo.
No D-9 for us in the UK until September, but it already looks far better than Avatar, which looks like a whole load of 'meh'.
@Finkrod:
It's also the over-hyped new James Cameron movie in 3D.
@Ronnie: Thanks for the heads up. Are all movies going to be in 3-D from now on? I enjoyed Jaws 3-D as much(if not more) than the next guy, but why is Hollywood cramming this down our throats?
I haven't seen a 3D movie in years, but from what I understand the 3D movies of today are a LOT different then the 3D movies of the '70s and '80s. One of my co-workers is looking forward to seeing The Final Destination in 3D.
I for one hate 3-D, its a gimmick that is just not needed, plus In my town it just means 5 dollars added to the price.even when you already own the glasses.
Anyway, I've seen District 9, Legend. Didnt expect a story,got one anyway.
And last night saw Inglorious Basterds. usually don't like the end result in Tarantinos movies/ It was good.
@George: I hate Tarantino movies. And after having to hear the word "Nazzys" 500,000 times in the last month, I think I hate him even more. I'm surprised I haven't given him cancer with the negative energy I've been sending his way…
So if I see one movie this weekend, should it be District 9 or Inglorious Basterds?
inglorious basters gets my vote.
PrfktTear, go see both.
UM gents, the james cameron "Avatar" movie has ZILCH to do w/ the animated nicktoons cartoon about the last airbender, the kid who was trapped in ice and rode a flying bison. the name is the only thing in common. james cameron's movie is about a surley paraplegic who kills aliens in a giant mech, m night shamalamadingdong is doing a live action "the last airbender" movie which will rock hard tasty abs.
Holy smokes its at $5300! Is District 9 that good? Like PrfktTear, I'm looking for a movie to go to the wife with this weekend and I was really leaning towards Tino's new flick.
I want to go into District 9 and give it my full attention, but this weekend I don't think I can do it justice so I may pick Inglorious Basterds so I can just turn my brain off for a couple hours and see a buncha nazzys being shot up.
@finkrod: I hate Taratino as well, but I really enjoyed it.
My vote still goes to District 9.
I can definitely understand not liking Tarantino's style, but I don't see why pepole would hate him. I find him annoying in interviews and such, but his films are good.
@PrfktTear: Haha well I mean his movies. Dont care much for the guy, but I get annoyed when Pulp Fiction is on…and so forth.
Really? I enjoy Pulp Fiction.
I too kept thinking during the movie that there was a lot of toy potential.
I've given him numerous chances. Reseovoir(?) Dogs, Pulp Fiction, Jackie Brown, Kill Bill 1 & 2. I like all the same types of movies he does, exploitaion, kung fu, etc. But there's just something about his stuff I don't like. I tried to give him a chance though. I can't really put my finger on it, but it's almost like he's apeing other work without adding anything to it. Now he's doing the Dirty Dozen. No thank you.
The bidding on this thing is up to $5300.00!? Congrats to the customizer, I never would have imagined someone would have that much faith in a customized toy from eBay to drop that amount of cash on it.
$5300 for a heavily modified Starscream figure? Uhhh, no thanks.
Who are the people that will drop this kind of cash on something like this? The winning bidder must be all kinds of rich to drop five grand on a customized $20 toy.
To be fair, saying it's a 20 dollar toy is like saying "Look at that artwork in that museum! I bet the canvas/paints only cost a few bucks each."
Okay, sounds like I really need to go see District 9 this weekend.
To be honest, although I haven't seen D9, I prefer the Avatar mech to the D9 mech. They are honestly way different styles, but I prefer the bulkier, rougher design to the more humonoid D9 mech.
I didn't care for district 9 too much. It was good but rather depressing and I realy didn't like the main character, didn't feel to much sympathy for him as it seemed you were expected to. though it did have good potential for toys this isn't worth 5k.
You weren't supposed to feel much sympathy for him until the end I imagine. He's not meant to be a saint.
The movie could be seen as depressing, but the ending is open enough that you could go many ways with it.
The Avatar mech seems a bit generic (though appropriately military), I thought the D-9 mech was pretty awesome though, with great weapons.
i remember the district 9 mech being a lot cooler looking than that thing in the auction. how screen accurate is it? if i was going to pay $5000 for it, i'd at least expect to be able to open it up and put a figure inside.
@monkeyboy yea it seems rather "transformery" though I think someone said that it was made out of a starscream figure.
@finkrod: I took in Inglorious at a matinee on Saturday. I enjoyed it, but I felt it was missing a little something. Maybe I'll like it more upon a second viewing. It lacked a lot of cohesion with two story lines bouncing off each other, and then coming together in the end. It felt like a series of vignettes that just happened to coincide.
My favorite QT movies are Pulp, Jackie Brown, and Kill Bill Vol. 2, Inglorious falls somewhere between them and Kill Bill Vol. 1 and Reservior Dogs.
wow, i followed the bid and it ended by 5.3000 $$$ wowowowio!
i liked the shortmovie District 9 is based on: "Alive in Joburg" (make a search on googlevideo or youtube)and loved that the director of this is the same as of the cinematic feature! the concept is just too good. and i´m kinda ok with it that it gots no toy license at all.
..though the original robot design of the short is quite cool, hmmmm….