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8-27-05: Hirsute George "The Animal" Steele Action Figure!
A fascinating figure of fantastic flocculence.
George "The Animal" Steele has had a long and storied professional wrestling career. The insane, turnbuckle-eating antics of the green-tongued "Animal" have thrilled wrestling fans for decades, and even delighted a few film fans as well (in a stroke of casting genius, Steele was tapped to play the affable Tor Johnson in Tim Burton's Oscar-winning Ed Wood). Numerous action figures have been made in his likeness over the years, but it wasn't until fairly recently that any of these figures managed to really capture and accurately depict the true, unbridled essence of the man, the undoubtable source of his amazing charisma.
I am, of course, talking about the Animal's incredible body hair here. Fortunately for the world, toymaker Jakks Pacific -- a company keenly aware of the public's profound dissatisfaction with previous, hairless George "The Animal" Steele action figures -- has finally unleashed upon toy aisles everywhere their own take on the legend...and it is a magnificently piliferous one.
I'm not making this up: this George Steele "WWE Classic Super Stars" action figure is disgustingly covered in real hair -- or at least, some fibrous material that superficially resembles hair. The Animal's entire upper body, except for his head and hands, is thoroughly adorned with the stuff. Moreover, the coating of adhesive used to apply the hair is shiny and still visible; it looks as if some kid with sticky fingers pawed the figure only a short time ago.
Oddly, pictures of the figure on the packaging do not show it with this real hair -- instead, the hair appears to have been drawn on. This would seem to suggest that the addition of genuine hair was a last-minute brainstorm at Jakks, but I doubt that this was the case -- more likely, some special process was required to apply the hair, and they simply didn't have a finished figure completed by the time they needed a photo of it for the packaging.
Besides the hair, the figure also has an exquisitely crafted green tongue, and comes with a club and some other stuff. This is one of Ant's purchases, of course; he knew he had to have it as soon as he saw it. (If you've got the stomach for it, click here for a big close-up).
