t is the city of Detroit. It is the future. Law enforcement has been turned over to Omni Consumer Products (OCP), a corporate conglomerate whose CEO says, "Old Detroit has a cancer. That cancer is crime." And his intention is to clean up the crime before 2 million workers begin construction on Delta City.
To this end the head of OCP product development, Dick Jones, has come up with Enforcement Droid Series 209 (ED 209), a massive mechanical police officer that will be set loose to enforce the law in the crime-stricken streets of Old Detroit. But during a test run, ED 209 malfunctions and kills an innocent member of Dick's team who is acting as a criminal for the purposes of demonstration. When he is brutally (and ultra-violently) gunned down by the berserk robot, Bob Morton, head of the Security Concepts division, steps over Dick's head and proposes his backup project to the CEO, who immediately authorizes completion of a prototype.
In an effort to get "volunteers," Bob has already strategically placed several viable police officers in various precincts around Detroit. Officer Murphy (played by Peter Weller) is one such officer, transferred suddenly from a relatively crime-free precinct to a precinct right in the middle of the worst section of Detroit. During an attempt to capture a crew of bank robbers, Murphy and his new partner, Lewis, tail them to an old iron factory, where they are informed by dispatch that backup is unavailable. Murphy and Lewis opt to go in without backup. Lewis, though heavily armed in standard riot gear, is shot and stunned while Murphy finds the core members of the gang. They brutally shoot Murphy, all the while laughing it up and having a ball.
Murphy is left for dead. He is brought to a local hospital by helicopter, where he is treated, but to no avail. He is declared dead after repeated attempts to restart his heart.
The next thing Murphy knows is static and computer screens. He is resurrected as Robocop—cyborg police officer of the future. Bestowed with years of on-the-street training and a human brain, Robocop's aim is to revolutionize the war against crime.
Mezco, which recently created small, deformed figures based on the film Alien, has produced what it claims is "Quite possibly [its] most anticipated release of 2004."
On a bubble card come three figures: Officer Lewis, Robocop and a rotocast ED 209 robot.
In a style popularized by companies such as Kubrick, this set of figures is small and cartoonish, but at the same time fairly detailed, articulated and resembling nothing so much as enlarged LEGO figures.
Each figure has a ball-jointed head, shoulders and hips, with hands shaped like extruded Cs. Murphy and Lewis come with their appropriate weapons and armor. ED 209 is an articulated version of the threatening enforcement droid.
A surprise success story
I'm not sure who thought that enlarging LEGO figures using likenesses from various film and TV licenses was a good idea—but the abundance of them and apparent sales volume are some indication that he or she may have been right.
There is no question that these little anomalies are popular. Figures exist from just about every popular cultural resource there is, from the Simpsons to Dark Angel to Star Trek to Star Wars to ... well I can't think of a license not yet tapped.
In this set, Lewis comes as a caricaturistic figure dressed entirely in black. Matte black for her armor and uniform, and gloss black for her boots, gloves and helmet. The helmet is fairly detailed, and has a clear visor that can be raised and lowered. Her face is painted with an odd, anticipatory expression, looking somewhat hopefully (or fearfully) upward. She has rubber body armor over her chest and a very detailed OCP logo on her shoulders. She holds a rubber pistol.
Aside from the fact that all police armor in the film is blue, this is a fairly accurate (if somewhat cartoony) depiction of Officer Anne Lewis (played in the film by Nancy Allen).
The Robocop figure is shaped basically the same as Lewis', but with rubber panels attached at the shoulders and hips to indicate Robocop's robotic armor plating. Like Lewis' body armor, Robocop's plated chest is a rubber sheath slipped over the hard plastic torso. Robocop is painted in a metallic blue/silver and has fairly well-portrayed detail. Hydraulic shocks are attached to the backs of his legs as a cartoony version of the original leg mechanics. Robocop comes with a rubber version of his extended automatic pistol.
Robocop's helmet looks as if it is removable, but it appears not to be. You can glance up under the face plate and see Murphy's eyes under there, but it appears his brows meld into the helmet. However, after some persistence (and don't try this at home if you wish to do no damage), I was able to remove the helmet, which is glued to the head with a post that goes into the top of Robocop's skull.
This is the strange thing. Because underneath the helmet—completely invisible if the helmet cannot be removed—is detail that should not be missed. The entirety of Robocop's mechanical head is detailed and properly painted, and, most importantly, the bullet wound on the right of his forehead is there. Why hide this detail under a helmet that appears to be intended to stay put?
The highlight of this set is ED 209. Made of a softer, hollow plastic, this depiction of the killer robot is, like his companion pieces, cartoony in some places and well detailed in others. Made from 10 separate pieces, ED 209 features joints that allow each side-weapon-arm to tilt up or down and each barrel-hand to rotate on its axis. Each leg has two joints, and the torso rotates on its hip-base, making this a surprisingly posable figure.
But while there is good detail on parts of this piece, its feet (shown clearly in the film during a scene in which it is shown that ED 209 cannot negotiate stairs) are formed with separately articulated toes—three per foot. On this version, there is no indication on the solid foot that the toes should even move at all, and they are the wrong shape—the one major inaccuracy. Otherwise, the ED 209 Mez-Itz is practically worth the price of the entire set, as there are very few depictions of this robot anywhere.
Robocop was first released in 1987, but like many good science-fiction films its popularity has never really dissipated. Its basic Frankenstein story still holds up well to the test of time, and the themes it holds true are timeless. It seems to spawn a new film sequel every few years. It has spun off quite a good live-action TV series, and an animated series. And the demand for merchandise has always been high.
