rowing up on the streets of New York, Ben Grimm certainly didn't know that fate would change his life and form in ways he could never imagine. Gaining a football scholarship to a leading college, he fell in with Reed Richards, who Ben protected from bullies in exchange for study help. The two became fast friends.
Years later, when Richards leads a mission into space, Ben Grimm is not too happy that he has to co-pilot the mission rather than pilot it, under a former junior officer, Johnny Storm, brother of Reed's old girlfriend Susan. When disaster strikes, each of the crew of the mission is changed—their DNA rewritten—and each ends up as a superhuman, each displaying different, new powers.
Ben's transformation is more shocking and visually obvious than those of his three companions—he is transformed into living, moving rock with strength beyond measure. And his form isn't one he can switch on and off. He has become a Thing.
With the coming of a new film based on the Fantastic Four, the long-running and popular comic book by Marvel Comics, Toy Biz has produced a number of action figures of the four, including 13.5-inch foam-rubber Electronic Tuff Talkin' Thing.
Displayed in an open-faced box, Ben Grimm/The Thing is molded from a soft rubber that takes fine detail quite well on the exterior, while inside it's a soft foam. This makes The Thing incredibly flexible and easy to pose momentarily, though permanent poses are impossible.
Pressing The Thing's stomach triggers sound segments in rough, croaky tones that certainly are fitting for a living rockpile, but are not recordings from Michael Chilkis, who portrays Grimm in the film.
Tough-talkin' clobberin' time
I commend the artists involved in the production of this toy. Molded in this soft, flexible foam rubber, The Thing is a very accurate version of the film's character, even down to his sadly lamented lack of ears, as noted by Johnny Storm during one of the film's lighter moments.
The craggy rock surface has been lovingly sculpted with seams and cracks that are nicer than most other toy versions of Ben Grimm's new form that I've seen. The realistic paint holds well to this foam material, and while he is made entirely of orange rock, the eyes are so perfectly painted that you can see the anguish that Grimm goes through as he tries to live as normal a life as he can under the circumstances. The paint on his uniform pants is well done, and his overall detail is wonderful.
The Thing can't hold a pose, as he has no wire underframe or other system of joints. The foam rubber snaps back into shape, but, even so, the figure can be played with easily, twisting into most positions.
Some of the phrases Tuff-Talkin' Thing says are: "Hey kid, what are you gawking at?"; "This tough guy's got a soft spot for ya!"; "Back off, buttercup, you're breathing on my pantyhose"; "Hey, who's the wise guy?"; "I'm just the Thing!"; "Watch it, punk, I'm the ever-lovin' blue-eyed Thing!"; and "Hey, kiddo, I'm one of the good guys," among others, including of course Grimm's signature line, "It's clobberin' time!" Some of these phrases seem to combine together in random ways. The package boasts 13 different phrases.
Grimm stands quite solidly on his large, flat-bottomed feet, into which fit the pair of AAA batteries (included) required for The Thing to speak.
