Say Anything goes Vinyl
This Vinyl Idolz was produced, sold, and bought. Lloyd would not approve.
In this day and age of mega-budget, CGI-heavy movies, Cameron Crowe is somewhat of an oddity. You won’t find muscle bound men and sleek women yielding high-tech weapons in a Crowe film. You won’t see alien invasions or beings from other-worldly realms leveling cities in a Crowe film either. What you will find in a Crowe film is well-crafted stories and character driven plots.
In his thirty plus film career, Crowe has been responsible for some of the most iconic movies in cinema history. He didn’t direct, but he did write Fast Times at Ridgemont High. Some may already know Crowe started his career when he was a teenager writing for Rolling Stone magazine. If you didn’t, watch Almost Famous. The 90s wouldn’t be the same after the release of Singles. Arguably, Singles put Seattle on the map and gave birth to the Seattle Sound. I would even argue Singles gave birth to the 90s. Tom Cruise had us at hello and showed us the money in Jerry Maguire.
We remember these movies because of the story and the actors who brought the lines to life. We remember Eddie Vedder console Matt Dillon’s Cliff Poncier with a half-hearted, “A compliment for us is a compliment for you.” We remember the look on Tom Cruise’s face when Cuba Good Jr. refuses a towel after his steps out of a shower because he likes to “air dry.” We can remember Jason Lee saying to Patrick Fugit, “That you can print.” Although no words were spoken, who could ever forget Phoebe Cates’s pool scene in Fast Times at Ridgemont High? We can remember these scenes and others because of the lasting impression these movies have left on our mind’s movie conscious. There aren’t many multi-multi-million dollar blockbusters that can say the same thing.
As great as these movies are, it’s Crowe’s first movie that is perhaps his best and most enduring. Say Anything introduced was to Lloyd Dobler. Lloyd didn’t want to sell anything, buy anything or process anything as a career. He didn’t want to sell anything bought or processed. He didn’t want to buy anything processed. Lloyd didn’t even want to repair anything sold, bought, or processed. Basically, Lloyd wanted nothing to do with processing. Lloyd wanted to be a kickboxer, the sport of the future. He also wanted to date Diane Court.
Say Anything is a romantic comedy. It seems there’s a movie rule that says there has to be a breakup in a romantic comedy. Say Anything is no exception to this rule. However, the obligatory scenes of trying to win the girl back gave rise to one of the most romantic scenes in modern movie history.
Now Vinyl Idolz has immortalized Dobler in the rain scene from Say Anything in solid plastic. Vinyl Idolz and Funko usually score big on their figures. The Dobler, unfortunately, misses the mark but not by much. Like the other figures in the Vinyl Idolz line, the Dobler is made of solid plastic. Unlike some figures made of plastic and vinyl, the Dobler doesn’t have a lot of small tiny details. It doesn’t need a lot of small details because the outfit (jacket, sweat pants, pant guards, and shoes) and the boombox are perfect with little detail. It’s enough to recall the scene from the movie. You can almost hear Peter Gabriel coming from the small plastic speakers.
As nice as the piece is there is one tiny flaw that almost brings it down. The figure was meant to stand on a base so it could be displayed. The one drawback is the figure doesn’t fit on the base. The pegs are too thick and the holes at the bottom of the feet are too small. It was a balancing act to keep the figure from falling over. Pushing and even try to screw the figure down didn’t work to keep the figure firmly on the base. As it is, the figure is now delicately balanced on a shelf in the Mind on Fire office. One knock could send it falling to the ground.
Overall, the Lloyd Dobler figure will make a nice addition to any movie fan or toy collector’s collection. We just wish it could be displayed the way it was meant to be displayed.
B+
