{"id":21616,"date":"2016-02-05T00:00:08","date_gmt":"2016-02-05T05:00:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.oafe.net\/blog\/?p=21616"},"modified":"2016-02-06T03:36:59","modified_gmt":"2016-02-06T08:36:59","slug":"i-seem-to-recognize-your-face-the-mystery-men","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.oafe.net\/blog\/2016\/02\/i-seem-to-recognize-your-face-the-mystery-men\/","title":{"rendered":"I seem to recognize your face - The Mystery Men"},"content":{"rendered":"

This is the latest in a series (of indefinite length and regularity) of pieces pointing out odd action figures of unlikely actors. People known more as character actors than action stars, and thus unlikely candidates for plastic representation.<\/p>\n

This time we're doing something unique - an entire series<\/b> of toys, rather than just one actor! Click on the numbers at the bottom of the page to see all six figures.<\/p>\n

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Paul Reubens is best known for playing Pee Wee Herman, and has even received some toys from that character, but he's also had small roles in lots of other films, including The Blues Brothers<\/i>, Batman Returns<\/i> and Buffy the Vampire Slayer<\/i>. But today we're concerned with the forgotten 1999 comicbook film Mystery Men<\/i>, where Reubens played The Spleen.<\/p>\n

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Mystery Men<\/i> was based on characters that appeared in Flaming Carrot Comics<\/i>, and was shot using sets from Batman Forever<\/i>. The \"heroes\" were all total weirdos, including The Spleen. As a result of prolonged exposure to a poisoned environment, the Spleen is gifted with the power of toxic emissions. Don't get on his bad side.<\/p>\n

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Greg Kinnear is one of those generically handsome actors whose name is familiar, but you might not be able to remember what you've seen him in. He was the original host of E!'s Talk Soup<\/i> from 1991 to 1995, when he left to host NBC's Later<\/i>, a gig that lasted until 1996. His biggest movie role was in As Good as it Gets<\/i>, which earned him a Best Supporting Actor Oscar nomination. He typically plays upstanding whitebread guys or smarmy sleazebags, a combination that worked well when he was cast as Mystery Men<\/i>'s Captain Amazing.<\/p>\n

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The true hero of Champion City. Captain Amazing is as comfortable promoting toothpaste as he is fighting crime. He's a corporate-sponsored superhero, beating Booster Gold<\/a> to that idea by nearly a decade.<\/p>\n

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When it comes to respected actors, few can top William H. Macy. He has two Emmys and two SAG Awards, and is part of Stephen Colbert's favorite celebrity couple, \"Filliam H. Muffman.\" Macy was studying veterinary medicine in college before becoming involved in theatre, and has performed on- and off-Broadway. Most geeks like us will probably best know him for his role as the hapless Jerry Lundegaarde in Fargo<\/i>.<\/p>\n

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In Mystery Men<\/i>, he played The Shoveler. A blue-collar worker by day, a superhero by night, the Shoveler battles crime and injustice with his trusty spade. He is truly an everyman, fighting for those who are just trying to make an honest living in a dishonest world.<\/p>\n

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The son of established comedians, Ben Stiller got his start young, appearing on the soap opera Guiding Light<\/i> in a small role. While performing on Broadway, he made a mockumentary with the play's star, finding a love for directing. After a few more projects, he was hired as a writer and featured performer on Saturday Night Live<\/i>, but they didn't want him to make any more short films (a position they would later reverse for Robert Smigel and The Lonely Island). He left SNL<\/i> after four episodes, and did two seasons of his own show for MTV and Fox. He's appeared in many movies, but only one has given him any toys.<\/p>\n

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Feeling generally frustrated by the injustice of everyday life, Mr. Furious vents his considerable anger by fighting crime. He has no super strength, no specific training, he's just an incredibly angry guy who calls himself a superhero.<\/p>\n

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Even if you don't know Hank Azaria's face, you still know his work: he voices approximately 40% of all the characters on The Simpsons<\/i>; not \"40% of the main characters\" or \"40% of the males,\" 40% total. Carl Carlson, Supernintendo Chalmers, Kirk Van Houten, Cletus the slack-jawed yokel, Chief Wiggum... and dozens more. He was initially brought on to the show to replace Christopher \"Cobra Commander\" Latta as Moe Szyslak, but they kept bringing him back to do more and more voices, and by the second season he'd been added as a permanent member of the cast. But he's also had roles several large films, including Mystery Men<\/i>.<\/p>\n

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A gifted marksman, the Blue Raja\u2019s fork-throwing abilities have been honed to lethal perfection. Dinnerware was never so deadly.<\/p>\n

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A stand-up comedian and Gen X icon, Janeane Garofalo is the answer to \"what would happen if Daria grew up?\" She was a castmember on The Ben Stiller Show<\/i> and has appeared in numerous films, often in bit parts, but what's more interesting are the roles she didn't get: she missed out on the lead in Jerry Maguire<\/i> that then went to Renée Zellweger; she turned down the role of Gale Weathers in Scream<\/i>, because she thought the movie was too violent; David Fincher wanted her to be Marla in Fight Club<\/i>, but she found the sexual content to be too weird. But she did get top billing for Wet Hot American Summer<\/i>, and voiced Colette for Ratatouille<\/i>.<\/p>\n

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However, it was her role as The Bowler in Mystery Men<\/i> that saw her cast in plastic. As a child, the Bowler's father was killed by vicious gangsters. Motivated by a personal vendetta, she uses her psychic bowling ball to strike against crime.<\/p>\n

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Mystery Men<\/i> was not a very good movie - the point of the comic was that these total oddballs were set against a perfectly mundane, real-world environment, but the movie put them in a world as crazy as they were, so they failed to stand out. However, it did manage to give us a toyline featuring six of the unlikeliest actors around.<\/p>\n

<i>And now, some more OAFEry:<\/i><\/H5>