Peely

Look, I don't care if this makes me unpopular, I'm just going to say it: these Amazing World of Gumball toys don't look anything like the show! Carrie, Teri, Richard Waterson, Tina, Sandra Gator, Anais... at least Banana Joe is close. Go bananas. So far, McFarlane Toys and Jazwares have (mostly) managed to avoid stepping on each other's toes with their respective Fortnite action figure lines - like, you could get white or green Skull Troopers from McFarlane, but only Jazwares brought you purple. (There's a little more overlap if you include Jazwares' 4" line, but we're not talking about those right now.) Some things are too iconic to stay away from, though, which is why, whether you prefer 7" (NECA Player Select size) or 6" (Hasbro Marvel Legends size) figures, you can now add Peely the banana to your collection. Unlike McFarlane, Jazwares did not make Peely as a hollow rubber shell over an armature - this is normal solid plastic. Well, hollow, but inflexible. It's not like he's one unbroken lump of plastic inside there - if you were to drill a hole through his skin, you'd hit open air inside, not have to work all the way to the other side. While his arms and legs are human, his body is just a big banana, mostly smooth with a few rounded corners to give him shape. There are large cutouts at the hips, so the legs will be able to move; that's one area where McToys' approach worked better. His knees and elbows are knobby, and despite showing no evidence of having shoes or boots, the soles of his feet are clearly footwear and not organic. Living up to his name, his peel is starting to... peel... up by the stump of his stem. You'd think Peely would be one of the figures to not get an alternate face, like Beef Boss - his construction just wouldn't seem to allow for it. But Jazwares got clever, making a removable panel at the top of the 'nanner that lets you change the way he's feeling. The face he's got on in the package is either concern or surprise: big round eyes, and a small oval mouth. Your other options include a winking face with a curving smile, and an excited face with both eyes shut tight and the mouth open wide enough to show his tongue. The eyes are sculpted elements - yes, even the ones that are shut. You wouldn't expect those little slits to be raised above the surface of the skin, but there they are! Way to go, Dave Cortes! None of the faces duplicate what McToys did, so you'll have some variety if you do buy both. The paint apps are more complex on this figure than they were on Todd's. Peely still has the blue Nana Nana sticker on the back of his head, but the body gets brown shading at the top and bottom, and the brown by the joints is airbrushed rather than just being solid dots. The in-game skin is reactive, meaning it ages the longer you're alive, from a bright yellow banana to one with brown spots - perhaps that's what this is supposed to represent. Rather than being solid black, the eyes have white highlights and brown shadows to suggest depth. Having a solid torso means Jazwares' Peely doesn't get a secret hidden chest joint like McFarlane's did. Also no neck. That's okay, because the rest of his joints are just fine: pec hinges, swivel/hinge shoulders, swivel biceps, double-hinged elbows, swivel/hinge wrists, hinged fingers, swivel/hinge hips, swivel thighs, double-hinged knees, swivel shins, swivel/hinge ankles, and hinged toes. His pec joints are probably the best this line has seen yet, with an actual range of motion that makes the poses look different when you use them. What a concept! In addition to the cute extra faces, Peely comes with the same "Machete" harvesting tool as his bigger brother; the "Banana Bag" back bling, which is available in the game with a different character, but certainly feels like it should go here; a Pump Shotgun, which sadly does not feature a working pump; an Infantry Rifle, identifiable by its carrying strap; and a shield-restoring foraged Mushroom with a hole so he can put it on his thumb to "hold" it. In Fortnite's current season, Galactus is coming to eat the map, because the theme is "Nexus War," a big Marvel crossover event. Thor ran ahead to warn the residents, then used the Bifrost bridge to call a bunch of other Marvel characters to help fight Galactus off. And do note, that's the main 616 Thor, the main 616 Galactus, the main 616 everybody - the literal characters you can read about in the "real" stories every month are currently running around on Fortlandia, getting attacked by players. Think about that: like, Wolverine is hanging out on Krakoa, doing "House of X" things, then he gets teleported to Fortnite, does some stuff, and will be teleported back to Krakoa when it's over. That's pretty cool. With that in mind, every available Fortnite skin is now Marvel canon, and Jazwares' Fortnite Legendary Series figures are in the same scale as Marvel Legends. That's right: Peely now goes in your Avengers display! -- 11/13/20

Tweet