Agent Peely

Don't look so surprised - bananas come in bunches. Sometimes as many as 007 of them. He has a license to peel. The trailer for Fortnite Chapter 2 Season 2 (no, that's not a mistake: the game is now in "Chapter 2," and each little story segment is a "season"; yes, that feels like they named it backwards, but it is how it is) saw the mysterious Midas, leader of the spy faction called Ghost, activate his sleeper agents all over the island: Lynx was hiding from persuers, Brutus was interrogating someone, Journey was driving a boat, Bushranger was working on his camouflage... and then there was Peely, who was chilling in a priavte library, as the Peely do. Upon receiving the signal, he pulled a specific book and the bookcase spun around, revealing a hidden room where his personal valet was waiting to give him his work clothes. And thus, Agent Peely was born! Or ripened. Picked? Tallied. Pick your own verb. This is not just some cheap and easy repaint. Peely is Peely, but you can't just paint clothes on a banana and call it a day. The hands and feet may be the same molds as before, but the rest had to be new. Technically Agent Peely's default style is just him in a tweed suit, but that's boring (you definitely never see anyone using that variation in the game), so the toy is based on the trailer, where he's wearing a black tuxedo. Technically that's his look as an agent of Shadow (the "Cobra" to Ghost's "GI Joe"), but it's iconic. The jacket is a separate piece over the torso, while his shirt and tie are sculpted as part of the body. You'll recall that Peely doesn't have a neck, meaning his head and torso have to be molded as one - and thus, this head is not the same mold we got on the last figure. The advent of digital sculpting, however, means that it can be the same sculpt without having to be the same mold - the same angle to the curve, the same droop on the peel, everything. And that means Agent Peely's swappable faces are completely compatible with the ones from the last figure, and vice-versa. So what do we get in this set? First is the steely mien that is the default with this skin, with half-closed eyes and a mouth that's just a small, straight line. Those same eyes are used on the next face, though it adds angry eyebrows and an open mouth. The open mouth appears on the third face as well, though that one is absolutely jolly, with merrily squinted eyes and raised eyebrows. What a spectrum of emotions! The articulation is unchanged. A new coat piece can't block a chest joint if you haven't got a chest joint! What Agent Peely does have are hinged toes, swivel/hinge ankles, swivel shins, double-hinged knees, swivel thighs, swivel/hinge hips, hinged fingers, swivel/hinge wrists, double-hinged elbows, swivel biceps, swivel/hinge shoulders, and pec hinges, and everything moves well. If he came with the "slurptini" he was drinking in the trailer, he'd be able to lift it to his lips, no problem. Although Agent Peely keeps a pistol in a holster on his left ankle, that doesn't count as an accessory: it's not removable. Either in the game or on the toy. He's armed with a Suppressed Pistol, something that totally makes sense for a spy; a Suppressed Submachine Gun, because that's what you switch to in the big action shoot-out; and a Pump Shotgun, which isn't Supressed but should be, if only for thematic consistency. His Harvesting Tool and Back bling both come from the Banana Royale set, same as Agent peely himself. The Bananaxe will split anything that gets in your way, while the Banana Briefcase is exactly what it says on the label: a black bag stuffed to overflowing with large bananas. Judging by the game model, it's mean to be worn at a slight angle, but if you do that, the white copyright info tampographed on the bottom becomes visible. Agent Peely is the fourth Peely skin available: there was the original, the robotic P-1000, and the undead Peely Bone. Then later there was the summer-ready "Unpeely," who's ready for the beach. Jonesy may be Fortnite's poster boy, but Peely is its poster fruit. A "tweed" Agent Peely might not sell too well, but Jazwares could definitely put some white paint on this jacket and double-dip on this mold. Or maybe even a shiny gold to do the version that was only unlocked at Level 300(!!!) of the season's Battle Pass. -- 03/05/21

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