Broadway

Tis the season! One of the rookery trio (alongside Brooklyn and Lexington), Broadway is many things: optimist, food enthusiast, and cinephile. Hey, that text is straight from NECA! We didn't have to copy a trading card this time! Way to go, team! Broadway is big and dopey (which you may have been able to guess, given he's voiced by Bill Fagerbakke - Dauber on Coach and Tom "M-O-O-N" Cullen in The Stand), but sensitive enough to those around him to be fairly insightful at times. He looks a lot like Etrigan, honestly, with finned ears and spikes on his bald head. He's got a large lower jaw with two teeth jutting up from below, and his large, rounded cheeks make him look like he's smiling. Broadway may not be as ripped as the other Gargoyles, but he's perfectly fine with the way he looks - size and bulk are his major defenses. Djordje Djokovic was still free to make the toy's arms and legs utterly jacked, and the stomach still shows evidence of musculature; he's just more "powerlifter" than "bodybuilder." Like those World's Strongest Man guys, who have very thick stomachs to contain all the muscles that support and protect their spines. We get that NECA wanted all the figures to share the same exaggerated aesthetic, but being smoother really would have worked for Broadway. Like the others, he wears a ragged leather(?) loincloth and has textured detailing on the membranes of his wings. Articulation is on par with the rest of his clan: barbell neck, swivel/hinge joints where the wings meet the body, swivel/​hinge shoulders, swivel biceps, double-hinged elbows, swivel/​hinge wrists, a balljointed torso, swivel waist, balljointed hips, swivel thighs, swivel/hinge knees, swivel/hinge ankles, and swivel/hinge toes. He also has a bendy tail that inserts into the body with another swivel/hinge joint. The joints on the wings are just as stiff as the plastic used, making loud snapping sounds with every movement. As laid-back as Broadway is, it would almost make sense for him to not include an alternate angry head, but then he couldn't join everybody else in being scary and intimidating when he needs to be. Neither head has an articulated jaw, but this one is molded with the mouth wide open and the tongue lifted slightly, plus blank white eyes beneath the knit brow. We'll again point out that their blank eyes shine on the show, so glow-in-the-dark paint would have made sense here. Like Brooklyn, Broadway includes an accessory inspired by the old Kenner toys: an axe and a mace that can plug together to form one gigantic super-weapon. Unfortunately, among all his extra hands, there's only one shaped to hold it: imagine if he could have held it in both hands at once. Or dual-wielded! That's a play pattern, baby! Live the dream! Because "big guy = always eating" was still the height of clever writing in the '90s, his other accessories are a bag of popcorn, a Ren Faire turkey leg with a bite out of it, and a handful of the phosphorescent moss/slime he ate off the walls in the first episode. Classy! But you know what he should really have? A gun to play with! That's fun for everybody! A total blast. While we were waiting for Broadway to finally make it to stores, NECA announced at Comic-Con 2023 they'd be making a second version of him, including the folded wings and a trenchcoat to dress him as a detective. That's neat, but we'd rather it be an accessory set so we didn't have to buy a second full figure. A full-figured full figure! The Emiliano Santalucia painting on this toy's box shows Broadway (the Gargoyle) over Broadway (the street), in front of the Paramount theatre, and the marquee promises that MacBeth will be coming soon. C'Mon, NECA, make that a hint for a future figure, not just a cute Easter egg for the fans! -- 01/11/24

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