Mr. Blonde

"Are you gonna bark all day, little doggie, or are you gonna bite?" They were four perfect strangers assembled to pull off the perfect crime. Their simple robbery explodes into a violent ambush. Realizing in the aftermath that one of them is a rat, no one can be trusted. Mr. Blonde was the film's cool, calculating psychopath. His real name was Vic Vega, brother to Pulp Fiction's Vinnie (John Travolta). And despite having the largest reported body count in the film, Mr. Blonde was the only character never shown killing anyone on-screen. Despite just being four guys in black suits, the detail given to the Dogs is quite impressive: every part of every figure is unique; though it would have meant cheaper production costs, nothing was reused; each Dog has his own pose and posture, wears his coat differently, and even has distinct shoes. That's pretty cool. The figure stands about eight inches tall, and features 20 points of articulation, so while the series is in scale with McFarlane Toys' Movie Maniacs, the Dogs are much, much more poseable. Another major difference between Mezco and McFarlane is the facial sculpt--knowing that they couldn't compete with McToys almost fetishistic pride in an ultra-realistic likeness, Mezco opted for a characature of the actor. You can still tell that this is Michael Madsen, even if he didn't sit down for a RealScan session. Mr. Blonde comes with a section of the street scene, a second disk base to assist hard to balance poses, a fast food soda, removable sunglasses, plus an alternate hand that can hold either the pistol or straight razor. There's a second version of Mr. Blonde available in the "Stuck in the Middle With You" diarama; he has his jacket off, exposing his shoulder holster, perfect for torturing Marvin the Cop. The Reservoir Dogs figures are currently retailing for about $15, but I was fortunate enough to get mine for only ten. I do recommend this figure to fans of the movie, but with one caveat: once you've got one of the Dogs, you'll want to get the rest of the pack. Reservoir Dogs has just celebrated its tenth anniversary by releasing a new two-dvd set, which I've taken the time to review. There are five different covers, one of which features Mr. Blonde.