The Brain

"The same thing we do every night, Pinky: try to take over the world!" Brain, aka "Big Johnny Brain Jones Peachpit Bill Boone Crockett," wants to take over the world, but not because he wants to be a dictator or just craves power: he truly believes his increased intelligence would make him the best ruler. And honestly, he's not wrong? The few times he's gotten a brief taste of power, he's proven to oppose cruelty, treat everyone fairly, and inspire devotion from the average citizen. Unfortunately for him, he's also condescending and bitter, and his plans tend to fall apart. Either a regular field mouse who had his head enlarged, or a lab mouse who was chosen because of his already-large head, Brain owes his increased intelligence to human intervention - sometimes via the Biological Recombinant Algorithmic Intelligence Nexus, sometimes by the Acme Gene Splicer & Bagel Warmer, sometimes even by an Incredible Hulk villain. Voice actor Maurice LaMarche had long been obsessed with the infamous outtakes of Orson Welles recording a promo for peas, so when he saw Brain's jowly design, he busted out his practiced Welles impression for the curmudggeonly little mouse. Super7's Animaniacs line may not be in scale with anything else, but Pinky and the Brain are at least in scale with each other. Not counting his ears, Brain is nearly 4½" tall; perhaps not a perfect 1:1 scale toy of a little white mouse, but certainly close. Where Pinky was tall and lean, Brain is short and squat - and his head makes up nearly half his total height! The body is molded from white plastic, not painted, so it's not quite as brilliant as it could be, but since there are no actual white white parts on the figure (his nose is red and his eyes are the same pink as his skin), it won't stand out as being incorrect. The shape of Brain's body dictates what articulation has gets - stumpy little legs don't leave room for knees, y'know? He does have swivel/hinge ankles, though, and balljointed hips. Plus a balljointed tail, balljointed waist, swivel/hinge wrists, swivel/hinge elbows, swivel/hinge shoulders, and a balljointed head. You won't be able to do anything really wild with him, because even as hollow plastic, that head is so large and heavy that it will make him fall over easily if he's not balanced just right. Since Brain has a clear, sculpted line running all the way around his face, you'd think perhaps Super7 would have used that to allow for swappable faceplates, thus saving money for them, keeping costs down for us, and helping offset the balance issues cause by the way his ears point backwards, right? No, instead we get a full alternate head, with a wildly exclamatory expression. "Yes!" The set also includes seven additional hands, all in various shapes and poses. Like Pinky, Brain's accessories include several flasks with color painted on the inside to indicate liquid contents. He also geta a paperclip, a pointer, a set of blueprints showing tonight's plans, and the globe keychain Pinky gave him for Christmas - a functional keychain, if you want to use it as one. Finally, there's the giant magnet from the intro, which has a movable switch for the figure to throw, and can rotate for your best display options. It's obviously not as giant as it is in the animation - it needs to fit in the already-oversized box, after all - but the intention is clear and it's still a fun thing to include. Maybe some of those Tamashii energy effects would be a nice thing to accessorize it with? Green, of course. Pinky and the Brain could easily have been done as a very nice two-pack - they still wouldn't have been in scale with anything at all, but at least you wouldn't have had to buy two sets to complete the pair. It's been a long wait to get toys of these two, so at least they're pretty good. -- 05/10/23

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