Charon

June 13, 2009 | By More


After a tripped circuit breaker had me fumbling
around in the basement, I found this guy lurking in a box near the breakers. In case you don’t know who he is, he’s Charon. Charon is the ferryman across the river Styx in Greek mythology. (For more on Charon, click

here.)

This particular version is from the movie “Clash
of the Titans.” I was pretty fascinated with this film
as a kid. To this day I’ll stop and watch a Ray Harryhausen film if it’s on TV.

Appearance:

When it comes down to it, Charon is normally depicted in as a skeleton on old guy in robes. And that is pretty much what Mattel gave us here. I have to say they couldn’t have made this guy anymore generic. Yeah, he kind of looked that in the movie, but I remember his face being more obscured. I would guess his face is more prominent because kids dig skeletons.

There’s some light detailing in face. Some of the joints in the fingers are visible. The hands of this figure are almost better than the face. From the side and back, this pretty much a generic guy in a robe figure.

Fun:

I know this figure came with the sword that came with all the other figures in the line. I just couldn’t find it for the pics. Sorry, just how it goes sometimes. You got to wonder why no boat pole, since he used that and never had a sword.

Two articulated arms is the extent of the articulation my figure has. Although his waist is jointed, mine does not move. Never has. Some of the sites I’ve visited in the past show this as an articulated joint, so it may just be an issue with my figure.

Overall:

If I was going to rate this on just “Clash of the Titans”, I’d score it lower. I mean, why make this guy over medusa? But, this figure had a secret life when I was a
kid.

When “The Empire Strikes Back” came out, I remember being intrigued by hologram of Vader’s “boss”, the Emperor. Finally, the ultimate bad guy of the Star Wars Universe. However, there was no figure of him. He
appeared to be and old guy in a hooded robe in Empire. Step in, Charon. He served as the Emperor of my Imperial Star Wars figures until I got my Emperor figure in the mail (save those proofs of purchase, boys and girls).

So, from that point of view I’m going to add a little to his score.

Engineernerd Score: 70/100

Discuss in our forums!

Be Sociable, Share!

Tags: ,

Category: Other Film, Toy Reviews

About the Author ()

Comments (5)

Trackback URL | Comments RSS Feed

  1. Errex says:
    December 10, 2009 at 11:58 am

    That was a neat figure, back then. I’d hope the 2010 remake of the movie to spawn another 3.75 inch figure line, but I guess we won’t know for sure until Toy Fair.

  2. Engineernerd says:
    December 10, 2009 at 12:21 pm

    After watching the trailer, I’ve got mixed feelings for that film. I doubt we’ll see a 3.75″ line. I’d expect something more like NECA’s 300 figures.

    I might have to dust off some more of these before the film comes out. Plaidstallions.com has a neat page on stuff that didn’t get made. I’ll have to look up the link.

  3. Engineernerd says:
    December 10, 2009 at 6:17 pm

    You need to check out the playset that didn’t get made.

    http://plaidstallions.blogspot.com/2009/11/mattel-clash-of-titans-catalog.html

    BTW, Plaidstallions.com is a great place to loose your self in nostalgia if your of the 70’s/80’s generation.

  4. Errex says:
    December 11, 2009 at 12:40 pm

    That’s a pretty neat playset. I’m tempted to build my own using foamboard. It would not be as flimsy as those old cardboard ones, but storage might be problematic.

  5. Engineernerd says:
    December 11, 2009 at 12:44 pm

    I thought the same thing. I’ve got scans somewhere for the Palitoy Death Star and faced a similar dilemma with it.