Action Figure Review: Crystal Ball
A few years ago, I had the privilege of writing an article for Bloody-Disgusting.com in which I detail the magical and bizarre history behind the Stephen King and Owen King influenced creation of the GI Joe character, Crystal Ball. It was a very big honor and something that I still look back and feel very proud of. So imagine how excited I was to find out that Hasbro was giving ol’ CB a modern update in the fan-favorite GI Joe Classified line. Obviously, I had to have it and thanks to my friend Ash, I was able to score one…and had quite a few thoughts. So many thoughts in fact, that I had to dust off this blog and write about it.
Now a little history here. Crystal Ball, a Cobra hypnotist/interrogator, was originally released in 1987 to absolute ZERO fanfare. He was not a beloved character. In fact, if you were a Joe fan or collector, I’d probably say he was one of the last figures you’d want in your collection at the time. Even “The Godfather of GI Joe” Larry Hama would voice his disdain for Crystal Ball in interviews and even listed him as one of the worst Joes ever in an article in ToyFare in 1998. Just not a very popular figure despite the King of Horror connection. So naturally, as you can expect, he would garner a very small cult following in recent years. Some fans, myself included, would argue that there were much stranger and wildly dumber characters that were used in Joe lore. His look wasn’t bad. I’d argue the Vincent Price inspired face sculpt helps but he also looks like he belongs in the Dreadknoks. And quite frankly, if you have Gristle, Headman or dare I say Darklon or Overlord in your collection, you can make room for this guy too. Come on. I see you, Mr I Have Raptor On My Shelf!
With Hasbro’s amazing attention to detail and unique ability to make fans clamor for even the most obscure and silly character, it was no question that this figure was going to be a popular pick amongst collectors. Especially when it was announced that he would be a WalMart exclusive. So much so that he sold pretty quickly on Walmart.com when released. Now that said, Walmart isn’t always the most reliable with preorders and has a horrible habit of canceling them at times so if you were lucky enough to score one, you were no doubt spending months panicking over whether you’d receive it at all. I am to happy to report though, fans have spotted ol’ Richard King here on the shelves of local WalMart stores. So if you missed out online, check your local brick and mortar stores! You may be in luck!
So here we go, let’s check him out…
Ok. First impressions: this figure freaking rules, dude. The more I scope him out, the more I like it. This figure just stands out and LOOKS like he belongs on a shelf. he also kinda looks like he’d be apart of an emo band in 2007. Which I’d imagine the band would be called FindingFateWithinACrystal Ball or some odd run on sentence. We liked to condense things back then, whatcanisay?
The more I look at him, play around and pose him, the more I’m convinced this deserves to be nominated for Joe figure of the year.
I love the extras they gave him. It helps give Crystal Ball the extra “horror” feel. The original figure was simply packed with a lenticular “hypno shield” so any extra accessories he comes with is going to be a HUGE upgrade. The mask looks more like something you’d expect to see during a hallucination scene featuring the Scarecrow in Batman which…come on, dude, that’s just awesome. I’m guessing the green alternate head is influenced by the famous HP Lovecraft created character: The Cthulhu. His green flaming sword and, get this AN ACTUAL CRYSTAL BALL feels more like it belongs in an episode of The Real Ghostbusters and then of course…the modernized lenticular HypnoShield which looks more like a Guns N Roses album cover than it does something to hypnotize us but I’m also not complaining.
And yes, I ran my fingernail up and down the shield make that fun little zippy noise. That’s the law when it comes to lenticular gimmicks. You have to. I don’t make the rules. Don’t judge me.
There’s so many horror references here, I feel like this should be a very popular figure amongst horror fans. Maybe more so than Joe fans? I don’t know but hey, if you’re a Stephen King fan or collector, I would certainly recommend grabbing him. If you’ve got books written by Stephen and Owen side by side on your shelf, this would make a nice display piece to put by them!
Will GI Joe fans accept this as a potential new favorite figure? I certainly hope so. I think that he deserves a second look and another chance. Sure he didn’t fit into the original GI Joe story as well as others did but he stood out on his own. And for me? That’s what I love the most about this toy line. There’s so many weird and wild characters that there is something for EVERYONE. Heck, we had a guy that wrestles alligators and a former tax agent that plays with birds. So if you see Richard “Crystal Ball” King on your shelf at our local Walmart, grab him, take him home and hopefully you’ll see where I’m coming from.
The history of Crystal Ball is a wild, weird and very very maligned but as we get older, we tend to look back and embrace the goofy anomalies of pop culture. I mean look at all the bad movies we love and demand 4k bluray releases! And when it comes to action figures of the 80s…or any decade for that matter…you’re not gonna find a much more goofy anomaly than this guy right here.
-Chad
(Disclaimer: None of this review was written under the mind control of Crystal Ball’s HypnoShield)
