12" Reservoir Dogs:
Nice Guy Eddie

Despite his lack of a "color name" such as "Mr. Pink" or "Mr. Orange," Nice Guy Eddie was one of the more colorful characters in the ultra-violent film Reservoir Dogs by Quentin Tarantino. Chris Penn's Eddie was a mysterious mix of loving son and cold-hearted killer, loyal friend and criminal mastermind, and calm "problem fixer" and furious mob boss. Chris Penn is the brother of Sean Penn, a mysterious mix himself.

The Nice Guy Eddie 12-inch action figure is part of the first series of Reservoir Dogs action figures from Palisades. Eddie was a ToyFare/Musicland shared exclusive, meaning that he was available as a mail-away figure through ToyFare magazine and also in the retail stores of Musicland, including Sam Goody, Suncoast, Media Play, and On Cue. The otherSeries One figures are Mr. Brown, Mr. Blonde and Marvin Nash. Series Two will be Mr. Orange, Mr. Pink, Mr. Whiteand Joe Cabot. (Mezco Toyz is also making Reservoir Dogs action figures, but they are a different scale.)

The Nice Guy Eddie action figure began life with the same articulation as the other 12-inch ResDogs figures, but due to his heavier build, lost most of his waist articulation. Rather than give Eddie a padded shirt to simulate his extra girth, Palisades gave him, for lack of a better term, a fat suit. If you remove Eddie's windbreaker, you can see that he has two pieces attached to his torso (front and back) to fill him out.

Eddie has the following articulation: twisting and bending wrists and feet, twisting forearms, biceps and thighs, double jointed knees and elbows, ball-jointed shoulders and hips, and a neck joint that is similar to a ball-joint. As mentioned above, he has a waist twist, but the range of motion is limited due to the "fat suit." Eddie's body is molded in a very light flesh tone and his hands and head are painted to get a more realistic tone. (This paint can rub off from wear, especially at the wrists.)

If you have ever eaten too much at Thanksgiving dinner and had to drive home with your pants unbuttoned, you can appreciate Eddie's pants: they were made for a regular-sized action figure and don't quite reach around his waist. As a result, if you unzip his windbreaker all the way, you get the amusing site of seeing his pants with the snaps unsnapped. Aside from the waist issue, the pants are nicely done, made from a lightweight denim material with contrasting threads for the seams, and with a visible crease ironed down the front of each leg. Eddie's windbreaker is a gem of a garment in this scale: not only is it made from the right kind of fabric with multiple-panel construction, it is lined, and it also has elastic around the bottom. Eddie's boots are the same boots as Mr. Blonde wears.

As with the other 12-inch ResDogs figures from Palisades, Nice Guy Eddie has stand with a Reservoir Dogs logo. The stand has a staff in the back that supports a ring, which can go around the figure and keep him from taking a dive from your favorite display shelf.

Eddie also comes with a "pack of smokes," a loose cigarette, a lighter, a watch, a snub-nosed .38, a .45 automatic, and a shoulder holster. As you would expect from seeing the film, Eddie is dripping in gold: a necklace, a bracelet, and rings on both hands. (The rings are sculpted on, but the necklace and bracelet are chains.) Most amusing of all, Eddie comes with a a cell phone. Not just any cell phone, but a scaled version of the big giant "old school" cell phone appropriate for 1992, when the film was released. The Matrix was released a mere seven years later, but can you imagine that film with cell phones the size of Eddie's?

12" Reservoir Dogs:
Nice Guy Eddie