Here we go, the last of the four Deluxe figures from the Tron: Legacy movie. This time it’s Kevin Flynn’s evil Cyber-Doppleganger and Dictator of The Grid: Clu, implessively played by the computer generated and de-aged Jeff Bridges. The last two figures we looked at in this assortment had pretty simple electronics, but Clu goes back to the same innovative formula used on the Deluxe Sam Flynn figure by including not just lights, but an impulse projected face and a soundchip.
Yep, Clu comes on a big card with the same deco we’ve been seeing on all of these figures. There’s a Try Me hole cut out in the bubble so you can see his electronics. It’s a great feature for MOSC collectors, although what they do when the battery runs out is beyond me. There’s an illustrated insert in the bubble to customize the package to fit the character and the back features a little bio blurb about Clu and a whole lot of safety and warnings gobbledygook about the toy’s electronics.
When I first had Clu out of the package, I thought for a moment that he just a repaint of Sam with some new electronics, but that’s not the case at all. Put them next to each other and you can see that Clu is a completely new sculpt, although he does look closer to Sam than either Rinzler or the Black Guard. Also like Sam, Clu’s got a lot more paint apps to replicate the lighting from the character design.
The electronics gimmick is activated by pressing the button under Clu’s left armpit. Pressing it once activates the orange lighting on his torso and pressing it again activates the impulse projected face and the voice clips. The face is a pretty good likeness of young Jeff Bridges and the speech is loud and clear. He spouts off the following quips:
- So, you like bikes!
- Flynn lives
- Out there! Is our destiny!
- You get the reward you deserve
- Greetings, Programs!
Clu’s articulation is also identical to the Deluxe Sam Flynn figure. He has the ball jointed shoulders, elbows, hips, knees, and ankles. He also has swivel cuts in the wrists. Because of the impulse projection gimmick, Clu’s head is not articulated.
Clu’s accessories consist of his Ident Disc and a Light Katana. Interestingly, he doesn’t come with a baton and the figure lacks the peg on the thigh used to secure it as we saw on Rinzler and Sam.
So, Clu wraps up Tron Legacy’s Deluxe line of figures, at least for now. Overall, I was pretty impressed with this line and I would have liked to see it go on. I guess it’s not impossible, but we’ve already seen the second wave of figures and toys from the movie hitting the shelves and online sites, but there hasn’t been any news or images about the Deluxe line continuing. Granted, I think another complete wave of four figures might be pushing it, but a case revision with Quorra and one of Clu’s Sentries would have rounded out the line pretty nicely and been most welcome.
FigureFan Zero 