I think that this was probably the easiest one to guess for the top ten, and given that many of you did I guess I am right.
That being a given, you may not have remembered all of his appearances in plastic.
So without further ado, here is Arnold Schwartzenegger.
I will admit that I was amazed that he didn’t make the top of the list, but hey, when you see who did you will know why.
First up how about the Terminator.
Made for the T2 movie back in 1991 by Kenner, this is a 12″ figure and a particular fave of mine. For years this was the best Arnie figure out there, I mean even though the package says he came with battle noises that doesn’t scratch the surface of what was really in store for the lucky purchaser. I will now clarify… yeah he does make a generic machine gun sound (yawn) but he also says “Hasta la vista, Baby!” as well as “I’ll be back!”. Sweeeet!
In the years since then there have been dozens more figures of Arnold as the T-800.
See what I mean… perhaps I will write a whole post on this at some point as most of them are pretty fantastic.
Next up, another easy one, Alan ‘Dutch’ Schaefer from Predator.
I wrote about this figure in some detail back in June (click here if you missed it). To reiterate what I said back then, this 12″ figure by Hot Toys is just a little too good for my liking. Check out the sculpt up close… scary good… creepy for sure!
This next figure is not scary good at all in fact I am going to say it is quite the opposite and just plain old bad.
Ok, so maybe figure is not that bad, but the movie it came from was a real dog. For sure Arnold has had some mega hits in his time, but he has also had some incredibly spectacular misses too… playing Jack Slater in the Last Action Hero was certainly one of the latter.
They even made a 15″ talking version of this figure… coz we really needed one of them!
Let’s just say these didn’t really fly off the shelves. In fact this large guy didn’t make it in to many stores at all and as a result will still set you back close to $100… the 5″ figure (shown above) and the rest of its line was on clearance forever. In the end I am sure these got sent to needy children in third world countries where they promptly burned them for fuel 
Next up, from 1985…
Remember John Matrix? From the movie Commando?
Not one of his greatest roles but it was fun. I really like this figure a lot.
Intestingly enough this figure was released in two versions which were amazingly similar. The one above is a 17″ version, the one below 5″.
Both are cool though, and though neither will break the bank to buy them you will find them one of his hardest figures to find especially if you want a packaged version.
Well that is 4 so far, next is lots of fun.
The Governator, of course! This figure cracks me up for so many reasons. First of all… ummm can anyone tell me the purpose of 12″ political figures, particularly talking ones? It has me baffled, my best guess is if you are playing with 12″ G.I. Joes you have a politician who can be Commander in Chief (work with me here a bit) and they can be the ones poised and ready to press THE button. Ok maybe not.
The other thing that cracks me up about this piece is how much the Toypresidents, Inc. cheaped out when they made it. I don’t know about you, but as far as I can remember even today Mr. Schwartzenegger is totally jacked… this figure is not! Yep, they just stuck an Arnold head on a standard 12″ body, totally weak. He looks like he has some wasting condition and is putting on a brave face.
Last up, and this was a tough one to find and to tell you the truth I was in two minds about including it.
From his 1982 role, Conan the Barbarian.
Why was I so undecided? It looks just like him, he made two movies as that character. True, but look carefully…
For those eagle-eyed ones among you you probably noticed that these figures are just that… just figures. They seem to have zero points of articulation. Are they really action figures? I don’t know as I have never actually handled one to see for myself, but for today I guess we will say they are.
So the final tally is 5 1/2. Yes don’t forget the governator figure there only counts as half.
That brings me to the end of number 4, all that is left are the big money choices… the final three. The tension mounts and the question is… will Gary survive the build up? We can only hope so.
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It’s killing me Dave! Who are the top 3? I think I know one of them. The Predator figure is amazing. Suprised that they never made one for The Running Man.
Aww, Arnie was my choice for #1. Oh well, I’m looking forward to seeing who has the top 3!
I’ve got that smaller John Matrix figure sitting on my shelf as I type! I’m missing his gun, but the knife, vest and pants survived in great shape. It’s a bit funny to think they made kids toys out of such a violent movie, but I didn’t complain, I watched that movie a hundred times and liked the figure enough to keep in in great shape all these years.