daltysmilth Posted February 12, 2010 Share Posted February 12, 2010 The new trailer for Toy Story 3 was on imdb's front page yesterday, and I noticed a character in it that looked slightly familiar. No, not our favorite dog and rabbity-thing detectives, but an obscure character from their universe. It appeared to be a CGI version of Max's favorite kit-bashed superhero action figure as seen in the short comic "Action Figure Surgery", Superfly. (Which I believe first appeared in the Fox Kids Club magazine, and I know appears in Surfin' the Highway) I wish I had a screenshot of both the Toy Story character and the comic for comparison, but the resemblance is too uncanny to be coincidental. Especially given that Steve Purcell works at Pixar as a storyboard artist/character designer. (He apparently designed the Screamin' Banshee for Mater and the Ghostlight. John Lassetter even gives him a shout-out on the commentary on the Pixar shorts collection, noting that he's "always drawing monsters.") Anyway, since I don't have screenshots for comparison, watch the new Toy Story 3 trailer with your copy of Surfin' the Highway (or the Fox Kids Club magazine that the story first appeared in), and tell me I'm wrong. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harald B Posted February 13, 2010 Share Posted February 13, 2010 Are you talking about this guy? I think that's too much of a stretch. They're both bulky fly guys, but other than that I don't think they're that similar. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThunderPeel2001 Posted February 13, 2010 Share Posted February 13, 2010 What's does he look like in S&M? Anyone got a scan? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daltysmilth Posted February 15, 2010 Author Share Posted February 15, 2010 Are you talking about this guy? I think that's too much of a stretch. They're both bulky fly guys, but other than that I don't think they're that similar. I dunno. I still think they look similar enough to not be a coincidence. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Melancholick Posted February 15, 2010 Share Posted February 15, 2010 I'd be more inclined to write it off as a He-Man homage. This guy's got the same build, right down to the torso and "Barbarian panties" mold that was used for practically every figure in that line. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Radogol Posted February 15, 2010 Share Posted February 15, 2010 I'd be more inclined to write it off as a He-Man homage. Definitely. He even has the harness. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SyntheticGerbil Posted February 15, 2010 Share Posted February 15, 2010 Yeah, I'm not too sure of the resemblance either. Here's the strip for comparison. Sorry about the terrible color. I didn't scan it. The figure seems to be an amalgamation of several figures, but I'm not sure which ones. The wings look like they came from Baxter STockman and were painted green. This is how the strip originally ran in Fox Kids Magazine as well. The version of the strip that appears in the new Jake-edited version of Surfin' the Highway is just the original black and white inked page, since I think Jake told me Steve didn't do any of the colors for Fox Kids, so did not have a source. The black and white version also doesn't use a photo and instead has a similarly drawn figure that I still don't think resembles the Toy Story figure much. I would guess it's just a generic fly/insect figure not really resembling anything in particular. But I'll admit it's possible. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jake Posted February 15, 2010 Share Posted February 15, 2010 Looking at that scan again the coloring does look sorta like Steve, but it seems to me that he would have given me the color version for Surfin the Highway if it was his preferred/most-approved version. (For instance he gave me the hand-painted color version of Fair Wind to Java -- instead of the simulated 80s flat color version -- to use in the book, which I'd never seen before.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SyntheticGerbil Posted February 15, 2010 Share Posted February 15, 2010 Looking at that scan again the coloring does look sorta like Steve, but it seems to me that he would have given me the color version for Surfin the Highway if it was his preferred/most-approved version. Hmm... now that you mention it, I guess the colors look similar to the Toybox strip that ran in the Hellboy Christmas special as well as the Sam and Max Halloween special from Wizard that both were published in the same year(?). I guess I can't really tell, because I'm much more used to his hand coloring done for all of the Adventurer strips and the technique for the new Sam and Max webcomic. I think I may have forgot why you said the color was missing for the two Fox Kids strips, so I might be mistaken. I guess I assumed the coloring for the comic strips for Fox Kids Magazine was all done in house by the same team or guy and that might have been why he didn't have the color versions. Do you know if Steve took the picture of the action figure or was that something Fox Kids inserted? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jake Posted February 16, 2010 Share Posted February 16, 2010 I'm pretty sure the Halloween special in Wizard was digitally colored by someone else. I think it has credits for that. You're probably right. I can't remember anymore. I don't know about the picture either. I just know that the one in Surfin the Highway is illustrated and not a photo, but it does look really similar to the one in the color version. A mystery! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lagomorph01 Posted February 16, 2010 Share Posted February 16, 2010 The illustrated one does look significantly different. For instance it doesn't have those weird ears(?) that are present in this version. Actually, the one drawn by Steve does strike a resemblance with the Toy Story 3 design, the one in the photo doesn't. I'm not sure if it's a coïncidence, or even a reference for that matter. It could be a toy designed by Steve fór Toy Story 3 but based on the Flyman figure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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