Disney's Gargoyles: Coldstone

Disney is long been known for his child friendly animated movies and their princesses, so when their animated cartoon, Gargoyles, hit television screens I imagine I wasn't the only was suprised to see Disney's name attached. The animated show was top notch and I feel it was ahead of it's time. The story and the writing were really good, having a darker overtone than most animated kid shows.

The show turned out to be pretty popular and spun off a Sega Genesis video game as well as a line of toys by Kenner. I never bought any of the figures when they were on retail shelves, but I did manage to pick up Coldstone on clearance somewhere.

Coldstone was a member of the Wyvern Clan, who long after being shattered by Vikings was rebuilt as an android along with fragments of two other clan members. This toy was released in 1996 as part of the Hard-Wired series. Like all Gargoyles action figures, he came packaged in blister bubble card. Molded into the blister bubble of the Hard-Wired figures are small circuitry detail. The back of the card featured other action figures available in the line.

The Kenner designers I thought did a great job at capturing the animated likeness of the characters. The majority of the figure was cast in one color of plastic, that being a blue/silver color. I feel its a good color since Coldstone is supposed to be an android. His headsculpt is especially impressive, with one eye being cybernetic with a metal plate while the other side being more organic with his original gargoyle horn. 

On his chest is a small image that shows off Xanatos. Coldstone was built and reactived by Xanatos and Demona and originally sent to destroy the Brooklyn gargoyles clan. He has a small lever on his backside and when pressed down, the image would spin and reveal one of 3 of the characters he was built with - Coldstone, Coldsteel, Coldfire. Xanatos is only shown since he's the one that built the android body.

Coldstone has detachable wings. The wings have a ratcheting like joints. When spread out he has a pretty impressive wingspan. You can also see that he has two orange blades that can be pivoted outward. If you look carefully at his wings you can see the small metal rivets, a nice touch.

The only accessory packaged with Coldstone is an orange missile that fires from his right arm. His arm opens up just enough to slide in the missile to where it locks into place. Open his arm again and the missle will fire automatically.

Being a mid-90's action figure you can't expect to find a lot of articulation. His arms and legs are pre-posed with your normal range of motion found in the shoulders and hips. His missile arm however seems to be on a ball joint that allows it to have more movement. Of course his wings can be posed and his tail can be rotated a bit. 

I found that the feet on my figure were warped right out of the package. I couldn't get him to stand very well on his own without some kind of support. Thankfully the tail joint was tight and I could use the tail to help give the figure some needed support.

Overall I found this figure to be a real joy. It was well sculpted to match his television show counterpart and had just enough "action features" to make the figure fun to mess around with. I did make me curious as to how the other figures in the Gargoyles line are, but I've yet to bother with another one outside of Demona that I've already reviewed. If you're a fan of the show, comic or toys, then I'd think you'd really enjoy this figure.

Disney's Gargoyles: Demona

I've always felt that Disney's animated series, Gargoyles, was well ahead of it's time. Dark and moody, unlike most things Disney, the series was excellently written and animated. It didn't take long for the show to become a hit with the older crowd and as such would spawn other merchandise such as video games (Sega Genesis) and action figures by Kenner.

Any good series has to have it's share of villains and Gargoyles was no different. While the human character, David Xanatos would be the prominent antagonist of the Goliath and his band of Gargoyles, Demona was eventually brought into the fold. Once a lover of Goliath, she is now consumed with hatred for the humans and finds herself at the opposite end of the spectrum from where Goliath stands.

Around the mid 1990's, Kenner would unveil a line of action figures based on the Gargoyles animated show. The figures were well sculpted a took after their animated counterparts. 1995 would see the release of Demona, one of two female action figures in a male dominated series. (the other female figure was that of Elisa Maza)

Demona's action figure may not look like it jumped off your TV screen, but I feel the designers did a good job capturing her likeness. From her red hair to her torn and tattered clothing, there is no doubt who this is supposed to be. Most of the figures measured around 6 inches tall and had some sort of action feature. Demona's wings are attached in a way that they can "flap" to assist the idea of flying while playing with the toy. Her arms, legs and tail are also movable although the articulation is rather limited. You've got to keep in mind that most 90's era action figures weren't super articulated like action figures of today.

If I'm being honest here I'm kinda surprised that Kenner even made an action figure of Demona. After all female toys usually don't sell very well in a boy's action figure series. I can't say if I was a little kid that I would've grabbed this figure off the retail pegs when faced with the decision of her or say Bronx. 

Demona was packaged with a rather large projectile shooting gun. I guess you could call it a sniper rifle. I find it a little odd as I don't recall her using a gun very often in the animated series. The other problem with the gun if you haven't already noticed is it's size. The gun is the same size, if not larger than Demona herself!

Trying to get her to hold the gun and balance took quite a bit of effort. Thankfully you can pose the tail and use it for added support. The spring inside of the gun launches the long purple missile a good 3 to feet when the button on the top of the gun is pressed. Be careful that you don't loose the missile as she only comes packaged with one.

I can understand the cult following of the Gargoyles brand and Kenner did a good job with the toys for it's time period. I haven't had the opportunity to personally "play" with many of the toys, but the ones I have had my hands on I've been impressed. I hope to bring you more reviews from this series in the future. For now thanks for reading.