Tron Deluxe Figures Series 1 by Diamond Select Toys – Toyark Photo Shoot

Released in 1982, Disney’s Tron was one of the first major Hollywood films to rely on computer generated imagery (CGI) for its special effects. It was a film that was ahead of its time, so much so that the Academy Awards refused to acknowledge the films accomplishments, saying that using computers was cheating. The film never quite found the box office audience Disney was hoping for, but it became a cult favorite on home video.

The film followed a group of computer programmers looking to prove that a high ranking executive was stealing ideas from Kevin Flynn. Flynn, a genius programmer, created many of the games his company, Encom, was known for. When he crosses Encom’s growing AI program, the Master Control Program (MCP), Flynn is digitized, and sucked into the unknown digital world. There, Programs roam the digital landscape, performing the tasks their Users designed them to do. But the MCP has begun a hostile takeover, absorbing programs for his own gain, and forcing many others to fight in a game grid based on the real world video games that Flynn designed. The MCP uses the villainous Sark to do his bidding, running the games and rounding up programs to fight. When Flynn meets Tron and his friends, they devise a plan to take down the MCP, and return Flynn to the real world before he derezzed and lost forever.

The film has had a few toys and collectibles over the years. However, the new line of 7″ scale action figures by Diamond Select Toys may just be the best yet. Series 1 consists of Tron, Kevin Flynn (Infiltrator), and Sark. A Walgreens exclusive assortment is also available, which features the three figures with less accessories. However, it’s only via Walgreens that fans can find the blue version of Flynn. Our friends at diamond Select Toys have sent along the Tron Deluxe Series 1 Figures, and I managed to find a Blue Flynn in the wild. After the jump, check out my thoughts on the new collectibles, as well as a full photo gallery.

Tron Deluxe 7″ Scale Figures Series1 by Diamond Select Toys

Pros

• Excellent sculpts
• Solid portrait likenesses
• Great articulation
• Nice mix of accessories
• Easy to swap out hands
• Identity Discs can mount to the figures backs

Cons

• Better grip hands are needed

Overall
The Deluxe versions of the Tron figures are packaged on blister cards. The packaging art is inspired by art from the original film. The back of the cards are essentially the same for all 3 figures, with a bit of info on the movie and the figures. All three figure feature swap out hands, and Identity Disc, discs with effects pieces, and small figure bases. The Walgreens assortment features more collector friendly window box packaging, but each of those figures include only an Identity Disc.

Each of the figures stand about 7″ tall. The figures are listed as having 16 points of articulation, though it seems the figures have a bit more than that. The overall sculpts are fantastic. The detail work is spot on, with the figures matching their film counter-parts quite closely. The likenesses on the head sculpts of Flynn and Sark are both really close to their actors. Tron isn’t quite as good as the other two, but it’s close. Articulation has really been amped up by DST. They are much more in line with the hyper articulated releases they’ve done, such as Bruce Lee. There are double jointed elbows and knees, swivels on the biceps and thighs, ball jointed upper torsos, ankle rockers (though a bit tight), also really help in allowing dynamic poses to come naturally. Paint work is generally strong, with mostly crisp line work. There’s a few small instances of paint bleed, but I expected that due to how small some of those sculpted circuits are. None of those immediately jumped out until I was looking at them in the photos.

The included Identity Discs each have a small peg on the bottom of the discs, which is used to mount them to the figures backs. The Deluxe Figures also include discs with effects added on for fight poses. Each figure includes a few interchangeable hands. Most of them are in a more relaxed position. This is really where my only gripe comes in. None of the hands include a correct grip for the discs. While the standard discs can be placed in the hands well enough, the discs with effects proved too heavy for the figures to hold. A set of specialized grip hands for each would be welcome. However, since I could get them to hold the standard discs well enough, I wasn’t too bothered by that.

Now, when originally solicited, these were going to be in the Select line, with the bookend style boxes. The original solicitations listed each figure including parts for a Recognizer, one of the iconic vehicles from the film. However, the logistics simply couldn’t be worked out, and that feature was dropped. The reason I didn’t list that under the “Cons” section is that we’ve never even seen the Recognizer. Without seeing how that was going to look, if it was going to be in scale, if figures could fit inside, I can’t accurately say whether it was good or bad that the feature was dropped. The good news for collectors was that when the parts were removed, it lead to a drop in the figure prices.

Tron is a series of figures I have been hoping someone would produce for years. The film has been a personal favorite since childhood, and I always believed the character designs lent themselves well to collector-oriented figures. Diamond Select Toys did a really nice job of bringing these figures to life. They look great in hand, they’re fun to pose, and that’s all I really need from the figures. Check out a selection of photos below, and the full gallery after that.

CompaniesDiamond Select Toys
CharactersTronSarkKevin Flynn
Scale7 Inch

TagsFeatured

Discuss