Dave's Toy Rant: Sharkman Every so often, I see something on clearance at Kay Bee that I've never seen before anywhere at full price. This is one of those finds, the Sharkman line, by Everbright Toys. There's six toys in the line, but only four were still on the pegs...the two human characters were gone. But at 3 for $10, I decided to give the title character a shot. The HUGE Prawn figure tempted me, but it only had 5 or so points of articulation...and where would I put it? CAPSULE Very ambitious attempt, but their reach exceeded their grasp. Worth the clearance price, though. $3.33 at Kay Bee (down from $7.99 in "instant clearance") RANT Sharkman is the corporate mascot of Maui and Sons surf equipment (www.mauiandsons.com), and I guess they decided to merchandise. Never heard of Everbright before, it may be a spinoff of Maui and Sons, or just a new outfit that cast its lot in with the surf guys. The package also claims there is an animated adventure available. It's an ambitious launch...six figures, three vehicles, the largest of which even comes with a figure. Other than Sharkman, the heroes are Maui (of "and Sons" no doubt) and the line's lone female Iniki (who looks pretty good, with lots of articulation, I bet I never see one on the shelf). The baddies are the huge Prawn, the Green Manta (who is Sharkman's opposite number in articulation and storyline) and Doc Toxic. Sharkman stands a little over 7" (18cm) tall, and he's a muscular guy with a shark head and fin. Each limb has three points of articulation, meeting the package's claim of 12 points of true articulation. Additionally, his waist twists with a spring in it for punching action, and his mouth opens when you push the button on his back to activate the *other* punching action. His right shoulder ratchets because of the punching gimmick, and his left shoulder seems to have preferred positions, possibly related to another gimmick that got removed. The hands are soft rubbery plastic and can be popped out of their sockets pretty easily. The shins and feet are also soft plastic, probably to make it easier to get him to stay on his snowboard. Unfortunately, the joints tend to be loose in the wrong places and the toy is overall pretty floppy, making it harder to stand up than you'd expect for a top-heavy figure like this. And the musculature is grotesquely misproportioned, with huge chest, biceps and thighs, but kinda scrawny forearms and shins. The toy is, however, nicely loaded with gimmicks. Pushing a button on the back causes the right arm to swing up about 30 degrees in a nice punching motion while also opening the jaws. If you close the jaws all the way by hand first, they snap open dramatically. Twisting the torso lets him add a roundhouse to his uppercut, although it's not very impressive due to the restricted range of motion. The toy was also going to have light-up features. The Maui and Sons logo on his chest would have lit up when you pushed the punching button, and it looks like the toys eyes are also LEDs which would have lit up. Hard to say for sure, there's no instructions. My guess is that the electronics were removed (and they are gone, I opened the battery case to check) because late in the design process someone realized that if you sell a kid a surfing shark-guy, it's going in the water eventually. Zzzert, dead electronics. In addition to built-in gimmicks, Sharkman has a full assortment of surfing accessories. He has a set of shades which no doubt would have looked really cool over lit-up eyes. Unfortunately, the pegs on the shades are way too short to actually go into the peg holes on the sides of his head, so the shades fall off easily. He also has a surfboard, a snowboard and a skateboard, all with various Maui and Sons insignia. The snowboard is the only one with pegs for his feet, and therefore the only one he can stand on without falling off when you look at him funny. The surfboard looks pretty good and is molded so it can rest on the tabletop despite its rudder fins. The skateboard, while not at the level of the "Tech Deck" toys available now, does have working wheels. Any of the three boards would make a good accessory for your 7" figure. Surfin' Spawn, woo! Unfortunately, the circular stickers used to secure the boards in the blister have gooey adhesive that doesn't wanna come off the accessories completely. Still, the three boards are almost worth the clearance cost of the toy if you want such accessories for your other toys. Overall, I gotta give Everbright credit for ambition. If everthing had worked out in manufacturing and they hadn't had to cut corners and make concessions for safety, this would have been a rockin' toy. And even the compromise version that made it to stores is easily worth the clearance price at Kay Bee. Not sure if the Prawn is worth the space it takes up, though, and Doc Toxic didn't look worth it either. Might pick up the Green Manta tomorrow, and I'll get Iniki on sight...if I ever see her. Dave Van Domelen, wonders if the left arm activated the eyes....