In 2010, as an April Fool’s gag, Thinkgeek announced a new action figure from the film 2001: A Space Odyssey: the monolith. Boasting “zero points of articulation,” it eventually saw life as an actual product, minus the official 2001 licensing. The joke was that collectors would buy anything from their favorite movies, and that not all “characters” necessarily make good toys.
And like many a great joke, it predicted the future.
This one is for real, and at $299.99 with a mandatory $75 deposit, is no gag gift. Scaled to 12-inch figures, it’s designed to make other toys bow down and evolve. A full two feet tall, the monolith (or TMA-1, if we’re using names) is made of plexiglass on a resin moon-rock base. Signaling-to-Jupiter action feature is not included; signaling to your friends that you’re damned serious in your worship of the greatest science fiction movie of all time is inherent. Official merchandise based on Stanley Kubrick films is hard to come by, but at least you don’t have to fly all the way to the actual moon to see one, as Dr. Heywood Floyd did.
However, if my wife’s Barbies discover this and ascend to higher states of being faster than my superheroes do, I’m in trouble, I think.
Are you ready to open your bank account bay doors for this one? Or will your balance scream, “I’m sorry, I’m afraid I can’t do that”? Complete the mission by adding your thoughts below!
featured image: MGM
