It was common practice among us as children that our action figures did not strictly interact with action figures of their own universe. I personally remember having the Power Rangers team up with Batman and the Super Mario Brothers (yes, from the movie) to battle the Terminator and his army of Mortal Kombat ninjas. I would pay so much money to see that movie, but since the odds of that are almost zero, these adventures of imagination were more than acceptable. Photographer Daniel Picard understands how powerful the worlds of imagination are when it came to toys and action figures, and decided to put his skills to work in capturing the same sort of worlds we created as children.
Figure Fantasy is a coffee table book collecting Picard’s work with action figures. There is no doubt you have seen some of Daniel’s work before in magazines or on the good ol’ internet. The book collects photos in which real-world environments are inhabited by a collection of action figures, from various properties like Marvel and DC Comics, G.I. Joe, Star Wars, and more. All of these characters are posed either interacting with each other or the environment they are in.
It’s a great bit of photo manipulation to blur the lines of fantasy and reality in a way only imagination could before. What could have happened to cause Jason Voorhees and a Tusken Raider to not only cross paths but actually try to kill each other? How could Cobra Commander possibly stand against Galactus, the eater of worlds? Who’s going to rake up all those leaves after that battle droid jumps in them? These are all questions that we are left to imagine for ourselves and reignite a part of our brain we haven’t for years.
The book is available on June 2nd and also features a forward by Simon Pegg (Star Trek) and even an Afterward from Kevin Smith (Comic Book Guys) about Daniel’s work and what is stands for. All figures featured in the book are provided by Sideshow Collectibles, and Daniel will be autographing copies of the book at Sideshow’s booth this year at San Diego Comic-Con.
What do you think of Daniel’s work? Interested in picking up a copy for yourself or someone else? Let us know in the comments below.
