I WANTS ONE

These characters are toying with us

By William Keck, USA TODAY

"I'm going to be an action figure!!??"

That's what Malcolm David Kelley (Lost's Walt) exclaimed after the 14-year-old learned from his TV dad, Harold Perrineau (Michael), that the cast is getting plastic mini-me replicas.

Comics legend Todd McFarlane scanned the faces of Lost cast members and videotaped their bodies to help create their 6-inch versions.

Or more accurately in Malcolm's case, 4 inches, max.

"When you're doing a kid, there's less plastic, so Walt will probably come with Vincent, the dog, so people don't think we're cheating them," explains McFarlane, who created action figures for Kiss, The Simpsons, Napoleon Dynamite and Spawn.

Series 1, due this fall, will feature six original Lost characters: Jack, Kate, Locke, Charlie, Hurley and Shannon. Walt and Michael will come later.

As will Sawyer.

"Ideally, we want to have multiple series," McFarlane says. "But you want to get out of the gate strong. You've got to have the top two — Kate and Jack — but then I don't want to burn off all the top people. I'll probably do Sawyer with his shirt off for Series 2."

Some cast members were more excited about the prospect of becoming toys than others. "You have those that get it and those that don't," says McFarlane, who spent an hour with each actor. "Jorge Garcia (Hurley), Daniel Dae Kim (Jin), Dominic Monaghan (Charlie) and Michelle Rodriguez (Ana Lucia) were real geeks who got it."

The one who didn't get it: Terry O'Quinn (Locke).

"He has that kind of anti-commercial thing," McFarlane says.

Maggie Grace (Shannon) had been killed off the show when McFarlane visited the Oahu set to do the scans. Grace met with the artist in Los Angeles to have her measurements taken for a bikini-clad version of Shannon, as seen in the pilot. (Figures of other dead characters including Boone, Libby and Ethan also are in the works.)

Each figure, with a suggested retail price of $15 to $20, will come with a prop, such as Kate's toy airplane, Charlie's Drive Shaft band ring and Hurley's lottery ticket.

"We're going to do our action figures in a slightly outside-the-box fashion," says show producer Damon Lindelof.

Case in point: The figures will speak sound bites that reflect their personalities and back stories. Press a button and bratty Shannon will say: "What's a four-letter word for 'I don't care'?" And Hurley repeats his infamous: "Stop. Wait. The numbers are bad!"

Source: http://www.usatoday.com/life/television/news/2006-05-23-lost-toys_x.htm