I seem to be forever doomed to write about bendy toys, or it would seem that way as of late. I mean there’s probably in total somewhere between 3 to 7 bendy toys I wouldn’t mind owning, every other one I find outside of that I’d sooner set on fire to rid the world of it. I have an extreme love/hate for these overproduced pieces of rubber but once every so often there’s one that I gravitate towards. Sometimes it’s because a genuine action figure for the character doesn’t exist, sometimes it’s because the price is right or sometimes it’s because I’m strangely drawn to it for reasons beyond my comprehenison. This piece is roughly all 3 of those reasons rolled into one.

My facination for the Leprechaun bendy started over 20 years ago. My aunt ran a collectibles shop where I’d help out by sorting new collections, cleaning toys and piecing them together. One day a collection of miscellanious figures came in with 3 of these bad boys in it. Three was the magical number because it meant I could grab one and the owner’s son could get one too since he liked horror based toys. This was a time before the internet and I had no background on where it came from or what it was worth, all I knew is I wanted it badly. Somehow, my aunt and the owner couldn’t come to an agreement over price for what he was selling and all 3 walked off; never to be seen again.

20 years later most memory of the Leprechaun figure had slipped into the murky recesses of my mind. I had once or twice looked the figure up online but never found any active or closed auctions for the piece, I found rumors about it being a promotional giveaway if you bought the VHS tape when it came out. Sounded logical since VHS tapes back in the early 90s cost a small fortune and there had to be a reason to shell out a bunch of money on a plastic brick with a movie on it. But the internet is vague and no one had much of any real information other than if you wanted the toy it was going to cost you a lot of money for no good reason whatsoever. Screw that noise, I’ll do without.

Years passed and word of a NECA or McFarlane Toys Leprechaun action figure hit the web but the toy never got past prototype stages. Many more years passed before I found the Leprechaun bendy sitting in a collectibles shop in a flea market. Picked up for a quick $10, I gleefully grabbed him up knowing the figure commands $40 or more online. $10 is about right for the toy. He’s a solid and sturdy rubber figure that while his likeness isn’t the best, it’s passable that even my coworkers know who it is when they walk by my desk. No frills here except for the fact the Leprechaun stands on his own unlike his bendy brothers and sisters which is a nice touch and makes him far more displayable than other bendies I own. I can’t see why some people spend so much on this figure unless the Leprechaun franchise is their favorite series of horror movies with a dwarf as the main character.

If I had an editor, lines like that previous one would never make it to print.

He’s also holding a gold coin in his left hand, just in case you forgot the premise of any Leprechaun story in existence.

via Blogger http://ragingnerdgasm.blogspot.com/2013/12/promotional-bendy-leprechaun-movie.html