The Loyal Subjects Nickelodeon: Rocko review

Mini-Figure Mini-Reviews

Although personally hygienic and practical, Rocko has an almost pathological tendency to neglect his living space and he has anger management issues. Rocko enjoys collecting comicbooks and likes rainbows.

For all the attention Ren & Stimpy got, it had absolutely nothing on Rocko's Modern Life when it came to getting edgy humor on the air. It just relied less on shock value than R&S, so the craziness was more subtle - censors would catch what John K. was doing (what he was doing on the show, not the vile child-predator things he was doing in real life), but Joe Murray was a lot less amateurish. For cryin' out loud, one of the main recurring businesses on the show is a restaurant called "Chokey Chicken," and it took them until Season 4 to make the creators change it! And then they changed it back for the movie and got away with it again.

The star of the show, Rocko, is a beaver weasel kangaroo Taco Bell chihuahua wallaby who emigrated from Australia to America. He was originally meant to have yellow fur (a trait which was later given to his friend Heffer), but that was changed to beige at the request of whatever company had the toy license. Spoiler: the company never made any toys anyway, so this is the first action figure ever based on the show. The design is nearly identical to the cartoon model, which is more than can usually be said for The Loyal Subjects' output, even in the rest of this Nicktoons line. He's got the little ears, the long snout, the three teeth sticking out the side of his mouth, and so on. His usual outfit ia a blue shirt with purple triangles on it, but given the way Loyal Subjects loves doing variants, it shouldn't surprise you that you could also find a version with a purple shirt and blue triangles.

Rocko has a balljointed head, shoulders, hips, and tail, which is enough for the line. His right hand is closed enough to hold something, but he doesn't come with any of that sort of accessory: he does have a pack-in bagged behind him in the box, but it's his pet dog Spunky. The head and body are separate pieces, but the join isn't a joint, so don't try to turn it or you'll just twist the head off. Spunky is sculpted sitting (or maybe dragging his butt on the carpet) and looking up lovingly at his master. He's white, with a black spot on his back, a pink tongue, and yellow eyes. Because of his pose, his pupils and eyebrows can only be seen from above, not from the front.

It's kind of sad that Rocko is the only Rocko toy we get in this series. Heffer might have been too big, unless they were going to make him an Attack on Titan-style build-a-figure, but surely his other buddy Filburt could have worked, yeah? Rocko's Modern Life has aged better than a lot of cartoons of its era, and the movie suggests that the creators are good folks in real life, so it's great to finally get something resembling an action figure based on the property.

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