Lost finds its way to TRU
By Tina Benitez -- Playthings, 11/7/2006 11:36:00 AM
NEW YORK—Fans were sent adrift yesterday as they waited on line to meet Lost star Jorge Garcia (Hurley), executive producer Bryan Burk and McFarlane Toys’ Todd McFarlane at Toys “R” Us during a private meet and greet to help launch the new Lost action figures, based on the popular ABC series.
The private launch was for the first wave of action figures from Tempe, Ariz.-based McFarlane Toys. The figures, available for the first time yesterday morning, include characters Jack, Charlie, Kate, Shannon, Locke and 
Hurley as well as a Lost Series 1 The Hatch Boxed Set, a diorama of the closing scene from the season 1 finale.
Customers who pre-ordered the boxed set received a ticket to the signing event yesterday while supplies lasted. Seven lucky fans also won a one-of-a-kind McFarlane Toys Lost pewter hand-painted action figure, personally autographed by McFarlane.
Some fans on line were die-hard Lost followers; others were McFarlane fans at heart. The chance to meet one of his idols and pick up action figures inspired by his favorite show was a rush for Chris Haskell, who stood on line with one Hatch set and one Hurley figure in his arms. His friend Bob Tang, also a big fan of the show and McFarlane’s sports figures, had the same boxes in tow. “I’m a huge 
fan,” Haskell tells Playthings. “The figures really look like reality. They couldn’t have done a better job. I’m a big fan of Lost, but I also grew up reading comics. I like all the figures they [McFarlane Toys] put out. I’m definitely buying the whole set.”
Retired New York City police officer Thomas Kelley also waited on line at TRU with his 9-year-old son Robert, who held a Hatch box set, to meet Jorge Garcia, Lost executive producer Burk and McFarlane. Kelley has been a fan of McFarlane’s figures for years and says he’s purchased about 500 McFarlane figures on the web in the past few months from ebay and Spidersweb.com, a site endorsed by the Spawn creator.
“I’m definitely a McFarlane fan first, even before Lost,” he says. His son Robert tells Playthings that he wants to become a collector too and save his boxed set. “We have two, so we’ll open one,” says his dad.
Each of the six-inch figures, which retail for $18, come with a photographed backdrop, show props and audio clips from key moments in the character’s history on the show.
Todd McFarlane says that what he’ll do going forward with the next wave of Lost figures will be determined by the series, and ultimately, the fans. “It really depends on what happens with the show,” McFarlane tells Playthings. “We’re as much in the dark as the fans. But fans of movies, TV shows are very vocal. They’ll let us know what they like, what they don’t like, or what's missing from the line. It’s just like the sport [figures]. We haven’t reinvented anything. So, we’ll just see how things go. Hopefully we'll go a long way with it."
Series 2 Lost figures will launch next May and will feature characters from the second season.
