This toy review’s going to be a little different. The item in question is not an action figure, and has exactly zero points of articulation. However, it is a collectible, it is arguably a toy (for grown-ups, anyway), it’s based on a property we know and love, and is at least partly made by a familiar toy company. It’s a Gremlins book nook.
Book nooks, on the whole, tend to be hand-crafted and sold at art galleries and places like Etsy. The mass market has taken a while to catch on, but now it seems to be. Perhaps movie studios and big companies don’t think the general public reads much. They may not be wrong, statistically, but these work for DVD shelves as well. Wait, though, isn’t physical media dying? In stores, perhaps, but considering how many people have hoarding tendencies and even pay professional declutterers to the point that Marie Kondo is actually famous, we very clearly own shelves full of stuff, whatever it may be.
Be Literal
We probably just hit on why this is called a Nook, rather than a book nook. Hand-crafted book nooks typically depict small fantasy worlds or rooms in miniature, as if to suggest tiny Elves live in the shelves, or there’s a doorway to another dimension. This one’s a little more basic and licensed, but for folks who don’t have the money to buy handmade art, it does the trick of creating a fun illusion on top of an otherwise cluttered space.
Let’s back up a bit. These Nooks are all part of a collaboration between Culturefly, Nacelle, and Walmart. The theme is The Movies That Made Us, the show produced by Nacelle and in cooperation with Walmart and Fandango at Home. Fandango at Home used to be Vudu, home to the most popular digital movie streaming library, owned by Walmart. Vudu acquired Fandango Now, the streaming branch of the movie ticket website, then resold the merged company back to Fandango, which is co-owned by Universal and Warner Bros. When they all team up, one presumes the corporate synergy makes licensing easier. The deal includes Nooks, 3Deep sculptures based on VHS covers, and Colorforms-ish Clingers.
As a bonus, some of these even come with a free Fandango at Home rental code inside. In fact, there’s one at the end of this article, courtesy of Nacelle, so if you’re the first to enter it, congratulations! Come back here when you’re done checking. Our review sample, while featuring the sticker advertising a code, did not include one, but all Walmart-sold Nooks should while supplies last. Inside, per our friends at Nacelle, “there is a little fake ‘rental card’ with a fun ‘Culturefly Video’ logo on it.”
No Bright Light
The Nook is made of poly-resin, and depicts evil Gremlin Stripe emerging from a dark space in your shelf. Nobody’s going to mistake this for a photo-real Gremlin, as it’s more of a cartoon stylization. Still, the illusion is effective, particularly if you have a shelf that’s black or dark-colored in the back, as it makes him seem like he’s emerging from negative space and-or the shadows.
The ears expand beyond the Nook for the full 3D effect, but that also means blocking access to the items up against the Nook. There are ways around this issue. One is to be able to slide the Nook out (we’ll explain how momentarily), while the other is to use the thick cardboard wraparound he comes packaged in, complete with convincing fake movie titles.
The Nook includes an L-shaped piece of metal to help it stand, and it can go into the base in multiple ways. There are three slots in the bottom, and the short part of the L can go into all three, but the long part can only fully fit into the back slot. Mostly, these help it from falling backward or sideways, but if you insert it so that the long metal part sticks out underneath Stripe, it gives you something to pull on to slide him out and get at the items behind his ears.
Eerie Issue
We should note that this is more of an issue with Stripe than some others — Chucky barely extends beyond his wall boundaries, while Jack and Sally only do a tiny bit. The downside is that some Walmart.com customers complain of receiving theirs with a broken ear, so it might be preferable to buy one in-store. Walmart’s shipping isn’t always the most mint-in-box, collector-friendly ever — if you know, you know. The metal brace should keep it from any shelf-diving, but it might be safest to display it somewhere that won’t require pulling it in and out all the time for access. The Nook costs $19.98, and considering a free movie rental is thrown in, that’s not bad.
Check out some photos below and…oh yeah, how about that free rental code? First to input it here gets to use it on a free Tim Burton movie rental, Nacelle’s treat: VBSKRHJFCQLSLCFX
Now, the pics:
