Blog Post

While the Internet is all aflutter about new iPad facts and conjecture, and everyone finally remembers that no one should really buy any Apple product until at least the 3rd gen (which is now), it’s also time to remember that this is also probably one of the last few products which will bear Steve Jobs’ direct influence. While the man himself surely left behind Da Vinci-styled notebooks which stretch out into the unimaginable future and will influence our technology in ways we cannot yet harness, it’s still likely that prior to his death in October, this is one of the last talismans of our future which has his direct fingerprints.

Around the time of Jobs’ death, the creators at In Icons announced plans to release a 12″ action figure of Jobs. The original figure prototype had sat on its creator’s desk for four years prior to this, and Jobs’ passing seemed to be the perfect time to release this tribute to the world. And the tribute, as you can see, is startlingly accurate.

Fans of Hot Toys, Medicom and Enterbay know that action figures have never been more eerily lifelike, which is a whole new, creepy reason to pick up either way-too-realistic iterations of Scarlett Johanssen in miniature (as Silken Floss and Black Widow) – but I digress. Apple had a problem with the release of the Steve figure, so it was respectfully canned by the creators. This has not stopped other ambitious toy customizers form making their own inferior versions, but the exceptional version pictured above will never see the light of day.

There is another, however – and it’s gleefully tangential to the man himself. Behold, Steve :

Oldschool Mac fans will recognize all of the iconography here : the off-white color scheme of early Mac casing, the rainbow logo colors, the iPad and the apple itself. Steve was made by ThreeA Toys shortly after Jobs’ death as one of their World War Robot 1/6th scale Caesar line. It was sold by itself, and sold out almost immediately after release at BambalandStore.com. Originally around $150, he rarely resurfaces on eBay – and when he does, it’s for twice as much.

And honestly, it’s a rather beautiful tribute : Jobs’ work given life, an aesthetic living beyond its basic utility, and a really neat guy to have hanging around your Macbook, too. Because I’m still not sold on the iPad.