Enterbay 1/6 Jean Reno as Léon PREVIEW

Originally published: July 14, 2011
Now available at BBTS (bigbadtoystore) - order HERE

These are the pre-release / prototype pictures of the Enterbay 1/6 scale Jean Reno as Léon 12-inch action figure from the movie "Léon" (also known as "The Professional" and "Léon: The Professional"). From what I can gather from the forums, we'll have to wait until the actual figure is released before deciding whether to buy it or not. Many people have been burned by Enterbay and are now very cautious and weary of their products, preferring to adopt a wait-and-see attitude. Most are not really jumping out of their seats for this because they have experienced premature ecstasy when it comes to Enterbay. They got all excited and wait eagerly for the product only to be disappointed with the final outCOME. If this was a Hot Toys pre-order product / figure, people will be snapping up orders without hesitation but since this is Enterbay, everyone's holding back.

For those who are too young to know, "Léon" is a 1994 thriller film written and directed by French director Luc Besson. It stars Jean Reno as a mob hitman, Gary Oldman as corrupt DEA agent Norman "Stan" Stansfield, and a young Natalie Portman, in her feature film debut, as 12-year-old girl Mathilda Lando who is taken in by the hitman (or "cleaner," as he refers to himself) after her family is murdered by corrupt police agents. [source: wiki]

"Léon (1994)" is one of the films that have achieved the most critical and commercial success for French actor Jean Reno. He has starred in such high-profile American films as "French Kiss (1995)" with Meg Ryan and Kevin Kline, "Mission: Impossible (1996)" with Tom Cruise, "Ronin (1998)" with Robert De Niro, and "Godzilla (1998)". In 2006, he had a prominent role in the remake of "The Pink Panther" and its sequel, playing Gilbert Ponton, the partner of Inspector Clouseau opposite Steve Martin, and also portrayed Captain Bezu Fache in the Ron Howard film "The Da Vinci Code". [ source: wiki ]

Everything about this Enterbay 1/6 scale Jean Reno as Léon 12-inch action figure looks promising, especially the head sculpt and the movie-accurate accessories. But Enterbay's HIGH price and SUSPECT quality is putting the brakes on this one :( From the prototype picture shown, it seems they can't get the briefcase to close (see the last picture).

Léon's specially designed vest which he wears for his cleaning jobs

Due to his tall, hulking frame (188 cm, 6' 2"), Jean Reno mostly played villainous brutes early on in his career. He only appeared in romantic-comedies and action films later. Perhaps that explains why he wore his pants high in the film, exposing the ankles and never covering his shoes. Those are not short trousers but rather long legs ;p

The 1/6 scale wool hat / cap seems to be a bit off, more like a kippa or kipa, a hemispherical or platter-shaped Less common expression is skullcap, usually of cloth, often worn by Orthodox Jewish men to fulfill the customary requirement that their head be covered at all times.

The briefcase also looks a tad over-sized when Léon carries it, looks more like a luggage. That makes me wonder about the size of Enterbay's figure. The SMALL size of the supposedly 1:6 scale Enterbay "24" Jack Bauer (Kiefer Sutherland) 12-inch figure was a BIG letdown :( you can check out my post HERE for the review as well as height and size comparison.

This Enterbay 1/6 scale Léon figure includes: an incredible likeness head sculpture of Jean Reno as Léon; 6 guns including: Ruger SP101, Beretta 92FS, Smith & Wesson Model 586, Smith & Wesson Model 41 and Springfield M1911-AS SASS, Six grenades, clamps / pincers / bolt cutters, folding dagger, RM4 ABS action body with more than 30 points of articulation, 10 pieces of interchangeable hands, brown pleather worker vest for holding weapons and tools, grey woolly beanie hat, dark grey long felt coat, black longsleeve t-shirt, white longsleeve t-shirt, pair of black trousers, pair of round glasses, houseplant, milk carton, milk glass, pleather suitcase, FS-201 Figure stand

Looks like quite a comprehensive list of accessories: milk carton, glass of milk, bolt cutter, briefcase bag which contains all his small arms /pistols plus small knife, grenades and pistol magazines.

UPDATE October 17, 2011: Now available at BBTS (bigbadtoystore) - order HERE

Related posts:
Heroic also released a Jean Reno as Léon 12-inch figure in 2009 called "Perfection Killer". You can check out the two-part reviews HERE and HERE. For the price paid, it was an alright figure and I'm quite happy with it. Enterbay's pricing is just too much for me, just NOT value-for-money :(

A case of two Léons and one Wasabi - three 12-inch figures with Jean Reno head sculpts including 1:6 scale food stuff by Rement