In a show filled with compelling characters, Shannon Rutherford never quite measured up to the rest of the principal cast of LOST's
first season. She didn't start to get really interesting until the last
few episodes. Before that point, she spent most of her time engaged in
some variation of the activity depicted in her McFarlane figure: lying
on her back in an orange bikini, cushioned from the hot sand by a
vibrant multi-colored towel, with a pair of sunglasses to keep the sun
out of her eyes and help her maintain her distance.
When you
remove the other series one figures from the pegs attaching them to
their habitats, they can almost stand upright, but Shannon is stuck in
that silly lounging position, bare feet hovering just above the sand,
dirty blond hair clumped against her head, a bottle of water and another
of lotion close at hand. In the cardboard backdrop, the calamitous
scene contrasts with her air of aristocratic apathy. As wreckage burns,
red-shirt castaways struggle to get their bearings, and her step-brother
Boone marches fuzzily toward her, probably preparing to reprimand her
for her inertia. It's not a colorful scene, but a zoned-out Shannon
doesn't make for the most interesting figure.
But I couldn't
resist. When I saw her lying on a shelf in a battered box with a
half-price sticker, I snatched her up. Maybe it was pity for the
character, who started out annoying but became more sympathetic as time
wore on and never had the opportunities for development that were
afforded most of the other major castaways. If they wanted to round out
the series with a blond beauty, I would rather have Claire, but it's of
some consolation that she will be manufactured with the third series, if
there is one. Here's hoping!
With the backdrop and stand,
Shannon is a bit longer horizontally than most of the other figures but
considerably shorter vertically, since she is lying down. Press the
button on the black box, which requires a pair of AAA batteries, and you
get to hear three ever-so-charming quotes from the show.
* "What's a four-letter word for 'I don't care'?"
* "The plane had a black box, idiot. I'll eat on the rescue boat."
* "You want my information. Name: Shannon Rutherford. Age: 20. Address: Cr**hole Island."
Ah, yes, Shannon. Such impeccable people skills. At least the creators
give her a little credit with her prop, which is Rousseau's map of the
island. It unfolds to be quite large and would look nice on a wall if
you don't mind a few creases. The map comes complete with Rousseau's
random scrawling, the interpretation of which marked a major change in
Shannon's attitude on the island. Once she realized that there was a way
to make herself useful, she became a lot less insufferable.
Of the six figures in McFarlane's first series, Shannon is easily the
least interesting, but it's still not a bad sculpt, and the map is a
pretty cool artifact to have. If you're a big Shannon fan or just want
to complete your collection, she shouldn't be too hard to come by for
ten bucks. I just hope that Claire gets her time in the spotlight too!
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