-Jorge Garcia, the actor who plays Hurley on LOST, talks about figures and toy collecting-

Last thursday we had the chance to talk to Jorge Garcia, one of the best and funniest actors from tv show LOST. Jorge was really nice and took the time to answer to all our questions.

Here you have them:

Kross´Toys: The McFarlane Companies got the LOST license to make official figures of the main characters from the tv show. Yours was one of the first sculpts they made and included on Series 1. What did you first think when you were told they wanted to make a figure of yourself? Did you like the idea?

Jorge: I thought it was sweet! I was talking with Bryan Burk when we were doing the pilot and he mentioned the possibility of something like that. And then it became a reality and I was really stoked.

KT: What did the guys from McFarlane do to get your head and body just right? I have heard you were all scanned, how was the process?

Jorge: It was cool. I went to this hotel and Todd McFarlane  was waiting for me in the lobby. I geeked out a little bit. Then we went into a room where they fitted a ring around my head and scanned my face with a handheld scanner.  They had screen caps of the show so they had a  collection of expressions they wanted to get so that they could bank them for future toys possibly.

KT: How does it feel to get yourself all scanned inch by inch, knowing they would catch every part of yourself, EVEN if you got a bad hair day? Where you worried? ;)

Jorge: Well they didn’t scan my hair. It was really just a face scan. Later they had someone else scanned to be my body at their studio in New Jersey. I wasn’t  worried I was excited.

(Prototipo de la figura de McFarlane)

KT: Did you like the final sculpt?

Jorge: Yes. Expecially the big one I saw at ComiCon.  But it is weird because  I’ve never actually seen myself. I’m so used to seeing my reflected image in a mirror to see my right side on the right and my left side on the left is unfamiliar.

KT: And how do you feel knowing that you (or well, your “mini-me”) is being displayed in thousands of rooms all around the world? I would find it a bit scaring myself.

Jorge: It doesn’t freak me out. I just wished they were articulated enough that people could play with me more.

KT: Now regarding toy collecting: Your character on LOST, Hurley, is quite a “freak” (in a good way, of course, here in Spain we call freak to people who collect figures, who like star wars or lord of the rings movies, read comic books and so on), do you share his “freakness” and have hobbies that could be described as freaky ones, like buying figures? If you do, how many figures do you own? Which ones you like the best?

Jorge: Well I have a bunch of Star Wars “guys” which is what we called them when I was a kid. We didn’t refer to them as action figures, they were just “guys.” But lately I’ve been collecting Godzilla figures. I have 3 Godzillas, 2 Gigans, one baby Godzilla, and one Mechagodzilla. 

KT: And now: The Question, try to forget that you will be read by lots of toy collectors and tell us the truth... What do you think about toy collecting and toy collectors?

Jorge: I think it’s great to be passionate about something. For me I don’t want to live in a museum so I open my toys. I like to touch them and pose them and set them up together.  Of course I can appreciate peole who keep the original packaging because sometime I try to buy old toys as gifts for people and  boxes make them more presentable and easier to wrap. So for that I thank you.

KT: Did you keep a McFarlane´s Hurley for yourself? Where do you have it displayed? Did you get the other characters as well?

Jorge: When they were released at the Toy R Us signing I bought all the Hurleys they had left in the bin and two of everyone else. One to open and one to keep in its packaging. I did the same when the next set came out. I sent Hurleys to all of my friends. It’s become a souvenir people take home with them when they come out to visit me. The characters are all displayed in my living room on top of a cabinet.

(Jorge next to Bryan Burk and Todd McFarlane. 2006 Toys R Us signing event)

KT: I know that you recently got a Hurley figure from Troy, of the McDevitt Studio. Now that nobody is listening... which one do you like the best, McFarlane´s or Troy´s?

Jorge: That’s hard to say. They both have their appeal. The McFarlane one talks. But the McDevitt one is more personal and obviously more rare.

KT: What do you like about Troy´s sculpts? Some people hated the poses that some of the characters from Series 1 and 2 got (the McFarlane´s ones I mean), they think the poses are boring. Now Troy creates a figure of Hurley sitting there eating chocolate, did you like his choice for his pose?

Jorge: To be honest I wasn’t too thrilled about the eating. I thought it was a bit “much.” We get it. Hurley is fat. However Troy is a very talented sculptor and I love the caricature quality of the McDevitt models. Macfarlane toys are all about  accuracy  so you can appreciate them on a technical level. But Troy McDevitt captures more of the essence. I noticed this when I saw his Sawyer. I had to laugh because the forehead and eyebrows were just spot on.

KT:  Anything you wanna add or anything you wanna say to the readers of Kross´Toys?

Jorge: Buy more toys!

Well, that´s all, Jorge, thank you very much for taking the time to answer our questions. Keep being so nice and such a great actor. Good luck!

(Interview by KarenRoss for KrossToys. Pics by Jorge Garcia,  MemphisReigns or spawn.com. Ask before taking any of them please)