Review: Cyberpunk 2077 Keanu Reeves Johnny Silverhand Action Figures

McFarlane Toys have come a long way in the style of their figures. They were known in the late ’90s and early 200s for exquisitely sculpted figures in dynamic poses with limited articulation. Lately, however, they’ve taken to developing a 22-points of articulation body style that allows for collectors to choose their own poses. Clothes sometimes impede the poseability, and sometimes do not. The company still occasionally makes the call on the basis of aesthetics. But with their latest license, upcoming video game Cyberpunk 2077, McFarlane caters to fans of both the old and new style. Johnny Silverhand, the robot-armed guitar player played by Keanu Reeves, comes as an articulated 7-inch figure, and a dynamically posed 12-incher. Fans can take their pick, or go with both. Whoah.

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Twelve-inch Johnny is mostly preposed mid rock performance, with limited cut joints at the shoulders, waist, neck, and ankles, mostly to alter his gravity slightly in case the plastic ever mildly warps. Move them too much, and his pose no longer looks naturally human.

The guitar plugs into his torso with a large peg, so it’s easy enough to remove. If somebody wants to make him do the Ted “Theodore” Logan air guitar pose, it’s possible. Just ignore the big hole where the peg would go.

His dog tags are a separate piece, and the sunglasses seem like they’d be easy to cut off for customs, but they don’t easily slide on and off. The likeness looks to be a digitally printed take on Keanu’s O-face. Remember, it’s likely based on a digital scan of a digital scan. This is meant to be a likeness of the enhanced digital scan of Reeves in the game, not Reeves himself directly.

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Like the smaller figure, large Johnny Silverhand comes boxed in packaging that includes a cool “club” cardboard backdrop. The Faustian bargain here? To get the circular figure stand that’s blister-glued to the back, one must tear up said backdrop. The stand isn’t needed that badly; both Johnnys stand fine on their own. And the display is just too nice to mess up.

The large Johnny is a solid chunk of hard plastic. At around $40 — twice the price of the smaller one — he seems at least twice as dense. For those who mainly display rather than play, he’s a solid deal, and a definite improvement scale-wise over the 10-inch Walking Dead figures that fit in with nothing else.

The smaller figure couldn’t be more different while still being the same character and outfit. His torso features an innovative soft plastic-over-frame design that’s McFarlane’s best sculpt/articulation hybrid so far. Basically, his neck/pec part is hard plastic, to allow for the complex shoulder joints. The soft vest, attached, covers another soft plastic piece which covers his abs/lower T-shirt and crotch area. There is no hard piece for his lower torso — it’s just articulation armature under two layers of soft plastic. This allows for some extreme leans and crunches. And it’s very creative without hurting the look of the figure at all.

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That aside, the 7-inch features the now-standard 22-point articulated body style, with, as usual, some exceptions. Like the very first G.I. Joe Major Bludd figure, his mechanical arm actually has more restricted movement. There’s no upper bicep cut, the elbow is single-hinged, and while it seems to have cut joints on either side of that hinge, they’re restricted by stretchy wire parts.

Small Johnny includes a decanter of alcohol (I assume), his guitar with strap, and an alternate robot hand. Where big Johnny’s robot hand holds the guitar neck while doing the devil horns gesture, little Johnny can do either or, depending which hand one picks. Also, no peg on the guitar, so he can hold it any number of ways, from awesome shredding to Johnny Cash style walkin’ the line. Note: Little Johnny’s tattoos are dark black while big Johnny’s look more naturally faded. Purely a function of the detail possible at different scales.

The smaller figure’s sunglasses seem much more stuck on, just in case anyone was hoping to customize him.

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Another plus about this figure that’s easy to miss: he boasts a realistic human physique. Normally, most toy lines would pump up a figure like this to WWE levels, whereas the real life Keanu Reeves just is not that huge. Toned and fit, yes. But slim. And this makes a rare figure of an action hero transitioning to toy form while retaining an anatomically normal body type.

McFarlane Toys clearly didn’t make this figure just for existing fans of the character, who originated in a pencil and paper RPG. And with the new video game not out yet, few yet know fully what to make of the Reeves incarnation, who may or may not be a ghost as he guides the player character. They’re counting on Reeves’ inherent appeal to move toys, and that might just be good enough. Pretend he’s a future John Wick, or an alternate reality Ted Logan. A 7-inch scale Keanu with innovative torso articulation and a look similar to all his current roles does the trick all on his own. Or if you prefer the statue look, a super-affordable larger version rocks it too.

Check out the full gallery below and let us know which version you think will be excellent to your collection.