Action Figure Planet: The Beatles Yellow Submarine Action Figure

The Beatles

The Beatles is an english rock band that is considered as one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed musicians in the history of pop music. The band is consisted of John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr. They broke into the music scene behind the success of their 1950's inspired Rock music. They would eventually experiment and progress into new genres (like Ballads and Psychedelic Rock to name a few) through constant innovation. Incorporating different musical influences and elements that they got during their constant live tours. In the height of their popularity and growing fan base, many fans (mostly adolescents) raised them up to become the embodiment of their ideals and their era's socio-cultural revolutions. The later Beatles songs became that generation's adolescents' soundtrack of their lives. When I was younger, I used to constantly hear songs by The Beatles because my father was a big fan of the group. Our constant road trips were usually accompanied by Beatles songs and our rowdy sing-a-longs to the tunes. I always get last song syndromes every time I hear their songs because there is a certain sound to it that is quite catchy. I don't know, sometimes it just grabs your brain thoughts and have the sound waves imprinted in your thoughts. The songs actually stood the test of time. Even to this very day, their songs remain prominent and popular. My father though was a fan of the Pre-Hippies Beatles (1963-1966). My knowledge about the band expanded when some of my friends introduced me to the next evolution of the band (1966-1970). The latter years of their career saw some of their best works as they were bent on experimenting and evolving their music. I'll try to write about their story in this blog entry.

John Lennon-Rhythm Guitars/Vocals

The Beatles had their humble beginnings in Liverpool, England. They enjoyed a good following playing in local bars until they were discovered by a local record store owner and music columnist named Brian Epstein. They broke into the music scene behind the strength of their song "Please, Please Me", enjoying number 1 status in various song charts across the nation. The band would capture U.K. by storm behind the successful release of their album "Please Please Me" which features the singles "Love Me Do", and "Please, Please Me"(apart from the singles "From Me To You", and "She Loves You"). This album remained on top of the country's best sellers list for thirty weeks. It was only displaced by their own follow up album called "With the Beatles" which featured the singles "All My Loving", and "Roll Over Beethoven." The song "I Want to Hold Your Hand" was supposed to be a part of this album as it's carrier single but with the Album selling so well even before this single was released, they decided to release the song apart from the album in order to maximize profit. Beatlemania spread like wildfire from that moment on and the press would dub them as "The Fab(ulous) Four"

Paul McCartney-Bass Guitars/Vocals

With The Beatles' capture of U.K.'s listening ears, they were set on leading a British invasion in the shores of U.S.A. Riding on the well received single "I Want to Hold Your Hand" in the U.S. shores, the band debuted on U.S. TV at the Ed Sullivan Show performing live with more than 70 million television viewers viewing their performance. That performance caught fire and Beatlemania was born in the U.S.A. A worldwide tour followed soon after. It was also during this time that the band would be introduced to Bob Dylan (an american singer-songwriter), who was a figurehead for social unrests and whose songs leans toward the counterculture movement. He would also be responsible for introducing the band to the prohibited drug, Cannabis/Marijuana. The meeting of two distinct forms of rock music (The Beatles leaning more on Pop, Dylan on Bohemian style) would open the band to explore new types of sounds. Lennon would specifically write records highly influenced by Dylan's persona. (This is where my father began to lose interest on the band because of their "Drug Induced" lifestyle.)

George Harrison-Lead Guitars/Vocals

Despite the band's success, their record label continued to ignore it's potential. A rival company would offer the band to star in a motion picture with the hopes of being able to release an accompanying soundtrack for the movie. The movie "A Hard Day's Night" became an international hit. A Soundtrack was released soon after fueled by the hits "Hard Day's Night" and "Can't Buy Me Love", showcasing their sound's progression while also not leaving behind their trademark sound. The next album "Beatles For Sale" would define the well known maturing Lennon-McCartney songwriting tandem as the recording of the album was filled with pressure because of the demands of commercialism versus creativity and it's limited recording period. Cover songs were included in the album to beat the recording deadline. But despite that, Lennon, now under heavy influence by Dylan, managed to showcase the birth of Folk Rock music in this album. It was also during these times that the band would be introduced to the drug called LSD. A follow up motion picture called "Help" was also released. With it's accompanying soundtrack of the same name heavily dominated by Lennon's songwriting and vocals, including the two singles "Help" and "Ticket to Ride." The album would also saw the band incorporating classical instruments in their musical arrangements, most notably on the pop ballad "Yesterday". Their success would spawn the american saturday morning cartoon show "The Beatles" which followed their "A Hard Day's Night" comedy antics. Later that year, they would also meet the king of rock and roll, Elvis Presley, who also was one of their influences.

Ringo Starr-Drums/Vocals

With the distractions of their commercially successful cross media ventures, the band lost focus and direction. The album "Rubber Soul" would redirect the band to their main existence, making good music. This album, despite being written under the influence of marijuana, would further showcase the band's musical maturity. Their lyrics became more artful. The Lennon-McCartney songs remained brilliant (i.e. "In My Life" "Michelle", "Drive My Car") as they are but traces of the band's growing conflict began to surface. Lennon and McCartney would begin to write distinct styles from each other. The next album called "Revolver" further pushed the band's creative maturity to new heights. The album featured sophisticated songwriting and expanded musical styles that ranges from the traditional Beatles sound, to classical strings arrangement, to Psychedelic Rock. Songs like "Paperback Writer", "Eleanor Rigby", and "Yellow Submarine" contrasted from each other. With no common styles evident in each songs. Further experimentation with their songwriting styles were featured in their next album "Sgt. Pepper and the Lonely Hearts Club". This album (which features the songs "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" and "A Day in the Life") is named by Rolling Stone Magazine (considered as the Rock Magazine bible) as the number one album of all time in their "500 Greatest Albums of All Time" chart. The songs in the album varies from music hall, rock and roll, pop rock, traditional Indian music, and the emerging psychedelic rock style. Each song is recorded with a distinct sound, distinct additional instruments, expanded musical styles using non-traditional musical instruments for rock music that at that point were unheard of. The vocal deliveries were also sang differently than what we were used to. It's as if this album was an alternate Beatles band. Clearly a departure from their pop friendly tunes of the early 60's.

Yellow Submarine-The Beatles in their animated form

The impending success of Sgt. Pepper and the Lonely Hearts Club would carry the band's return to T.V. "The Magical Mystery Tour" film though would flop. Critics would slam the film. But despite that, the accompanying soundtrack of the movie though was well received and reached number 1 in the U.S. countdown for 8 weeks. Songs included in the album were "I am the Walrus", "Strawberry Fields", "Penny Lane", and "All You Need Is Love" among others. The group would also do a cameo in a new Beatles animated movie called "Yellow Submarine" which featured the band in animated form. The movie this time around was well received. So was the soundtrack. Which featured the then unreleased song "Across the Universe." The band would then get to work on a new album for the first time without the guiding presence of their long time band manager Brian Epstein. Epstein died during the Beatles foray into Transcendental Meditation Technique (the spiritual process which slowly helped them overcome their drug addiction). This new album would become "The White Album". This album would also signal the beginning of the end, as internal conflict between the group began to crop up. Most of the recordings were done solo or less than the four members. And despite the pressure to live up to the listening public's expectations because of the success of Sgt. Pepper and the Lonely Hearts Club, the album was well received by critics. This album is also the band's best selling album of all time. A lot of the songs in the album were recorded by the band individually because of the growing conflicts, and the long overshadowed artistry of George Harrison and Ringo Starr began to emerge. The White album was released as an ambitious double LP that contains thirty songs (featuring the hits "Back in the U.S.S.R", "Revolution", "Glass Onion"), majority of which were written during their Transcendental Meditation phase.

Something's not right in this photo, guess what?

The cracks within the band started to grow larger and larger by now. But this did not deter the band from releasing their tightest album yet, the album called "Abbey Road". Sensing that this might be their last album together as a group, they agreed to set aside their differences and halted the in development album "Let It Be" (which was so hard to finish because of their differences) in favor of working on an album like the way they used to before the turmoil. "Abbey Road" (featuring the songs "Come Together", "Something", "Here Comes the Sun"), became an instant hit. The album also showcased each member's individual artistic styles and vocal ranges, making it seem like a preview of the soon to be solo efforts of the band members. With each band members sensing that they can grow artistically apart from each other, the impending break up happened. "Abbey Road" essentially was the last Beatles album that was recorded. The "Let It Be" album on the other hand was finalized when George Harrison submitted his last song contribution for the album. The album was released after the band broke up in support of a film documentary about The Beatles' recording sessions for this album. That film documentary also featured the last public performance of the band when they did an impromptu concert at the rooftop of their recording studio. By then, the band had already went on to pursue solo careers.

The Fab Four

The action figure I used to build my The Beatles action figure collection is from the Mcfarlane The Beatles Yellow Submarine action figure box set. I was originally looking for the Mcfarlane The Beatles Saturday Morning Cartoon box set Action Figure, because it already came with the guitars and drumset (apart from the fact that it represents the band's earlier years). But couldn't find any that would fit my budget. I settled instead for this by trading my extra NECA TMNT for this box set. The box set is composed of the four Beatles, Namely John, Paul, George, and Ringo plus one yellow submarine with working wind up propellers. The figures features articulations on the neck (swivel), Shoulder (Swivel), Wrist (Swivel), Waist (Swivel), and Ankle (Swivel). The figure also features detailed paint and sculpts that was based on the animated movie of the same name. The bright colors that they wear matches the band's psychedelic period. I decided to hunt down Guitars and a drum set for them to use so that I could display them appropriately together as a band. The guitars came from the LIV dolls accessories while the drum set was purchased from a customizer. The hunt for the accessories took me months to complete. But I'm very happy with how it all became a perfect match with the figures. I think the best part of owning this collection is finding the right custom accessories that would complement the figures. This set stands as one of my favorite collections that I have. More photos below...

The Early Years