089 Shanks

Shanks started out as McShanks.

This was an original figure from the G2 phase.  He was a fast food worker with bad acne and a filthy apron.  He held both a large order of fries and a huge milkshake.

I have found the G2 figure in three versions.

For the G3 run, he was completely redesigned.  The "Mc" was dropped from his name and he became an obvious parody of "The Dude" from the 1998 film The Big Lebowski.  "The dude" (who has no other name in the movie) is a slacker played by Jeff Bridges.  People love this character because of his laid-back nature and his quotable one-liners.

There is a G4 figure that is an exact paint job as one of the three G3 figures, but it has no magnets, it has a plug-back, and it is (c) Spin Master.

I just love that a toyline of dudes was smart enough to make one of their figures The Dude. 

Great parody.

Yeah well, you know, that's just like my opinion, man.