Review of Super Foodie Series - Food Props for Action Figures

Introduction

If you love photographing and displaying your action figures in various dioramas and scenes, you know how hard it can be to get good props.  And if you're trying to create silly, fun, non-combat style shots, it's even harder. While the world of 1/6 has some decent household items, food items, and regular everyday extras thanks to the huge doll market, the 1/12 world is not so lucky.

Now Happycat Industries, working with Zag Toys, has just the thing for you. They've started producing the Super Foodie Series, with the first set available now. In this set is 18 extras - 17 food items and a cel phone. You can pick this first set for around $18 - $20, depending on the retailer.

Packaging - ***
Nothing exciting here, but the bubble/cardback package is attractive and fun. It's not collector friendly of course, but what would be the point of not opening these up and playing with them? I really like the 70's superhero vibe to the design, and it shows off all the props well.

Sculpting - ***
These are not super detailed, exacting, uber realistic extras.  Some of them do have more detailed sculpts than others, like the ridged cone on the ice cream, or the textured banana. Some smaller details that could simply be painted were actually sculpted for more realism, like the swirl of mustard on the hot dog, but in general these are very similar in sculpt quality to the larger doll market extras you might get with Barbie.

Scale is pretty good for 1/12, but some of the pieces look better than others with figures like Marvel Legends or One:12 Collective. And before you ask, no, they do not work with 1/6th scale figures.

One of the interesting sculpt features is the way the designs tend to work better with various gripping hands. For example, the pizza slice is sculpted to droop over the hand, while the hot dog bun has indents that make it fit better - and look better - in a tighter grip.

Paint - **1/2
These are tiny of course, and getting the paint applied cleanly isn't cheap. They went with a similar quality to the larger mass market doll accessories here as well, and there's some slop and bleed as you'd expect. The containers are generic, but most of them are actually painted - not simply a sticker. For example, the beer can is painted, as is the cover of the pizza box.  Small details are also here, like the dripping sauce on the taco or the screen face of the cel phone.

Fun Factor - ***
If you're into silly photos of your action figures, these are for you. If your kids love playing with their action figures in more 'domestic' situations, these are for them.  There's a ton of fun, goofy ways you can add these into your set up, making the Fun Factor the real driving force behind buying them.

Value - **1/2
At $20 for 18, they aren't cheap, but this is a very tiny company just trying to get started. The price point isn't out of line considering the likely production run and the overall costs of getting off the ground.

Things to Watch Out For -
Not a thing.

Overall - ***
Let's face it - not every minute of every day of the average superhero is spent in gritty battle. They need a little time to kick back and enjoy a beer, a slice of pizza, and the company of friends. Props like this allow you to have some silly fun creating wacky scenarios and shooting them - the modern adult version of 'playing' with action figures. Hey, you might pretend it's not playing, but let's be honest here among ourselves - it's playing. And there isn't a damn thing wrong with it.

Score Recap (out of ****):
Packaging - ***
Sculpting - ***
Paint - **1/2
Fun Factor - ***
Value - **1/2
Overall - ***

Where to Buy 
Online options include these site sponsors:

- or you can search ebay for a deal.

Related Links -
One of the best resources for 1/12 dioramas right now is Extreme-Sets. The background you see in the shots in this review is from them, and I reviewed their Deranged Alley. You can also check out the Mi-World sets for more 1/12 silly extras.

You should also hit the Search Reviews page, in case any other applicable reviews were done after this one was published.

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