Paint - **1/2
When I grabbed these off the peg, my first thought was four star figures
all the way. But when I got them home, and opened them up, I found one
major area that hurt them overall.
The paint ops on this set, at least the ones I grabbed
randomly, are not nearly as nice as previous waves. Every figure had
some level of issue, and some of these issues were obvious in multiple
places.
One of the biggest problems is the consistency of the
paint. The green of Scooter's jacket, the black of Rowlf's tux, the
red of Lew's jacket, and both colors of Zoot's shirt, all had trouble being
consistent across the figure. There were light and dark spots, and
obvious areas where brush touch ups had occurred.
Other places simply showed sloppiness. Both of Lew's
strips were missing color, and there's a huge red mark on the back of his
hand. There was some bleed around the eyes on Scooter, and even Zoot
had less than perfect paint work.
In the past, Palisades has set a new level of excellent
paint ops with these figures. I'm hoping that I just got unlucky with
this set, but be very careful when picking out your figures.
Articulation - ***1/2
There's plenty of articulation on every figure, and the joints all add value
and work nicely.
Scooter has a ball jointed neck, which really works well in
giving him a ton of posing options. He also has ball jointed
shoulders, elbows, wrists, waist, hips and knees.
Zoot has neck, ball jointed shoulders, cut biceps, elbows,
wrists, waist, ball jointed hips, and knees. He can easily hold his
sax to his mouth, or in any number of other positions.
Lew has neck, ball jointed shoulders, elbows, wrists, waist,
knees and hips.
Rowlf has neck, ball jointed shoulders, cut biceps, wrists,
waist and hips. The articulation and sculpt work together to give Rowlf the
ability to play the piano. Ah, and he also has articulated ears, that
can move front to back to allow his head to turn side to side.
Excellent!
The paint around the ball jointed shoulders is going to rub
off pretty quickly, and that's something you'll have to live with I guess.
Accessories - ****
While the sculpts are great, the big deal with this series is the
FANTASTIC accessories! Every one of these characters has a great set
of well thought out extras.
First, every figure still comes with a display stand, but they are
smaller now, round and with no logo. They work fine, although I didn't
have any trouble getting any of these figures to stand fine on their own.
Zoot has the fewest accessories, but his work great. The sax comes
in two pieces, which pop together pretty easily. You can also open up
the case and place both pieces inside for a perfect fit. There's also
his removable hat (using a magnet to attach again) and a sheet music stand.
Lew comes with three fish, and his fish bucket. The bucket has a
removable lid, that also has a smaller opening lid in the center. The
paint ops and sculpt on the fish is terrific.
Scooter comes with a TON of stuff appropriate to him. There's his
skateboard (with a peg for his foot), radio with moving handle and tons of
detail, megaphone, clipboard, chinese takeout food, and cup holder with two
fast food drinks. Again, everyone of the accessories is nicely done,
although he can only hold a few of them in his hands.
But the most amazing accessories come with Rowlf. He has his bust
of Beethoven, and his piano. The piano opens on top, to show the
innards, and there's a brace to hold the top up. The keys are hidden
by the cover, but it also opens and stays up, allowing Rowlf to tickle the
ivories. The sheet music stand on the piano also flips up and down,
and the sculpt and detail on this instrument is amazing. How they
managed to do this for eight bucks is absolutely beyond me.
Value - ****
You're only paying seven or eight bucks for these, and you're getting an
amazing value. Great sculpting, tons of accessories, and excellent
articulation in a 6"-7" figure. You won't find a better deal
anywhere these days.
Overall - ***1/2
The only negative here was the poor paint ops. That's pretty surprising
considering what fantastic ops we've gotten on previous waves, and I was
disappointed to see it. But the sculpting, articulation, and
accessories are amazing! If you aren't collecting this line, you'll
regret it down the road. And if you are collecting this line, congrats
on having good taste!
Sure, you might not be interested in the license, and I can
certainly understand that. But if you love the Muppets, you need to be
collecting these. You won't ever be treated to a better set of action
figures for this wonderful license.
Where to Buy:
Your local Electronics Boutique could have them any day now.
On-line:
- Aisle Sniper has
a case for $90, which comes out to $7.50 each. If you have someone
that wants to share, that works well, and you're sure to get that Zoot chase
figure.
- if your looking for just a set of the regular four, Beans
Toys has them for $33.
- Big Bad Toy Store
also has the set of four for $35, but their shipping is a flat $5.
- Ebgames
will let you buy just the ones you want for $8 each, and I believe they are
already shipping.
Keep scrolling down - I took a ton of photos!