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Packaging - ****
It's certainly not collector friendly, but that's the only fault I have
with the new package designs. I'm hoping that all the new waves go
to this look, with the large character picture to the left. It looks
terrific, and still has the great text and graphics on the back. If
they switch all the series to this look, it will definitely be a case of
improving the style.
Sculpting - ***1/2
It can be tough taking a two dimensional character and putting it into a
3-D world, but they do a consistently good job with the Simpsons line.
I think Herb Powell is the
best sculpt of the three, but he's really the easiest as well, just being
a Homer clone. It's nice for the customizers to get a thinner suit
body though.
Fat Tony comes next, and the
only thing hurting his sculpt is the fact that his bags are there, but
have no color. I have no doubt that shadowing them would have been
extremely difficult to do well, but you expect it when you look at him, so
it detracts somewhat.
My least favorite of the
three - although I think it's still a decent sculpt - is Troy McClure.
While they did an excellent job on the facial features, there's something
about the hair that just doesn't quite look right to me. Rather than
being parted on the left, it looks like a flat top hair style, and from a
front on angle doesn't quite look right. But as I said, the work on
the eyes, nose and grin is absolutely excellent.
Another plus to the sculpts
is the work on the hands. All three figures are designed to hold the
majority of their accessories, and Fat Tony even has the fingers of his
right hand spaced to hold the cigar.
Paint - ***
Most of the time, I get figures with great paint ops. I have heard
plenty of other folks complain about sloppy overspray before.
This is the first time I've
really seen it, and it's poor Troy again with the problem. Overspray
from his hair dots his face in quite a few places. It's easy enough
to clean up, but it shouldn't be a problem in the first place.
The other reason they lost a
point here is on Fat Tony. The sculptors clearly gave him a gold
chain on his right arm, but it's not painted, and so it blends in with his
body.
The rest of the paint work on
these figures is great, especially the clothing. There was no
bleeding or inconsistency on any of the body work.
Articulation - **1/2
Is there any way I could surprise you on this category? I didn't
think so. Neck, shoulders, and waist once again.
I just like to go on record
though as saying that at this point, I wouldn't want any additional
articulation. I want the figures to blend all together nicely in the
World of Springfield, and if they added new elbow joints, for example, it
would cause a break in the continuity between figures.
Accessories - ****
There's a nice mix of new accessories here with the expected
re-use. Fortunately, the re-use makes sense.
Fat Tony has a bat (re-used),
gun (re-used), bundle of money (re-used) and cigar (new). The cigar
fits nicely in between the fingers of his left hand.
Herb Powell has a great cell
phone (new), brief case (new), clipboard (all time number one re-used),
and 'drawing board' with plans for the baby translator (new).
Troy McClure has only one new
accessory, although all of his make sense. He has the obligatory
clipboard (re-used), microphone (re-used), videos (re-used, but they have
terrific stickers!), and phone (new). The phone hand set comes off
the base, and a string acts as the cord between them.
Value - ***1/2
Still just under $6 at Wal-mart (barely), these are an excellent value. They've
lost a little luster from the days of $5 each, although I'm hoping we see
that price still at Target, as we did with Series 7.
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