|
Packaging - ***
As you'd expect, these boxes match the previous wave's packaging. They
are colorful and bright, with some nice character specific
personalization on the front and back.
One
of the best things is that these are collector friendly, which means
you can remove the figure and accessories without any damage. Even
better, the BAF Roberto can be put together and taken apart easily as
well, allowing you to put everything back at a later date if you need
to.
Sculpting - ***1/2
I'm very happy with all three of these figures, particularly with the
sculpts.
Mom
looks great in either her fat suit, which snaps together on both sides
but slips apart easily, or in her underlying body suit and boots. You
can display her either way, but I did find that without the suit, she
has a very hard time remaining upright. That's probably not surprising
considering the big, heavy hair and the skinny legs (and the lack of
articulation doesn't help), but it may effect your opinion.
I'm
sticking with her in the fat suit, whcih allows her to stand easily.
Chef
Bender's outfit is sculpted, not a separate piece. Except for the hat
of course, which is a tight fit, but once you get it in place it will
stay there.
Then there's Roberto, who is
made up of five pieces.
The neck, arms and legs are all bendy, and the body is a little plain.
I was disapponted that the eyes eyes and teeth don't have a little more
sculpting to them (the outside edges of the eyes are cut, but nothing
else), but it's still better than just paint or a tampo.
He
stands taller than most of the other robots, especially Bender, and
fits in with the overall display extremely well. These figures are in a
6" scale.
Paint - Bender, Roberto ***1/2;
Mom ***
The paint work on Bender and Roberto is quite well done, with clean
lines and edges, consistent colors, and very little slop.
Mom
has a few more issues, particularly on the dress. None of these figures
have any extreme detail work, but that's in line with the style of the
show itself.
Articulation - Roberto ***1/2;
Bender **1/2; Mom **
Roberto is surprisingly flexible, especially the bendy arms and legs.
The short neck is also bendy, although it's tough to get too much out
of it.
The
head turns as well, as does the waist. I found that getting some cool
poses out of him was pretty easy, but you do want to work with the arms
before inserting them in the torso. They pop on and off pretty easily,
so you can remove them and bend them into position, then re-insert
them. If you try bending them in place, the short shoulder pegs can get
damaged.
Bender has a little less
articulation here than we had
with the standard version. Here the arms aren't bendy, since they have
the sculpted chef sleeves. There's the cut neck, cut shoulders and
bendy legs though, giving you at least a few decent poses.
Mom is
the least articulated by far. There's only the cut shoulders, one cut
elbow and one cut wrist. That will let you get her left arm in a bent
wrist pose similar to her common stance on the show, but that's about
it. Even more troubling, without any leg articulation it can be quite
tricky to find her center of gravity and keep her standing.
Accessories - Bender ***1/2; Mom
***; Roberto **1/2
I'm going to assume you want Roberto - hey, he's great! Who wouldn't
want to add another recognizable robot to the shelf? And assuming that,
I awarded my scores. Of course, if you're a weirdo and have no interest
in Roberto, your scores here would be lower.
Even
without the BAF pieces, both figures have accessories. I'm counting
Mom's suit, since it's removable and since it was such a great touch,
allowing you to display her either way.
Bender has his chef's
hat, as well as a large spoon he can easily hold. There's also a knife,
but this is intended for Roberto (and why he has a score in this
category, when BAF's usually don't).
The knife has a small tab on
the handle that fits in a slot on Roberto's right hand. It's a good fit
too, so he won't drop it unexpectedly.
Chef Bender also comes
with two additional sets of eyes, similar to the original release.
Better yet, all three sets of eyes have different expressions than the
three we got before! Here he can look straight ahead with fully open
eyes, look up and too the right with open eyes, or look forward with
eyes that are slightly closed both from the top and bottom lids. Adding
in three new expressions really ups the value of this figure, since you
can swap these around with the previous versions.
Fun Factor - ***
Futurama is one of those shows that kid's usually don't 'get', but if
you have a youngster in the house that does, these are actually pretty
good toys. The bendy feature works well, and the addition of Mom to the
mix gives you that all important conflict.
Value - ***
With mass market figures like DC Universe Classics reaching $15 at
regular retailers, getting these for $12 or so is looking like a much
better deal.
Things to Watch Out For -
As I mentioned, I'd remove Roberto's arms before bending them too much,
and then re-insert them once you have the ideal pose. Other than that,
you should be good to go!
Overall - Roberto,
Bender ***1/2; Mom ***
If the line does end with wave 8, we'll still have a great set to
display. We've gotten the majority of key characters now, including a
pretty complete Planet Express crew.
I'd
still like it to continue of course, and I'm hoping that we see some
announcements of wave 9 and 10 out of Toy Fair. But even if we don't,
it's been a great run and wave 8 would be a solid end.
Score Recap:
Packaging - ***
Sculpting - ***1/2
Paint - Roberto, Bender ***1/2; Mom ***
Articulation - Roberto ***1/2; Bender **1/2; Mom **
Accessories - Bender ***1/2; Mom ***; Roberto **1/2
Fun Factor - ***1/2
Value - ***
Overall - Roberto, Bender ***1/2; Mom ***
Where to Buy -
Online options include these site sponsors:
- Entertainment
Earth has the set for $24.
-
Circle Red
has the pair for
$25.
-
Big Bad Toy Store
has them for
$25 for the pair.
- Forbidden
Planet has them for 12 GBP each.
Related
Links -
I've covered quite a bit of Futurama goodness:
- last up was the first half of
Roberto, Hermes and
Farnsworth.
- previously there was series 6
with Amy and Clobberella.
- there are reviews of series 5, series 4, as well as the
Robot
Santa and Santa Bender SDCC exclusive, and series 3 in a
couple reviews, since I didn't get them all at the same time.
Here you can see Bender
and the Robot Devil BAF, and here's Kif.
-
I also covered the second
series and first
series as well.
For
more Futurama stuff:
-
Toynami got their feet wet with the Futurama
I-men.
-
there's the series 1 set
from MAC, along with the Toyfare
exclusive Leela. There was also some Christmas ornaments, a
larger scale (8") Nibbler.
-
Rocket USA did some cool die
cast figures and the tin
wind up Bender.
-
there were also quite a few bendies, including Kif and Leela.
- and if you're looking for the
unique, try the Horrible Gelatinus
BloB, or the Brain
Slug!
Discussion:
Want to chat about this
review? Try out one of these terrific
forums where I'll be
discussing it!
Enjoyed this review? Be sure to head back to the main page to find
thousands more just like it!
KEEP SCROLLING DOWN FOR MORE
PHOTOS!
|