I haven't heard if the mass market figures are a done deal yet, but they
would be the same figure but with simpler, basic accessories. This will
be at a lower cost than the specialty market versions.
The specialty market version may cost more, but it will also include a
chunk of the street, facade style. For example, if you buy the specialty
market versions of series 1, you will be able to build the area of Sesame Street located near Oscar's can, which has the doors and
is essentially the front area of Big Bird's nest. Cool, huh?
Packaging - ****
I have given this box a perfect score, although it's not quite
perfect. First, it's huge. This isn't a bad thing though, since it
has to contain the large phone booth. It is huge though, much larger
than you'll expect.
The back is rather plain, at least in comparison to the front.
However, the graphics of the figure are good, and there's some nice text
explaining SG. But it's really the front of the box that blew me away.
Check out that artwork! Yes, it does look like a familiar style -
Alex Ross did the cover art for Palisades. How cool is that? I
suspect I'll use the word 'cool' a lot in the coming months with this line.
For the uber-completists, it's worth noting that Grover actually comes
packed in the box in two different ways. He is either dressed as Super
Grover or as Grover Kent, and there are even numbers of each. However,
you won't know what you're getting before you get it, since they are packed
inside a white mailer box with no markings either way, so getting one of each
might be tough. Thankfully, I only needed one packaged. Hey,
that's sick enough.
Sculpting - ***1/2
I was really torn on this score - I SOOOO wanted to give him four stars,
long before I ever had him in my hands.
The fur is excellent, with a nice depth and sharpness to the texture.
The hand sculpts match up with the character well, and both head sculpts look
perfect. The proportions are great, and Bill Mancuso (the sculptor) did
a terrific job transferring a plush character into a solid version. It's
a little weird seeing him standing, but I got used to it very quickly.
I have two complaints that kept him from a perfect score. The first
revolves around the soft plastic of his arms. When I had the coat on, I
almost thought that there were cut joints at the upper arms, they were that
soft. They turned too easily, and I think that the shoulder joints will
tear or break if you're not very careful. When your moving the
shoulders, especially when you have the coat on and can't see the joints, but
careful!
My second problem is with the eyes. I had a Grover puppet in the
70's, and he had convex eyes. Not extremely rounded, but rounded a
little bit. Even the photo of the Grover on the back of the box appears
to have slightly rounded eyes. But the final version has flat eyes that
almost look like stickers, with no depth at all.
Paint - ****
When it comes to the paint, I have no nits to pick. The blue is just as
I imagined, very bright and very blue. They've used a lighter color to
reverse highlight the fur, and it works great.
All the lines are very clean, and the colors are consistent and
bright. The eyes are perfectly matched, and the lines around the Super
Grover emblem show no bleed or slop.
Articulation - ***
Grover isn't quite as articulated as many of the Muppets figures, but he's
still decent.
He has ball jointed shoulders, and I already mentioned that you need to be
careful with those. He also has a neck joint, but it's just cut, not a
ball. It works well though with swapping the two heads.
He also has cut hips that allow you to find the sweet spot to keep him
standing, but that's about it. There aren't a ton of posing
possibilities, but there's a few good options.
The arms are bendy, although you have to be very careful with the weak
shoulders. You can get the arms to take some pretty interesting
positions, and it makes him perfect for Robot Chicken.
Accessories - ****
Grover comes with everything you need to make the transformation from Grover
Kent to Super Grover.
There is two heads, one with a closed mouth and wearing the hat and glasses
that every alter ego requires, along with a terrific trench coat. The
coat includes the shirt and tie at the top, all done as one piece. These
are sewn together perfectly, so that you won't have to monkey with them to get
the look just right.
The coat has a velcro back, which is a little too big and bulky, but is
only visible from behind. The coat comes off fairly easily, and the
stitching and materials are top quality.
The Super Grover head includes his helmet sculpted on, and pops on the neck
post easily enough. He also has his cape, which can be tied at the neck
with a VERY long pair of strings, and has two loops for his wrists. This
is another area for care - when stretching the loops over the hands, be sure
you aren't pulling them at the cape where they could tear free.
Finally, there's the telephone booth. It includes a telephone of
course, and the door to the booth opens and closes. It's not perfectly smooth,
but I managed to open and close it plenty of times without any major issues.
There is a sticker for the numbers on the phone, and you'll want to check
to make sure it's applied well. One of mine was just about ready to fall
off.
Fun Factor - ****
If you know some older kids that still love Sesame Street, this figure would
be a ton of fun. The booth probably won't hold up to much extreme play,
so 3 and 4 year olds would destroy it pretty quick. But the figure
himself can hold up to rough play, and the swapping heads and costumes will be
fun for kids of all ages, including mom and dad.
Value - ***
Keep in mind that Grover is a show exclusive, and not a figure that you'll
pick up off the local pegs, and you can see that his price matches up pretty
well with the usual show exclusive at $20. Considering the quality of the
accessories, something that's pretty rare with show exclusives, and the fact
that this is the only version of Grover currently planned, and the value score
goes up above average.
Overall - ***1/2
When I saw photos of Grover, I really expected him to be a four star
figure. He's awfully close, but I still had a handful of minor issues
that held him back from the holy grail. Still, he's an excellent figure,
looks great with the other Muppets on my shelf, and will do a terrific job of
getting people juiced for the release of the first series.
SCORE RECAP:
Packaging - ****
Sculpt - ***1/2
Paint - ****
Articulation - ***
Accessories - ****
Fun Factor - ****
Value - ***
Overall - ***1/2
Where to Buy -
You can pick this up at any show that Palisades attends this year, including
this weekend's Wizard World in L.A. You will also be able to buy it
through the Collector's Club sometime within the next week or so.
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