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World of Springfield DMV and Cafeteria 

It's another WOS flood in the next few weeks!  It started last week with the new Simpsons 9 pack of Blockos, and continues this week with the new wave 8 and playsets hitting Target.

I haven't found those figures yet, but you can guarantee I'll be hitting the stores hard the next three days, so hopefully my Monday review will be of wave 8.  But I did find the two new playsets - the cafeteria and DMV - at a local Target this morning.

The Department of Motor Vehicles comes with Marge's sister Selma.  We already have Patty, so you know it was only a matter of time before Selma came along.  The School Cafeteria comes with a fan favorite, Lunch Lady Doris.  Collectors have been complaining about the lack of female figures, but they should be happy with both these choices.

The sets are retailing for $20 still at Target, so that's the place to look first.



Packaging - **1/2
The playset packaging isn't quite as catchy as the cool new All Star Voices cards, but it's still quite servicable.  You can see the sets well, you get to try out some of the lines, and they hold up well on the shelf.

I hate having to find a screwdriver just to get them out, but you can't have everything I suppose.

Sculpting - ***1/2
I'm actually surprised I like both these figures as much as I do.  Selma isn't the most exciting character, and Lunch Lady Doris didn't quite look right in the photos I'd seen.

Once I got these in my hands though, I really appreciated the work.  Selma has the perfect expression, with the half lidded eyes and slight smirk.  

LLD is hefty - heck, she's a full figured gal, as they used to say - and unlike Muu Muu Homer, there's no skinny legs under the dress.  The sculpt looks far better in person than in photos, so you really should see it up close before you pass judgement.  I did take off half a star though because of her somewhat bug eyed stare.  The very wide open eyes tend to give her a zombie look. 

Stickers - ****
The stickers are excellent on both sets.  At the DMV, we get a great external scene through the window, and unlike past sets the characters pictured are generic in nature.  You also get some cute bulletin board stuff, along with the eye chart.

The Cafeteria shows scenes both in the kitchen in back, and out in the lunchroom proper.  Both show the Springfield Elementary you'd imagine.

Paint - ***
The paint ops aren't bad, but could have been a little better, particularly on the figures.  Both Selma's dress and LLD's dress were a bit uneven in the consistency of the paint.  The playsets themselves were both good, although the ops are pretty basic.

Articulation - **
Neck, waist, shoulders.  I can't top the poem I did last time.

Accessories - ***
The accessories are good, but it seems that they are pretty light this time.  The DMV comes with Jub Jub, and the little rope barrier.

The LLD comes with a spoon and a rat, along with the plexiglass sneeze guard.  While it's nice to see brand new accessories like this rather than re-use, and Jub Jub was a must, it still seems like only really two accessories each is pretty short.

Talking Feature - ****
This was a real surprise this time.  Both sets have excellent lines for the new characters.  The DMV includes these lines for Selma: "I'm sweating - let's ride through the car wash.", "Oooo...Seat belt twisted, minus one point.", "Umm...Jub Jub."

Okay, so three lines don't seem like too much, but they add in a bunch for Patty, who needed to have some place like the DMV to shine: "My name's Patty.  I'll be testing you.", "Some days we don't let the line move at all.", "You failed every segment, and misspelled bus on your application.", "Here's your written test.", "When you do good, I use the green pen.  When you do bad, I use the red pen."

Over at the cafeteria, LLD has a bunch, all very appropriate: "Thanks to the latest budget cuts, I'm down to using grade F meat.", "You've been nursing that thing for an hour.", "I got your German grub right here.", "Yum.  It's rich in bunly goodness.", "The cafeteria staff is complaining about the mice in the kitchen.", "I wanna hire a new staff.", "There's very little meat in these gym mats."

If you would like a complete list, check out the Phrase Database or this thread at the Simpsons Collector Sector.  

Value - ***1/2
Target is still selling the playsets for $20 each.  Buy them at this price!  Walmart may end up having them for about $22.

Overall - ***1/2
These aren't quite as nice as the last two, but they are still pretty damn nice.  While the DMV isn't the most visually exciting place, they made up for it with great stickers, lines for Patty and Selma, and great accessories.

The Cafeteria is the better of the two in general, with a much more exciting visual design, and LLD has some terrific lines.  Even Willie has a couple good lines including one asking LLD for grease, but unfortunately he doesn't say "Grease me up woman!".

Where to Buy
I found these at Target, where you'll get the best prices.

On-line, there are plenty of options:

- New Force ComicsRick has the best prices around, but you need to pre-order.  On these sets and wave 8 you're out of luck (and if you ordered them from him, he is hoping to start shipping the week of 4/5), but he has pre-orders up for wave 9 and 10 right now.

- Aisle Sniper has them still on pre-order for $22 a piece plus shipping.

- Action Figure Express is on the higher end at $50 for the pair.  (MROTW Affiliate)

- Entertainment Earth also is $50 for the pair, but it's still a pre-order.  If you want to buy a case, which is evenly packed with two of each playset, it's only $90.  That comes out to $22.50 each plus shipping. (MROTW Affiliate)


Figure from the collection of Michael Crawford.

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