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Packaging - ***1/2
The card art and style are very attractive AND it stands out well amongst
the sea of carded figures on the pegs. There's a nice bio on each
figure on the back, along with photos of the other characters in the
series. (The Beaker pictured on the card comes with the first playset,
due in the next couple weeks).
It's not collector friendly in
my definition of the word, but that's pretty rare for bubble/card
packaging. The theme of the package meshes with the license very
nicely, and catches the eye - a great package convinces you to buy the
product. This package works in that regard.
Sculpting - ****
While Piggy seemed to have a slightly large nose, I can't fault a single one
of these three figures. Dr. Teeth is dead on, with his classic facial
expression.
Honeydew looks just like the
little egghead should, at least from the sculpting stand point (I'll get to
the paint ops in the next section). All three are really fantastic,
but Kermit knocked my socks off.
They nailed him, right down to
some of the wrinkles in the material that you'd expect around the neck or
elbows. Both Kermit and Honeydew have that textured appearance, making them
look more like cloth than Miss Piggy does, with her smooth skin texture.
The longer I look at the
sculpts, the more pleased I become. There's a tremendous amount of
detail in both the Honeydew and Dr. Teeth body sculpts, and all the work is
done to perfection.
Paint - ****
I have absolutely amazing paint ops on my set. I have heard some
reports of people seeing troubles, either with Miss Piggy or Honeydew, but
all the ones I've seen have been perfect.
And that's tough to do,
particularly on Honeydew and Dr. Teeth. There's so much detail, and so
many different colors being used, that it's pretty incredible that they came
out this nicely.
The only complaint you might
have is with some of the particular color selections. I know lots of
folks feel Honeydew is too green, but I believe Palisades has stated that
it's the exact color Henson Productions requested. I know that with
the Simpsons figures, Playmates was often forced to used colors from ancient
licensing model sheets that look little to nothing like the characters
today, so I can imagine something similar could happen here.
Also, I think Kermit is a
*smidgen* too dark, but that's a tremendously close call, and one I rack up
to personal taste.
Overall, the paint ops made my
jaw hit the floor, and that's pretty damn unusual.
Accessories - ****
Dr. Teeth comes with two accessories, technically, although one is pretty
crucial to the basic figure. While his hat is removable, he looks
pretty silly without it (poor guy has to hide that bald spot!). The
hat fits his head perfectly, and Palisades did a terrific job designing the
perfect way to attach it without being cumbersome. To round out his
accessories, he has his keyboard, which will come in pretty handy with the
announced Electric Mayhem playset.
Kermit also has two accessories
- his coffee cup marked 'Kermit', and a Muppet Show television camera.
The cup fits perfectly in his right hand, and shows the attention to detail
- there's even a little chip in the top.
The camera is great as well.
The top half turns, while you can also move the handle. The only way
it could have been improved is if you looked inside and saw a little frame
from the show, but now I'm really reaching.
Honeydew also has two
accessories (do we see a pattern here?). He comes with a neat little
book that can be opened and closed, and his robotic bunny. The rabbit
has eight points of articulation - neck, lever, shoulders, hips and
ankles. Be careful though - the shoulders and hips have a tendency to
be stuck with paint, and I snapped a leg trying to fee it.
All the figures come with the
Muppets 25 Years based to stand on, although I had no trouble getting any of
them to stand on their own.
Quality - ***1/2
Overall, I'm pretty impressed by the quality. The construction seems
solid, and the use of the bases makes them far less likely to shelf dive.
My only concern is that some of
the plastic seems very soft. Both Kermit's legs and the rabbit's legs
seem likely to wilt over time ("McFarlane disease"), and that
would be too bad.
They happen to share one other
quality with McFarlane - the paint smell is going to get you buzzed if you
open all four at once. That could be a good thing or a bad thing,
depending on how your day is going.
Articulation - Kermit ***1/2,
Honeydew and Dr. Teeth ****
Kermit has the least amount of articulation, probably because it would have
been the hardest to hide (and his legs and arms are so thin). He has
neck, ball jointed shoulders, and hips. Without wrists or elbows, it
does limit his posability a bit.
That's even more obvious when
you start playing around with Honeydew and Dr. Teeth. They both have
ten points, although different ones. Dr Teeth has neck, ball jointed
shoulders, wrists, waist, hips and cut joints on the calves. Honeydew
has neck, ball jointed shoulders, elbows, wrists, waist and hips.
The joints are well placed, and
there's all kinds of posing you can do with both figures. Dr. Teeth
can play his keyboards just fine, and I can't wait to see what you'll be
able to do with Honeydew in the Lab playset.
Value - ***1/2
The price on these seems to be averaging around $8, although some places are
charging up to $10 each. At eight bucks though, this is a great
deal. Sure, at $7 they'd get a solid four stars, but even at $8,
you're getting McToys quality sculpts (for 'cartoon' characters) with
excellent accessories and articulation.
Overall - ****
Homina Homina Howaaa! These figures are simply
amazing! I can't believe how well they turned out, and I had pretty
high expectations. If you're thinking about maybe, possibly, being
interested in this line, then pick these up NOW. You can always get
rid of them later, but I'll guarantee that three months from now these will
be impossible to find.
Where to Buy -
Toys R Us is the only conventional toy store carrying these, but Media
Play, Sam Goody, Musicland, Electronics Boutique, and other specialty
stores will also have them. On-line:
- Convergence
Comics has the best on-line price around at $29 for the set of four plus
shipping. They also have the Beaker/Lab playset for just $19! (MROTW
Affiliate)
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