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This set consists of 11 figures. There
are 10 that are part of the 'regular' release, and then there is MuuMuu
Homer. If someone can give me the exact story on this one, I'd love
to know. He is solid, so he could be the under three toy, although
it didn't say that on his plastic bag.
The other 10 figures are Grilling Homer,
Marge, Maggie, Bart, Lisa, Grampa, Milhouse, Otto, Snowball II on the
television, and Nelson.
Packaging - ***1/2
Packaging on kids meals? Aren't those just little bags? Why
yes, but that's why I'm also including the neat boxes that the Burger King
kids meals came in.
The graphics are
bright and appropriate, with an ad on one side for the new Diddy Doh-nuts,
and pictures of all 11 figures on the other.
As for the plastic bag - well, keep it
away from small children.
Sculpting - ***
Pretty decent work. These figures are done by Equity, the same guys
that have given us all those various Big Head figures. The sculpting
is at least acceptable on all the figures, although some, like MuuMuu
Homer are better than others.
Articulation - **
Considering that these are kids meal toys, any articulation is pretty
amazing. Most of them have waist articulation, although poor
MuuMuu Homer is one solid piece. Scale - **
Here's a bit of a problem. While the Homers, Otto, and Marge are all
pretty well in scale with each other and the Playmates figures, the kids
are waaaay too big. In the photo of Otto and Lisa with Maggie, I've
included the Playmates versions as well so you can get some idea of the
scale. The television will go well
with the Playmates figures though, and is much more in scale than the
version that came with the living room playset. Character Selection - ****
Sure, maybe the scale is off, but at least they do a great job selecting
characters. While we end up getting another pretty standard Lisa,
Bart and Marge, at least the others are all new to this assortment. The
two versions of Homer are both great, and having Nelson and Milhouse -
particularly a Milhouse with a wedgie - is a great addition to last years
set. Add in Grampa and Otto, and you
have a pretty well rounded set of figures if you have both lines. Paint
- ***1/2
The paint ops are very good for these, particularly since they are kids
meal toys. Let's face it, you're getting the toy pretty damn cheap
compared to 'real' action figures, so when you get good paint application
it's a wonderful thing. In
particular, the two Homers are excellent. Muumuu Homer has vibrant
colors in his flower pattern, and the charcoal blackening of Grilling
Homer's face works perfectly. Value
- ****
You can't get a better value than a good kids meal toy. If you're
buying the meal, they're practically free. Even if you buy them
separately, most places don't charge you more than a buck, and that's a
mighty good value for something like this. Overall -
***
If you have the first set from last year, than these are definitely a must
have to fill out the set. Even if
you don't, the die hard fan is going to want to pick these up. They
look great on the shelf, but remember that they aren't expensive action
figures. Buy them for what they are, and you won't be disappointed. Where to Buy -
I hate to say it, but unless you can find a friendly Brit, you're
pretty much screwed at this point. Current prices on ebay for the
full set are going for right around $35 for the full set. That's not
too bad, but I suspect they'll hit around $50 a set as people realize they
have came and are now gone. If you
can be patient, I'm sure they'll drop back to the $25 range in a couple
months - but most collectors don't have that kind of patience!
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