Review of Finn, Jake - Adventure Time figures

Introduction

There are plenty of cartoons on television these days well worth watching, but one that really stands out for me Adventure Time. The post-apocalyptic Land of Oo is bizarre, to say the least, but Jake and Finn find fun and humor in even the most unusual of situations.

Jazwares picked up the license, and is producing a variety of toys. There's some big stretchy figures, a cool sword, and a series of small 2" PVC figures that they first introduced at San Diego Comic-Con this year. The Con two pack is identical to the set of Jake and Finn doing their high five, although it lacks the SDCC sticker of course.

There are two more two packs listed on the back - one with Finn and Marcellina, and one with Jake and Lumpy Space Princess. I picked these up at Toys R Us, but have only seen two of the four two packs so far.

Packaging - ***
The packages are a little big, considering the size of the figures, but once you realize that each is attached to a plastic base, you understand the size. They're attractive, and there's some basic personalization on the front of each.

Sculpting - ***
If you don't pick up on any other fact during the course of this review, pick up on this one - these are TINY. They are only about 2" tall, making the details very difficult to do or discern.

However, they've added sculpted edges to all the facial details, as well as the clothing. That adds a lot to the appearance, especially in person, where the sloppy paint (more on that in a minute) isn't as obvious.

While the two Finn's and one Jake can't stand on their own, the small, clear plastic stands keep them upright just fine. The stands are also embossed with the name of the show, a nice touch. They are not permanently attached, and you can pop on and off easily.

I like the poses - the one set of Finn and Jake is doing their classic high five pose, while the second Finn is in battle stance with the Ice King, who has his hands at the ready to freeze Finn.

The high five Finn is also holding his violin, complete with the worm Shelby. Nice!

Paint - **
The paint is very sloppy, and would be truly awful if these weren't such TINY figures. They're still a little sloppier than I'd like to see, but I'm cutting them some slack because of the small size and number of paint ops.

But if you are looking for them to color within the lines, you'll be disappointed. Things are kinda all over the place, and no one is ever going to use the words "finely painted details" when describing these.

That's not too unusual with this style of figure though, but the higher price creates a bit of an expectation of better than average work.

Articulation - Bupkis
These are your basic PVC figures with no joints. I didn't expect any, so I won't be deducting anything from my personal overall for it, but it was worth mentioning in case your expectations were different.

Accessories - **
Likewise, with such tiny PVC figures I don't expect any accessories, but it wouldn't be unheard of. I suppose the bases could be considered accessories, since they are separate from the figures, but without them, they wouldn't stand.

The only actual accessory here is the small cardboard backdrop that you see in a couple of the photos. They don't have a good way to stand though, so you'll have to get creative.

Fun Factor - ***
Some folks think that only highly articulated figures are 'fun', but that's not the case. Articulation doesn't hurt (unless it's so loose that the figure can't stand), but kids can have plenty of fun with little PVC guys like this as well.

Value - **
At $6 a pair, it's a tad expensive to pick these up, and $8 is actually SRP. In essence, these are 2" PVC figures, much like you once got out of gum machines (no more, sadly), and three bucks a pop seems expensive to me. The little stands help the value a bit, but I'm still docking them slightly.

Things to Watch Out For -
Not much - I supposed you could try to get the best paints possible, but odds are they're pretty consistent across the board.

Overall - **1/2
The sculpts are decent for this scale, but the killer here is the higher price point with the weak paint. At a buck a piece, they'd be sweet - at $2 each, they'd still be a pretty decent set of figures. But at $3 - $4 each, they really need to be a little better quality.

Still, I'm a sucker for this scale and I love the show, so I'm in for the full run. I'm hoping that we get a wide range of characters, since that's the beauty of this scale - they should be able to give us plenty of variety.

Score Recap (out of ****):
Packaging - ***
Sculpting - ***
Paint - **
Articulation - Bupkis
Accessories - **
Fun Factor - ***
Value - **
Overall - **1/2

Where to Buy 
These are hitting mass retailers, and I found them at Toys R Us.

Related Links -
Nothing else for Jake and Finn yet, but I'm planning on picking up the larger stretchy figures when they hit.

You should also hit the Search Reviews page, in case any other applicable reviews were done after this one was published.

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