Review of TeenyMates Series 1 - Football Quarterbacks

Introduction

I suspect that both my beloved Spartans and my not so beloved but getting there Lions thought last week was a bye week. Sure as Hell neither team actually showed up to play, so I'm giving them the benefit of the doubt.

It's hard to find an American, male or female, past the age of 8 that doesn't have a favorite football team, and the company Party Animal Toys is capitalizing on that very fact with their newest line of collectibles, TeenyMates.

The company already produces some very cute 3" figures for NFL, NBA, MLB and NHL fans. They do both professional and collegiate teams as well, covering the gamut of sports. They have several series of these figures, called Lil' Team Mates, and they'd fit in nicely with your larger Mez-its or Hot Toys Cosbaby display.

Now they've expanded...or contracted, depending on how you look at it. They're shrinking down their Lil' Team Mates to a 1" scale, and calling them TeenyMates. The first series is for the NFL, and covers 32 quarterbacks, plus three rare figures - one glow-in-the-dark, one gold, and one in the throwback uniform for the Houston Oilers.

These little guys will run you around $4 or so for a pack of two, plus two puzzle pieces. More on that as we get into the review!

Packaging - **1/2
Regular readers know I hate blind boxing, or in this case, blind bagging. The small bags hold two figures and two puzzle pieces, but what team is a mystery. Fortunately, these aren't $8 or $9, like some blind boxed figures, but it's still painful to end up with a bunch of the same quarterback.67e\

A nice touch is the inclusion of a check list of all 35 figures, including the three rare ones. At least this way you can keep track of which ones you're still hunting.

Sculpting - ***
The poses are all the same, at least for the quarterbacks. They mix it up for each position.

There's not a ton of detail, but let's keep in mind...these are only 1" tall! They are extremely small, making the details that are here sharp enough for the scale.

The cute little faces have gritty expressions, fierce and determined. They're damn cute, no doubt about it!

Paint - ***
I can hear it now - people saying the paint is sloppy. Of course, they're completely forgetting the scale. Please use the LifeSizer feature on the photo above, so that you have a better appreciation of the size of these guys.

At this scale, the paint and tampos are actually very good. There's still some fuzzy edges and weak cut lines, and it is visible on the helmets of a few of the players. But the nits I have are all generally minor, and I'm quite impressed with how good the team names are on the front of the helmets.

Articulation - N/A
These are very small, solid PVC figures. I won't be holding the lack of articulation against them - I assumed it was true. I've included the category as information only.

Accessories - ***
Being a little tiny PVC figure, you certainly don't expect any extras. I gotta give them credit for coming up with the playing field as a puzzle concept and including two puzzle pieces with each pair of figures. I'm betting you'd like a bigger field (or perhaps a way to personalize the center logo on the field to a specific team), but it's still a good idea that adds some value to the figures themselves.

Fun Factor - ***
I'm betting kids will find a way for these figures to actually play a game of football against one another - kids have a great imagination when it comes to small figures like this. Remember how much fun you had with solid plastic army men?

There's also the collect and trade aspect, something that kids still really enjoy quite a bit, and which is a natural fit for any sort of sports team license.

Value - **1/2
At $16 for four packs, you're paying about $2 for a little figure and a puzzle piece. I think most collectors will feel that sting a bit, although this is about half the price of the individual Lego figures. Comparing to other PVC's though, these are a bit high - Trashies and Crazy Bones tend to be closer to a buck each in multi-packs. Let's not forget that lines like that don't have the additional expense if licenses, however.

Things to Watch Out For -
A lot of the people on Hoarders started out innocently enough...other than the possibility of going insane with your collecting habits, you should be good.

Overall - ***
For kids that love football - and considering how popular pee-wee leagues are these days, there's quite a few - these are a great idea. They're fun little figures that allow them to put together an entire league, and they'll be able to fill in other positions as time goes by.

I also like the look of the larger 3" Lil' Team Mates, and I just might have to pick up A couple Spartans and a couple Lions...depending on how well they do this weekend.

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

Where to Buy
These are available at some brick and mortar retailers, as well as online shops, but the easiest way to pick them up is direct from the companies online shop. You can pick up a set of four packs, and each pack contains two figures and two pieces of the puzzle, for $16.

And if you like the general concept but want something a bit bigger, the company also has 3" versions of these guys for MLB, NBA, NFL, NHL and College teams called "Lil' Team Mates". You can get those from their online shop for $10 each, and pick out the team and player position you really want.

Related Links -
Check out their website at LilTeamMates.com, and check out my review of the Go Go Crazy Bones for something similar, at least in scale!

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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