Packaging - **1/2
The packaging isn't too plain, but with such a large figure, you get a large
card back. And this one is as basic as the show. Having something -
anything - in that upper right half of the sky would have improved the overall
look.
Sculpting - ***
South Park is about the most basic character designs ever produced.
Therefore you shouldn't expect too detailed of sculpts.
And that's what you get - very basic sculpts, but very accurate ones.
The style, design, proportions and facial expressions come right off the show.
The big issue here is one of scale. The entire South Park is
HUGE. I mean, MASSIVE. If you thought the Peanuts stuff was big, you
haven't seen anything yet. Mr. Hanky could have any regular scale
Mcfarlane figure for breakfast.
Overall, that's not a big problem for me.
I would have preferred a smaller scale, because the basic design of the
characters becomes even more obvious in such a large, in your face scale.
But it's not a huge issue, and one I can get beyond if there are other
improvements.
Unfortunately, the large scale doesn't really
give us anything. There isn't better articulation, or special features, so
a smaller scale would have worked just as well.
On top of that, poor Mr. Hanky is far too big in
comparison with the rest of the line. He's out of scale with other
figures, and that's going to be a tad annoying once they are all together on the
shelf.
By the way, Mr. Hanky is hollow (roto-cast).
The walls of the figure are fairly thick though, and having him hollow allows
for him to stay standing even with that big head.
Paint - ***
There's not a lot of colors here, as you'd expect with a couple lumps of poo.
The brown is consistent and even, but there's some bleed issues between the
brown and the whites of the eyes. The black pupils tend to be a bit fuzzy
around the edges as well, and at this scale you'd expect slightly better paint
application. It's not terrible, and it's accurate to the show, but there's
some room for improvement.
Articulation - **
The rather blocky design of the characters doesn't really translate to well
articulated figures. Still the Peanuts line is fairly blocky, and Playing
Mantis found ways to improve the articulation with lots of creativity.
Mr. Hanky has one point - his neck. It
looks like his shoulders might be articulated, but I couldn't get mine to turn
and the posts are so thin that it's very easy to rip them. I gave up,
rather than tear an arm off.
Mr. Hanky's son, Simon, is just a solid PVC
figure. I wasn't surprised, but after getting a Maggie about the same size
this week with five points of articulation, I can't say that it's ideal.
Accessories - **
Mr. Hanky has two accessories, or at least that's how I'm counting. He
has his son, Simon (wasn't Cornwallis the one with the corn in his head?), and a
display stand.
Simon looks good, although he has no texturing,
unlike dear old dad. The facial expression is great though, and as an
accessory he's solid.
The design of Mr. Hanky clearly doesn't allow
for him to stand, so to get over that issue they provide a poo stand, sculpted
to hold Mr. Hanky upright. It works great, and I had no trouble keeping
him standing with it.
The lower score here is based on how light this
is though, particularly at this price point. I'm not sure what could have
been added - perhaps more kids - but two pretty basic accessories aren't enough
to sway the on-the-fence buyer.
Value - *1/2
In the last year, the assumed price for an action figure has steadily rose
into the $10 - $15 price range. That's not an issue though if it's well
articulated, with good accessories and great sculpting. But these figures
are extremely basic, and even the figures that came with the talking pen holders
were cheaper than this.
I'll be very interested in seeing what the
regular price is for the normal release figures, rather than this
exclusive. Considering that this figure was produced for a single
on-line retailer, I'm betting the run was extremely low, hence driving the
higher price point. I'm hoping that the regular figures are under eight
bucks.
Overall - **
The sculpting and paint ops are decent, and even the accessories are
acceptable if the price point was lower. But that single area pulls this
score down a half star to a star overall. This line, similar to King of
the Hill, is going to be an extremely hard sell unless they can get the price
down. I know Mirage is a small company fighting an uphill battle, but the
average consumer isn't going to care.
Of course, Mr. Hanky isn't the best figure to
hit out of the gate either. Cartman and Timmy are likely to be the big fan
favorites at this point.
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