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Simpsons Bobble Heads
Homer and Krusty

Back when I was just a kid, Bobble Heads were a popular collectible, sort of the beanie baby of the 60's.  They pretty much disappeared for twenty years, but for some reason that's completely unknown to me, they made a resurgence.

Every possible license known to man - from I Dream of Jeanie to CHIPS - has been turned into a bobble head.  There are two or three companies producing full lines of these now, and I've reviewed a few in the past (with some more coming up in the near future).

It couldn't be too long before the Simpsons ended up in this style as well, and Playmates has just released the first two in a planned line.  Krusty and Homer start things off, and Barney and Moe are due out early in 2003.

These are showing up at Kaybee Toys first, where they are $15 each.  I'm unsure if that's more or less than other retailers, since Kaybee isn't always more expensive any more.  I'm betting we see these at the Musicland family as well, but I doubt they'll be any cheaper there. 




Packaging - ***
The boxes look good, the windows show off the figurine nicely, and they are collector friendly.  You can pull these out, display them for awhile and put them back any time you like.

The only down side is that there isn't a lot of text, and the boxes aren't the sturdiest.  I suspect lots of collectors are going to end up leaving these in the package, so that's a pretty crucial area.

Sculpting - Homer **1/2, Krusty ***1/2
There was quite a bit of difference in the style and quality of the Krusty and Homer sculpt.
  Krusty has the usual "Hey! Hey!" look, with his hands in the air.  It does a pretty decent job of capturing the look and feel of the character, in the large headed style of the bobbler.

Homer also has the usual oversized head that is the trademark of this style, but the sculpted look isn't quite as good.  His hands are also in the air, twiddling their fingers in his usual manner.  It appears as though the head sculpt was intended to be a "Oooo, donuts" sort of look, particularly with this hand sculpt.  However, the lips combined with the very beady eyes make it appear as though he's having a tough time blowing up the backyard swimming pool. 

Paint - **1/2
The paint ops are a tad iffy on these, particularly since they are so large, and the paint work is fairly basic.  Krusty has quite a few issues around the nose particularly, with a lot of bleed into the whites of the eyes.

Bobble Action - ***
The bobble action is so-so, particularly compared to some of the other versions on the market right now.  The head movement is somewhat restricted due to the tighter fit of the head on the neck post.  It's not terrible - the heads certainly do wobble - but not quite as smoothly as you might expect.

Value - *1/2
Most bobble heads on the market today are around $10, maybe $12, depending on the license.  These are $15 at Kaybee, and although they may be a little cheaper elsewhere, that's still very high in this market.  Ten bucks each for these would have been far more appropriate.

Overall - **1/2
It's too bad that a Simpsons product had to break my long run of high scoring reviews lately, but with the high price point and the less than perfect paint application, not to mention the slightly off look of Homer's sculpt, these just don't quite measure up.
  I'm hoping that the next two in the series will improve on these issues. 

Where to Buy - 
I picked these up at my local Kaybee.  Anyone know anything about any on-line retailers?  I couldn't find a single one...

 


Figure from the collection of Michael Crawford.

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