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Tooned Up
Peggy Bundy and
I Dream of Jeannie
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Electric
Tiki is producing a series of unique statues based on famous television
shows. Called the 'Tooned Up' series, they've taken a number of
licenses - Married With Children, I Dream of Jeannie, Bewitched, Sanford and
Son, The Greatest American Hero, and Dukes of Hazard so far - and produced
maquettes done in a caricature style. These
statues are all limited editions, usually at 1500 each. Suggested
retail is around $79, and you can buy them directly from Electric Tiki at
their website. Electric
Tiki is also producing some other great statues that I'll be reviewing
shortly. They include some 'mini-maquettes' for the Harvey comic book
characters, and original creations by the company founder, Tracy Mark
Lee. Prices and edition sizes vary based on the licenses, so you
should check out the site to get the exact details.
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Packaging - ***
These each come in sturdy, attractive boxes, packed tightly inside with
styrofoam forms. The exteriors have lots of graphics, and as is usual
with maquettes, the boxes are 'collector friendly'. The number for
each figure is also printed on the box, along with on the bottom of the base
and on the certificate of authenticity.
Speaking of the CoA, it's also
pretty snazzy. With nice colors and graphics, you may actually find it
possible not to lose these.
Sculpting - Peggy ***1/2,
Jeannie ***
The basics of both sculpts are well done - clean lines, smooth edges,
proportional and symmetric designs. While there's not a lot of detail
work due to the 'toon' style, both sculpts are very nice.
The difference in the score is the difference in the
appropriateness of the style to each character. The 'tooned up' style
is one of caricature, and that works better for Peggy than it does
Jeannie. I'm not sure why that is, or if it's just that the caricature
design on Jeannie didn't capture her essence as well for me. But of
these two, I feel the overall style works with Peggy a little better than
Jeannie.
Paint - ***1/2
The paint ops for both maquettes is extremely good. The flesh tones on
Jeannie are consistent, as is the bright colors of her outfit. Peggy
has clean lines around each piece of clothing, and her face paint is
particularly well done.
Getting consistency is particularly crucial on large
expanses of bright color, like Peggy's hair or Jeannie's pants.
They've done an excellent job in this regard, and the only slight flaw I saw
was around the fingers where it seemed the paint clumped up a bit with both
characters.
Quality - ***1/2
This category is pretty important for maquettes and statues. Both of
these statues are hefty, with a more solid feel than I had expected.
Both stand up well, although Jeannie's design has her leaning quite a bit
forward.
Value - ***
The limited nature of these maquettes tends to drive the price up. At
only 1500 each, they are pushing into the realm of the very limited, and
because of it they are commanding a pretty steep price at $79. It's
not a terrible value however, considering the statue market. The DC
Direct JLA maquettes are around $60-$70, with runs of 3000-3500, so at half
that many produced the increased cost is certainly understandable.
Make sure you go to the order page to see the actual price
too - on the page describing each maquette, there is a quoted price of
$99. That's not the actual price however, at least not right
now. When you go to the actual order page, you'll see that they are
running $79 each.
Overall - Peggy ***1/2, Jeannie ***
Are you a big fan of these classic shows? If so, you'll want to
check these out. Let's face it, you're not likely to be getting any
great Bundy action figures any time soon, and the fun nature of this style
fits the goofy, campy nature of most of these licenses .
Where to Buy -
I haven't seen these at any local comic shops, but I'm betting that
most will get them in. You can also order them directly from the
company on-line:
- Electric Tiki
has them for sale direct for $79 each, and you can pre-order maquettes
from their other series. Their website is also one of the more
attractive and better designed company sites I've seen. Take a
little time and peruse around some of the other styles and licenses they
have!
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Figure from the collection of Michael Crawford. |
