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Expect to pay around $10 each for the regular figures, and you can find
them at local stores like Toys R Us and Meijers, or at my sponsor
Time and Space Toys. TST
carries a huge inventory of Christmas goodies, so if you're looking for
figures from any of the animated Christmas lines, check them out.
Packaging - **1/2
The packages are bright and cheery, with a nice winter theme. They
lack the character personalization, and they certainly aren't collector
friendly, but for a mass market toy they do the job just fine. At
least they show off the enclosed figure well, and there's very little waste.
My one complaint with the packaging that brings it down a half star is
the twisty tie Hell that awaits you. In fact, it's not really the
twisty ties that are an issue, although there are several of them. It's that
they've added a NEW form of retainer Hell for you to battle. I've
included a photo of these new ties, which seem to lock in place and require
you to use scissors or a knife.
Sculpting - **1/2
An assumption people make is that if it's a cartoon figure, it must be easy
to sculpt. They designs are simplistic, so it should be easy, right?
I've been doing my best to dispel that rumor for years now.
Translating a flat character, who often changes in proportion and style
within just a few frames on the show, into a recognizable, accurate 3
dimensional object can be very, very tricky. When it's done well, the
result is tremendously satisfying. When they miss the mark, it's
tremendously apparent.
Frosty isn't terrible, but he does miss the mark. The proportions
are a bit off, with a bigger body and smaller head than I remember. The
smaller head then translates into a smaller hat and slightly oversized
scarf. The odd proportions are even more evident without the hat and
scarf, so I'd recommend keeping them on.
The work on the eyes, nose and mouth is quite good though, and you'll
certainly recognize who it is immediately. If you haven't seen the
show in awhile, the issues of proportion are likely to be less of a problem
for you.
There's a nice texturing to the body to give the impression of packed
snow, and the hat fits the head perfectly. It even has a magnet to
hold it in place, something I wasn't expecting. The hands are given a
very basic sculpt to hold the broom, and there is a small hole sculpted on
the left side of the mouth to hold the pipe.
The scarf is soft goods, made from a slightly too thick material.
It's always tough to do soft goods in this scale, but the scarf works well
enough. It's colored in the original cartoon colors, which I think
were altered when the cartoon was cleaned up and restored a few years ago.
Frosty stands great on his own, and will fit in with most other Christmas
lines or even with more realistic 6 - 7" figures.
Paint - ***
The paint is relatively clean, especially around the eyes and nose.
The hat shows a bit of slop, and some of the pieces - like the main part of
the hat or the pipe - are merely cast in their color.
The body has a slight gloss to it, which works well for the implied
medium of snow. This isn't the kind of work you'd expect on a
specialty market collector's item, but for a regular toy it's slightly above
average.
Articulation - **1/2
He has pretty basic articulation, but what's here works fine.
There's a cut neck, pin and disk shoulders (sort of like ball joints, but
they only move at the torso and have less range of movement), cut wrists,
and some funky hips that allow the legs to move forward and backward on the
large torso, but don't turn.
You can do some basic posing with him, including some interesting looking
walking poses. But he certainly doesn't have the articulation of
something like the Rudolph series, and the shoulders were a tad
disappointing, making it tough for me to get the arms in the poses I wanted.
Accessories - ***
Frosty comes with his hat, which has a magnet to hold it in place.
It's a little narrow on his head, but stays in place extremely well.
He also has his corn cob pipe, which fits in the small hole on his mouth,
his cloth scarf (which is slightly oversized), and his broom. The
sculpts on all of these are classic kid's toy style, but that makes them fit
in fine with the basic style of the animation.
Fun Factor - ***
If you're looking for another nifty Christmas character to add to your
children's toy box, you could certainly do worse. He has some
potential for fun, is well built, and most kids won't find the sculpt as
disappointing as I did.
Value - **
These guys run around $8 at mass retailers, or $10 at online
retailers. That's a buck or two more than I felt they were really
worth.
Things to Watch Out For -
Not a thing. He's nice and sturdy, and can withstand plenty of play.
Overall - **1/2
Perhaps it's because I was hoping for figures from the first show, with
Karen and Professor Hinkle. Perhaps it's because the sculpt isn't
quite up to the level set by some of the earlier Playing Mantis figures.
Perhaps it's because I can't see myself spending that kind of green on
somebody like Crystal. Whatever the case, the Frosty line ended up
being a bit of a disappointment.
I am glad I picked up the basic version though, because he will fit in
nicely with the rest of the huge Christmas character display. If you
keep the hat and scarf on, the weird sculpt isn't as much of an issue, and
the collection wouldn't be complete without a Frosty.
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