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Packaging - ***1/2
I do love my clamshells. Of course, you better have a machete handy to
get them open, but that's (and a couple fingers) is a small price to pay.
The insert art is great, based on much of Napoleon's art from his school
notebooks. It also lists all the lines for each figure on the back, a
nice addition, along with some instructions on what not to do with the
batteries.
Sculpt - Prom Napoleon, Dance Napoleon ****; Tetherball Napoleon, Kip
***1/2; Pedro ***
If you're a fan of the film, it's not going to get any better than
this. Oh, there's a couple issues, but in general they've done another
amazing job with the sculpts.
The Prom Napoleon and Dancing Napoleon are my favorites, but if you held
a gun to my head, I'd pick Prom as the final standout. That's good
since it's his most recognizable look, and probably the one that will sell
the most.
His wild bushy hair was tough to capture, but somehow they pulled it
off. Even more difficult was the glasses, because glasses done in this
scale are almost always too large and silly looking. Perhaps the fact
that Napoleon's glasses are large and dorky in real life made their job
easier, but these really are amazing. They don't look oversized, they
fit his face, and the lens are fairly clear.
The reason I pick Prom over Dancing is that while both sculpts are great,
I prefer the open eyes of Prom. How often have we gotten closed eyes
on an action figure? I'm sure there's been a couple times now, but
it's pretty rare. While that is movie accurate, it doesn't look quite
as good as the regular version.
The rest of the body sculpts all match up with the usual Mcfarlane
quality, giving you very realistic appearing clothing, buttons and
jewelry. The hard plastic coat over the shoulder of Prom Napoleon
flows perfectly, while the wrinkles in Tetherball and Dancing Napoleon's
shirt and jeans match the movement of his body underneath correctly.
I wasn't quite as enamored with the head sculpts on either Kip or Pedro
quite as much. They're still well above average, but aren't quite as
movie accurate. Kip is hurt by a very obvious neck joint as well, and
I would have preferred him in one of his dorkier, early movie outfits to his
later, post Fawnduh get up.
Pedro's problems are all in the face. I know who it is, but it
looks like him at his 20 year reunion. Compare it to the prototype
shots at the Mcfarlane website, and you may see what I mean - there's bags
under the eyes now, the skin more wrinkled, and the jaw line softer.
I'm not sure why the change, but it wasn't for the better.
Scale seems a little weird on these. Napoleon comes in around
8" tall, although I believe these were considered a 7"
scale. They range in size from just under 7" (Pedro) to just over
8" (Prom Napoleon).
It's worth noting that while these come with display stands, every one of
them (with the obvious exception of dancing Napoleon) can stand perfectly
fine on his own. And yes, that includes Tetherball Champ, although he
takes a little work to find the sweet spot.
Paint - Kip ***1/2; the rest ****
While Mcfarlane leads the industry in realistic human sculpts, they also do
pretty damn good with paint application. That's critical when you're
doing plastic statues, since you don't have much to fall back on in the way
of articulation or accessories.
The paint here is almost perfect across the board. Small areas
where masking was used are very clean and neat, with no bleeding or over
spray. The eyes are sharp and clean, and small details like buttons
and stripes, are neat and even.
They do use some light dry brushing and wash techniques, but none of it
is overdone or sloppy. When it is used, it highlights the detail
rather than obscuring it.
All the tampo type work is also well done, especially the "Vote for
Pedro" on the dancing Napoleon's shirt. Sometimes this type of
work is poorly done, with the letters of the tampo not matching the folds
and movement of the shirt. Not so here, and the printing follows the
wrinkling of his shirt perfectly.
One of the nicest little touches here is the addition of a lipstick mark
on the left cheek of Kip. It's very subtle, but very clean, and is the
kind of attention to detail that keeps Mcfarlane on top of his game.
I did notice some clumping of the skin paint on both hands of Kip and
Pedro, but it didn't seem to be an issue on any of the Napoleons.
Articulation - *1/2
None of these figures are intended to be articulated action figures, but
rather statues with just the most basic articulation.
Prom Suit Napoleon has a cut joint neck, cut joint right shoulder, and
cut joints at the top of the boots. You can get him to stand in one
basic pose easily on his own, but that's it.
Tetherball Napoleon has cut joints at the top of the boots, and biceps at
the sleeves. He lacks any neck joint.
Kip has a neck joint, but it has almost no range of movement due to the
sculpt, and it really should have been skipped. It's a glaringly
obvious joint, and yet is pretty much useless. He also has a cut joint
at the left shoulder, and right elbow.
Dancing Napoleon is the most articulated, with cuts on the boot tops
again, a cut neck, a cut left shoulder, cuts on both biceps at the shirt
sleeves, and a cut joint at the top of the left leg.
Finally, Pedro has a cut neck, cut wrists, and cut shoulders.
Again, he stands great on his own, but has really just a single pose.
Accessories - ***
Every figure comes with a talking base, and perhaps one or two
additional items from the film.
Prom Date Napoleon has the corsage, which fits in his right hand.
His base also has a cardboard background that attaches to the base.
The background is pretty small too, barely covering the area behind him.
Some folks have reported also getting a sticker for the base showing the gym
floor, but not I.
Pedro has his small red base, along with the Summer Wheatly piņata.
The piņata is actually articulated, at the hips, shoulders and neck.
That's more than Pedro! His wig is removable as well, but fits nice
and tight.
Kip has a base again, along with a plate of nachos and a tube of
chapstick. At first I thought it was a cigar, but
it's white on both ends. I've heard that some folks have gotten the
chapstick with Prom Suit Napoleon, rather than Kip. Weird.
Dancing Napoleon has his headphones and Walkman, and the sculpt on these
is extremely good. However, he has to wear them around his neck, as he
did in the movie, because they won't ever fit over that massive hair of
his. Oddly, I couldn't find any way to attach the Walkman to his
belt. He also has the wrestling figure, which has another great sculpt
and paint ops, and even stands on his own if you work at it. Oh, and he has
a small stand as well.
Last but not least, there's Tetherball Champ Napoleon. His stand is
larger than the others to accommodate the tire and pole for the
tetherball. These fit together easily, and the 'rope' attaching the
ball to the pole is actually metal, which makes it much more sturdy and
unlikely to break. It's not a simple wire though, that would bend, but
a very stiff steel that will retain its shape.
Talking Feature - ***
There's two aspects to this feature, one very good, one not so good.
Let's start with the good.
Unlike the much earlier McToys talking figures (like Austin Powers),
these figures aren't limited to one line each. Instead, each has two
or three, all very good choices.
Prom Suit Napoleon has three lines: "So you and me are pretty much
friends by now, right?", "Sweet!", and "Took me like
three hours to finish the shading on your upper lip."
Kip has three lines as well: "Don't be jealous I've been chatting
online with babes all day", "Peace out", and "I've been
training to be a cage fighter."
Pedro only has two lines, and one isn't his. He says "If you
vote for me, all of your wildest dreams will come true", while Napoleon
has another line with him "So you've got my back and everything?"
Tetherball Napoleon says "Hey Summer, wanna play me?" and
"Yes, yes, yes!"
Finally, Dancing Napoleon is back up to three lines, with "Freakin'
idiot", "Gosh", and the classic "This one gang kept
wanting me to join because I'm pretty good with a bo staff". He's
also the second Mcfarlane figure to say 'freakin' that I know of.
There's some useful trivia for you!
The speakers are located on the bottom of each base, and the sound is
clear and clean. My only big grip here is the lack of batteries.
You'll need to go out and pick up two AAA batteries for each figure before
you can enjoy the chit chat, and that hurts the score here a bit, along with
the value score.
Fun Factor - *
These aren't intended as toys, although the talking feature will be fun at
work. Still, kids will have little to no interest in these.
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