At first, the title of this review may not seem to make sense. With the Simpsons movie hitting in a couple weeks, Mcfarlane did the smart thing and got the toys out. I’ve already covered the four Movie Mayhem figures in the standard line up, but tonight I’ll look at the boxed set called… are you ready for it?… “What you lookin’ at?”.
If you’re one of those folks that is extremely adverse to spoilers, and want to know absolutely nothing about a film before it comes out, stop reading now. This set doesn’t give away any more about the plot of the movie (as far as I can tell) than the trailers have, but I just want to be sure you’re fully away that one of the three figures in this diorama but be considered spoilerific by some of the more anal retentive movie goers.
The set is hitting stores like FYE and Suncoast right now, but you can actually get a better deal online. I have some suggestions at the end of the review as always, and if you have any questions or comments drop me a line.
“What You Lookin’ At?”
I don’t know exactly what’s gone wrong in Springfield, but clearly something has. Just look at this playset and you can see that…why the Hell would Bart be fishing with Ned Flanders? Oh, the humanity!
Packaging – ***
This set comes in a box, and like the clamshelled individual figures, Mcfarlane has gone small and compact. I’m a big fan of small and compact, and the movie graphics look great. This box also shows off the diorama pretty well, and it certainly protects it. The back of the package gives you some Simpsons trivia and shows some hand drawn cels from the film, which is a nice plus.
Sculpting – ***1/2
Ned and Bart are standing behind what I originally thought was a bush, but now believe is a rock with mossy grass on it. They are peering over at the many eyed mutated squirrel in front, who has almost as many nasty sharp teeth as eyes. The sculpt on all three of these characters is great, managing to pull off the tricky switch from 2-D to 3-D with nary a hitch.
There’s the right amount of detail here for the style of animation, including the nicely done open faced spinning reel on Ned’s fishing pole, the nylon fishing line, and the size of Ned’s glasses. The scale between these figures is good, and if Ned were standing, he’d be about the same height as the Homer figures from Mcfarlane’s other releases (just over 4″ tall).
Clearly this is a very movie specific moment, and I’m cool with that. Their regular line should cover the show, but these figures should bring movie scenes to us as much as possible. I’m hoping that this particular scene is both memorable and critical to the plot of the show.
Paint – ***
The previous animated figures from Mcfarlane have been hit or miss in this category, but it looks like they went all out for the movie release. There’s still a spot of slop here or there, but the overall quality has gone up, and from looking at quite a few figures and dioramas on the shelves, the consistency of that quality also seems to have gone up.
There’s a liberal use of black outlining here, everywhere from Ned’s ears to Bart’s shoes. However, it works great on this set, and there’s only a bit of slop to be seen in these thin lines. Most of the slop that is here is on the base itself, in the paint work on the twigs and rocks, and not on the three figures.
Articulation – *1/2
There’s not much articulation here – remember, this is a ‘diorama’, and not really designed for a lot of posing. Bart has a cut neck, and Flanders has a cut neck and cut shoulders. That way you can get them in the best ‘shocked and in hiding’ pose possible.
Accessories – ***
How you score this area depends on what you consider the accessories. I’m grading it as though the base, rock and sign are the accessories, while the Bart, Flanders and squirrel are all the ‘figures’.
The “No dumping” sign fits nicely in a peg hole on the base, and the large rock pops onto a couple large pegs in the center. The base isn’t quite as nicely painted as the figures, with some sloppy edges and bleed on several of the rocks and twigs, but there’s plenty of little details sculpted onto the ground. One of the things I like about this base is that unlike some of the earlier ones from Mcfarlane, it doesn’t feel crowded. Everything is here that needs to be here, and while it’s compact, it doesn’t seem cramped.
The rock has some nice sculpted texturing too that doesn’t come through quite as well in photos as it does in person, hence my original confusion on what it was.
Talking Feature – ***
There’s no ‘try me’ feature on the sound chip, because these don’t come with the 2 AAA batteries necessary to make them work. Obviously, the negative there is that you need to spend some more cash to get them to talk. There is a positive though, at least for the MIBers, who won’t have to worry about battery corrosion over time.
The set says the following lines:
Ned – “You know, whenever my boys bake up a batch of frownies, I take ’em fishing”; “Well, this certainly seems odd, but who am I to question the work of the Almight!”; “If you look real close, you can almost YEEAAGHH!”
Bart – “Jabbity, jabbity, jab jab jab!”; “I’m troubled”;
That’s a fair number of lines for the price tag, and clearly right from the movie. The speaker (and button to activate it) is right on top, allowing the sound to be loud and clear. There’s no static or gabled sound, and the overall quality of the feature is quite good. I’m not big on sound features when there are no classic lines – Lost is a great example – but the Simpsons have always been a perfect license for this sort of gimmick.
Value – ***
The single figures are running $12 – $15 each depending on where you pick them up. I already ragged on what a lousy value that is, but this set (with three figures, sound, and a nifty boulder) is only running $16 – $20. That’s a much better value than the single figures.
Fun Factor – **
The talking feature is fun for your co-workers, at least the first fifty times they press the button. But these are intended as pop culture collectibles, not ‘toys’. This isn’t a category that will effect my overall impression, since I know that going in, but you might feel quite a bit differently.
Things to Watch Out For –
If you’re picking them off the shelf, watch the paint, but from what I’ve seen – and I’ve actually seen quite a few of these now – the paint ops have been much more consistently good this time around.
Overall – ***
I haven’t been thrilled to death with some of the early Mcfarlane Simpsons work – the Ironic Punishment set was an unfortunate way to start off the line – but the movie figures have all really been well done. I’m enjoying these, and would love an entire Simpsons universe, like WOS, in this scale. We’ve got a snowball’s chance in Hell of that actually happening, but it’s nice to see that what we are getting has improved in quality. I can’t wait to see the Manimals set now, and I hope that the interest in this line will be at least strong enough to get a few more of these diorama sets out.
Scoring Recap –
Packaging – ***
Sculpting – ***1/2
Paint – ***
Articulation – *1/2
Accessories – ***
Talking Feature – ***
Fun Factor – **
Value – ***
Overall – ***
Where to Buy –
Online options include:
– Amazing Toyz has them in stock with most of the regular figures at $12 (I&S run $14) and the dioramas at $16.
– CornerStoreComics hast the singles at $12, but the only way to get I&S is to order the full set of 6 figures for $68. They also have the dioramas at $16.
– Clark Toys has most of the regular figures at $12 and the playsets at $18. For some reason they have Marge and Lisa at $30…?
Related Links –
I’ve covered an awful lot of Simpsons merchandise over the years. Hit this link for links to just about all of them!
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