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Well the month of May is finally here and lord only knows what
is in store for us, but I want to look back at the month of April
and see what went on in the world of collecting.
First, the local Target stores have finally gotten Simpsons figures in. I finally purchased enough that I think I can do a review on them. I picked up a Grandpa Simpson and Homer Simpson figures, and along with the Marge Simpson figure and the Maggie Simpson statue (no points of articulation so I cannot call it an action figure) that I got a few months ago with the living room playset, this line is barely worth the five dollars a figure. Yes, they are vary well done (kudos to Playmates Toys
for doing such a great job taking 2 dimensional characters and making them 3 dimensional), but they are lacking something vary important in an action figure, and that is ACTION! The figures have anywhere between 4 to 0 points of articulation, but with it
only in the head and arms and maybe the waist, there is very little you can do with only those joints being jointed. Playmates should have put a bit more thought into these figures and went ahead and jointed them at the hips and knees so they can actually
move. Good examples of them needing to joint the legs are the nuclear power plant and Simpson living room playsets. Both of these sets have somewhere for the figures to sit, but they have no ability to sit making the playset totally useless other than just letting the figures stand there and look nice. Other than the lack of articulation, the figures in this line are vary well done. They are made of heavy-duty plastics that could take the punishment (within reason) that any five and up year old could deal
out. The paint jobs on all the figures are equal to the paints used to color the cells on the cartoon with the yellow skin being the stand out on the figures. The only other thing that I do not like is, that just like almost every action figure line, one
of the figures is stuck in a pose that is hard to make it stand up straight. In this case, it is the Grandpa Simpson figure simply because they have his feet together without any way to get them apart. Overall, this line is only a good buy if you are a
serious Simpson's fan, otherwise take a pass on it.
Next, I know that these figures have been out for the past few months, but I finally got a good look at them, and that is the travesty that is Dragon Ball Z figures. I don't know whether these figures are made in the United States or Japan, but these figures are just plain bad. Much like the Simpsons line, this line suffers from a lack of articulation in the legs in a line where action is the key. It is hard to re-enact a fight between Goku and Freeza without the ability for them to kick. Then there is
the fact that all the figures come armed with some type of bazooka or gun. LOOK! This is DRAGON BALL Z not DRAGON BALL EVERYBODYHASGUNS! I managed to pick up one of these figures right before they got onto the Cartoon Network and became popular, and while Piccolo does not have all the articulation that I would like to have in a figure from this line, at least he did not come with a gun.
Lastly, my local Target (I love this store) had their Star Wars action figures on sale for $2.88 the week before Easter in hopes of clearing them out. I managed to snatch up the last two Battle Droids that I needed to round out that part of my collection, and also a Captain Tarpals (my first Gungan). While I was there they also had on sale a Sand Skiff that was a `Target Exclusive' for $20. I passed it up, but took a look on the back and got a great surprise. Hasbro/Kenner are releasing a Y-Wing fighter
in its Power of the Force II line. Looks like a lot more fans other than me are riding Hasbro's case about not having the lesser-known fighters in their line. It says it will come with a pilot figure and R2 unit. Also while making my local rounds on the Internet, I came upon the Raving Toy Maniac page, and on it they had shots of the new figures from the Star Wars line. Some of them I can understand, but some of them just baffle the mind. For example they are producing another Vader and Leia, but they are also producing a Jek Porkins (he's the pilot for Red 6 for those of you not up on your Star Wars Trivia) figure? Let me ask one question, why Porkins? I know that Hasbro released a Biggs Darklighter in their Power of the Force II line about three years
ago, but he lasted longer than Porkins did during the attack on the Death Star. I think I'll just pass on getting him. Also I learned that Hasbro will be combining the Power of the Force II and Phantom Menace toy lines into one with some snazzy new package art.
That about wraps things up here, as always donations, old figures, information on the new Star Wars figures, questions and comments, can be mailed to me at the e-mail address above.
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