Packaging - ***
Clamshells, clamshells everywhere. While some folks have said clamshells
won't take off with 'kids' lines since they are tough to open, here's an example
that proves them wrong. They are still tough to open, but that doesn't
preclude them from being used for kid's lines.
The graphics are good, and the line is highlighted on the back. The
accessories are bubble packed against the 'background' (more on this thing
later), and everything is easy to see.
They lose points though because the packaging and branding are a tad
misleading. The title of the series is "noggin' knockers", which
seems to imply they are head bobbers. With the oversized heads from the 'toon,
they even look like head bobbers. But they aren't, and you have to
read the fine print to figure out just what they are talking about.
Sculpting - ***
The sculpt isn't bad, although it doesn't quite capture the character.
Again, even though a cartoon design may be simplistic doesn't mean it's simple.
Here they have the general look down, with the large heads made of solid
rubber, and a rubber body with bendy arms and legs (stubby as they may
be). The arms and legs are so tiny that you won't get much movement out of
them, but at least you can get him to balance his massive head if you use the
bendy nature in combination with the small display stand.
There are minor problems with the face. Cosmo's pupils should be round,
but are oval. The large eyebrows are shorter than the eyes, rather than
slightly longer, and the shape of the head seems slightly off. And
sculpting the hands to actually hold any of the three accessories, rather than
going the bendy route, would have been preferable.
Paint - **1/2
Again, nothing here that's terrible, but nothing stupendous either.
They eyes and face aren't bad, but there's a lot of poor definition between the
shirt, pants and hands. There's some inconsistency in the hair, and a
couple spots where you can see through the green to the molded color below.
Articulation - **1/2
As I mentioned, they went in the bendy direction. In this scale, I'm not
surprised they avoided articulation, but it does hurt the figure overall.
There's not much posing you can do here, and he certainly can't stand without
the yellow display stand under his feet.
Accessories - ***
There are three accessories, a display stand, and a 'diorama'. I'm being
fairly loose with that term here.
The three accessories are a book of 'Da Rules' (the rules that govern just
what fairy Godparents are allowed to do), a gavel, and a wand. The sculpts
are basic, as are the paint ops, but both are decent on all three accessories.
The small display stand works fine, and is a yellow star, a symbol based on
the end of their wand. His feet fit nicely in the holes, and he stands
fairly well with it.
The diorama is more packaging than playset. The pink base is the
cheapest of plastic with no detail, and the background is paper taped into a
plastic bubble. The star base fits into the pink base in the package, but
out of the package I had a tough time getting it to work. Cosmo's head was
just too big, and he looked better standing to the left of the hole. This
thing is probably going to end up in the trash.
Fun Factor - **1/2
These are clearly toys, not 'collectibles', so you'd assume they'd be going for
the fun factor. They've included a rather unusual action feature.
Inside that thick head is a magnet, just about dead center between the
eyeballs. There's another (or a chunk of metal) in each of the
accessories. That means they stick to his head. This is the same
feature that all the figures have.
I'm not sure why - I don't ever recall an episode where this particular
problem occurred. Maybe it just seemed like a good idea, I don't know, but
it doesn't seem particularly fun to me. Had they thrown in a little
articulation and let the figure actually hold the wand, that would have been a
little more fun.
Value - **
Almost every store that I've seen them at is charging eight bucks each for
these, and that's how I'm scoring them. Compared to other eight dollar
action figures, especially those at mainstream retailers, these come up very
short. Literally.
I paid six bucks, and that's a much more attractive price. Not great,
but you could add another half star to the score.
Overall - **1/2
When I picked this up, I had some high hopes. Here was a pretty good
looking cartoon figure with several accessories and an action feature for six
bucks. On top of that, there was enough figures in the first series to
make for a cool display together.
Too bad it wasn't quite as nice out of the package as it was in. They
aren't terrible, and kids will have some fun with them, but I have high hopes
we'll see a superior looking line from someone else before the Oddparents
license goes stale.
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