Review of Cloberella, Amy Wong - Futurama action figures

Introduction

Fans of Futurama have had a good year. There have been four direct to DVD movies, as well as the big announcement that the series would return to television. Comedy Central will begin airing the first of 26 new episodes in mid-2010!

The action figure series from Toynami has also been chunking along, and now series 6 has hit shelves. Remember, a wave is only two figures, but over several waves Build A Figure parts are collected to create another figure.

This wave includes Amy Wong, one of the key members of the Planet Express team, and love interest of Kif Kroker. The other figure is Clobberella, Leela's superhero alternate identity from the episode "Less than Hero".

This wave is important for two reasons: first, Clobberella completes the three superhero variants; and second, they contain the final parts to complete your Santa Robot BAF.

But it's really the next wave that is truly a critical milestone. With wave 7, we FINALLY get a Professor Farnsworth, as well as Hermes and Nibbler. This completes the Planet Express crew, and while I hope the line continues for many years (and the potential for that increases with the show coming back), at least we can all breath a sigh of relief knowing the line won't end without the final key characters.

There's also a SDCC exclusive hitting this month at the show (obviously), that are variants on Leela and Fry - Universe 1 versions. Since we already have the Universe 1 Zoidberg and Universe 1 Bender, it makes quite a bit of sense. It also means you really should pick up a second Amy from this wave to repaint her, just in case they don't get around to including her in the future.

Packaging - ***
The boxes are great looking, and you know I like boxes anyway. Easy to store, easy to open, and these are almost completely collector friendly. You can get the figures out without any damage and put them back later, but they do have their fair share of annoying twisty ties, holding them back from a higher score.

Sculpting - ***1/2
Capturing animated likenesses is always a trick. People assume that because an animated style is 'simpler' (less texture, less small detail) that it is therefore easier. These are the same people that think "If I don't understand it, it must be easy."

However, animated figures are two dimensional, and getting the proportions and style translated to include that third dimension is often more than a sculptor can handle. It doesn't help that the exact look of the character, including scale, can vary not just from one animator to the next but from one scene to another! In the end, any plastic representation of a cartoon character is always a compromise.

Here, I think Toynami did an excellent job with both of these characters. The toughest aspect of Amy is the hair, of course, since how the spiky blocks stick out from her head is very different in two dimensions from three. But there's no doubt who this is, and the black color helps the various blocks blend in, much like they do on screen.

Amy stands about 5" tall, fitting in pretty well scale-wise with the rest of the line. She stands great on her own, and her right hand is sculpted to hold her accessory, while the left is sculpted in a relaxed pose.

Clobberella's outfit is pretty straightforward, at least from a sculpt perspective, and they have about the right scale and placement of the few details that are required.

I like that the 'breast plates' are sculpted, rather than merely painted on, as are the edges of the small straps on her stomach. Like Amy, the hair looks terrific, and the sculpt is designed to work pretty well with the limited articulation. Her nose seems a smidge big and a bit too round, but these are minor quibbles with an other wise solid job.

Clobberella is about 6" tall, due in part to Leela's larger size, but also her enormous hair.

Paint - **
The paint isn't quite as good as the sculpt though, and there were some basic quality issues.

Both figures exhibit some dirt or gunk in the paint, most notably on the face and hair. There are stray marks as well, and several of the cut lines (like around the yellow hip pieces on Leela) are pretty poorly done. Even Clobberella's emblem (which I never realized was a swinging rolling pin) is imperfect and inconsistent. Finally, there's even a few spots where there are paint runs, particularly on Amy's hair.

The colors are good though, and the eyes are all clean and consistent. I think I would have liked a half closed lid on Leela, something that would make her appear a bit more mean in this costume, but that's a minor complaint.

Articulation - **1/2
We get the kind and level of articulation that we expect from this series. Hey, once your six waves in, you don't expect to many changes to the core concepts.

Both figures have cut neck joints, and cut shoulder joints. That's it. If you were expecting super articulated, you haven't been buying the previous waves.

Fortunately, the sculpt on Leela's arms allow for more than one pose, but it's still pretty restrictive. They both stand fine on their own, although Leela tends to lean forward a bit. I'll be trying a hot water/cold water bath to see if that can be corrected.

EDIT: Some readers have let me know that they have had success getting Amy's wrists to turn, so they are clearly articulated as well. Mine won't budge though, so I may have to resort to the freezer trick when I get some time.

Accessories - Want Santa: Amy ***1/2; Clobberella *** - Don't Want Santa: Amy **; Clobberella Bupkis
As I mentioned earlier, these two will allow you to complete your Robot Santa. But the best part is that you don't need both to do that - if you want the standard Santa Robot, just pick up Leela. She comes with a right and left arm, and these two parts will finish him off.

Unfortunately, Leela doesn't come with anything else, which is why she gets a bupkis here if you aren't interested in Santa.

As you'll remember, there's already a Santa Robot out there, produced as part of the 2008 SDCC exclusive from Toynami. Stick with just buying Clobberella, and that's what your Santa BAF will look like. But he was missing a key feature, something that plenty of folks mentioned last year.

Where's his pointy, spiky ball on top of his head? That's where Amy comes in. She supplies this ball, allowing you to customize your Santa to that appearance, and differentiate it from the con exclusive version.

Better yet, she also comes with a second left arm, which is holding Santa's trademark weapon, a machine gun. The hand is glued to the gun, making it a permanent fixture.

So while you can have a complete Santa with Clobberella, picking up Amy nets you two extra goodies for your Santa Robot BAF.

On top of that, Amy has her blaster as well. It fits in her hand nicely, and has a solid sculpt and paint application.

Fun Factor - ***
While these are clearly intended as 'collectibles' (if you need further evidence, it says "for the adult collector" right on the front of the box), they are actually pretty damn good toys, too. The quality is as good or better than any current mass market product (with the exception of some of the sloppy paint), so they could do time in the sandbox and survive.

Value - **1/2
You're going to pay around $12 - $14 each for these, depending on the retailer and whether you buy the set or the singles. That's a pretty average price these days for specialty market action figures, and in fact, is getting to be too much the norm for mass market stuff.

Things to Watch Out For -
If you're buying these online, then you won't have much control over the paint job you receive. But if you're picking them out at a store, do what you can to watch for the best version.

Once you have them opened up, you shouldn't have any problems.  The joints are tight and solid, and breakage is highly unlikely.

Overall - ***
With any on going series of action figures, there's going to be key areas that I complain about. With this series, it's often been the articulation and the paint. However, as is true in many cases, the sum of the whole is much stronger than the individual parts. I might whine about the aspects of one figure here, one figure there, but put these series all together on the shelf, and you have a great looking Futurama display.

I'm particularly geeked that we are finally getting Farnsworth, and with Hermes and Nibbler, I can die a happy man. Oh, I sure hope we see Mom, her sons, Cubert and others (how cool would a gollumed-out version of Fry be?), but at least we'll finally have the entire Planet Express crew together.

Score Recap (out of ****):
Packaging - ***
Sculpting - ***1/2
Paint -  **
Articulation  - **1/2
Accessories - Want Santa: Amy ***1/2; Clobberella *** - Don't Want Santa: Amy **; Clobberella Bupkis
Fun Factor - ***
Value - **1/2
Overall - ***

Where to Buy 
Online options include these site sponsors:

- Entertainment Earth has the pair for $28.

- or you can search ebay for a deal.

Related Links -
I've kept up with the series pretty well:

- there are reviews of series 5, series 4, as well as the Robot Santa and Santa Bender SDCC exclusive, and series 3 in a couple reviews, since I didn't get them all at the same time.  Here you can see Bender and the Robot Devil BAF, and here's Kif.

- I also covered the second series and first series as well.

For more Futurama stuff:

- Toynami got their feet wet with the Futurama I-men.

- there's the series 1 set from MAC, along with the Toyfare exclusive Leela.  There was also some Christmas ornaments, a larger scale (8") Nibbler.

- Rocket USA did some cool die cast figures and the tin wind up Bender.

- there were also quite a few bendies, including Kif and Leela.

- and if you're looking for the unique, try the Horrible Gelatinus BloB, or the Brain Slug!

You should also hit the Search Reviews page, in case any other applicable reviews were done after this one was published.

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