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Write a Review link for that item. Simpsons (Playmates) (Playmates)While I have a big collection of Playmates' Simpsons products, I've actually talked very little about them. Granted, I don't plan on going over every single thing I have in my collection (I'll probably cover the first wave, depending on if I can find all the accessories to them), but there are a couple I'm willing to go in-depth into. With Halloween coming up, I feel it's a good time to go over my favorite release from the line in the Treehouse of Horror Springfield Cemetery. The playset isn't located inside the cemetery, but rather right outside it. The backdrop is a thick piece of cardboard that fits into the back of the base, as opposed to being sculpted like usual, probably because Playmates wanted to save money on tooling. The backdrop has all sorts of fittingly spooky imagery, with bats, a zombie, an eyeball, graves, a transformed Snowball II from THOH II, silhouettes of witch Marge and a hanging corpse, and of course, Kang and Kodos. The gate and trees are sculpted, plugging in and out of the base easily, and there's additional details to them, like vines on the gate and the Gremlin on the right tree. The trees have a realistic texture, and the paint on both them and the gate aren't the cleanest, with some bleed here and there, but are good enough for what amounts to a kids' toy. The base of the set has a rock path leading up to the gate, and also has plenty of surprisingly good texture. The grass, dirt, and rocks are all textured, and give a nicer feel to the set than just flat surfaces. There's some sculpted gravestones outside the cemetery, with ones for Itchy and Scratchy, and a larger one that reads "Eat my dust." They add some humor to the set, and the cracks in the stones give them some extra detail. Those aren't the only bonuses here, as we also get the evil Krusty doll, creeping out from behind the larger gravestone. The sculpt on him is okay, with off proportions and lack of sharp teeth, but the paint is pretty good, right down to having the pull string, and he plugs in right by the grave, but the pegs will always be partially exposed. The set scales about 8" long, 7" tall, and 5" wide, big enough to fit all the included figures, of which there's four of. The first figure, coming from THOH III, is King Homer from the segment of the same name. Of course, a big, dumb "kwyjibo" like Homer would play the role of the giant ape, and the sculpt is him is great, alongside a fitting angry expression. Since the segment was in black and white like the movie it was parodying, Homer here is devoid of color as well, albeit a lighter shade, and the paint work is average for this line. There's no way Playmates could make him as big as he was in the source material, but at about 5 1/2" tall, he towers over the others in this set. He has neck and shoulder rotation like usual for these figures, but since a waist joint would cut through the torso fur, he has swivel hips instead, and it's easy to work with them to find the perfect center of balance. Coming from THOH IV's "The Devil and Homer Simpson" is Ned Flanders, but as the devil. Who knew? At 5" tall to the tip of the horns, Ned is given a fittingly devious expression for the devil, and his left arm is designed to rest at his waist, with the right designed to hold his pitchfork, making him the only figure here with an accessory. Well, two if you count his glasses, which are removable, but will stay on him no issue. His goat-like lower half has a good fur sculpt, and his hooves are engulfed in flames, making it look as if he's rising out of Hell. Aside from some chipping on the eyes, the paint is decent, and the bold colors are good. He also has the usual neck and shoulder movement, but no waist. His tail can move side-to-side a bit, though. Also from THOH IV, specifically "Bart Simpson's Dracula," is Mr. Burns as Count Dracula. I've already talked about the more recent Jakks Pacific version of this specific look, but Playmates' version is pretty good too. He's another 5" tall figure, with a design inspired by the Bram Stoker version of the count, and although he isn't as expressive as the newer one, he still looks quite sinister. The sculpt on the robe is good, with the arms designed to have one hand overlap the other, and the articulation works well with the sculpt for different poses, including neck, shoulders, and even waist. There are sculpted legs hidden under the robe, a nice detail Jakks' version lacks (albeit for a good reason), but the waist swivel is very tight, and ultimately pointless. The paint on him is better than the other two, though the colors are a little darker than they should be. Lastly, from THOH VIII's "Fly vs. Fly," is Bart… but with a fly's head. He thought going into a teleporter with a fly would give him fly powers but instead, they just swapped heads. He's the smallest here at 3 1/4" tall, and the body is reused from the regular Bart, right down to the peg hole for the skateboard, but with a lighter color scheme. The fly head is here and is accurately scaled with the body, but unfortunately, it's lacking in colors and details, resulting in a weaker sculpt than the others. On the bright side, he has the cleanest paint here alongside Burns, and also has the usual neck, shoulder, and waist joints. It's a shame they didn't include the Bart-headed fly to go along with him, because that would've been the perfect extra for this set. Since this is World of Springfield, this set has the standard talking feature, with three connectors on the base: one on the dirt, one on the rock path, and one by the Itchy and Scratchy graves. The buttons activate a crow's cawing when nobody's plugged into the corresponding connector, but when one is, you get a fair selection of lines. Homer: "Heh heh heh heh"; "D'oh! (echoing)"; "*groaning*"; "*belch*"; "*roaring*" Flanders: "Heh heh, it's always the ones you least suspect."; "Silence!"; "I hold here a contract between myself and one Homer Simpson, pledging me his soul for a doughnut!"; "All right, Simpson, you get your soul back…" Burns: "Oh, *smacks lips* precious blood."; "Simpson, eh? Excellent."; "Oh, blast!"; "You're fired!" Bart: "Blaaaahh! Blaaaggghhaaaahh!"; "*slurping*"; "*disgusting fly noises*" These lines all come from the episodes these figures are sourced from, and they come in loud and clear. All three adults can be placed on the connectors at once, and still have room on the base for Bart. However, these figures only work with this set, and this set only works with these figures. Basically, it's an isolated release, and the talking feature can only go so far with the limited selection of lines. Still, the set looks great with a nice variety of characters, and now that we have the Jakks Pacific line, it'll open up a variety of ways to display this set. Their new Groundskeeper Willie and Vampire Burns will fit great with it, and hopefully we get some more Treehouse of Horror figures from them to go with the older Playmates sets. *scream of horror and organ music* - 10/20/24    by RMaster007 |
| Punk Leonardo and Punk Raphael |  | Submission Order |  | Bane (Exclusive) |
| Homer | | Simpsons (Playmates) Series | | Treehouse of Horror 3 (Ironic Punishment) |
| Punk Leonardo and Punk Raphael | | Written by RMaster007 | | Bane (Exclusive) |
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