Mrs. Nerd and I both grew up with Sesame Street. Frequently, we both remember similar things from the show. Back then there wasn’t a Dora or a SpongeBob. Cookie Monster was allowed to eat all the cookies he wanted. And nobody was talking ill about Bert and Ernie. And for the younger readers, Elmo wasn’t on the Street yet.

I was in a Wal-Mart clearance aisle last week fishing for deals and happened upon something interesting. It was Easter Eggs with Sesame characters on the side (See top picture). They were reduced to $0.99. With a picture of Grover on the side dressed as a lamb, how could I resist?

Appearance:

Grover is a favorite in the Nerd household. Both of us fondly remember the literature classic “The Monster at the End of This Book“. If you haven’t read it, buy it for a little person and read it to them (Click here). But you have to do the voice when you do.

The Egg with Grover was marked “Super Grover.” Now, the title and the picture were at odds with one another. I was very happy to find a Super Grover wrapped in bubble wrap inside the egg. The Grover is a small unarticulated figure similar to the PVC figure produced by Palisades. I don’t have any of those for comparison. But the figures inside are about the scale you would imagine for a capsule style toy.

Since they were mass produced for a holiday, the paint work is slightly less than perfect, but better than a number of other figures I’ve paid more for. Of course since they are in an egg, it’s hard to pick and choose a figure for its’ paint.

Under the paint is what really surprised me. Turns out they are really well sculpted for their size and price range. The fur on Grover is really well done for his scale. For an Easter Basket filler I was really impressed.

I had initially only bought the Grover egg. Even at 99 cents, I didn’t know what was in the egg. When she saw him, Mrs. Nerd immediately claimed him to take the place on her desk between Shaun the Sheep and Domo. Since I was very pleased with Grover, I went back the next day and got the other Sesame characters they had available, Ernie and Elmo. Somebody had snagged the last Cookie Monster in the intervening time. They had eggs with some of the more modern kid’s shows, as well. Since I had no idea who they were, I passed on them. I also snagged another Grover for my Muppet shelf.

Ernie is sculpted raising up a pair of sunglasses and giving a thumbs up. Not the pose I would have guessed, but more dynamic than just standing there. There are a number of stripes on his shirt. Again, while the paint work is not the cleanest, it certainly isn’t bad at this scale and price range. I would have expected him to be in solid color shirt, so the stripes were a nice touch.

Lastly is Elmo. I’ve warmed up to Elmo over the years. As most of my favorite Muppets are more sophisticated, I can appreciate the child-like wonder that Elmo brings to the game. He’ll never be at the very top of my list (Fozzie, BTW), but does have a place on it.

The little red dude is sculpted holding a ball and waving. I’ve seen some really poorly sculpted Elmo faces in the toy lanes over the years, and I can say this isn’t one of them. They really did a good job at capturing his likeness. Again, the fur sculpt at this size is very good.

The only thing that really detracts from his appearance, is the paint on the ball is smeared up on his arm. Again, though, I have to say, I’m impressed the ball has a design on it, instead of being a solid color.

Overall:

I have to say finding these on clearance was nice little change from the ordinary. Great sculpts go along way to making these little figures into treasures. I’d bet a good customizer could probably kick these up a notch with better paint. I know they aren’t articulated, but I’m not sure I care. There’s a number of PVC and vinyl pieces out there for way more money, that aren’t really any nicer. I just wish I had known about them earlier. I’m guessing they’ll be around next year. And I’ll gobble up the missing ones like Cookie Monster on a bag of Chips Ahoy.

Engineernerd Score: 90/100

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