Muppet Penguins
I miss Palisades’ Muppets. I really do. They really took me back to being a kid and watching the first runs of the Muppet Show. Second, they were part of my collecting that Mrs. Nerd appreciated as well. We’d spend some time with each new figure swapping tales of just being kids and enjoying all of the goodness that the Muppets brought to our young lives.But, alas, there are no more new figures for now. Ironically, I’ve been able to scoop up a couple of things I’d missed on their original release over the past couple of months. My latest acquisition was the OMGCNFO exclusive Muppet Penguin 2-pack. I delayed ordering this when I heard of all the issues people were having with the site. I wasn’t even sure any of these guys would see the light of day at the time. Flash forward to May 07. I was sifting through Amazon and happened onto these fellows, and at $9.99! Oh happy day! New Muppets!
This two pack is two of the same figure packed with two stands. Appearance:One of the things that always made the Palisades figures great, was the fact they paid a attention to the details. It would have been incredibly easy to make all of the figures smooth and cartoonish. (Think about the old Fisher Price figures.) But they made sure that the figures were properly textured. That goes a long way to giving these guys their look. Smooth beaks and felty-looking bodies. The open beak gives them a classic Muppet expression. These guys would look great in your Backstage playset or band diorama. And since there was hardly ever a single penguin on the show, it’s great to have two of them. There are couple of small things that make these guys slightly less than perfect. One, their feet. These feet look really generic. I would guess they were going for a vinyl type look to them, but they seem just a little plain. Second, the paint on my pair is fairly sloppy compared to the rest of the Muppet line. With black and white, the slop really shows on the arms, ahem, flippers. Fun:They’re penguins! Of course they are going to be fun. There aren’t many Muppet scenes they won’t fit in. Backstage, you bet they work. Swedish kitchen making sardine soufflé. That’d be awesome. Sitting in with the band. Hand them a tambourine and they are ready to go. These guys are armed with ball jointed flippers. There is a cut joint for each leg and one for the head. There is a pretty wide variety of poses for the arms and each one says something different. It did take a couple of tries to get the legs in the right place to have them stand on their own. Once I did though, there was no need for the included bases. I really don’t know how much I’m going to be posing those legs, but it’s nice to know I can. The one thing missing with these guys is accessories. I guess one of the figures is the figure and the other was the accessory. It would have been nice to see some little props with them. Maybe a re-use of Lew Zealand’s fish, perhaps. Overall:Penguins were all over the Muppet Show. It’s great to see that Palisades recognized that the background characters are as important to the heart and soul of the Muppet show as the lead characters. I’m left wondering if these guys hadn’t been produced near the end of the run, if they would have got the paint perfect and some accessories. Overall, I’m ecstatic to have them as part of my collection. Besides adding to general chaos of my Muppet display, penguins are just cool dudes. Engineernerd Score: 85/100 |
Category: Muppets, Toy Reviews