Homer's My Ball's Name
Written: Jan 25 '04
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Product Rating:
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Pros: good likenesses, recalls classic episode
Cons: not the best constructed environment
The Bottom Line: Some people have an attachment to large cumbersome objects
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| fuche_bu's Full Review: Playmates The Simpsons 2-Pack Bowling Alley Enviro... |
One of the much loved early episodes of The Simpsons Life on the Fast Lane features a guest spot from Albert Brooks as the voice of Jacques. In the episode, Homer thoughtlessly gives Marge a bowling ball as a birthday gift. He figures that he will use the ball if she does not want it. Rather than let Homer use the ball she opts to learn bowling and use the ball for herself. Her solitary venture to the bowling alley leaves her open to advances from the dreaded homewrecker Jacques.
Jacques offers to give Marge bowling lessons. This is a ruse to allow him to seduce her. As he notes, “There are ten pins in my heart. You have knocked over eight”. Suffice to say, Marge ultimately decides that the sanctity of her marriage is too great to compromise by maintaining an affair with Jacques. This decision, of course, does not come until she learns the wondrous joy of brunch.
Playmates in the World of Springfield series decided to honor this episode with a special interactive environment. They produced an environment that features Bowling Marge and Jacques as a Toys”r”Us exclusive. It is a smaller environment of the bowling lane where they meet. This toy series is becoming very popular among collectors and Playmates is showing signs of being very comprehensive.
The interactive environment here is small and is only interactive with the two figures that come with the set. It also comes with two small bowling balls and a bowling bowl bag. These pieces are pretty small and could be swallowed. The package recommends ages four and up. That should be followed. I have seen younger kids try to make a small snack of smaller toy pieces.
The Marge figure is similar to the classic Marge figure. The exceptions are that she is wearing bowling shoes and the bowling glove that Jacques gave her in his shameless attempt to seduce her. They even have her name printed on the glove. It is small but it’s there for those who pay strict attention to detail. Marge is wearing her classic green dress and orange bead necklace. They get the figure down pretty well. Marge has always had nice curves. The hair is blue and high. For a figure a little more than 6” the hair accounts for close to two inches. As is the case with all the figures in this series there is very limited mobility for the figure. The arms can move and the head can be slightly turned. The hips can be turned but there is no mobility for the legs.
The Jacques figure is also pretty good. I like the way they capture the eyes on this figure. He has the half open eyes that suggest the attempted seduction. There is also the coy curl in his lips. He is wearing blue pants and a purple sweater. This figure also has mobility limited to arms, hips and head. The head on this one seems reluctant to turn. The toys are pretty sturdy in design but they aren’t really designed for abuse. These are really intended as collector’s items to be displayed rather than played with.
The environment has the ball return where the balls would be returned after bowling a frame. The backdrop shows the actual bowling lanes. There are two connectors to attach the figures. Once the figures are attached and the environment is turned on you can make them talk. This is not one of the better made environments in terms of detail. It does serve the purpose of recalling an early classic of the series. It’s also a good way to involve a famous guest spot from Albert Brooks (who also voices Brad Goodman in another episode.) The Jacques figure only speaks on this specific environment.
You get the above mentioned quote from Jacques. Another classic line from Jacques is “My mind says stop but my hips cry proceed!” They do a good job of transcribing the voice. Jacques speaks with his French accent in his attempt at seducing Marge. He tells her she looks beautiful in the moonlight and her fingers are so slender. He’s a real smooth frog. Marge will reply “I’m a married woman.” and “Homer’s my ball’s name”. She also can ask “Where do I throw this?” They really should give Marge more than three lines. She is one of the pivotal characters in the series.
These Simpsons toys in the World of Springfield series are made more for the serious fans of the show. They are not really designed to be played with by young children. Kids will enjoy making them speak but I think they will get bored rather quickly. Like Star Trek toys these are designed more for the adult fans of the show that are collectors.
This is a good piece for the completist or the serious fan. Casual fans are likely to not even know who Jacques was. He was a marginal character that only appeared in one other episode with no lines. The job done is transforming cartoon characters to 3-D dimensions is impressive. Playmates continues to do an outstanding job in getting the figures and sizes accurate. They also have shown an ability to really get high quality facial features for the figures. I have seen many action figures that have faces that look nothing at all like the person they are supposed to represent. That has never been the case with The World of Springfield. Some figures are better than others but all of them are well done.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 19.99
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Epinions.com ID:
fuche_bu
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Member: George Schaefer
Location: West Bristol, PA
Reviews written: 1103
Trusted by: 327 members
About Me:
Busy at work and missing a lot of epinions fun.
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