The new Simpsons figures have begun to show up, so before we review any of those, let's take a look back at when Playmates had the license.
The final series of Playmates' World of Springfield line to be released was Series 16, and featured Devil Homer, Squishee Bender Bart, Doug, Benjamin, and Gary (the three college nerds), Agnes Skinner, and Artie Ziff - clearly not the strongest lineup ever, but also not terrible. Still, it was time to fade out quietly, rather than hanging on to the bitter end. However, work had already been done on future figures, and the lineups for the next two series had been revealed.
- Series 17
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- Ninja Bart
- Cecil Terwilliger
- Lewis
- Arnie Pye
- Richard
- Fightin' Hellfish Abe
- Bigfoot Homer
Not a bad group. Ninja Bart never would have been that dynamic, so he would have been a weak spot, but his friends Lewis and Richard would have been good for filling up the elementary school. Cecil would have been a must, though Arnie Pye really doesn't work without his helicopter; they should have made that an Environment playset, with a bas relief half-helicopter as the backdrop. Call it the "Channel 6 Rooftop" set. The clear standouts in this assortment would have been Homer and Abe, though. Even if shared voice chips meant nothing Abe said would have really gone with this look.
- Series 18
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- Lindsey Neagle
- Uncle Moe
- Akira
- Sanjay
- Tuxedo Kang
- Tuxedo Kodos
Not terrible. Half of them would have been new characters, and Kang and Kodos had only been available in a Treehouse of Horror set, meaning they'd be new to most fans. Do you think they would have actually been remolded to have their tuxedos, or would those have just been pieces slipped on the existing figures? Uncle Moe's colors don't match what he wore in the episode, but that may have been fixed by the time of production. Lindsey Neagle is as important as the Sarcastic Man or Pimply Faced Teen, and Sanjay and Akira would have been good scene-fillers.
And of course, there were Environments to go along with those. First, we would have had our third Springfield Elementary playset, joining the classroom and the cafeteria. This one would have showed the playground, complete with some non-functional playground equipment. The figure included would have been Janey, Lisa's best friend.
And then, they would have finally completed the Flanders family by releasing Maude, in the Flanders family rumpus room. That location was obviously designed in earlier seasons of the cartoon, because pool? Darts? Those are way too fun for latter-day Ned.
These are far from the only WoS figures to see cancellation, but it's interesting to see where the line would have been going.
So you deleted my comment when I corrected you and changed the post? Kind of a dick move…
No, the other way 'round: we changed the post and THEN deleted your comment. To keep you from looking daft. Because once your helpful correction fixed the mistake we made, it would now look like you were trying to correct something that no one else would be seeing wrong.
Was sort of expecting you to cover the sets which would've shipped alongside both series.
The funny thing is, I can imagine what accessories many of these figures would've come with had they been produced (Playmates were so far into planning these waves that the Town Square set has phrases baked in for all of the [carded] figures within).
The *other* funny thing is that I recall that Fox's licensing agreement with PM went up to 2006, but they soon retracted. 'Tis a shame they couldn't produce the full 2004 lineup or get at least one more year of WoS in...
Well we WERE saving them for the future, but if you want them now, then there you go.