Treehouse of Horror

So much Simpsons. In my apartment here in San Francisco, the "Simpsons channel" is UPN 44. Last Saturday 44 ran a six-hour(!) marathon of Simpsons Halloween episodes, and I watched all but one (where was I during that missing hour? None of your damned business!). That, I discovered, was much too much Simpsons. Yes, there is such a thing as too much Simpsons, believe it or not. However, I was afforded the occasion to screen each and every episode represented by the focus of this review, Playmates' first Treehouse of Horror playset. Once it was apparent Playmates' Simpsons line was a smashing success, they began to concoct nefarious exclusives to please and confound collectors and scalpers alike. Issued to Toys R Us stores only, the Treehouse of Horror playsets have come to be anticipated by toy collectors as much as the actual Treehouse of Horror television episodes are by viewers. Each set features a unique base and three to four figures, each with a voice chip that interacts with the playset. The most recent set features Marge as a witch, Homer's donut-headed incarnation, Bart's evil twin Hugo, and Groundskeeper Willie as Freddie Krueger. Last year's set featured fan favorites Kang and Kodos. But it all started with this set, and (in this reviewer's opinion) the first remains the best. The set features four figures: Devil Flanders from "The Devil and Homer Simpson," "Bartfly" (from "Fly vs. Fly"), Homer Kong from "Homer Kong" and best of all, Vampire Burns from "Bart Simpson's Dracula". The sculpting is great on this set. I'm especially fond of Vampire Burns, but the Devil Flanders is great too; both have excellent expressions on their faces. I like their poses as well: Flanders with one arm akimbo and the other leaning on his trident, Burns with his hands clasped together. Bartfly is a little less interesting - this is just a reuse of the regular Bart mold with a new head. The head is well-sculpted, but I can't help being a little unenthusiastic about this figure. The last figure, Homer Kong, is a good translation of his counterpart, but is obviously a bit out of scale. The paint applications are good, particularly the black-and-white scheme on Kong. But be careful not to scratch them too much; as I've packed and unpacked this set for display on Halloween, it's garnered a few nicks and scratches. This being a Simpsons set, the figures, of course, "speak" through the playset. The sound is excellent, and the quotes, as follows, are well-chosen: Burns: "Simpson, eh? Excellent." "Oh...precious blood." "Oh blast!" "You're fired!" Devil Flanders: "I hold here a contract between myself and one Homer Simpson, pledging me his soul for a donut!" "It's always the one you least suspect!" "All right Simpson, you get your soul back..." "Silence!" Homer Kong: "D'oh" (with echo) "Ohhh..." "Heh heh heh..." (burp) Bartfly: (spitting noise) (snarling noise) (snorting noise) Of course, no set is without its bad points. The worst is the fact that you can't fit all four figures on the playset. Worse yet, Homer Kong is so huge he makes it difficult to fit even two other figures with him, so he's usually relegated to standing next to the set. Fortunately, he stands pretty firmly. The first Treehouse of Horror playset set a high standard that the next two sets strove for, but didn't quite achieve. Kang and Kodos weren't very articulated; the Ironic Punishments Division had a figure that's mostly just Homer with a new head (yes, I realize his arm and torso are different, but it's still just Homer), Bart's evil twin (again, more or less just Bart in his usual outfit, if a little disheveled and weird-looking), Marge as a witch (not very fun, though I admit Marge needed another figure to balance out all the Homer and Barts), and a Willie Krueger with no stripes on his shirt (for copyright reasons, no doubt). But Devil Flanders? Homer Kong? Vampire Burns? These are classics. Agree with this review? Disagree? Discuss it over at The Loafing Lounge.