Yip-Yip Martians

Nobody introduce these guys to Appa! "Yip, yip, yip, yip...uh-huh, uh-huh". When these Martians visit Sesame Street they often try to interact with inanimate objects that they incorrectly identify, with hilarious results! There's always been Sesame Street merch - the show debuted in 1969, and although it took five years for the first toys to be released, the brans has been a constant ever since. It's only recently, however, that they've begun licensing the show to collectibles aimed at adults. Palisades tried, in the mid-'00s, but didn't manage to do it, Now, however, we've got NECA's line on the way (soon!), the first non-Transformer Blokees, and Super7's retro ReAction figures. ReAction makes a lot of sense for Sesame Street toys, because the brand has that kind of old-school, vintage feel, even when it's new. And if I'd been able to find the dang things in stores, I'd probably have gotten a whole bunch of them (as they were released far before NECA announced their line). In fact, the first I've ever seen were this pair of Martians. Debuting on the May 3, 1972 episode, the original Martians were made from old chenille hats turned upside down - their mouths were where your head would go. The premise of their sketches was that they would arrive on Earth, find some common object kids could identify, and then wildly misinterpret what it was. They always appeared in groups of two or more, not alone, and originally only came in two colors: pink and blue. (Others were added later.) So it's fitting that this is technically a two-pack featuring them both! Since the Yip-Yips were just a piece of cloth on a stick (two sticks: one to hold them up, one to work the mouth), the toys don't get any sort of wild articulation. We know they at least had arms from their first appearance, but these formless, draping bodies are how they're most often thought of. We get big ping pong ball eyes and pipe cleaner antennae, and their mouths are open to different extents: Pink's is wide, wide open, almost down to the chest, while Blue's is much smaller. Those are also the only points of articulation. The whole deal with the Martians is the way their mouths move, so the toys pay homage to that by making the jaws hinged. You can't really pose them, though, because they're spring-loaded: a lever on the toy's back allows the lower lip to move up toward the rest of the mouth, but the instant you let it go the jaw will snap back into position. I never really thought about how the Yip-Yip Martians' bodies worked, but I still assumed they rested on the ground like normal. Nope! Apparently they float. The set includes a clear hexagonal base and two support rods to allow the aliens to drift slightly above the ground. The stands are two different heights, but the inside of the bodies are two different heights as well, meaning both Yip-Yips still end up with the same eyeline. Odd choice, but okay. They end up being about 3¾" tall, as is the style, but given their relative scale to the Earth items they interact with on Sesame Street, that would put them more or less in a 6" scale. I maintain that toys like ReAction or similar "throwback" things would be really fun $5 figures, but that's not what Super7 wants to charge for them. This being a two-pack, even of characters without traditional bodies and therefore traditional play patterns, does make the price easier to... not accept, not even forgive, but at least... willingly overlook? This one time? The Yip-Yip Martians don't seem likely for NECA's line, either, so this may be the only chance to get toys of them. -- 06/04/25 Agree with this review? Disagree? Tell us on our message board, the Loafing Lounge.