As much as I still love the show though, I have to admit that the "hot" factor is long over. And so I was just as surprised as the next guy when Toycom announced they were doing SOUTH PARK figures this year. Then again, the best SIMPSONS action figures came many, many years after most folks had thought successful Simpsons merchandise was dead and buried.

There are four figures in this first wave - Cartman, Kyle, Stan and Butters. Yes, Butters. Hey, Kenny was really dead there for awhile. And don't worry too much - if the line makes it to a second series, we'll get a Kenny, along with Timmy and Towelie. There's also a Toyzz.com exclusive of Mr. Hanky, which I reviewed awhile back.

These are available for about $13 each at specialty retailers like Media Play, Sam Goody and others. It's a pretty steep price, similar to Toycom's other release earlier this year, KING OF THE HILL.

If you have any questions, comments, or suggestions, you can always reach me at mwc@mwctoys.com. If you enjoy this review, take a minute to check out my other site at Michael's Review of the Week, and let me know what you think. Now on to the review!

"SOUTH PARK"

I'm reviewing the set tonight. It only took me three weeks to pick up all four. I did it one here, one there. I simply couldn't convince myself that I should spend almost $60 on this set in one fell swoop.

Packaging - **1/2

This is far from the worst packaging I've seen this year, but it's still fairly dull. One of it's biggest problems is the overall size of the bubble. While the figures are big, and require some space, they've given them too much. It makes it look like you're getting very little for your money with all that blank space behind the plastic.

Sculpting - Butters ***; Stan, Kyle **1/2; Cartman *1/2
Butters is the winner of this first series, which is fairly odd since he's such a minor player on the show. It's even more surprising than any of these receive below average scores considering the simplicity of the character designs. But this is a terrific example of how even simple designs can be difficult to translate well into three dimensions.

Butters has very few issues, although the hair on top of his head seems off a bit. I'm not sure if it's too large, or just not quite the right design, but stare at it long enough and you'll see what I mean. Or start seeing spots in front of your eyes. The big advantage that Butters has over some of the others in the series is a well chosen expression. He looks like he just got blamed for something again, and he knows his parents are going to kill him.

Stan and Kyle aren't too bad, but both suffer from heads that are slightly too large for their bodies. As I mentioned, I was just watching the latest episode this week, and comparing the cartoon to the figures. While all the kids on the show have large noggins, they aren't much wider than their bodies, and aren't taller than their bodies. Here they are out of proportion even for South Park standards. Stan's expression was a poor choice as well, with a worried look. Kyle fairs better in that department, with a neat happy, smiling look.

Cartman is a tremendous disappointment. His head is far too round, too large for his body, he's not fat enough, and his expression doesn't fit with his usual mood at all. I didn't realize how bad he was until I got him home and compared him to some other South Park merchandise. I have included a photo of this Cartman (on the right) with the talking Cartman that was part of the desk sets. There's really no comparison as to which one looks better, and the desk sets were cheaper.

Paint - **1/2
The exclusive Mr. Hanky had better paint ops, but that might have been due to his exclusivity (smaller run, better quality). Here, there's quite a bit of overspray and poor definition between the primary colors, particularly in the hands and jackets. The paint quality on the accessories is fairly sloppy as well, and considering the high price point and basic nature of the operations, you'd expect better.

Articulation - *1/2
I suppose one joint is better than nothing. Or at least that's what the guy at the "herbal" store always says. The kids each have a neck joint, which allows for a wide range of head motion, forward, backward and side to side. The character design doesn't allow for much else, at least at first glance. But considering how creative some companies have gotten with cartoon characters and adding articulation, I think something could have been done here. Even if it couldn't, and the one neck joint was the best we were going to get, at least we could have gotten a break on the cost.

Accessories - ***
Now here's a category where these figures excel. Okay, it's not a four star sort of thing, but that's because there's only one accessory each, and the paint application could have been a little better. But for choice and sculpt, these are excellent.

Each of the four kids comes with another small character - Kitty with Cartman, Stan with his gay dog Sparky, the underpants Gnome with Butters, and Ike with Kyle. And you're not crazy - Tweak was the one that saw the gnomes. I have no idea why the put him with Butters, except that perhaps they couldn't think of something good that fit well with Butters.

The sculpts on all four are great, as is the scale. The paint application could have been a little better, but on my set it's better than on the main figures. Kitty has the Comedy Central license stamped on his ass for some reason.

Value - *1/2
$13 is too much for these figures. It was too high of a price point on the KING OF THE HILL stuff, and that died a quick death after the second series. I'm hoping we get to see the second series of these, because I need a Kenny to finish off the kids. But I have a bad feeling that retailers are going to shy away unless these fly off the shelves, and that's not likely to happen at this price point.

Overall - Butters **1/2; Stan, Kyle **; Cartman *
I'm being pretty rough on these, but at this price point - and this basic of a design - I expect a lot. Stan, Kyle and Butters are fairly average to a little below average figures, and Cartman was a real disappointment. As Eric would say, "screw you guys, I'm going home."

Where to Buy -
I picked them up at a local Media Play, and I know Sam Goody has them as well. On-line options include:

- Aisle Sniper has the set of four for $44. Just search for 'south park' off the main page.

- Entertainment Earth has them as a set for $50, plus pre-orders up for possible future series.