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Every few years, Burger King has released Simpsons toys in their kids' meals. It started in 2001, with light-up toys, and was followed the next year by "Creepy Classics," which melded Springfieldianites with famous movie monsters. Most were original creations (Professor Frink as the Invisible Man, Groundskeeper Willie as the Creature from the Black Lagoon, etc.), while only two had their origins in an actual episode: King Kong Homer (also seen in the Playmates toyline), and Wolfman Flanders.
Flanders comes from "Treehouse of Horror X," the same episode that brought us "Desperately Xeeking Xena." His segment, "I Know What You Diddily-Iddily-Did," began as a straight parody of I Know What You Did Last Summer, but when writer Donick Cary left to work on an Austin Powers cartoon that never happened, the writing staff redid the end to punch it up (the original antagonist would have been Grampa Simpson, and Ned, presumably, would really have been dead).
It's cute how recognizable Ned remains even when he's transformed into a wolf. His usual combed-back hair translates well to the Lon Chaney Jr. style of makeup, and the skin on his face is still yellow. He has a long snout, rather than a little prosthetic nose bump, and his mustache takes the place of the wolf's whiskers.
He's still wearing his pink shirt, green sweater and gray pants, but his sleeves and pantlegs have been torn so we can see
his furry brown limbs (which are given a jagged sculpt of their own, to make it clear they're not just bare skin), and a gap between his pants and top allow his tail to peek out - even if it is plastered against his back for sculptural/molding reasons.
Flanders is posed with his arms raised and spread out to the sides - a classic "pouncing" pose. He's gonna getchya! There's no articulation in the figure, but like we said before, joints in a fast food premium are an oddity, not a standard. He does have large holes in the soles of his feet to allow him to plug onto the included base.
Rather than the light-up features
of the '01 toys, 2002's "Creepy Classics" all had a base with a "motion screen," a two-panel joke that revealed its punchline when you pulled a tab that moved the overlapping shingles out of the way. Neddy's base is a 4½" x 2¼" patch of grass or weeds, with a large bush at the back. It definitely makes a good display for the figure, even with a big faux TV screen in the middle of the shrubbery.
When I went looking for Ned so I could write this review, I found that I actually have three of the Creepy Classics; since Burger King is pretty far down the list of fast food restaurants I'd randomly visit, I'm guessing I ate there just long enough to get the Werewolf, then stopped. He's a cute little wolfman, and quite cheap to get today. Heck, the whole series is!
-- 10/16/13
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