There’s some mild debate about the “Golden Era” of The Simpsons, but most seem to narrow it down to seasons three through eight. A lot of that period saw the show do well and get mined for talent on the writing staff. It also coincided with the show becoming eligible for syndication and the daily episodes that followed certainly had an impact on the minds of viewers now able to consume many hours of the show per week. I also just think it’s objectively the best the show has ever been. That doesn’t mean there aren’t good episodes that fall outside of that range. In fact, some of the show’s most referred to and memed moments come from later seasons of the show and one I see pop up a whole lot is Stupid, Sexy, Flanders.
Season 11 gave us the episode “Little Big Mom” where Lisa takes on the role of homemaker when Marge suffers an accident at a ski lodge that requires hospitalization. The episode is fine, but what most remember comes from the opening moments. Homer, getting ready to attempt to ski, has a skier slide up alongside and kind of piss him off with his dusting of snow. The incredibly well built individual is sporting a skin-tight suit and a helmet that obscures his face. When Homer reacts negatively to this individual, he flips the visor of his helmet up to reveal he is none other than Ned Flanders. Homer is surprised, even though he’s seen Ned in more revealing situations before, but then calls out how revealing the ski suit is. Ned just gives a good-natured laugh then says it feels like he’s wearing “nothing at all!” Later, when Homer is spiraling out of control going down the slopes, he tries to recall what he was taught about skiing, but all he can think about is Flanders in his tight, revealing, ski suit (do you think this look could have been inspired by the NES game Slalom?) and cries out in frustration, “Stupid, sexy, Flanders!”
Jakks Pacific, despite being the brand that sells to kids in the toy aisle of Target and Walmart, wisely decided that this often referenced moment was deserving of plastic. Honestly, I can’t believe Super7 didn’t get here in the short time they had the license, but they botched a whole lot more than that so I guess I shouldn’t be surprised. The figure is labeled as Ned Flanders on the box, but shows up in inventory systems as Stupid, Sexy, Flanders which is pretty damn funny. I had to get this one, even though tracking down this line has been a massive chore. Luckily, this wave Ned is a part of received some distribution to online retailers, which is good because all of the stores I’ve been to in the last month have completely removed their Simpsons stuff from the toy aisles.
If you have a Jakks Simpson toy then there is little here to surprise you. This should also be rather quick since there’s not a lot to talk about which is why I usually review these as waves. Ned stands at 5″ and is depicted in his ski suit with the visor of the helm up. It’s not articulated and I guess because it would be impossible to fit his head inside the helmet without compromising the look. He has a smile on his face, but his mustache obscures most of it while his glasses are a separate piece with transparent, plastic, lenses. The body is a mix of red and blue plastic with paint details where needed. The main torso is blue, with the red painted on, while the limbs are red plastic with the blue painted on. The zipper down the center is also painted and Jakks did a good job of making sure the colors match each other. He comes with a pair of skis and his ski poles which are done up in all colored plastic. The handles of the poles remind me of push pins, but in checking the episode they’re pretty faithful to the look. The sculpt is pretty nice for what it is. The torso tapers in nicely, the buttocks are defined (though perhaps could have been exaggerated further to really sell the meme), the arms are muscled, and the legs are proportioned well.
The only thing this guy needs to do is hit his signature pose and he can – kind of. Jakks loaded Ned up with articulation: head, shoulders, biceps, elbows, wrists, diaphragm, waist, hips, knees, ankles. The range at the hips, knees, and elbows won’t quite reach 90 degrees, but he can approximate his pose from the show. The real limitation is with the torso. To really hit the pose, he almost needs to bend up his torso in a J shape, but he doesn’t get enough rock forward at the waist nor can he really arch back on the diaphragm joint. He needed a ball joint at the waist rather than peg and swivel to really get it. He can mostly fake it on your shelf though and honestly what’s really missing is a companion Homer to react to it. The standard Homer doesn’t seem to mind the view.
And that’s probably good enough. For 12-15 bucks, I can’t really complain. He makes me smile when I see it on my shelf and I have elevated this Ned to winter time decoration in the main area of my house. I have no idea if I’ll be getting much more from the line. I don’t think it’s doing well if Target and Walmart are giving it the boot and I have yet to track down the elusive Carl figure. This Ned was stocked by Big Bad Toy Store and hopefully is still up if you’re reading this and wanting to get your own. It’s fine, and it’s the type of release I enjoy from a Simpsons line because there are just so many fun moments from the show worth immortalizing in plastic.
If you’re curious about the other Jakks releases I’ve covered then check these out:
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