It’s the end of the year so that means it’s time for year-end awards and accolades. It’s easy content and who doesn’t enjoy reflecting on another year gone by? Unless, of course, that year was a bad one. I don’t think 2025 is going to go down in history as a particularly good year, but that doesn’t mean there weren’t some great toys released or announced. I don’t always do posts like this, but I felt like I did a lot of toy reviews this year so it felt warranted. It was also interesting because some staples, like NECA’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cartoon line, didn’t put out a ton of figures. And yet I still managed to have reviews up almost weekly this year. I have a bunch coming in early 2026 as we play catch-up, but that’s probably true most years. It did feel like this year in particular had a heavy dose of releases at the end of the year and I think I know why – which I’ll get to momentarily. My rules for this list are pretty simple though: if it came out in 2025 and I got it then it’s eligible. Even if I haven’t technically posted the review yet. And since I’m based in the US, it’s all US release windows so if Asia was enjoying something at the end of 2024 that didn’t arrive at my house until 2025 then it’s fair game for me. Now, let’s get started with an atypical category:
The Storyline of the Year – Tariffs
Yes, those wonderful tariffs are being brought up again, but hopefully it’s the last I need to say about it until they’re gone. The “brilliant” strategy of the new administration in the US was to tax the hell out of imports because someone convinced the president that a trade deficit is akin to being robbed. It’s not. And even though tariffs are paid by those who are doing the importing, it’s a regressive tax that is passed onto the general public either in whole or in part. It varies from company to company, but it also created a bottleneck in shipping and some packages have been tossed or seized for “reasons.” I had one seized, but was fortunate the shipper re-sent without any additional charge to me, but it has meant I’m on week 6 for a package that still isn’t here as of this writing. I’ll tell that story when I get to the figure review. Anyway, tariffs have had a huge negative impact on a lot of industries this year and I’m not going to pretend that my hobby is the worst affected, but it still sucks and continues to suck as we head into 2026.
Reveal of the Year – Mondo X-Men ’97 Beast
He looks so good!
I don’t know why, but it feels like we’re always waiting on a toy company to deliver some version of Beast. Back in the early days of Toy Biz, Beast was one of the last characters featured in the cartoon series to make it to plastic (poor Jean had to wait even longer for a non Phoenix version) and current Marvel Legends collectors are waiting on him to finish up the X-Factor squad (they may technically be waiting on a properly costumed Angel too). With Mondo’s X-Men and X-Men ’97 line of sixth scale figures, we’re still waiting on Storm, Jean, Morph, and Beast, but in 2025 all but Morph were shown. Storm already went up for preorder too and I think Beast is expected next. Mondo showed him off in their end of year stream (they had previously announced and displayed him at a convention) and he looks fabulous. We’ve never had a proper animated Beast. The last one Hasbro did is good, but the portrait isn’t right for that version of the character. Animated Beast never had those whited-out eyes which I have always felt was inappropriate for the character as the pupils show the human within the beast. I’m a little afraid of how much a chunky boy like Beast is going to cost, but I can’t wait to add him to my collection in 2026!
Honorable Mentions: Mondo Squad Rocko’s Modern Life, Big Bad Workshop The Tick, Marvel Legends X-Men ’97 Apocalypse
Worst Toy Line of the Year – Jakks Pacific The Simpsons
Jakks got to take over The Simpsons from Super7 which meant more releases at a much cheaper price. Their output has been fine. I have nits to pick with them as I do most things, but for the price it’s hard to complain. What lands Jakks on this list though is just how damn frustrating the line is to collect. My local stores never got anything past Wave 2 until very recently when they got Wave 4. I was able to snag a Barney off of Target’s website, but nothing else from his wave has shown up in store for me or online and it’s very annoying. I’ve basically “quiet quit” the line as I’m not paying scalper prices for them or blowing a ton of gas riding around hoping to find them because the on-line inventory tracking is so poor.
Honorable Mentions: None
Figure I wish Arrived in 2025 – S.H.Figuarts Gamerverse Cyclops
A weird thing happened in 2025. Two companies, Hasbro and Bandai, decided to unleash upon us a “Gamerverse” line of figures. Hasbro has been doing that for years, but mostly for the Spider-Man games on PlayStation. In 2025, both companies are dipping their toes into Marvel vs Capcom and, oddly enough, both are focusing on the Marvel side of that equation. For Hasbro, it’s not a surprise as they don’t have a license for anything Capcom, but Bandai has been doing Street Fighter figures for years. Maybe they’ll get to more from them, but thus far we’ve only seen Marvel and sneaking out in Asia just before the end of the year is the first figure in the line – Cyclops. There are some things about the figure I’d change based on what I’ve seen so far, but overall I think he looks like the best Cyke that’s ever been. I like the Legends Cyclops I have from the VHS styled line of X-Men figures, but that one came with almost nothing. The X-Men ’97 one comes with some effect parts, but it looks horrible. This one may be the last Cyclops I’ll ever need so I’m really eager to see how he looks and moves in person.
Honorable Mentions: S.H.Figuarts Across the Spider-Verse Scarlet Spider, Storm Arena Street Fighter Alpha 3 Sagat
Debuting Toy Line of the Year – Storm Arena Street Fighter Alpha 3
Storm Collectibles has been releasing figures based on Capcom properties for years, but always in a weird scale and for a large sum of money. Perhaps feeling pressure from Jada Toys, Storm decided to launch a new line in 2025 based on designs from Street Fighter Alpha 3 and this time they were finally listening to fans. The Storm Arena line is a true 1:12 scale action figure line where each figure comes with alternate hands, portraits, a stand, and effect parts and for the low price of $26! I honestly didn’t see this one coming. Larger characters, like Sagat who is due any day now, will retail for more, but still at a hell of a price in today’s market. And the figures do not sacrifice anything as far as I can tell. The sculpts are terrific, the articulation is excellent, and they even retained that soft plastic torso Storm loves to use. They only managed to release two figures in 2025 and they’re basically the same figure with different heads – Ken and Ryu, and yet I was tempted to make them Line of the Year anyway. They are that good and I can’t wait to see how Sagat turned out. 2026 could really be the year this line takes off.
Honorable Mention: NECA Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2012), Marvel Legends “Not Marvel vs Capcom” Gamerverse, InArt The Dark Knight Rises, Mondo The Real Ghostbusters
Most Disappointing Cancellation of the Year – Super7 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (Vintage)
Super7 did not have a good 2025, but it did manage to finally make it’s long-planned pivot to action figures based on the 2003 version of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, though how long-planned that was we don’t know. When Super7 first announced they were doing figures based on that show it was supposed to be in conjunction with their line of vintage-inspired TMNT. The release pattern would go Vintage, 2003, Vintage, 2003, etc. Well, plans apparently changed as Super7 clarified things to say the vintage-inspired line is “on pause.” I don’t know about you, but anytime I’ve seen a toy line described as being on pause the phrase has been synonymous with cancelled. Other than Marvel Legends, which saw Hasbro pivot to a 1:18 scale line when oil prices were incredibly high, I can’t think of another line that came back. Maybe Super7 will buck the trend, but it’s disappointing because there are some Technodrome-sized holes in the collection headlined (for me) by Heavy Metal Raph. We know Super7 was running into issues with Playmates who did not like them recreating their figures, but this is a case where the company needs to take a stand and go to bat for its collectors. Paramount wanted them to do 2003 which is fine, but they should have negotiated at least one final wave to give their fans what they have been waiting for. They managed to do it for Rat King, surely they could have for the rest.
Dishonorable Mention: NECA Gargoyles
Toy Line of the Year – JoyToy Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
This is a line I never saw coming. When JoyToy first showed off their 1:18 scale Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles I was very much intrigued, but thought they would mostly be a one-off in my collection. Then came Shredder, Bebop, Rocksteady, April, Krang, and on and on it went. JoyToy pumped out a ton in this line in 2025 and there’s still more on the way including a 1:18 scale Turtle Van! And it’s not just the volume of releases, but the quality. These figures have a ton of unique sculpt, accessories, and paint and the roster is basically complete even if the line came to a sudden end today. We got freakin’ Zork already – that’s insane! Trying to pick a favorite is almost a pointless exercise and it’s the line I’m basically most excited for when a new reveal is announced because I never know what to expect. If you dismissed this line because of the scale or because it’s a little bit of a chore to collect due to the restrictions then I suggest giving it another look. It’s really been phenomenal.
Honorable Mentions: Storm Arena, Mondo The Real Ghostbusters
Worst Company of 2025 – Super7
All of that stuff I said about Super7’s vintage-inspired Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles line can basically be copied and pasted here, but that doesn’t really tell the whole story. Not only did Super7 bungle some of their lines, they also laid off a huge chunk of their workforce and closed their retail locations. I get it, things must not be going well there and tariffs certainly didn’t help, but they dumped some of the people responsible for what little success they’ve had in recent years which didn’t make a whole lot of sense. And they’re still just doing stupid stuff with their line. They are expected to deliver wave 2 of the 2003 TMNT line in the coming weeks, but wave 3 consists of Hun, April, and a Raph with a motorcycle – who asked for that?! And their prices continue to climb where now it seems like $65 is the new norm for them and the figures hardly live up to the term “Ultimate” anymore. They are in a price point all on their own that is grossly out of touch with the wider market. I have no idea how they survive 2026 at this point. I’m not rooting for them to fail, just expecting it.
Honorable Mention: None
Worst Figure I Reviewed in 2025: Super7 Ultimates! Ghost Papa Emeritus IV
I call him Mr. Frumpy.
Probably no surprise that my pick for worst company of the year is also responsible for the worst toy I reviewed in 2025. This Papa Emeritus isn’t terrible on its own. It’s the same body we’ve seen before with a few tweaks, but the blatant false advertising really stuck in my craw. The base figure is merely okay. It looks a little cheap especially considering the price, but is a decent likeness. With the soft goods though it just looks frumpy and awful. The solicitations they sent out for the figure with the soft goods look nothing like the final version. I don’t expect any release to precisely match a promotional shot, especially one using digital renders of a figure and not a prototype, but there’s a limit and Super7 betrayed its fanbase with this one. And yet, I still ordered Papa V Perpetua with the hope it will actually resemble the figure I purchased so clearly I’m part of the problem.
Action Figure of the Year – The Runners Up
Marvel Legends Gamerverse Wolverine – this figure is a blueprint for what I want to see from Marvel Legends going forward. The sculpt is unique and appropriate for this version of Wolverine, but mostly it’s the articulation. They finally went with the double-ball peg joint in the diaphragm and combined it with a ball joint at the waist. No more ugly ab crunch. The only thing that sucked about this release is you had to also pay for a crappy Silver Samurai since it was sold in a two-pack.
Mondo X-Men ’97 Nightcrawler – a sixth scale figure would have to be really special to take the top spot, but Nightcrawler came close. Maybe if I had been able to get the limited version, or if the economic conditions didn’t push the price to over $300 for the same, I’d have given it to Nightcrawler, but runner-up isn’t bad. This figure looks impressive, as all Mondo figures do, but it does something most don’t which is they made it fun to pose. Even their Spider-Man couldn’t manage that. Look for the full review in the coming weeks.
JoyToy Groundchuck – I said it was hard to select just one figure from JoyToy’s excellent line of TMNT figures, but if I had to pick one it would be Groundchuck. Not only does he look impressive, he comes with so many tremendously fun accessories. I love it when an action figure creates a dilemma for me when it comes to displaying it on my shelf and this one qualifies. I currently have him with three effect parts attached which is kind of ludicrous, but oh so much fun!
Action Figure of 2025 – InArt The Dark Knight Rises Batman
Queen Studios really came out of no where for me. I wasn’t asking for a Batman based on The Dark Knight Rises, but this figure looked so damn good that I couldn’t say “No.” This is, quite simply, one of the best 1:12 scale figures I’ve ever had the pleasure of handling. The sculpt is incredible, the likeness is spot-on, and the articulation is great. If you got the deluxe version then you also got a ton of accessories as well. In a way, it has the opposite problem for me when compared with the JoyToy Groundchuck in that he just looks so cool standing in a vanilla pose that I am not tempted to pose him with anything else. The shortcomings with this release are few – the alternate portraits are too similar, no wired cape, and it’s not sold in the US. It was still relatively easy to import for under $100, which while not cheap, actually feels worth it compared with other figures in that price range (it’s cheaper and likely better than what Mezco is prepping). While it’s not exactly fair to compare such a figure to one that costs $25, this one is so exceptional that it just had to be it. It’s so good that they got me to preorder their next Batman based on Arkham Origins even though that’s another figure I wasn’t asking for and they damn near got me with their Dark Knight Rises Catwoman. I expect it to be every bit as good as this one too. Keep your eyes on Queen Studios and their InArt line because they are making some terrific stuff.
If you want to read more about the best figures of 2025 then check these out:
Is this a review I really need to do? Probably not, but I’m doing it anyway. Queen Studios wasn’t a shop that was on my radar going into 2025. I’m guessing that’s true for a lot of folks and that’s probably why they had a media blitz when it came time to promote their brand…
Video game inspired action figures are quite the hot ticket right now. I’m not entirely sure why that is, but maybe some of that is owed to Jada Toys and how well received their line of Ultra Street Fighter 2 action figures have been received. Hasbro, for their part, has had a “Gamerverse” subline of…
Last week we had ourselves a look at Dirtbag from JoyToy’s line of 1:18 scale Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles action figures. As most probably expected, we’re back this week with a look at his buddy Groundchuck, the mutant bull that could have very easily been named Bull’s Eye, but maybe Playmates felt that was too…
Before we got onto the conclusion of our big Christmas Special ranking, let me just wish all of you a merry Christmas! It’s cliche, but it only comes once a year and you never know how many you’re going to get in a lifetime. For my family, it’s a somber one as it’s the first Christmas without my mother-in-law. And she absolutely loved Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. If she knew I didn’t place that one in the top 10 she’d probably be angry with me, but you know, the top 25 ain’t too shabby either.
The Christmas Spot is a labor of love for me. I love Christmas and I love indulging in it as much as humanly possible each year. And that means watching as many Christmas specials as I possibly can. I love discovering new ones, especially so if they’re new and actually enjoyable, but I also can’t disagree that settling in with an old favorite isn’t a ton of fun too. And a lot of what makes up the top 10 can be described as an old favorite. I suppose that likely comes as no surprise considering the name of this blog is The Nostalgia Spot. With Christmas, a holiday that burns even brighter for children than it does adults, it’s pretty much impossible to separate nostalgia from the equation. I try to be as objective as possible, but I know that I can’t remove those childhood memories and affection from a lot of these. There is a drive to go against the grain, zig when others expect me to zag, but I also hate being a contrarian for the sake of being one. No one likes that guy. As a result, these ten are pretty familiar and not all that different from the last time I did this. It just couldn’t be helped, but their staying power in my heart and in my mind is also a testament to their quality. And I do think I have a couple in here that probably aren’t in a lot of top 10s and I even have two that aren’t even ten years old! That’s enough preamble though, it’s Christmas and you all have stuff to do and places to be, so let’s get to it:
Wayne (right) has to overcome disappointment and deal with a new partner in Lanny this Christmas.
It’s funny how the Disney holiday special Prep & Landing still feels new to me, even though it’s now old enough to drive in most states. When this one first came up I was averse to it for no particular reason. I just lumped it in with Disney Channel fair and assumed it was for little kids, if not outright bad. Boy, was I wrong. It was actually recommended to me by my parents, of all people, who had somehow made it part of their annual tradition. I say “somehow,” but this actually is the rare Christmas special to still get a showing on network television year after year. A lot of those have dried up, but so long as ABC is owned by Disney it seems like we can count on Prep & Landing to be shown every year.
And that’s a good thing because it’s pretty great. In this special, we’re introduced to the concept of Santa Claus having an entire division of elves called Prep and Landing. These elves arrive first and basically clear the area for Santa’s arrival. They’re like his own Secret Service. It’s a genius bit of lore because it opens the special up to spy type missions in addition to traditional Christmas special tropes. Wayne is a part of this division only he’s getting kind of sick of it and seeing his partner get a promotion instead of him basically sucks the life out of him. He gets partnered up with an excitable new recruit named Lanny on the big day (an odd time to announce promotions, honestly) following the bad news and basically tries to coast through the night. Nowadays, we call this quiet quitting. This results in disaster and Santa is forced to pass over the house where little Timmy lives (it’s always a little Timmy) and the shock of that realization forces Wayne back into form in a bid to save Christmas for this kid. It’s a unique setup and a pretty relatable premise about feeling unappreciated at work which honestly is something that likely appeals more to adults than kids. Not that there isn’t plenty for kids to latch onto. That relatable element, and the newness of it all, is what makes this original Prep & Landing much better than its sequels. A new installment was actually premiered this year and if you want my opinion on it it’s fine. Maybe better than Naughty vs Nice, but that’s a discussion for another day. When it comes to what I consider modern Christmas specials, this is the one I use as a measuring stick.
Donald elects to remain in the cold north for Christmas and the results are pretty dramatic.
This Christmas special is one of two in the top 10 that isn’t even a decade old. It also prominently features Donald Duck who appears in a whopping six of the top 10! I knew I was a big Donald Duck fan, but even I didn’t realize it ran that deep. One of those six was Prep & Landing where he just has a cameo, but six is six. This one features the famous duck in the starring role. He is the “duck” in Duck the Halls and that subtitle almost feels like it only exists to placate the ego of a certain mouse. If Mickey is in something, he needs to at least share top-billing with the rest of the cast. It’s like a rule they have at Disney.
This special comes from the most recent era of Mickey Mouse cartoons by Paul Rudish. It takes the classic characters and adds more of a mad-cap feel to them. They’re all allowed to be funny with no straight man to play off of. In this one, Donald wants to spend Christmas with his pals, but since he’s a duck that’s a no-no as he’s supposed to migrate with the rest of the flock. This happens every year, but this time is different as Donald opts to stay. The results are disastrous as the cold weather literally causes the poor guy to fall apart forcing Daisy and the other ducks to stage a rescue attempt. Meanwhile, Mickey and the gang is well aware of Donald’s deteriorating condition and vow to get him south, but Donald wants none of it and basically goes insane and runs around town naked with a tree skirt draped around his shoulders. It’s wonderfully funny with just some great visuals to go along with it. I suppose if you don’t like this non-traditional take on Mickey then Duck the Halls won’t change your mind, but I love everything about it. What it lacks in Christmas feels it more than makes up for with humor and outlandish visuals. I just wish Alan Young had been around to voice Scrooge McDuck.
It’s quite likely that the modern Disney company would prefer you forget this image exists.
I wanted to break these two up, but I just could not do it. Toy Tinkers is our other Donald Duck starring vehicle only this one is much older than Duck the Halls. This comes from the 1940s when Donald was on fire. Mickey may have been the mascot for the Walt Disney Company, but Donald was the star. And in this short, he gets paired up with perhaps his greatest rivals: Chip and Dale. The two chipmunks are going to infiltrate the duck’s home on Christmas lured in by the warmth, festive decor, and those nuts. A bowl of nuts may feel more decorative than anything these days, but to a pair of chipmunks it’s a feast.
Chaos ensues when Donald realizes the rodents have invaded his home. Not one for sharing, Donald essentially declares war which is probably why this Christmas short still remains absent from Disney+. Donald disguises himself as Santa and hands out presents to Chip and Dale, only for a revolver to emerge from one such gift that Donald gleefully shoves in their adorable little faces. Modern Disney probably isn’t crazy about one of its most famous cartoon characters brandishing a realistic firearm in such a manner. And from there, a firefight breaks out. While Donald is using a pop gun, it looks realistic and fires nuts and ornaments like a machinegun. There’s a bunch of war-like parody images as the chipmunks return fire and even explosives are introduced. It’s one of the most Warner-like of all the Disney cartoons. And it’s just a ton of fun and it’s all over in less than 10 minutes. I love this era for cartoons and I love a good Christmas themed short. There’s just one I prefer to this one, but Toy Tinkers is always a good time around the holidays.
Speaking of chipmunks, here we have A Chipmunk Christmas starring those lovable little rascals Alvin, Simon, and Theodore. The trio had been in a bit of a lull until the son of creator Ross Bagdasarian, together with his wife Jan Karman, paired up with the legendary Chuck Jones to bring us this animated classic. The chipmunks were given a makeover that is very evocative of the Chuck Jones style and the existence of their classic “The Chipmunk Song (Christmas Don’t Be Late)” meant the special didn’t need to come up with its own theme. All it needed was a purpose and a plot.
For that, we get a pretty typical Christmas special plot. Alvin needs to learn how to appreciate what he has and not focus on the “getting” aspect of Christmas. The twist here is he figures that out in the first act when he gives away his prized Golden Echo harmonica to a sick little boy. From there, it becomes a story about how Alvin feels a need to replace that harmonica before his adoptive father, Dave, finds out he gave it away. And in his quest to do so, he appears selfish and greedy in the eyes of his father because he doesn’t know what’s really going on. It’s all going to work out in the end and whatever ailed young Tommy even magically disappears once he gets the harmonica. What I also like about this one is that Mrs. Claus gets to get in on the act instead of her more famous spouse. It’s a delightful little reveal at the end that I can still remember seeing for the first time as a kid. The antics of Alvin and his brothers are fun and this one does register in the “feels” department. Plus, the chipmunks never looked this good before and really never will again making this Christmas special feel all the more special.
In this one, Grandma is going to steal the spotlight from the famed orange cat and that’s okay.
I often here people refer to A Charlie Brown Christmas as this very low energy, low stakes, Christmas special. The way it’s phrased is to imply surprise at its staying power and how universal the love is for the special. One holiday special that might be even more low energy by comparison is 1987’s A Garfield Christmas. In this one, Garfield, Odie, and John head to the farm where John grew up to celebrate Christmas with his family. They have dinner, trim the tree, sing, read a story, and that’s about it. A very ordinary Christmas that is held every year by countless families that are far bigger than John’s. The fact that A Garfield Christmas is so beloved is because it’s driven by its characters.
Garfield is a character that requires little explanation. He embodies the emotions we humans attribute to cats. He’s lazy, enjoys eating, and would prefer to spend Christmas in his nice, warm, bed. In some respects, we can all relate to Garfield. The rest of the family helps to round things out. John and his brother, Doc Boy, provide some humor via their apparent case of arrested development going so far as to try and get their parents up at 1 in the morning to open presents. A lot of the heavy lifting when it comes to the emotional side of this special is provided by Grandma. She’s a high energy grandma, but she’s also a sad character as she reveals in a long monologue how Christmas is the time of year she misses her late husband most. It’s the moment in this one where things kind of stop in their tracks. We were having fun just observing this family up to that point and now find ourselves all thinking about the people missing from our own lives this Christmas. If you can’t relate to that part, you will some day. The special has a sweet ending and it’s buoyed by some lovely animation and even some decent songs that do not overstay their welcome.
Homer bets it all on Santa’s Little Helper and it actually hits, just not in the way he expected it to.
The 1980s were a great time for Christmas specials and sneaking in right at the end of the decade is The Simpsons. You don’t need me to tell you about The Simpsons. They’re basically the most famous family in America, animated or otherwise. It will never stop amazing me that this show is still running, but we’re currently in season 37 of the show with no end in sight and it all started with this holiday episode. “Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire” wasn’t supposed to be the premier of the show, but it’s how it all ended up happening. And as a result no matter how many Treehouse of Horror installments the show does, it will always share a special bond with Christmas for as long as it lives.
Returning to this one annually is always a fun reminder of how this show began. The Simpsons wasn’t all that different from other sitcoms of the era with the main exception being that the family was kind of poor. The premise of this episode is that a thing like Homer losing his Christmas bonus could absolutely ruin the family’s holiday. It’s further compounded by Marge having to blow the family’s rainy day fund on getting Bart’s tattoo removed. Not wanting to let his family down, Homer tries to keep everything under wraps and secretly takes a second job as a mall Santa Claus, but when that ends up only paying out a measly thirteen bucks he’s forced to go to drastic measures and gamble his small sum of money at a dog track in a last ditch effort to raise enough funds to provide for his family. Since it’s The Simpsons, things can’t just work out for Homer in a nice, tidy, fashion, but he and Bart fall ass backwards into an even better present for the family: a dog. It’s also interesting going back to this one because the show is very much not at all concerned with preserving the Santa Claus myth for its audience. The writers definitely envisioned the show as more of an adult one that older kids and teens would probably also find interest in, but it ended up taking off most with a younger audience. As a result, this may be the only one in the top 10 of my list that you won’t want to expose the youngest viewers to, but for everyone else it’s a true classic and remains the best Simpsons Christmas episode.
When it comes to Christmas, this is as good as it gets.
I mentioned it already in the Duck the Halls portion, but Mickey needs to receive top-billing in anything he appears in. Take this cartoon for example which, by all rights, should be considered a Pluto short, but it’s actually considered a Mickey Mouse one. It follows a familiar premise when compared with Toy Tinkers and even comes after it, but I find this one just a bit more enjoyable. It’s also simpler and the violence is far more tame so you can find this one on Disney+ all year long.
Mickey and Pluto begin this one in search of a Christmas tree. While doing so they encounter the pair of Chip and Dale who enjoy poking fun at Pluto for some reason. I guess because he’s just a fairly normal dog while they are chipmunks of a much higher intelligence. Pluto chases them up a tree which also ends up being the one Mickey settles on and the two end up inadvertently infiltrating the mouse’s house. There, they find a lovely home among the well-decorated tree. There’s the allure of nuts as well, but Pluto is not having it. After trying and failing to get Mickey’s attention to point out the rascals, it turns into a chase sequence which basically destroys the tree and results in Mickey strangling his dog. Yes, he really strangles Pluto. Despite that bit of animal abuse, this cartoon short is quite enjoyable and it all starts with the beautiful backgrounds and animation. The interior shot of the titular Christmas tree is the most Christmas shot ever dreamed up in animation. If I had the money and the ability, I’d go to great lengths to own that animation cel of Dale taking it all in. It’s just gorgeous and I love indulging in this one several times a year.
This one could have easily been called Dewey’s Christmas. Or should I say Bluey’s?
This is likely the one that’s going to be the biggest outlier in my list and I am okay with that. When most people my age hear DuckTales they likely refer back to the series that began in the 1980s and was part of the inaugural Disney Afternoon programming block. That show did not have a Christmas episode despite featuring a main character named Scrooge. To make up for it, the 2017 reboot had two Christmas episodes and this first one is one of my most favorite things.
DuckTales is a modern animated series with a strong throughline. It’s not entirely serialized though in such that someone just jumping in at any point would feel lost, but those who have kept up will probably get a little more out of it. And the main plot of the show is that Donald Duck has been left to raise his nephews all on his own, but eventually needs a little help and turns to his uncle Scrooge. The boys have never met their mother and do not even know if she’s alive and what happened to her because their uncle and great uncle refuse to discuss the matter, but they know it caused a major rift in their relationship. And we also have Scrooge who, like his namesake, appears to hate Christmas only in this episode we find out that’s a ruse. He just pretends to hate the holiday (though he truly hates Santa Claus for other reasons) so people will leave him alone freeing him up to go galivanting through time with his friends the ghosts of Christmas. It would seem they visited the wrong Scrooge years ago, but enjoyed hanging out with this one. Using the powers of the Ghost of Christmas Past (who is a cricket in just one of many nods to Mickey’s Christmas Carol), the group travels to holiday parties past, only this year Past is plotting to make sure the night never ends as he’s pretty lonely.
When the group travels back in time, there also happens to be a stowaway: Dewey Duck. Dewey is able to drop-off and land at McDuck Manor back in a time when his Uncle Donald and mother Della lived there as children. It’s through this bit of time travel that the young duck gets to meet his mother for the first time, only he can’t tell her who he is unless he wants to risk his very existence. Even sharing his name could have unintended consequences. It’s a really powerful plot device that only time travel could bring about. We saw Marty McFly meet a past version of his own parents which is interesting, but in his case he at least knew both of them in the present. Dewey has never interacted with his mother and to first do it with her as a child is wonderfully creative. It’s also kind of heartbreaking. The episode is careful to balance this all out with plenty of humor and some action as well as the two plots converge for the climax, but it’s also the sort of plot where if one sits with it and digests it they’ll likely find it pretty affecting. I just love it and there’s some wonderful callbacks in it that even one-time viewers should get. If you have never experienced it then I recommend you right that wrong. It’s the rare holiday episode I watched in the moment and I knew I’d be returning to it for years to come.
Despite knowing how this one will turn out, it never fails to produce some happy tears.
I swear I didn’t set out to spotlight a bunch of Disney Christmas specials, it just worked out that way. Until doing this, I was almost unaware of how much enjoyment Disney has brought me over the years at Christmas time, but there’s no displacing the classics. Mickey’s Christmas Carol is my favorite version of Dickens and it’s not particularly close. Some love the Muppets (ironically, another Disney IP) while some love the more traditional, but for me it’s all Mickey and primarily Scrooge McDuck. This was my introduction to the character who would go on to star in DuckTales voiced by the wonderful Alan Young and I’ll never be able to separate him from Ebenezer Scrooge as a result. A huge tip of the cap goes out to my mother and her Christmas Tape she made in 1987 for me and my sister. On that famed relic, Mickey bats lead-off along with a trio of classic Disney shorts in Donald’s Snow Fight, Pluto’s Christmas Tree, and The Art of Skiing. A truly splendid way to fill an hour of television.
This version of A Christmas Carol quite simply has it all. There’s gorgeous animation, wonderful backgrounds, terrific voice acting, humor, and all the feels one would expect from this classic story. I love Disney’s version of the three ghosts and Marley and they will always be the first images that come to mind when speaking of those characters. The music is terrific and the sequence at the graveyard is both terrifying and heartbreaking. The resolution is as uplifting as it would have been if played by human actors and maybe it’s even better since these characters can emote in very specific ways. It’s kind of amazing what Disney can do with that duck visage which should be pretty rigid, but in the capable hands of Disney animators is capable of any expression needed. I already mentioned Alan Young by name, but this was also my introduction to Wayne Allwine as Mickey Mouse and he would go on to voice the character into the new millennium. He is probably my favorite Mickey voice actor for this particular take on the character and he’s wonderful here. It’s also the swan song for the original Donald, Clarence Nash, and while he doesn’t have a huge presence in this cartoon he sounds just as good as ever when called upon. My only disappointment with this one is that it disappeared from network television at some point in the 90s. Why? I don’t know, but it never should have. Especially with Disney owning ABC. I’d love to see that 80s block revived, but for now this one can at least be found on Disney+ and is also free to stream on YouTube.
As if it could be any other. Once again, I am declaring the animated classic How the Grinch Stole Christmas! the best Christmas special of all time. At this point, I can’t imagine anything dethroning it. It’s the perfect combination of story, visuals, song, and nostalgia that makes for the best Christmas special. How could one improve upon the Grinch? It plays to those who love Christmas and those who are exhausted by it. The Grinch is both relatable and a villain with a redemption arc. And in the hands of Chuck Jones he looks as good as he ever did and ever will, and we now have two feature length films to prove that point.
I honestly can’t remember if the Grinch was my favorite Christmas special as a kid. It was certainly up there, but I can also recall really loving Rudolph, Mickey, Frosty, and even ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas. The Grinch was always there though, that really consistent player smack dab in the middle of my Christmas Tape. Working in his favor is the half-hour format. I love a good short, and if a special is special enough to command an hour that can work in its favor too, but the half-hour cartoon is certainly my preference. The songs in this one are simple, but oh so effective. We all know “You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch,” but the songs sung by the people of Whoville are just as catchy and the moment when they all sing on Christmas morning still lands hard for me every time I return to this.
What will always please me the most though, are the visuals and the Grinch and Max dynamic. The Grinch is just so expressive in the hands of Chuck Jones. His scowls, his nervousness, that smile! I mentioned wishing I could afford an animation cel of the interior of the tree in Pluto’s Christmas Tree and right up there would be a cel of Grinch in full smile. Even though an image can’t do it justice since it’s the animation that sells it as the smile just keeps creeping up his face well beyond where you would have expected it to end. And the way his hair unfurls is just the icing on the cake. Max is also adorable as the poor pup victimized by Grinch throughout. He is the sympathetic core of the picture, but he’s also infectious in the few moments he’s excited. We root for the Whos to get their Christmas back, but we also really just want to see Max have a happy ending. I love this one and I will love it for the rest of my days. I cannot foresee a time in my life when I will get sick of watching How the Grinch Stole Christmas! I am always down for a viewing and it feels like I can’t possibly watch it enough each season.
If How the Grinch Stole Christmas! is not your favorite Christmas special then that is okay. It’s more than okay. It’s okay if your favorite isn’t even in my top 10, 25, or not in this countdown at all. Whatever your favorite is, I hope you feel as strong about it as I do the Grinch. I hope you have that one Christmas special that can turn your day around with a simple viewing. It just makes you happy and helps you to appreciate what a unique time of year Christmas is. I hope you enjoyed this countdown and that you have a wonderful Christmas this year and all the years to come!
If you can’t wait until next year for more Christmas then check out what we had to say on this day last year and beyond:
Well folks, we did it! We made it to another Christmas! These things come faster and faster each year which makes something like an online advent calendar helpful as it attempts to keep the season from going by even faster. It’s cliché, but the years go by even faster the older you get and if…
We have reached another Christmas Day! It’s a great time to celebrate and enjoy the moment for tomorrow we mourn the passing of the season. It’s the great come-down every year. For this holiday, I am once again returning to my list of the best of the best when it comes to Christmas specials. This…
Welcome to Christmas Day 2022! We made it another year and another long year is ahead of us until we make it back, but right now, it’s time to celebrate! And in keeping with the theme of this year’s countdown, we are once again looking at another much beloved Christmas special on this day. Before…
We’re kind of setting fire to the whole Christmas thing with some of the selections today.
We’re into the final days! Yesterday, we took a look at one of the most wholesome and pure Christmas specials around in The Snowman. Today, we’re mostly looking at the polar opposite. I’m talking crass, gross, adult animation with some gentle stuff to round things out. This is a tough area of the list as we’re talking about the best of the best. I’ve also ranked the top 25 on two occasions now and there’s a temptation to mix things up, but I don’t like change for the sake of change. As a result, this might not be full of surprises from here on out if you’re familiar with my previous rankings, but we still have a few to get to that were unranked in 2020 when I last did this. One such show is batting lead-off for us today and it’s one that probably doesn’t have mass appeal.
Solar Opposites is a show about a family of aliens who flee their home world to Earth with the goal of terraforming it to suit their needs, but the pull of Earth culture seems to slow down their mission as they grow comfortable with life on the blue planet. This special released on Hulu in 2021 is the sort of Christmas special that really wants to crap on a lot of more popular stuff. Chief among them the movie Jingle All the Way. I think I’m on record as saying that movie is terrible so it doesn’t bother me that the plot is centered around how bad it is, but Solar Opposites doesn’t stop there. We also get shots of one of the characters having sex with Clarice from Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and plenty of blood, guts, and gore. So what makes it good? Shock value? No, it’s the willingness to have the characters embrace the holiday like only a mad man with an extensive blog on the subject can relate to. This one is all about getting that big, Christmas, boner and then feeling like it’s not good enough. The plot literally causes the main characters to lose their Christmas spirit though sci-fi means, but sometimes in life we can all relate to the feeling of it being Christmas, but not feeling like it is Christmas. And it’s really, really, funny if you like this sort of thing. Not every joke lands, but the volume is there.
This looks like a nice wholesome Christmas special…
If Solar Opposites is too crass for you then I’m afraid it doesn’t get any better with the South Park episode “Woodland Critter Christmas.” This one was much talked about the second it aired. The first act paints it as a very by the numbers Christmas special starring a bunch of talking animals. Stan is the central figure and he finds them tiresome and it seems like that’s going to be the joke – an unwilling participant in a crappy Christmas special. Then the swerve comes in. Stan helps vanquish a mountain lion that was plaguing the cute, little, critters only to find out that mountain lion was the only thing standing in-between humanity and the birth of the antichrist. The critters are revealed to be a pack of Satan-worshipping mongrels who celebrate immediately with a blood orgy, and the rest is history. It almost doesn’t matter what follows because the episode peaks there with that bit of shock humor. And if that isn’t something that would make you laugh then this very clearly isn’t the Christmas episode for you. I do admit, it’s not as good on repeat viewings as the reveal is a huge part of the episode’s success, but it holds up better than I would have guessed. And if you have had to endure something like The Chucklewood Critters, the climax of the episode is pretty cathartic.
Those first two entries are probably the most perverse of the entire list so you can now exhale if you want something a little more family friendly, though this episode of King of the Hill isn’t quite that. This is the episode where Hank’s mom brings her new boyfriend with her for Christmas at the Hill residence. When Hank forgets his novelty foam finger in the house while on the way to the big game, he returns to witness a horrible sight – his mother getting plowed on his kitchen table by the new boyfriend. The shock of such a sight causes Hank to lose his sight and he has to try and keep it under wraps. He, of course, can’t and then has to come clean about what caused his blindness. His inability to accept his disability and also to just communicate with those around him leads to lots of awkward and humorous situations throughout the episode. It’s the type of humor King of the Hill handles well, but the catalyst for the plot is what really helps it to land.
Less adult, but still gross in parts, is Shrek the Halls. I’m not much of a Shrek fan. The movies are a little much for me. I can appreciate the fractured fairy tale approach to the original, but can’t really tolerate the soundtrack and the visuals have not aged well. To my surprise, what has aged well is this Christmas episode produced basically in tandem with the third film in the franchise. It builds off a solid premise of Shrek, being an ogre, having no concept of Christmas and trying to figure it out for the benefit of his young family. Only he’s a bit embarrassed by his lack of Christmas knowledge and has to contend with Donkey, who he finds supremely annoying (we all do). Shrek’s little family Christmas turns into a big, unwanted, party that ends in disaster and the ogre has to learn a lesson about what family really is. It moves along at a nice pace and since it was produced with the third movie the production values are actually quite high. The usual voice cast is present and I think everyone is here. I confess I don’t remember anything about Shrek the Third. I also think these characters just work better in a short format. No one is able to overstay their welcome so a very obnoxious character like Donkey is able to remain funny as opposed to annoying. I think Shrek is poised to make a comeback in the not too distant future, but I have a hard time believing it will be as good as this little half hour Christmas special.
Homer gets to play Grinch in this one which is something he’ll do again in a more obvious manner in a future episode.
This episode of The Simpsons comes after the show’s golden era, but every time I return to it I think I like it a little more. I considered ranking it higher, but I’m sticking with #27 which is no slight. This one begins like a conventional episode where the kids are stuck inside leading to a humorous situation that results in Bart breaking his coccyx. Confined to a wheelchair, Bart has trouble going to school because Springfield Elementary isn’t up to code forcing the school to turn to the mob for help (in reality, the mob forces itself onto the school). This causes the school to go bankrupt and then the Christmas element enters. First via a school play to coax the miserly Mr. Burns into making a donation that fails, and then via a toy company that takes over the school to use it as a testing ground for new toy ideas leading to the creation of Funzo. The episode just keeps rolling from there as there’s no B plot, it’s just one joke after another. It’s a pretty entertaining and unexpected ride with a terrific resolution. It just continues to make me laugh year after year and it’s a no doubt top 3 Simpsons Christmas episode. I just can’t bring myself to rank it above what I consider to be the top 2.
I love Fred’s design as Santa, even if it is weird seeing him in boots.
Don’t confuse this placement of The Flintstones one spot ahead of The Simpsons as me saying The Flintstones can even hold a candle to the more recent series. I just have a real soft spot for this hour long special that arrived in 1977. I used to look forward to catching this one on Cartoon Network annually because something about it just works for me, even if I’m not much of a fan of the franchise. This is basically an extended version of the episode “Christmas Flintstone” where circumstances are altered, but mostly it just gets Barney into the mix. Santa falls off of Fred’s roof and hurts his ankle meaning Fred has to fill his shoes. Literally. Barney gets to ride along as Fred’s elf and the pair need to make all of the deliveries for Santa and make it back to Bedrock for a work Christmas party or else Fred risks getting fired. Not only does it recycle some of the plot of a prior episode, it also recycles songs from the Hanna-Barbera production A Christmas Story. I guess the thinking was that special wasn’t a big hit, but why let the songs languish there? The pacing isn’t perfect, but I enjoy the ride and it’s still one I have to come back to every year.
There are so many all-timers in this one when it comes to jokes.
Just sneaking ahead of “Grift of the Magi” is this story about a mother and her son. This is a low key Christmas episode of The Simpsons, though don’t mistake that for unfunny. There are some all-timers in this one like everything surrounding the fictional video game Bonestorm and the ending with Lee Carvallo’s Putting Challenge. In between all of that is Bart stealing a copy of the video game he covets and getting caught, nearly keeping it from his parents, and getting caught again. Marge is left to wonder if her little boy is no longer her little boy while Bart just really wants to make it up to his mom, but the wound he inflicted is just going to take some time to heal. It’s the type of Christmas episode that will make you want to call your mom when it’s over and it gets me every time. Now, buy me Bonestorm or go to Hell!
The best Bob’s Burgers Christmas episode takes place mostly in the family wagon. Linda, unable to contain her enthusiasm for Christmas, put up the tree too early and we get a wonderful montage of her doing so, then having to redo it because it dies. By the time Christmas Eve arrives the tree is well past dead and a fire hazard, but you can’t Christmas without a tree, Bobby! So, the family piles into the car and heads out on Christmas Eve to get yet another tree. Meanwhile, the kids are plotting to set a trap for Santa Claus which snares their buddy, Teddy, who had to go to their house to turn off the oven when the search for a tree stretched too long. Bob runs afoul of a large truck leading to a road rage incident and the Belchers suddenly fearing for their lives. There’s a great guest spot by Bobcat Goldthwait and some nice payoff with a couple of episode-long jokes. My only issue with this one, and it’s one I can’t really hold against it, is that it outs the Santa myth via an exchange between Bob and Tina where he discovers she still believes in Santa Claus. I say I can’t hold it against it because this isn’t a show aimed at kids, but that one, quick, exchange has kept me from sharing this one with my kids. I’m pretty sure they don’t believe anymore, but they haven’t admitted it and I have yet to cop to anything so we’re just all comfortable living a lie for now. When that lie is out in the open, we’ll come together as a family and watch “Christmas in the Car.”
Okay, now we can move onto some more traditional Christmas special fair and it doesn’t get much more traditional than Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. This one is pretty much thought of as one of the original Christmas specials. Mr. Magoo beat him to it, but I don’t care for that one (hence why I’ve never looked at it for this thing) and he hasn’t exactly passed the test of time. The Rankin/Bass stop-motion special has been airing annually since 1964. It’s an institution at this point. You really don’t need me to tell you what it’s all about because you have probably seen it many, many, times. You also already know if you like it or not and right now you’re either thinking I have it too low or too high. I’m not sure how many would actually say it’s in the top 25, but way in the back like I am. And this one is largely carried by nostalgia and tradition, but I do still enjoy it when I sit down and watch it, just only once a year for me. A lot of the other ones up here I’ll watch multiple times because I’m a Christmas junkie, but Rudolph is one and done, but that is also partly because it’s an hour long. It’s an endearing story and the deer puppets hold up better than a lot of the other ones from Rankin/Bass. I’ve already said plenty. It’s a classic – let’s move on.
Did you know that there are several Frosty the Snowman specials that air around this time of year, but this is the only one that’s a Christmas special? Frosty’s Winter Wonderland, Frosty Returns, The Legend of Frosty the Snowman – these all do not mention Christmas at all and nothing suggests that they take place anywhere near Christmas time. It’s fine since the original song isn’t really a Christmas song either, it’s just a wintery song about a snowman coming to life. Rankin/Bass made it a Christmas thing and thus we associate Frosty with the Christmas holiday. This special is another that has endured. It’s pretty much this and Rudolph these days when it comes to network TV. ABC pushes the modern Disney stuff, and some of that is quite good, but only Frosty and Rudolph remain from when I was a kid (and my parents, for that matter). And I love this one. It’s got some great performances, a fun little story, and even a little sadness. I still say the darkest moment in any Christmas special would be what happens offscreen in that green house. Karen literally had to watch her friend melt to death. Does melting hurt? Can Frosty feel pain? We don’t know, but that must have been torture for both. Professor Hinkle, frankly, got off easy in the end.
And that does it for today. Tomorrow, we continue this countdown with 11 entries because it felt weird to end the thing with a top 11 as opposed to a top 10. Just what made it into the top 21? Well, you could probably spoil it for yourself by going back and seeing what I had to say in 2020, but I recommend you don’t. It’s more fun that way.
Can’t wait until tomorrow for more Christmas? Check out what we had to say on this day last year and beyond:
Last year, I made it a point to go through the vast majority of the Nicktoons Christmas specials I was at least somewhat familiar with. My cut-off was basically 1996 which coincided with the premiere of Hey Arnold! That was when I started to fall off of Nicktoons and Nickelodeon in general. I was entering…
Let’s try this one more time for 2023 – can we find a good Looney Tunes Christmas special? And more importantly, a good Bugs Bunny one? We’ve looked at two already that were merely okay. Nothing terrible, but hardly holiday classics. For our final go at this, I’m feeling a little more optimistic and that’s…
When it comes to The Christmas Spot, I have very few rules. I definitely favor animated Christmas specials, but that’s not some rule I’ve created for myself. The programs don’t have to be all ages, they don’t have to be “nice,” and they certainly don’t have to be any good as I’ve looked at an…
I’ve been pointing out quite a bit as we move along through this countdown how I like to group similar shows together. I don’t want to go from The Smurfs to Beavis and Butt-Head if I can help it. Well, sometimes I can’t help it. Today is a little bit of a mix of adult shows and kid’s shows. I wouldn’t consider any of the children’s stuff to be particularly wholesome or anything, but could (or should) an 8 year old watch everything on today’s list? Probably not. It is a very Fox heavy lineup though of both Saturday morning and primetime stuff which is not by design, but kind of interesting to me. And these Christmas episodes are also interesting to me and most of them are pretty good. We also have some more tumblers from my very first list which is one of those things that’s going to happen again. A lot has changed since that first list ten years ago.
Rick and Morty seems like an odd fit for Christmas, which is why it was so surprising to see the show go to that well so early in its first season. One would definitely expect the show to have a cynical take on the holiday, but that’s not really the case. Christmas is just a framing device for this episode and excuse for Jerry’s parents to show up for a nice, family, get-together. They just happen to bring along their new playmate. Yup, Jerry’s parents are in what the kid’s call a “thrupple” these days where Jerry’s dad likes to watch from the closet (often wearing a Superman costume) while Jerry’s elderly mom makes love to a young, African American, gentlemen. And the rest of the family enjoys watching Jerry squirm. Meanwhile, Rick is busy building an amusement park inside the guts of a homeless man who just so happens to be dressed as Santa. Crazy science things happen and soon it’s raining blood over all of North America. Yeah, it’s a weird turn. This is a B-tier episode of the show. It finds humor in putting the characters in awkward positions, but it’s certainly different and a unique addition to the Christmas special database.
Bob’s Burgers loves to churn out holiday themed episodes year in and year out. The show’s meat and potatoes is Thanksgiving as the writers have kind of staked their claim to that holiday, but the show’s collection of Christmas episodes is strong as well. “The Bleakening” is a really interesting one as it’s a two-part episode with a mystery plot, not really the sort of thing the show is known for. The second part especially has a suspense/horror vibe to it as the family tries to figure out who stole a mini Christmas tree from their restaurant which definitely gives this one a unique vibe. It’s only weakness is the plot probably isn’t dense enough to sustain the double-episode run length. It’s not a slog or anything, but the ending is a bit anticlimactic and feels a little dragged out. Not the show’s best Christmas episode, but a worthwhile watch each year.
The Simpsons did a weird thing in 2020 when it decided to end Season 31 with a Christmas episode. If you know anything about network TV, then you know seasons typically end in May which is pretty far removed from the Christmas holiday season – which is pretty damn long as-is. Basically what happened is Carolyn Omine, longtime writer on the series, wanted to do an episode about the family dog, Santa’s Little Helper, and how do you separate a character with that name from Christmas? There was some talk of holding it over until the next season to air at Christmas, but that didn’t happen. Maybe COVID stuff made that a no-go or the network just said “Screw it” and aired the finished episode when it was ready. Either way, this is a solid examination of the pooch that answers some questions. Were they necessarily pressing questions? No, but it’s fine. There’s a B plot of sorts that doesn’t work for me, but the episode makes up for that in other ways. I just wish showrunner Al Jean stayed true to his word and let Santa’s Little Helper’s mom become a permanent member of the family (I don’t think she’s been seen or heard from since).
Cuphead and Mugman will risk life and limb for a tree.
For what I assume is The Cuphead Show‘s final season there was not one, but two, Christmas episodes. This is the one that came first and it’s a typical short subject episode where Cuphead and Mugman are entrusted for the first time to secure a Christmas tree. They basically screw it up by first trying to bargain too hard with the only tree guy in town and then by trying to cut down their own. The show is a throwback to old style shorts and the pacing and gags are very much in line with that. How many of those old Warner cartoons had characters nearly disemboweled in a saw mill? That’s practically what they’re for! It’s a great looking show and there’s some solid laughs and a good ending to be found. I like the longer special that follows more, but this one is pretty great too.
The first Christmas episode of Family Guy is still the show’s best. I liked it so much ten years ago that I ranked it all the way up at number 14 overall! That was clearly me overrating something I had watched a lot of in college, but I still think this is a good episode. It definitely has some of that old Family Guy DNA in it where it’s mostly a Simpsons knock-off, but with an even dumber father character and a liberal use of cutaway gags. In this one, Peter screws up and donates all of the Christmas presents to charity so the family has to brave the mall on Christmas Eve to rebuy everything. That’s one area where it does do things perhaps different from what The Simpsons would do as the family isn’t in financial ruin by losing all of those gifts, but they do end up taking Lois for granted and she goes berserk and runs amok in downtown Quahog. It is a relatable premise if you’re one of the adults who makes Christmas “go” each year. And especially so when your kids are at that age where they know how everything is supposed to go, but they don’t actually do anything to help out. It’s mostly funny and they even manage to shoehorn some Santa stuff in there via Stewie. This is the only Family Guy Christmas episode on my watch list each year, though “Road to the North Pole” is close. I just tend to fall asleep during that one since it’s a double length episode (which is why I never got around to covering it).
The other Animaniacs Christmas episode from 1993 is one I’m a little torn on. It’s hard to rank because it is pretty funny, the animation is superb, but it relies on some bad tropes of the Christmas special. I’m talking A Christmas Carol and too many fruit cake jokes. Fruit cake jokes are perhaps my personal pet peeve. Yeah, I think the holiday treat is pretty terrible, but I’m sick of hearing about it. No one gives that stuff out anymore. This episode puts the CEO of Warner Bros, the fictional Thaddeus Plotz, in the role of Scrooge. In the role of Bob Cratchit is Ralph, the dim-witted security guard whom Plotz fires at Christmas. Slappy Squirrel gets to play Marley while your trusty Warner siblings serve as the ghosts. The humor is your typical brand of Animaniacs humor which is a mix of topical, pop culture references, and old school gags. There’s no real twist which is perhaps the biggest criticism one could levy against this one. Well, if there is a twist it’s that Plotz is clearly acting out of kindness in the end because he fears damnation and figures he can go back to being a jerk on Boxing Day. The cartoon takes up nearly the entire length of the episode, but there is a “We Three Kings” cartoon short that follows for those who prefer a more secular celebration. It has some gag lines, but mostly plays it straight.
You may not realize it right now, Santa, but you’re actually in pretty good hands with Eek. Or should I say paws?
Eek the Cat received quite a bit of attention from Fox back in the day and was sort of like a mascot for the kid’s programming block Fox Kids. He hasn’t had much staying power over the years, but he did contribute a couple of Christmas specials to the scene and both are pretty solid with this first one being the better of the two. In it, Santa’s reindeer go on strike and the big guy needs help delivering presents. Meanwhile, Eek’s girlfriend’s dog, Sharky, who hates Eek and never misses a chance to maul him, is depressed and misses his family. Eek vows to help out Sharky because that’s what Eek does – he is an eternal optimist who always does the right thing even if it means tremendous pain for him. They hook up with a scab reindeer named Elmo and basically have to be the elves, reindeer, and Santa in order to deliver Christmas to the world and reunite Sharkey with his family. There’s a lot of physical humor and even some dark stuff (the special ends with Eek about to become Christmas dinner) while also just some strange things like a cameo by the Barbi Twins who were basically famous for being in Playboy. And for being twins. That was Fox though and it wasn’t for everyone, but it sure was unique.
Samurai Pizza Cats is a weird show. It’s sort of like Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers in that it was imported from Japan and then “Americanized.” Only with an animated show like this one, there was no room for new shots or anything so it was just given the weirdest dub imaginable. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles had been popular so the new title the show was given was an obvious play on that and since the characters did work in a pizzeria it wasn’t entirely out of left field. The actual show is more like a goofy version of Ronin Warriors, but with cats. There’s not much plot here. The main villain, Big Cheese, impersonates Santa and causes some mischief so the heroes go out and take care of business. It’s very comedic and made even more so by the dub. I’ve never sought out an undubbed version of this show, but I assume it too was fairly comedic in nature as well. The animation is fun and it’s the sort of offbeat Christmas special that feels quite refreshing among more traditional options. If you’re into anime, then it’s definitely worth a look.
Not the Santa you want to see coming down your chimney.
What’s this? A live-action sitcom? Yes, I never set out to make my list exclusively animation, but it did mostly happen that way. There’s just way more Christmas cartoons out there and I tend to love cartoons. When it comes to live-action it’s mostly traditional sitcom stuff which, for me, never ages particularly well. There isn’t one sitcom I used to watch in the 80s or 90s with a Christmas episode I seek out each year. Well, with one exception, and it’s this one. Married…with Children was the first show I can remember my mom telling me she didn’t like me watching, and I can see why. She never stopped me from watching it, but she didn’t like it and hoped I just wouldn’t watch it on my own because of that. She was wrong. It is pretty sleezy and it was the type of show Fox was staking its reputation on. The Bundy family has little love for one another. The husband is miserable, the wife selfish and lazy, the daughter an airhead, and the boy basically spends all of his time lusting after women and jerking off. In this one, we see how shitty Christmas is for the Bundy family because they’re poor and because patriarch Al just doesn’t care to make an effort. Then a mall stunt goes wrong and a parachuting Santa lands in their backyard dead. It’s a plot that could only happen with this show. And even though Al Bundy is a pretty loathsome individual, he does at least try to assuage the kids in the neighborhood that Santa Claus is fine and the family has a Merry Christmas in the end when they discover the sack of mall gift certificates the now deceased Santa was supposed to give out. It’s pretty dark, but also pretty funny.
The Wrigley family yearns for Christmas every day.
Back to back live-action shows – this will not happen again in the countdown. I think this is actually the end of the live-action stuff, unless you include puppets in there. Nickelodeon had a ton of unique programming in the 90s and few shows sum up the vibe of the network like The Adventures of Pete & Pete. It’s just two brothers, both named Pete, and their day-to-day lives in an absurd world. It borders on cartoonish, but usually doesn’t quite go that far, especially in these later episodes where Artie is no longer around. In the Christmas episode, Young Pete refuses to give up on Christmas. Why does it have to go away when it’s so good? The interesting thing is, despite the fact that he’s a kid, he’s not hung up on the whole presents thing. He’s not looking to score a new gift every day, he just likes the overall feeling of the season. And standing in his way is the garbage man. He wants those trees, but Pete needs to rally the neighborhood to withhold them. Things get crazy as there’s a garbage strike and eventually people start to crack. Pete gives in since everyone else does, but then a final act of Christmas spirit thaws the garbageman’s heart and the magic of Christmas lives just a bit longer. It’s cute and fun and as someone who hates saying goodbye to Christmas every year I can totally empathize with Little Pete. If only we could feel that way the whole year round – wouldn’t we all be a bit nicer? Big Pete, via narration, claims the neighborhood was a nicer place after that even if they did eventually put Christmas away and that’s certainly a nice way to end the episode and today’s entry.
If you can’t wait until tomorrow for more Christmas check out what we had to say on this day last year and beyond:
We’ve taken a look at a lot of animated sitcoms this year and so far they’ve all been repeat visitors to The Christmas Spot. It feels like it’s time for something new, though it has a very familiar feel. The Cleveland Show is a 2009 spin-off of Family Guy created by Seth MacFarlane, Richard Appel,…
It was just over a week ago that we took a look at the Christmas episode of The Looney Tunes Show. That show featured the cast of Looney Tunes/Merrie Melodies in an animated sitcom and it was…okay. It definitely didn’t feel like Warner stumbled onto something with that idea and the search for a worthwhile…
Yesterday, we talked about South Park and its very first holiday special from the late 90s and today we’re talking about the Trey Parker/Matt Stone of the 2010s – Justin Roiland. Roiland was able to hook-up with Dan Harmon in the mid-2000s which put him on the path to comedy writer and actor, usually of…
Today is a big day for our little Christmas special countdown for today we crest number 100. We are now past the halfway point on the road to the number one Christmas special and we’re also beginning a string of six consecutive days of countdown-style posts. That’s right, the next solo effort won’t be here until December 20th when we’re really close to Christmas. Basically, I have my work cut out for me to keep things lively and fresh for the next week so things don’t get too stale. Helping me out today is that we’re coming up on a day of mostly adult animation with a bit of teen animation mixed in. I try to keep the more adult stuff somewhat separated from the kid stuff when it makes sense and doesn’t throw off the rankings. And today works for that and after doing the very family friendly The Little Drummer Boy yesterday, it might be kind of nice to wallow in the misery of a horse man, but first we have something much closer to an all ages affair:
This is the most jerk-ass Santa you’re likely to ever meet.
Teen Titans Go! is the little show that could. Seriously, it’s pretty crazy that it has outlasted basically every other DC animated superhero show. For awhile, it felt like “serious” Teen Titans fans looked down at it and blamed it for their preferred show no longer existing, but as it’s staying power has been proven time and again I think it’s starting to be properly recognized for what it is. And that’s just a good, solid, comedic, superhero show that has helped make household names out of some pretty D-list superheroes. During its run, the show has been able to establish some Christmas lore for itself and one of the most interesting takes the show has embarked on is with its depiction of Santa. Like American Dad!, the Santa here is a villain. He frequently refers to children as garbage, and in this episode he has decided that Halloween gets too much attention and he wants to dominate the calendar even longer. It’s an absurd premise for an absurd show so it works very well. The Titans end up on the side of Halloween and turn to a being that resembles Samhain from The Real Ghostbusters to do battle with Santa Claus. Things get pretty “Looney Tunes” in the battle for the soul of Halloween, but it’s never not entertaining. If you’re the sort of person who vastly prefers Halloween to Christmas then this is the one for you.
The original Popeye Christmas short is still the best one. There’s not a lot to it as there’s really not a lot to a Popeye short from Fleischer Studios. They just create opportunities for Popeye to beat up Bluto and win Olive Oyl’s affection all while looking pretty damn fantastic in the process. In this short from 1933, Popeye brings his sweetheart some ice skates and the pair head over to a frozen river to give them a try. Olive isn’t very graceful, but it’s easily forgiven since it would appear she’s never skated before. Things are going well until Bluto shows up using a small dog to pull him along in his skates like a jackass. He and Popeye come to blows and we get a classic waterfall scenario where the ice ends and the water rushes over a ledge. Popeye has to take care of Bluto and save Olive at the same time. Is he up to the task? Naturally, for he’s Popeye the sailor man!
Now here’s a special that has none of the Christmas feels. Aqua Teen Hunger Force is about as absurd a show as it gets considering our main characters are talking fast food items. In this one, the always scheming and all around bad person/cup Shake tries to steal the identity of Chuck D from Public Enemy in order to record a Christmas album which he thinks will make him rich. The scheme is entirely ridiculous as Shake basically just stole some mail and thinks that’s enough. Plus, his Christmas song is improvised on the spot and totals all of 12 seconds. He still manages to land some recording time on Christmas Eve to lay the track down, but a serious case of space eels basically ends his life. It’s surprisingly coherent for such a nonsensical plot and Shake is in good form as the asshole you can laugh at because he’s such an overconfident idiot. Chuck also gets to make a cameo at the end to compliment Meatwad on his recording of “Silent Night,” which is also set to the sound of Shake evacuating his bowels (yeah, lots of poop stuff in here). And if you think it’s really lacking in that Christmas atmosphere, this is one of the few specials to have a scene set in an actual church. Shake spouts a bunch of blasphemy and has to get dragged out by Frylock, but hey, it must count for something?
I love me some Ren and Stimpy, but I’m not as big on their holiday episodes as some other fans might be. Placing the first Christmas special at number 100 feels like a great place for it. This one is pretty well known, but if you’re new to it this is an episode where Stimpy passes gas for the first time in his life and becomes obsessed with the result. The best part of the episode is right at the beginning when we bare witness to this momentous occasion and then watch Stimpy try to explain what happened to an unamused Ren. Following that, Stimpy becomes obsessed with finding this thing he created which he starts referring to as Stinky. Stimpy views his fart as his child and the fact that he can no longer smell him sends him into a deep depression. It seems the whole premise of the episode was to take a truly outrageous situation and play it straight. A father trying to reunite with his son at Christmas is a pretty conventional holiday plot, only here it’s a cat and his fart. Because the episode is so committed to playing it straight it suffers in the comedy department. We feel bad for Stimpy, but it can only go so far. And there’s plenty of gross throughout this one (as one can imagine) which really prevents the viewer from getting into the heart of the story. Is that the point? Did the writers and producers of The Ren & Stimpy Show want us to feel uncomfortable and confused for 24 minutes? It’s possible. There’s some funny stuff in here, but it went too far. The ending goes over like…well, like a wet fart.
Nonsensical sketch comedy made out of old toys with a Christmas theme – that’s a Robot Chicken Christmas special. It’s going to throw several bits at you, some good, some not so good, but the sum of the parts is usually a solid 11 minutes or so of entertainment. There are a few segments starring Santa that are pretty solid including one where he’s late for Christmas and another where he battles Jason Bourne for some reason. I also like the longer skit with the Christmas tree who is personified and feels at home with his new family, only to get thrown out on Christmas. The capper to this one though is the Robot Chicken Nerd character waking up on Christmas to find it’s all been stolen. There’s only one suspect: The Grinch, and the Nerd seeks vengeance for all who were wronged this Christmas. And it becomes a lot easier when the Nerd discovers that the Grinch responsible is that awful Jim Carrey one! It’s not the best Robot Chicken Christmas episode, but it’s hard to not at least be mildly amused with the short run time and I give a lot of deference to this show because I do like the stop-motion animation. Also, there’s a Larry Hama cameo!
I’m pretty sure I think of this joke every time I watch Frosty the Snowman.
Another one from the land of Adult Swim, this episode of The Venture Bros. is the rare short subject and also the only Christmas episode. I was dismayed to learn that series co-creator Doc Hammer hates it, but it’s really not that bad. It’s just brief and not able to tell the sort of stories the show is accustomed to. It also devotes a large swath of the episode to a parody of Christmas specials at the beginning which is all the result of a drugged-out dream by Dr. Venture himself. The rest of the special takes place at a Christmas party at the Venture compound where the Monarch has infiltrated the festivities via a new agent: Tiny Joseph. This little guy has planted a bomb in a manger scene in the house of Venture that will go off at midnight when baby Jesus is put in place. Only the boys accidentally summon the Krampus and everything goes to Hell. It’s fine, there’s some good jokes in here, and the episode is basically all one big fake-out so it fits canonically. It was supposed to be part of a much larger block of animation dedicated to Christmas on Adult Swim, but it never came together and this was the only thing that came of it.
TV Funhouse was a short-lived Comedy Central show that was essentially a spoof on Saturday Morning variety shows for children. It had a host, live-action segments, puppets, animals, and cartoons only it was all intended for an adult audience. In this one, our affable host Doug has his spinal fluid stolen (because that’s where Christmas spirit dwells) by his animal companions who then go off and do a ton of drugs leaving Doug paralyzed in the studio to introduce segments. We get one about Christmas tension and another that’s a parody of the Harlem Globetrotters cartoon with this one featuring them dunking on Jesus. In between sketches, we just watch the “AniPals,” a collection of puppets and live animals, get high on the Christmas cheer they stole from Doug’s spine and attend church. It’s a lot of dark humor and the show is able to get obscene acts onto air, like one character sucking drugs off another character’s penis, because it’s all demonstrated through puppets. It basically comes down to two stuffed animals just smashing together. This is not a Christmas special for everyone and for me I have to be in the right mood for it. It’s all presented in a sincere manner, but it’s all farce.
The closest we ever got to a Dragon Ball Christmas special.
Yes, another from Robot Chicken and it’s quite close in proximity to the other one. That’s because they’re pretty hard to separate since we’re dealing with sketch comedy. I ranked this one ever so slightly higher because the bits stand out in my memory just a little bit more. That could have something to do with me seeing this episode more than the other one and less to do with the quality, but I’m sticking to this spot. This is the Christmas episode where Santa gets revenge on Coca-Cola, Frosty gets high, and we get a Godfather Part II parody starring Hermey from Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. It culminates with Christmas coming to Japan (sort of) as Santa enlists the help of Goku to takedown Composite Santa, the half Santa half Snowman monstrosity. This episode of Robot Chicken has a higher batting average when it comes to the sketches even if nothing lands as well as the other one’s Grinch sketch. It’s just more solid, stop-motion, entertainment.
The most recent Christmas episode of The Simpsons we’ve looked at (recent as in we just did this one last year) is the lowest ranked of them all, but that’s not bad! “‘Tis the Fifteenth Season” comes from, what else, the 15th season of the show and features a plot about Homer being selfish. He learns from his mistake rather early on and tries to redeem himself which just puts him in competition with Flanders. When Flanders one ups him by giving everyone in town a Christmas present, Homer decides he can’t compete so he just steals them instead. This brings about a fourth act Grinch parody which I’m always down for. This is also the rare episode for this era of the show without much of a B plot as it just goes from one Homer situation to the next and it’s punctuated with a Moe suicide joke. It just wouldn’t be Christmas without a Moe suicide joke on The Simpsons now would it? What this one lacks in heart, it makes up for with laughs.
Our last entry for today belongs to BoJack Horseman, the Netflix animated series about a has-been actor who lets his own depression and overall bad guy vibes take everyone down in his orbit. Or at least he tries to and ultimately fails in many respects. The Christmas episode is basically a stand-alone Christmas special that exists between seasons. In it, BoJack and his roommate Todd don’t have much going on because they don’t have a happy family life so they sit in BoJack’s bed and watch the Christmas episode of his old sitcom, Horsin’ Around. The premise of the show is that BoJack plays a horse who adopts some orphans. One of the orphans, Sabrina, learns about Christmas and Santa and thinks he has the power to bring her parents back to life, but when all she gets is a letter from Santa explaining why that isn’t possible she gets irate. Don’t worry though, because just like in an episode of Full House, BoJack and his adopted daughter have a talk and everything is fine. In fact, it’s better than fine as both confess they’re glad her parents are dead otherwise they’d never know each other! Most of the episode is dedicated to just watching what is essentially a sitcom parody and it’s done very well. The tropes are highlighted and some awkwardness is worked in when one of the kid characters can’t get his catchphrase over with the studio audience. And our framing device is BoJack, angry at Todd’s mere presence, but also extremely lonely and narcissistic enough to enjoy watching a bad TV show starring him. It’s hard to imagine the show doing a better Christmas episode as it perfectly captures why BoJack, the character, sucks so hard and presents a very believable Christmas for him. Like a lot of the programs we spotlighted today, it’s not a show that’s for everyone, but if you’re into dark humor and grew up on bad family sitcoms this one will probably amuse you.
Can’t wait until tomorrow for more Christmas? Check out what we had to say on this day last year and beyond:
I did not grow up with SpongeBob Squarepants. He is very much a post-Nick show for me as I wasn’t paying much attention to the cable channel when he premiered. Over the years, little has changed for me when it comes to SpongeBob Squarepants save for the fact that I’ve come to appreciate the show’s…
In 2001, Rugrats had the honor of being the first Nicktoon to make it 10 years. The path to that honor was not a smooth one as the show had effectively been cancelled in 1993 with the third season. That appeared to not be performance related, but more strategic on the part of Nickelodeon as…
Yesterday, we took a look at the 1992 Christmas special from the third Nickelodeon Nicktoon The Ren & Stimpy Show. Today, we’re basically working backwards and talking about the second Nicktoon to premiere: Rugrats. The Ren & Stimpy Show is probably the most celebrated of the original Nicktoons when it comes to animation circles, but…
These days, The Simpsons is as synonymous with Halloween as candy and costumes. Via its annual Treehouse of Horror installment, which returns October 19th this year, The Simpsons has contributed more to Halloween pop culture than any other entity in my lifetime. Other shows have had memorable Halloween offerings, but none have taken over the holiday like The Simpsons. It’s a big part of the brand and Treehouse of Horror is a frequent go-to for license holders of The Simpsons. Jakks Pacific, who currently has the license to produce action figures, went to the Treehouse well last year with a Count Burns figure. It wasn’t very good so I didn’t bother getting it, but this year they’re back with a far better offering in the form of King Homer.
If you like King Homer then you’re eating well this year.
King Homer hails from the segment of the same name as part of Treehouse of Horror III. This is actually the second version of the character from Jakks who earlier this year released a plush doll of King Homer. Last year, they did the evil Krusty doll featured in the first segment of Treehouse III so that installment is apparently a favorite within the walls of Jakks Pacific. King Homer is part of the deluxe line of 5″ figures meaning it features more paint and an action feature. I don’t know how the action feature became associated with “deluxe” as that’s something more associated with children’s toys, but that’s the approach Jakks has taken.
Jakks uses the word “deluxe” fairly loosely.
King Homer comes in a rather attractive all black box with some nice graphics on it. This would look fine for in-box collectors, but for those who take it out you will find one figure, one accessory, and one impressive platform. King Homer may be deluxe in pricing, but he’s conventional in size at about 5″. The platform will take him up to 6″. The sculpt looks to be very on-model and the paint is nice where needed. The segment was in black and white so Jakks only had to account for that sort of gradient and it looks fine. His restraints are gray and permanently part of the sculpt and his face bares an angry roar.
He’s pretty much just meant for this.
As you could probably surmise just by looking at him, this is essentially King Kong, but Homer. The sculpt is tailored for that look with tufted fur around the ankles, wrists, and the back of the neck. He has ape-like feet with four digits, in keeping things consistent with other Simpsons features, and he even has some sculpted nipples. The figure is molded in the dark gray plastic and the lighter gray as well as the whites are painted features. The only accessories are the platform and tiny Marge. The platform is molded in a very light gray with some painted silver parts that add a little splash to the set. Marge is in her white dress and not in any apparent distress. She’s painted rather well given how small she is and appears to be more or less in scale with Homer.
“Oh, Homie…”
The articulation for Homer is exactly the same as standard Homer. The only different is this one has an action feature. Basically, you are supposed to put him on his platform and then press the button on his back which makes his arms wiggle at the shoulders like he’s breaking free. There isn’t a pass-through button on the platform to activate it so you kind of just push Homer into it. The springy feature means Homer’s arms can never be at his sides and it honestly adds nothing to the experience for me personally. I’d have preferred he not have an action feature. Are kids really buying these more expensive offerings? Hell, are they even buying the cheaper ones?
“Come on, Barney, say the line!” “Ugh…I am so Krunchy the Clown…?”
As a Simpsons fan, having this King Homer to throw on a shelf during Halloween is fun. It displays well, but you’re forgiven if you think it shouldn’t be any more expensive than the standard offerings. The action feature stinks, but it doesn’t ruin the sculpt so I can excuse it (or rather ignore it). The figure is $20, but most of the deluxe offerings last year wound up on sale so if you don’t care about getting this guy in time for Halloween this year you may be able to save yourself some money by waiting.
For more Simpsons and Treehouse of Horror check these out:
One thing I wasn’t expecting for 2025 was that the hardest line to collect would be The Simpsons by Jakks Pacific. It’s a mass retail release so, if anything, I thought it would be pretty easy. My assumption has been proven wrong and I think it’s because this is a line that is trying to…
Happy Halloween fellow toy enthusiasts and fans of The Simpsons! Every year since 1990, there has been a Halloween edition of The Simpsons. The annual anthology style episode called Treehouse of Horror is basically appointment viewing each and every year. Sometimes it arrives before Halloween, sometimes on Halloween, and often times after Halloween (as it’s…
We are onto the third wave of Ultimates! from Super7 based on The Simpsons. Like past waves, plenty of questions abound when it comes to Super7’s character selection and they’re not unfounded. Perhaps the two most questionable inclusions in this third wave are the subject of today’s post: Kang and Kodos. These are two separate…
The Springfield on your shelf has made some additions these past few weeks.
One thing I wasn’t expecting for 2025 was that the hardest line to collect would be The Simpsons by Jakks Pacific. It’s a mass retail release so, if anything, I thought it would be pretty easy. My assumption has been proven wrong and I think it’s because this is a line that is trying to serve too many audiences. It’s Jakks and they specialize in lower cost toys sold at Walmart and Target for brands like Sonic the Hedgehog and Super Mario Bros. With The Simpsons, Jakks has basically taken that same approach with a property that probably doesn’t have much appeal to kids. It’s adults that are likely buying these and it’s adult collectors who want every character. Jakks keeps sending plenty of Homers and Barts to the stores while collectors struggle to find the Lennys and Carls. Jakks also doesn’t prioritize selling these things to more collector friendly outlets making it quite difficult to just preorder what you want.
Despite that frustration, I will say the line is pretty solid for what it is: a low cost, articulated, line of characters as seen on The Simpsons. It’s a better take on the old Playmates Toys World of Springfield line, though it has so far lacked the dioramas of that line which seemed to be reserved for the 2.5″ scale line. I’m definitely only interested in the 5″ scale line with only few exceptions and I’m mostly happy with it. I do wish they were more selective with their expressions on the figures, but that seems to be something that’s getting better which we’re going to talk about today.
It was a little while ago that I found Wave 3 in my travels. I wanted to do a combined Wave 3 and Wave 4 post, but I’ve been unable to get all of the figures from Wave 4 that I’m out looking for. Since then, I’ve received Wave 5 so we’re just going to skip over the missing figures which for me are Carl Carlson and Bumblebee Man. The fourth figure in the line is blue shirt Bart which I don’t need. I also didn’t want hockey Bart from Wave 5, but he does look fine if you’re into that variant. Let’s blast through these though as there isn’t a ton to talk about for each.
Marge and her big baby have arrived to complete the family.
The headliner for Wave 3 was Marge Simpson. We got Homer, Bart, and Lisa in the first two waves leaving her as the family member most needed. She is easily the tallest figure so far standing at 5.75″ to the top of her hair. She also might be the most on-model of the family as she has a slight smile which works well as a default portrait and her hair bends ever so slightly back. Everything is where it should be with her red pearl necklace, green dress, and a butt that won’t quit. The only thing I don’t care for about the presentation is the very visible seem line in her hair about 2/3rds of the way up. Apparently, they couldn’t cast it as one piece? It’s a bit odd. She also can’t articulate for crap because the dress kills basically everything from the waist down. You’ll only be posing her arms.
The scale will never stop bothering me with this line.
And if you’re saying to yourself, “Hey! What about Maggie?” – don’t worry, for she is Marge’s lone accessory. Yeah, it kind of stinks that Marge doesn’t come with something fun like a potato or toxic drinking water, but it’s definitely great that we got Maggie. She’s in her blue onesie with her trusty pacifier in place. Jakks gave her articulation at the head, shoulders, and waist which is basically a ball joint that lets her rotate and pivot. The only issue with Maggie is the same as the rest of the kids: she’s way out of scale with the adults. Her head is the same size as Marge’s and she looks ridiculous in Marge’s arms, if you can get her to stand while holding Maggie. Since she basically is an accessory she doesn’t actually come with any. It might have been a better release model if Jakks gave Marge some accessories and sold Maggie with the Simpson pets as a three pack, but hey, at least we have the whole family.
He can’t properly grip the bat or scratch himself in sensitive areas, but I’m such a mark for the episode that I have to like this Homer.
The Homer variant of Wave 3 is Home Run Homer from the iconic episode “Homer at the Bat.” That’s the one where Homer joins the Nuclear Power softball league with his trusty Wonder Bat. Homer is basically the same head as the first wave Homer with a body clad in his softball uniform. The body is mostly new since the uniform requires red piping which Jakks did with plastic instead of paint. I think the only paint might be his name on the chest, the white belt loops, black belt buckle, and gray spikes on the bottoms of his cleats. For accessories, Homer has a removable hat and good old Wonder Bat. He looks really nice, though the hat is quite large on his head making me question the decision to make it removable and not just part of the sculpt. The real downer though is Homer’s inability to hold his bat with two hands. Solicitation images implied this was possible, but they lied. He also lacks a vertical hinge for his wrists so he can’t call his shot. I would have preferred better articulation and a new expression as well. Still, as a representative from one of my personal favorite episodes, I can’t not like this one.
The mug is nice and round so Lenny doesn’t have to worry about it injuring his eye. The bag on the other hand…
Another member of that famous softball team, Lenny Leonard, also finds himself in Wave 3. Unlike Homer though, this is standard Lenny as one would find him at work at Springfield’s Nuclear Power Plant. Jakks did a good job with getting the color of Lenny’s olive shirt right and I like that he has half-closed eyes as his expression. Lenny is a bit trickier to render in three dimensions so he doesn’t look as on-model as Marge and Homer, but that’s mostly just from the front. If you view him as he would normally be presented in the show from the side or at a three quarters angle he looks solid. His hair is also just a little off as Jakks took an almost semi-realistic view to the shape. In that, it reminds me of their Sonic figures and how his hair (quils) is tough to translate into 3D. For accessories, Lenny has a mug of coffee and a bag lunch. Perfectly suitable for him, and at least he doesn’t have to worry about getting any pudding in his eye.
His mom says he’s cool while his music teacher insists that no one likes him. Who are you going to believe?
The last figure of Wave 3 is the little wiener nobody likes: Milhouse. I kid, of course, as I do like this figure which comes with perhaps the most ambitious accessory in the line yet: a bicycle. It would have been a lot cheaper to just give him an issue of Biclops, though it also would have been funnier to actually give him Lisa’s bike. Milhouse looks great though, but suffers from the child scaling like Bart and Lisa. His articulation is essentially the same as Bart and he can sit on the bike fairly convincingly. The bike has a stand, though it can still be tricky to get Milhouse properly balanced on it. The one difference with Bart that’s a bit odd is Jakks sculpted his knee articulation into his shorts rather than have it begin just past them. I suppose his shorts are traditionally longer than Bart’s, but it does look a bit weird. It’s also extra noticeable since he needs to bend his knees to ride his bike. That aside, he does look good and I think he turned out better than Bart and Lisa.
Carl’s absence feels especially painful now. And that’s the Super7 Faming Moe, if you’re curious.
As I mentioned before, Wave 4 is the one I’m struggling with and the only figure I’ve managed to land is Barney Gumble. If that’s the only I can find at least it might be the best. Barney rivals Marge for title of most on-model which is impressive considering he has a design that should also be hard to translate. He scales well with Homer, Moe, and Lenny and has that perfect dead-ass drunk expression. If I have one critique, it’s that his shirt is too orange when it should be closer to a salmon. He actually articulates pretty damn well and comes with two accessories: a lunchbox and a big hoagie. Yeah, they don’t really make much sense for Barney, but Jakks wasn’t going to pack alcohol related accessories in with him. I’m struggling to think of anything from the show that would work. I guess they could have given him a soda can, but that would be equally lame. Maybe that plant he never watered? A cup of quarters? No, that might be too close to a gambling reference. Maybe this should just have been the first alternate portrait in the line of Barney mid belch?
“The problem with kids these days…”
Wave 5 is where we’re getting some more side characters, though I would say it’s headlined by the inclusion of Abe “Grandpa” Simpson. This is where Jakks seems to be taking the portrait criticism to heart as Abe appears to be clearly modeled after the “Old man yells at cloud,” meme. I just find it ironic that they took this approach with a character who would have looked good with a dead-eyed stare. Still, I do like it though Abe’s head looks a little fat to me. The forehead area doesn’t have as dramatic a slope to it so he’s a bit off-model. It’s almost like a more Saturday morning approach to the character. The sculpt of his shirt looks nice though and his bolo tie is painted. His glasses are also clear plastic unlike Milhouse who has his eyes painted onto the lenses. The eyeglasses are too thick, a frequent issue for toy manufacturers, as well. His lone accessory is a cane and that suits him. If I am allowed to be pedantic, and Simpsons fans are known for such, Jakks did screw up by making his left hand the fisted hand and the right the gripping hand if they wanted to properly match the Old man yells at cloud image. I’ll let it slide though.
I don’t really care for any of Mrs. K’s accessories so I think I’ll just give her Lenny’s coffee.
Bart’s teach, Mrs. Krabappel, finds herself among the characters of Wave 5. Like Lenny, she’s a bit off-model as she has a head that’s tough to render in three dimensions. Her eyes are off and it throws off the look of her as they’re too narrow and elongated. A half-lidded approach might have served her well and some bag lines under the eyes. She’s a little too happy and glowing for the downtrodden teacher. She also suffers from the same issue as Marge where her plastic skirt hinders any articulation she may have at the waist and below. Her accessories are a ruler and an eraser, which I guess is fine. I honestly would have been okay with a repeat of Lenny’s coffee mug or her picture of Woodrow. There’s no paint on either accessory so they don’t look great and you can barely tell the ruler is sculpted. She can hold them though so I guess that works.
Out of the box, he could hold his breath spray, but I left him holding his glass of OJ for too long and now he can’t.
The last figure we’re going to take a look at is everyone’s favorite aquatic lifeform enthusiast, Troy McClure. You may remember him from such toy lines as The World of Springfield and Super7 ReAction! He’s depicted in his traditional look of pink sweater, red tie, and white pants. He has a nice, toothy, grin and I like that Jakks did include some bags under the eyes for old Troy, though some crow’s feet would have helped too. The head is maybe a tad undersized as it looks a bit off-model to me. I’m also surprised they went with an open mouth instead of just his smile, but I don’t mind as it makes him look like he’s in mid sentence. They also didn’t give him a microphone which surprised me and instead he has his breath spray from the episode “A Fish Called Selma.” I had to look at the package to figure out what it was as it looks more like a bottle with a screw top. His other accessory is pretty great though: The Juice Loosener. As seen in the episode “Marge in Chains,” the Juice Loosener is a juicer with horrible efficiency as illustrated by the included glass with an orange, circular, sticker on the bottom to show how much juice one can expect to get from an entire bag of oranges. It’s pretty great, and since Troy has a thumb’s up gesture for his left hand, he can hold the glass in his right (FYI: not an easy fit) and enthusiastically gesture with his left!
Sure would be nice to have a bully to chase these two. Or a principal.
That’s going to do it for this look at some Jakks Pacific Simpsons figures. I would say, in short, Marge, Barney, Milhouse, and Home Run Homer turned out pretty great by the standards of the line. The rest are pretty good, including Maggie, though suffer from being a bit off-model. I find Mrs. Krabappel to be the least interesting of them because it doesn’t capture the right spirit of the character for me. She’s sarcastic while this figure makes her look more like the ideal teacher eager to spread some knowledge. It’s hard to argue though that this isn’t a solid selection of characters. I assume we’ll be seeing the likes of Skinner, Ralph, and maybe even Super Intendent Chalmers pretty soon. Jasper would pair well with Abe, and we still don’t have a 5″ scale Flanders or Sideshow Bob. If the next wave has been announced I missed it, but I’ll also remain on the hunt for Bumblebee Man and especially Carl. My Lenny needs his Carl as do the other denizens of Moe’s Tavern.
We’ve got more Simpsons goodness from Jakks and others:
I think it was early this year that we found out Super7’s line of ReAction and Ultimates! action figures based on The Simpsons was ending after just a couple of years. That meant Super7 was done after four waves of Ultimates! and four waves of ReAction figures. We had seen figures for a possible fifth…
Back in October, we took a look at the very first wave of action figures from Jakks Pacific based on The Simpsons. At the time, I only had two figures from that inaugural wave: Homer and Bart. It was a series of great interest to myself and other Simpsons fans since it’s existence basically meant…
It has been just over 10 years since I last posted about a Lego set featuring The Simpsons. That last set, the Kwik-E-Mart, came out in 2015 and was preceded by the home of the Simpson family the year prior. Those sets along with two waves of mini figures seemed to sell pretty well, but…
It has been just over 10 years since I last posted about a Lego set featuring The Simpsons. That last set, the Kwik-E-Mart, came out in 2015 and was preceded by the home of the Simpson family the year prior. Those sets along with two waves of mini figures seemed to sell pretty well, but for whatever reason Lego decided that was enough Springfield for now. I don’t know why they’re suddenly back ten years later with a new set, but I’m not complaining. I was hoping for at least one more set plus another wave of mini figures since we were missing so many iconic characters from the show: Principal Skinner, Superintendent Chalmers, Lenny, Carl, Barney, Jimbo, and many more. It was unlikely that we’d ever get every character we wanted, but it felt like a third wave would have really filled in the most crucial gaps.
That didn’t happen. Is a third wave now on the table since we have a new set to talk about? I don’t know, but for now we do have Krusty Burger. When I was left to ponder new sets for Lego, I’m a little surprised at myself for not having Krusty Burger pretty high on my list. If I had to make a wager on what was most likely, I was going to go with The Android’s Dungeon the local comic book store run by Jeff Albertson better known simply as Comic Book Guy. It’s small, has some nerd appeal, and works well with existing figures. Maybe it could have led to us getting a Lego Stan Lee? Instead, we have Krusty Burger, the local fast food establishment run by the clown of the same name. Many episodes (and even the movie) have scenes set at Krusty Burger and some are quite memorable. It’s a perfectly cromulent selection by Lego so let’s see how it turned out.
This set comes with a total of 7 mini figures, though some are repeat customers.
The Krusty Burger set contains 1,635 pieces and seven mini figures. Of the mini figures, four are repeat characters: Homer, Bart, Lisa, and Krusty. Bart and Lisa are exactly the same as some past releases. They have neutral expressions and Bart comes with a slingshot while Lisa has her saxophone. Homer also has a neutral expression, but he at least gets some grease stains added to his shirt. Krusty is all new and he’s in his farmer Krusty attire from the episode “Coming to Homerica” complete with hat. It’s a bit interesting to me because Jakks Pacific recently released a Krusty Burger in their toy line featuring a Krusty in the exact same outfit except theirs omitted the hat.
The character selections were made for their ties to the restaurant and Krusty and with some headswaps with old figures we can almost make Grandpa from his time at the restaurant (though he wore the old uniform in his time there).
The rest of the figures are of new characters. Working at the Krusty Burger is the squeaky-voiced teen. He is a teen of many names in the show and also many jobs. He’s in a green and gray uniform which is a color combo seen in more recent seasons of the show. In the old days the workers often had purple shirts. He looks the part and also has his hat on which is non-removable. Also there to enjoy a Krusty burger is officer Lou. I assume he’s included because of the scene from “22 Short Films About Springfield” where he discusses visiting a McDonald’s in Shelbyville which confuses fellow officers Wiggum and Eddie. We also already have a Chief Wiggum (two, actually) so he pairs well with him. Lastly, we have Sideshow Bob. He’s featured in a green shirt and blue pants which would appear to be the default style guide for Bob these days. He’s here I guess because of his connection to Krusty and he is a pretty big name character. He unfortunately doesn’t look the best as Lego really went conservative with his outlandish hair.
Homer’s Krusty-fied car turned out fine, but I wish we had a Homer as Krusty to go with it.
Just like the previous two Simpsons sets, The Krusty Burger also comes with a vehicle. This time it’s Homer’s sedan, but redone to match the episode “Homie the Clown” when Homer became a Krusty impersonator. It has the Krusty visage on the front and also comes complete with speed hole decals for the hood. The build is pretty much exactly the same as the standard version of Homer’s car which includes no roof. I guess this is so Marge could fit inside, but I really hate the no roof look. Why not give us an optional one? It also has exposed studs on the hood like the original which is also something I don’t care for. I would have preferred a smooth exterior there. And while I think this is a solid inclusion, it does make me wonder why we didn’t just get a Homer as Krusty mini figure? That obviously would have cost more money because they would need to cast a new head, but they could have made up for it by just having Krusty come with his default head instead of the one with the hat. Or drop Bart or Lisa from the set – I don’t know. I want a Homer as Krusty!
This little living room set that was a throw-in for people who ordered from Lego is a nice little item, especially for those unable to get the Simpson’s house.
If you ordered this set from Lego directly then you also get a mini set of the Simpson living room. It’s the couch, TV, and end table, and a lamp and it’s basically a cut-away. The TV is the same as the one included with the house only this one comes with a screen featuring a Krusty Burger commercial. A mini figure can easily fit on the couch if you want, but it’s not a couch that is to scale with the house. It can really only accommodate two figures so no family couch gag is happening here. Still, it’s a fun little throw-in and considering the Simpson house set is 11 years old there may be a lot of people buying this set who don’t already have it. This isn’t exactly a substitute for the whole house, but it’s better than nothing.
The Krusty Burger is by far the smallest Simpsons set from Lego so far.
As for the Krusty Burger itself, it’s the smallest of the three sets and by a noticeable margin. It’s pretty self-contained with nothing surrounding it aside from the buildable sign. The layout is a bit odd as the front door is right next to the drive-through window, but that’s how it’s depicted in modern episodes. The right side of the building has a lot of windows while the backside features a rear door and an overflowing grease container. It’s done well with translucent yellow bricks and feels like the sort of thing one would likely find behind an actual Krusty Burger. The left side of the building features the drive-through menu and intercom which pretty much matches the depiction of the same from “Lisa vs Malibu Stacy.” You get to see what everything costs which depicts this restaurant as frozen in time back to the early 90s. My one critique as a fan of the show is that it lists milkshakes on the menu. Krusty Burger doesn’t sell shakes, it sells partially gelatinated, non-dairy, gum-based beverages.
To access the interior, you have to first remove the roof. It just rests on top of the set and there’s a big fan on it that doubles as a handle. There’s also roof access for your mini figures via a little trap door. Once removed, one side of the building can open up which basically breaks the kitchen in half and isolates the dining room in the center. If facing this open set, the left part is the counter and kitchen. There’s a large menu over the counter and two registers. Behind the registers is a small area to fit a mini figure with a prep table behind it that contains some massive burgers. The burger build is creative, but does lead to comically large sandwiches. The deep fryer can be found here as well which has a removable fry basket. For the french fries, Lego is using Wolverine’s claws, but in gold. I’ve seen them do some funny stuff with their hot dog shape, but I wasn’t expecting Wolverine claws for fries here. Also back here you’ll find some storage and an ice cream machine that’s forever out of order. The contents are basically just water which is a nice touch.
It takes up considerable more space when opened to access the various rooms inside.
The center of the build contains the dining area. It’s pretty cramped as it contains one booth and two tables each of which has two stools. Tucked into the corner is Krusty’s Kidz Zone which is a small ball pit. It’s cute, though I would have probably preferred more seating to fit as many figures into this thing as I wanted. Having the Simpson family at one table and the cops at the other would have made sense. Some food is intended to go into this area including Krusty’s version of the Ribwich. It’s made with those tiny Lego cars which is pretty amusing. I had previously seen those in a Christmas tree set.
The right side of the build contains the bathroom and the rest of the kitchen. The bathroom is pretty small and walled-in. For the image on the box, Lego even removed the side wall to make it present better which you could also do if you chose to display the set open. The bathroom is in a pretty sorry state as the sink appears to be overflowing, the toilet is leaking, and there’s no toilet paper left on the roll. It’s what one would expect of a Krusty Burger. The part of the kitchen that’s behind it is the drive-through window. There’s a nice little in-joke on the order screen and there’s also a drink machine in this area.
There are a lot of references throughout the set which is what we’ve come to expect as Simpsons fans with basically anything like this. Lego did a good job with the past sets and they do an adequate job here. This set did begin life as a Lego Ideas design and the pitch was pretty similar to what we got. One of the main differences though was that it was going to come with Marge’s station wagon instead of Homer’s Krusty-fied sedan. It is surprising to me that we have now had three sets from Lego that all came with vehicles, but we still don’t have Marge’s car. And with this set in-hand, a Simpson fan is likely to immediately wonder what could be next? I’m not holding my breath, but now that we have a Krusty Burger I would so love a Skinner house so we could recreate the Steamed Hams sketch in Lego form. The house could be pretty small as we only need the dining room, kitchen, and then they can do whatever with the upstairs. Just having that setup would surely be unforgettable.
If you were curious, the answer is “Yes, you can fit both cops into the previously released cop car.”
The Krusty Burger is a pretty quick and enjoyable build. It’s not very big, but I’m also not surprised that it didn’t get the same love as the Kwik-E-Mart given that ten years have past and costs have changed. The set will set you back $210 making it the most expensive Simpsons set so far, especially per brick. Given the cost, I do wish there were more printed bricks and less stickers. This one came with two sticker sheets and if I have one major complaint with Lego it’s stickers. My Kwik-E-Mart’s stickers are curling on the front and it’s become an eyesore. I don’t have the same issue with other Lego sets that I have, but a lot of them also don’t have exterior stickers like that one. The Krusty Burger does though, and I hope it doesn’t end up in a similar state one day.
As a Simpsons fan, I almost can’t not recommend this Lego Krusty Burger. Sure, I would have packed in more references to the show, probably would have preferred some different characters for mini figures, and definitely would have done things differently with the car, but everything that’s here is still done pretty well. It looks good and there are certainly a lot of memorable scenes from the show one could stage here. It may be small, but it doesn’t look drastically out of place with the other sets. Hopefully, this isn’t the last we see of The Simpsons and Lego and hopefully the next collaboration isn’t ten years away. There’s a lot more Lego could do with Springfield even if there are aspects of it they’d never touch, and I am certainly ready for whatever comes next.
If you missed my other Lego Simpsons reviews or want to see what else is out there check below:
Last year, Lego released its first set and series of mini figures styled after The Simpsons, the animated institution that has anchored Fox’s Sunday Night lineup longer than Justin Bieber’s been alive. Debate the merits of the program’s more recent seasons all you want, but it couldn’t diminish my curiosity for a set of Legos…
When I was a kid, the coolest and most colossal Lego sets were often pirate ships or castles. These things required hours upon hours to assemble and cost a lot of money. My parents, when looking to spend money on me at Christmas or for a birthday, opted for video games or a bicycle as…
Back in October, we took a look at the very first wave of action figures from Jakks Pacific based on The Simpsons. At the time, I only had two figures from that inaugural wave: Homer and Bart. It was a series of great interest to myself and other Simpsons fans since it’s existence basically meant…
Lets blast through some new(ish) Simpsons figures!
Back in October, we took a look at the very first wave of action figures from Jakks Pacific based on The Simpsons. At the time, I only had two figures from that inaugural wave: Homer and Bart. It was a series of great interest to myself and other Simpsons fans since it’s existence basically meant that other recent Simpsons figures from Super7 were coming to an inglorious end. My feelings on Super7’s output was mixed, at best. Some of those figures I really like and some were really bad. I wish the two could have coexisted, but that was not to be. Jakks Pacific, for their part, crafts far more affordable action figures and also makes them available at standard retail outlets like Target and Walmart. While I don’t love giving either store my money, at least it means it’s possible to find these things somewhere nearby for visual inspection before buying. At the time of my first review, I wasn’t sure if I was going to continue reviewing the line since it is fairly basic, but now that I have quite a bit more I felt like it warranted a follow-up to see how things are going in Simpsons Land.
If you’re new to the Jakks experience, The Simpsons is split between 3 figure lines: 2.5″, 5″, and Deluxe. The primary line is that 5″ one which boasts the most articulation while the smaller line is centered around playsets which the smaller scale makes far more feasible. The deluxe figures are so far limited to three: Count Burns, Homer as the Incredible Bulk, and Radioactive Man. These figures have a bit more paint, but also a built-in gimmick. Radioactive Man has a light-up chest while Burns pops out of a coffin or something. I’m actually not sure what Homer does, but he by far has the most elaborate paint job of the lot seeing that he’s splotched with green and yellow flesh. They retail for 20-25 bucks depending on where you find them and are a curious set. The gimmick takes away from the presentation and makes them seem more like kids toys, but the deluxe price point does not. I’ve ignored them thus far. Burns has some appeal for me being that he’s a Treehouse of Horror character, but he honestly looks pretty cheap. Homer is all right, but I’m not paying that to get him.
I’ve basically stuck with the 5″ stuff though I’ve dabbled in the 2.5″ as well since they’re so cheap and at least two characters make a whole lot of sense for that scale. Since my initial review, I’ve managed to acquire the rest of the first wave as well as all of wave 2, save for the Homer repeat. I also grabbed 2.5″ Bart and Lisa to see how they scaled with 5″ Homer as well as the Walmart exclusive Bartman.
He’s pretty much the same as the old Bart……but he’s got a new slingshot!
Let’s start with Bartman since he’s the most familiar. This is basically the same Bart figure from the first wave, but with a new head, cape, and slingshot. He’s sporting the blue t-shirt which is what Bartman usually was drawn with as he was more of a licensing art character than a show one. The new head has a scowl on it befitting the character and it looks like it’s molded in two main pieces: the cowl and the lower head. Jakks sticks with colored plastic and avoids paint which is true of Bartman. His left hand has also been replaced with a fist when compared to regular Bart which helps to sell the illusion that he’s drawing his slingshot (which is held in his canonically correct right hand as Bart is a lefty). The cape is just plastic, but looks okay. You just can’t position it at all which kind of stinks since he does come with a skateboard. And that skateboard is the exact same one that comes with regular Bart. If you like that Bart then you’ll probably like Bartman. He has all the pluses and minuses of that release, but with a cool superhero motif.
Hey Otto Mann, can you play?Bart-dude, I was born to rock!
Rounding out wave one is the duo of Groundskeeper Willie and early season star Otto Mann, the bus driver and local burn-out. Otto features a somewhat involved sculpt, especially when compared to Homer and Bart. He’s sporting his hat, headphones, Walkman, and bracelet on his right wrist. His big hair is present which limits the posing of his head to essentially nothing. He looks pretty on-model though with his partially closed eyes and trademark overbite. Paint is sparse as even the headphones look like they’re composed of different colored plastic. The tape deck is painted as are the black lines on his shoes. Otto’s sole accessory is Bart’s left-handed guitar. The sculpt is nice, but the lack of paint is a detraction as it’s just a red brick for the body and a light brown for the neck and fretboard. It also lacks a strap, but it’s light enough that Otto can hold it without much trouble. He looks nice and if I had one nitpick about the sculpt it’s that he should be slouched a little more, but overall it’s solid.
Happy Scotchtoberfest!Hey! Stay out of my shack, you bloated gas bags!
Willie is another involved sculpt and a damn good one at that. He’s probably my favorite of the first wave. And even though, at a distance, it looks like he’d require more paint, it’s still mostly colored plastic. Even the green overalls are molded and laid into the gray undershirt. All of the red for his hair is separate and the only obvious paint is the white for his teeth and the black hair on his arms. He has an open mouthed expression like he’s possibly yelling at someone, but it also works with his bagpipes accessory. It too is mostly colored plastic and Jakks went to great lengths to not have to paint the red pattern, though they did paint the end of one of the horns with a metallic gold which was an unexpected flourish. Willie’s other accessory is a shovel which is comparatively plain and not likely to see much use as a result, but it’s still nice to see a figure with two accessories instead of one. Unlike Otto, Willie does have pretty bad posture which is appropriate for him. I’m not really getting into articulation because it’s basically all the same, but it’s good enough here that Willie can handle his bagpipes in a convincing manner.
So many scales going on here.
That concludes wave one, but before we move onto wave 2 I’ll mention the 2.5″ Lisa and Bart I picked up. I grabbed them thinking they may actually scale better with the adults than the 5″ line’s version, but as expected, they’re just too small. They don’t move much either and each has one accessory: Bart his skateboard and Lisa her saxophone. They look okay so if the smaller scale is more your thing you may like it, just don’t expect much.
This sax is pretty annoying to deal with.She scales about as well as Bart, which is not well.
The second wave of 5″ figures consists of Krusty the Clown, Lisa Simpson, Moe the bartender, and Homer again. The Homer is the same as the wave one figure so evidently Jakks felt it needed to make sure it kept shipping the Simpson family figures to keep them in a state of constant availability. And from what I’ve seen, you can walk into pretty much any store that carries this line and find a Homer and a Bart on the pegs, but not in huge numbers so I guess it’s working. We’ll start with Lisa since she’s a member of the titular family. Like Bart, she’s oversized for proper scale standing at about 3.25″. And it’s not so much that she’s too tall, she’s too big proportionately speaking. Her head looks huge compared with Homer’s. She’s also the worst articulated figure in the line so far since her skirt means that she can’t do much with her legs. She comes with her saxophone, which is a solid chunk of gold plastic, which she struggles to wield properly. A little hand was sculpted onto it as a cheat, but her tiny hands still struggle to hang on. You may need to heat it, shove it on, and forget about it.
Why am I always looking up?Krusty scales just fine with Homer, but not Bart because the kids are bad.
We next turn to Krusty who’s depicted in his standard attire. Like Homer, he suffers a bit from a bland expression. It’s a neutral one which just doesn’t work all that well for Krusty. I think of him as either “On” (Hey! Hey!) or miserable. This face just lacks any and all emotion. The pupils on mine also seem to be misplaced slightly so he’s kind of looking up all the time. The rest of the sculpt is fine though and captures all of the details one would expect. He has his huge clown shoes which makes him relatively painless to stand and they also feature the most generous ankle rocker in the line so far. The rest of the articulation is basically the same as Homer, though my figure’s knees were really stuck out of the box. For an accessory, he has a microphone and stand which is fine. I prefer it to a pie. It’s just too bad his mouth is closed so it doesn’t look like he’s actually speaking into his lone accessory.
Hey! Homer! No outside food!I see you have a rag too.
Our last character of wave two is the bartender Moe, inventor of the Flaming Moe. He is what you would expect and it’s kind of eerie how similar the figure looks to the Super7 one. Almost like it’s the same mold scaled down. The apron he wears is an overlay that can be removed if you want. It’s buttoned in the back, but I haven’t taken it off out of fear it might be hard to get back on. With it on, it severely limits the movement in his legs, but it is somewhat soft so it’s not impossible to move his legs if you’re determined. He has a neutral expression which works for Moe and he comes with two accessories: his rag and his phone. The rag is exactly like the Super7 version as it’s a piece of molded plastic so that it can hang from his fingers. The phone is slightly more elaborate as it features a removable receiver, also just like the Super7 accessory. I love these old phone accessories for some reason so I like it here, but it could use an angry head to go with it.
These miscreants can’t do much, but they look pretty good doing nothing.
I have two more characters to highlight before we’re done and they come from the 2.5″ line: Itchy and Scratchy. These little guys feel right at home in the smaller scale so much that I don’t think I have any interest in 5″ versions. They have the same limitations as Bart and Lisa which is no elbow articulation, knee, wrist, waist, and their legs move as one piece. Still, the sculpt looks great on both and they actually feature a solid amount of paint. Itchy comes with a club while Scratchy comes with a mallet. The limited articulation means they can’t do much with their accessories, but they look good in a pretty vanilla pose. It would be awesome if at least Scratchy could be pulled apart with gruesome wounds left behind, but Jakks is probably hoping to court some kids with this line so I get why that isn’t the case.
Death to Poochie!
The Jakks Pacific Simpsons line keeps on chugging and it’s hard to find fault with much of what’s here. My main gripe still remains the scaling between the adults and kid characters as well as Jakks’ utter avoidance of painted parts. Still, the figures are about 13 bucks in most places with the 2.5″ figures retailing for $5. Of the line so far, I think Willie is my favorite, but I also really like how Moe turned out. My only other gripe is just availability. These figures have been the kind that you can’t pass up. While I did eventually see Otto and Willie get restocked in a few places, I’ve never come across Moe and Krusty more than once. The 2.5″ are just as bad as I only saw Itchy once and could not find a Scratchy for the life of me. A fellow collector helped me out with him which was greatly appreciated. I assume they’ll be restocked at some point since the demand is obviously there, but Jakks has been slow to course correct so far.
If you do like this line, you can find it almost everywhere action figures are sold. Bartman is exclusive to Walmart and, at the time, was easy to track down. I’m not sure if that is still the case. I’ve found not many Walmarts around me carry the line. Most Target stores seem to stock it, but only at a case at a time so they go fast. They can also be found at Gamestop and the 2.5″ line has also shown up at Five Below. Online retailers do carry the 5″ line, but some force you to purchase by set or by case which is unfortunate. They also tend to add a buck or two onto the price and if shipping is a factor that can drive the price up. This isn’t a line that would survive at 20 bucks a figure because the quality isn’t there. They’re not terrible and look fine as-is, but a 20 dollar figure carries different expectations. Though in all honesty they’re not far off from your typical Marvel Legends figure when it comes to paint and accessories. I just wish Jakks made the parts on these guys easily swappable so we could get different portraits, but we’ll speak more on that when we take a look at wave three.
I think it was early this year that we found out Super7’s line of ReAction and Ultimates! action figures based on The Simpsons was ending after just a couple of years. That meant Super7 was done after four waves of Ultimates! and four waves of ReAction figures. We had seen figures for a possible fifth…
Our first two looks at the inaugural wave of Ultimates! from Super7 based on The Simpsons have been two very episode specific takes. One was Deep Space Homer from the episode of the same name where Homer went to space and the figure presents the character in his space suit. The second figure was Poochie,…
If you’ve been following along with my reviews on the second wave of Super7’s The Simpsons Ultimates!, then you will have noted that I’ve had a bit of a love/hate relationship with this wave. For the most part, the sculpts and deco have been on point, it’s some of the little things that have been…
Well folks, we did it! We made it to another Christmas! These things come faster and faster each year which makes something like an online advent calendar helpful as it attempts to keep the season from going by even faster. It’s cliché, but the years go by even faster the older you get and if you have kids it seems worse. It’s great to stop, breathe, and just try to take it all in for I know if I’m fortunate enough to live to be an old man I’ll probably look back on my life and think it went by in a flash.
That’s the sort of melancholy vibes Christmas brings about for me, but it’s important to remember this is a day of fun. Of revelry! I try to save a good one for each December 25th, or at least a weird one (I did go with Samurai Pizza Cats one year), and this year I felt like turning the day over to America’s real first family: The Simpsons.
Homer is going full Grinch in this one. Well, sort of.
The Simpsons has been featured here before. Many times too. The show has staked its claim to Halloween via the Treehouse of Horror anthology series, but it was Christmas that marked the show’s debut. For years the show avoided the topic as how could anyone hope to top the show’s debut episode? Eventually, that fear subsided and the show started cranking them out. Not quite annually, but there’s certainly plenty at this point. And today’s episode comes from the show’s fifteenth season and is appropriately titled “‘Tis the Fifteenth Season.” At the time, it felt like quite the achievement to be on the air so long that it was celebrated, or at least marked, in the very title of the episode. Now, it almost seems quaint. Fifteen seasons isn’t even half the show’s current total. Will The Simpsons ever end? When I was a mopey teen angry the show wasn’t as funny as I remembered it being I would have said it needs to die, but now I’m just curious to see how long it can go. There’s a comfort in knowing that every fall a new season of The Simpsons debuts. It probably won’t go on forever, but that doesn’t mean it can’t try.
In almost any other episode, I would have liked this couch gag, but this is not the holiday couch gag I’m looking for.
The first episode aired of The Simpsons, “Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire,” was pretty much a Homer (Dan Castellaneta) story. He was denied a Christmas bonus and Marge (Julie Kavner) spent all of the family’s extra money on getting a tattoo removed off of Bart (Nancy Cartwright). Rather than come clean, Homer takes a part time job as a mall Santa to earn extra money in hopes of providing his family with the kind of gifts he felt they deserved. Or rather, the type of gifts that would make him feel like a successful provider. Following that episode, Homer would take a back seat in future holiday outings. We had episodes centered around Bart, Lisa, and even Marge while Homer was like a sidecar. The kids need his help in the waning moments of “Grift of the Magi” to steal some toys, he and Flanders have a B plot in “Skinner’s Sense of Snow,” and that’s kind of it. In today’s episode, Homer is very much the focal point as he must learn the spirit of giving, then learn to reject materialism, then…become the Grinch? This one ends in a place one wouldn’t have predicted at the start, so let’s jump into it and see how we get there.
How is it that Itchy and Scratchy are able to exist in this space?
This holiday episode of The Simpsons begins with the standard, abbreviated, opening where we just jump right to Marge almost running Homer over in the driveway. The couch gag isn’t even holiday themed, it’s anime, which is a surprise. We’re not off to a good start here. The episode proper then begins not with Christmas, but Thanksgiving. The family is watching a Channel 6 holiday broadcast featuring Krusty (Castellaneta), Sideshow Mel (Castellaneta), Mr. Teeny, and a large woman dressed as a ballerina. Am I supposed to know who she is? Kent Brockman is appearing via cardboard cutout which Krusty informs us he’s contractually allowed to do because he’s in rehab. Again. Oh, and Itchy and Scratchy are present too which is really confusing. Are they someone in costume? Are they animation and we can’t tell because the whole show is animated? Anyway, Krusty informs the viewers for every dollar spent on Krusty merchandise he’ll be nice to a sick kid. And that hookers with a cold count as sick kids. Never change, Krusty.
Homer no like sweater.
It’s now time for Christmas decorating, and set to “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year,” we see Homer and the kids putting up the decorations. Bart and Lisa (Yeardley Smith) twirl some string lights like a lasso and fling them on the bushes outside. Homer tries to do the same with a tree and inadvertently kills two birds in the process which he slyly covers with snow and walks off. Inside, the stockings are being hung with care one by one until we get to Grandpa (Castellaneta) who hangs an IV bag instead. Marge is shown putting the family dog, Santa’s Little Helper, in a festive sweater which he predictably hates. We pan over to Snowball II who is already in a sweater and doing her best to get it off. The camera continues it’s pan to find Homer also in a sweater and also desperately trying to remove it with his teeth like an animal. Never change, Homer.
Looks like someone forgot Lenny’s present.
We now are taken to the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant where it’s apparently already time to exchange Secret Santa gifts. Carl (Hank Azaria) is Homer’s Secret Santa and he has quite the present for the big guy: a new DVD player and the first season of Magnum P.I. Homer is quite happy with this extravagant offering (come on Carl, there had to have been a limit you blew by), but there’s a problem. No one has a present for Lenny (No, not Lenny!) and that’s because Homer is his Secret Santa. Realizing he forgot, Homer runs offscreen and we get to hear him battle with a vending machine. Lenny (Harry Shearer) can tell what’s going on and a scowl crosses his face before Homer returns with his gift: a roll of Certs. Homer seems pleased with himself, but Lenny doesn’t hold back and tells him that his gift flat-out stinks. Carl piles on too telling Homer he’s the most selfish man he knows (then why did you go all out on Homer’s gift, Carl?). Homer appears offended and tries to defend himself by saying Mr. Burns is the most selfish man around. He starts to bad mouth him, and Skinner, only for Burns to sidle up behind him without him knowing.
I’m surprised this hasn’t been utilized for a current plot.
Burns (Shearer) hears the insults, but laughs startling Homer. He declares that Homer’s very obvious description of him describes “Cathy in personnel” to a tee. Who is this mystery woman? No time for that, for Burns is here to hand out Christmas bonuses. This feels familiar. The bonus this year? A five dollar voucher to the plant cafeteria which no one is happy with. I guess it’s better than the series premiere when they got nothing? Burns has something special for Bart though, I guess because he knows Homer has a son? They’ve obviously crossed paths many a time, but I don’t get the sense that he’s giving Bart a gift because of any of that. The gift is, as Burns puts it, a confectioner’s card of a current baseball player. The way he phrases it he clearly doesn’t place any value on this card, but it’s a Joe DiMaggio card and a pretty famous one in card collecting circles at that. Not that Homer is aware. Burns refers to DiMaggio as a rookie for the New York Nine and when Homer says the name in disbelief (likely because he knows that Joe DiMaggio has long since passed his rookie days) Burns confirms it’s him and adds, “It seems they’re now letting ethnics into the big leagues.” He then turns away from Homer and is surprised to see Cathy (Tress MacNeille), from personnel! She looks exactly like Burns and he asks her how things in personnel are she has a one word response for him: Excellent.
Oh no! He must deftly lick it off!
Homer may not know how valuable the card is, but he knows it’s worth something so he takes it to the only place in town he’d logically go: The Android’s Dungeon. Homer finds Comic Book Guy (Azaria) eating some nachos from his usual perch atop his stool and asks if he can get any money for the card? Comic Book Guy takes one look at it and nearly has a heart attack as he turns up his cash register and empties its contents onto the counter. He greedily snatches the card from Homer, but then immediately begins to fret because he got nacho cheese on it. He reasons the only solution is to deftly lick it off, which he does. Homer just grabs his armful of cash and walks off remarking “Freak,” under his breath. We don’t know how much Homer just got, but probably not a substantial amount? Most stores only keep so much money on-hand, though I suppose a business that buys and sells might have more than usual. Either way, he probably didn’t get full value since that’s a card worth tens of thousands of dollars, but at least he’s happy.
Jesus was a prune? I guess I’ve learned something today.
We return to 742 Evergreen Terrace to find the rest of the family seated in front of the TV. A common past time for the Simpson family. They’re watching the 1986 “classic” Christmas with the California Prunes. Obviously, this is a parody of the 1987 sorta classic A Claymation Christmas which featured the California Raisins, a special I probably should have covered by now, but just have not. This could almost barely be considered a parody as we get to see some of this special which features claymation characters that look almost exactly like the California Raisins. There’s a soulful rendition of “Oh Holy Night” being played (and possibly sung by Karl Wiedergott since he’s listed in the credits, but not assigned a role), but with words adjusted to better fit prunes like “We are the fruit that your grandmother eats.” It’s also a nativity scene so if you ever wanted to see what Jesus would look like as a prune, well now you have. I think this is actually really close to the actual segment it’s parodying so if this seems ridiculous, there’s a more sincere version out there. Lisa declares it offensive to Christians and prunes. You know what it’s not offensive to? Animation fans, because this segment looks way too good to just be a quick gag on an episode of The Simpsons.
Comic Book Guy sure keeps a lot of cash in his register.
Homer then comes bursting into the room with his hands and pockets overflowing with cash. He declares they’re going shopping at the Springfield Heights Promenade. Marge jumps up with excitement declaring “That’s the rich people’s mall! Let’s shop till we droop!” Lisa corrects her to say it’s drop, but Marge just scolds her with “That’s a very violent image, Lisa.” Burl Ives then whisks us into Springfield Heights with his version of “Silver and Gold.” The tagline for this place is “Our prices discriminate because we can’t.” It’s basically a fancy outdoor marketplace. I’m not sure if it’s based on anything specific, but it has a similar vibe to Boston’s Quincy Market and there’s a hint a little ways in that might give that away. For a sight gag, we get an Abercrombie and Rich store and there’s a cart that will put your image on a Rembrandt. Moe is clearly pictured on such a painting. Seems almost too tacky for this place, but if it is anything like Quincy Market then it’s also a tourist trap and tourists buy all kinds of stupid stuff.
Cameos of Christmases Past.
Homer is handing out wads of cash to everyone in the family to go buy Christmas presents with. And when they’re done, he also promises to get a glorious Christmas tree for the home. In fact, he declares it will be so large that its absence from the forest will cause mudslides and flooding. Everyone cheers this except Lisa. That’s some nice attention to detail. We cut to Bart and Lisa shopping together and Lisa has stumbled upon a toy store called The Prodigy Barn. Very quickly there’s a cameo of the rich happiest kid in the world and his mom from “Marge Be Not Proud,” though his hair is now blond instead of brown. Inside, Bart is playing a video game console clearly modeled after the original PlayStation as he’s blasting state capitols on a map of the United States. He soon realizes that this game is trying to teach him stuff and reacts angrily tossing the controller at the screen and declaring “That’ll teach you to teach me!”
This may be more of a gift for Marge.
We jump to Marge shopping at Victor’s Secret, an obvious pun on Victoria’s Secret, where she’s looking to buy a present for her beloved Homie. She’s picked out some very large underwear that’s sort of tiger striped, but she needs the clerk to help her figure out if it’s the right size for Homer. Make that two clerks as they both easily fit into the underwear and Marge is delighted that it’s the right size. They (Castellaneta) then offer to gift wrap it for her and in order to do so they have to fold it like a flag. They stuff it into a tiny box and hand it over to Marge warning her to stand back when she opens it.
This episode is from before everything had Wi-Fi capabilities. I bet that astrolabe was obsolete in less than five years.
Outside of a store called Things Unnecessary, Homer is rummaging through his bag of goods with a contented look on his face. We then find out he’s bought the family all key rings. Cheap, stupid, key rings. He drops his gifts though when he catches a window display for a talking astrolabe. He immediately goes inside where a clerk with a British accent shows it to him. He wants to make it a gift for himself and notes how it is so unnecessary. The clerk (Shearer) laughs and remarks that he has excellent taste then lists the features which include a pad of paper and pen for writing upside down. Homer is pretty much sold, but then he looks at the price tag: 500 bucks. If he buys this he won’t have anything left for a tree. The astrolabe (I think it’s Azaria, but it’s not listed in the credits on IMDB) then announces that today is the birthday of comedian Margaret Cho, which makes this December 5th. We can also see the current coordinates for the location of this device which online sleuths discovered long ago point to Boston, hence my Quincy Market theory. “That’s the birthday I’m always forgetting, I must have it!” And with that, Homer has bought an extremely unnecessary and extremely expensive gift for himself.
What is it with sitcoms and their Christmas suicide jokes? I feel like I should apologize for how many there have been this year.
We cut to the car and the family is on the road. Bart asks if they can get their big tree now and Homer laughs nervously and confirms that they can as he also inspects the cash he has left which totals 2 bucks. He still insists that they’ll get a tree from the finest lot in town as he proceeds to lead the family to a rather unsavory part of town. Lisa is the first one to remark that she doesn’t like this neighborhood, but Homer just tells her to lock her door and avoid eye contact while he turns on the radio. It’s a version of the song “Convoy,” which was part of the plot of “Radio Bart” way back when, only now it’s “Christmas Convoy.” It’s our soundtrack to the sights which includes Gil preparing to hang himself with Christmas lights, some hobos roasting pigeons over a flaming drum, and a bloody snowman with an axe in its head.
Well, sufficient is certainly one way to describe it.
Homer pulls into a pretty sad looking tree lot and buys the best tree 2 bucks will get you, which is pretty brown and lacking in fullness. Homer presents it to the family as a great tree, but Marge points out that it looks a little dry. Homer tries to insist it just needs a little love, but when he rubs it the tree bursts into flames. I’m betting Homer thinks the tree will magically transform when decorated into a glorious one, like it did for Charlie Brown. We cut to the house and the partially burned tree is up. Homer remarks, “Isn’t it sufficient?” and pats it again once again causing the tree to go up in flames. He’s ready with a fire extinguisher and quickly puts it out, but Bart is left to wonder why they couldn’t afford a good tree? Marge asks Homer if there’s something he’s not telling them and right on cue we hear the astrolabe announce that it’s 6:31 PM in Montreal.
A man sobs alone with his astrolabe at Christmas time. Is there a sadder sight?
Marge rightly asks where that voice came from, but Homer tries to play it off as Maggie finally talking. She finds the astrolabe all wrapped up with a tag on it that says “To: Me, From: Santa.” Marge exchanges the gift for Maggie, who Homer was holding, and confronts him on the fact that he wasted their money on an extravagant gift for himself. Homer tries to reason with her that there’s a trickle down theory at play here: If he’s happy then he’s less abusive to the rest of the family. I should try that the next time I buy an expensive action figure. Lisa is the one to inform him that this time he was just plain selfish as sad music plays and the family leaves Homer with his toy. The astrolabe then announces “I am not returnable,” causing Homer to start sobbing. It then announces it will begin testing its smoke alarm for the next three hours which causes Homer to sob louder and announce, “This is sadder than Tuesdays with Morrie.”
Marge has opted for pettiness and I for one support her.
Where do Homer and Marge often settle their disputes? In bed, of course, as we find Homer trying to defend his selfish act. He tries to suggest that she is in fact selfish too for choosing to get her haircut at Supercuts instead of Regular Cuts, the joke being Supercuts is a pretty cheap place to get a haircut. And whoever does Marge’s hair deserves a lot. Marge is obviously not taking the bait and just points out to Homer that Christmas is the time to think of others, but he only cares about himself. He denies this accusation pointing out that he cared what they thought when they found out. She informs him that he can sleep on the couch tonight, but Homer just wants her to yell at him now and get it over with. Marge refuses instead opting to parcel out her anger over the next few days and weeks so she can jab at him when he seems most content. Homer can only groan as he grabs his pillow and flees.
This doesn’t seem like much of a punishment for Homer.
Homer has decided to stay up late watching Christmas specials with his selfish purchase. He’s also opted to unwrap it early as well and even declares that he doesn’t need Marge since he has the astrolabe. It responds to him by telling him that Columbia’s chief export is coffee. On television is The Year Santa Got Lost starring Jimmy Stewart (Castellaneta) as the voice of the mailman. It looks like another claymation piece and the characters all resemble toys from Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, except for the mailman who just looks like a mailman. I guess he’s a nod to Special Delivery from Santa Claus is Comin’ to Town. It’s a very boring story that Jimmy is telling and Homer taps out insisting that Jimmy Stewart as a puppet is just wrong. On the next channel is Mr. Mcgrew’s Christmas Carol, a parody of Mr. Magoo. It’s sort of like the California Prunes from earlier in that this parody is so similar to the thing it’s parodying that it’s almost indistinguishable. Upon stumbling on this, Homer declares he loves that blind, senile, old man! He’s then interrupted by his father knocking on a window in his bathrobe claiming he can’t find his way back to the nursing home. Homer shouts at him, “I heard you the first five times!” then throws his shoe at the window. A bunch of snow falls off the roof and poor Grandpa is buried.
Oh that Magoo McGrew, that’s not a woman, you silly, old man!
We get to see some of McGrew (Castellaneta) which looks a lot like the actual Mr. Magoo’s Christmas Carol, the very first animated Christmas special made for television. I’ve never covered it because it’s, well, terribly boring. We get to watch McGrew mistake a potbelly stove for a pregnant woman which somehow leads to him sticking his head into a roaring fire. Homer laughs for, once again, old McGrew has mistaken something for something. As the special moves along, Homer comes to realize that McGrew is just like him. Well, except for the rich part. When it gets to the climactic scene at the cemetary, Homer is on the floor in front of the TV begging the ghost to spare McGrew and to take Tiny Tim instead! The ghost gestures to the headstone which reads Ebenezer McGrew. Homer then sees it as reading” Homer Simpson – Unloved by All. He cries out “Unloved by Al? No!” then the ghost gestures again and he reads it correctly and yells even louder.
Marge wanted to see more of this Star Trek Christmas Carol and I think I’m with her.
The next morning, Homer is still in the midst of a fretful sleep moaning on the couch “I’ll be good.” Lisa wakes him up with some concern in her voice and Homer just asks her what day is it? She tells him it’s Saturday, December 6h and Homer jumps up saying “Good! There’s still four more days till Christmas!” No one bothers to correct him. We next find the family at breakfast where Homer is talking about the amazing cartoon he watched the night before. He describes it and Lisa has to point out that what he watched was A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens and that it’s been around for 160 years. Bart points out that television has been mining that thing for decades and he is certainly not wrong. What’s sort of implausible here is that someone who watches as much TV as Homer would be unfamiliar with it. Bart gets to prove his point by turning on the TV (there sure has been a lot of the family watching TV so far in this one) to reveal an Urkel parody and a Star Trek one. Marge thinks the Star Trek one looks pretty good. Homer then announces that TV and nightmares have joined forces to convince him to be a less selfish man. He vows to become the least selfish man in town and Marge reminds him that he’s made this promise before. Homer points out that this time he’s sober…ish. That’s a bit alarming since it’s only breakfast.
It really is the perfect gift for someone always getting stuff in his eye.
Time to see Homer put his words to action. We find Flanders (Shearer) and his two boys, Rod (Pamela Hayden) and Todd (Cartwright), taking some boxes of old clothes and lima beans to an area frequented by the homeless, only Homer beat them to the punch. He gave them his old clothes and we get to see a whole bunch of unhoused men dressed like Homer. One comes over to remark that these new pants smell worse than his old ones, but Homer just says “You’re welcome.” To the Nuclear Power Plant where Homer owes Lenny a present. A real present. Homer presents Lenny with a photo cube that’s full of pictures of them (and Carl) which Lenny seems to appreciate. And there’s another surprise, Homer filed down all of the corners so it won’t hurt if it comes into contact with Lenny’s frequently injured eye. He demonstrates by jabbing Lenny in the eye and he smiles uncomfortably and announces it only stings a little.
Marge has been waiting fifteen seasons for this.
Back at the house, the family is finishing up dinner when Homer goes to eat the last porkchop, catches himself, and then walks the platter over to Marge. He offers her the last porkchop and Marge is so overcome with emotion she doesn’t know what to do. Homer has never offered her the last porkchop and she happily accepts. She is super emotional about it as she’s basically sobbing while she eats it remarking that his thoughtfulness tastes so good and that tears are the sweetest sauce. She’s not even bothering to use utensils, just her hands, and all the rest of the family can do is stare at her. Homer also adds that she’s starting to creep him out.
I feel like we’ve been here before.
We then cut to the family at church where Ned and Homer are in charge of the collection plates, though they’re really more like baskets on poles. Homer gets to Burns who just deposits a coin into the basket so Homer jabs at him. He drops another coin in, but Homer is still not satisfied so he keeps jabbing him in the face. Burns finally relents by emptying his entire wallet into the basket, including his credit cards and eventually the wallet itself. He then angrily suggests that Homer take his blood too and pricks his finger, but only dust comes out which Burns acknowledges by saying “Yes, I’m old.” Ned happily empties his basket into a sack held by the Reverend Lovejoy (Shearer) who is only too happy to inform Ned that this week he came in a distant second to Homer who has a rather impressive haul. Homer announces he’s not looking for glory, he’s just trying to buy that stairway to Heaven Jesus sang about. When Ned corrects him that it was actually Led Zeppelin who sang that song, he just scoffs and tells him to get back to his bong, hippy! He and the reverend then smugly walk off leaving Ned to stew in anger. His kids come over and Todd asks him if he’s jealous of Homer with some shock in his voice. Ned confesses that he is a little jealous. To try and cheer him up, Rod confesses he’s jealous of girls because they get to wear dresses and Ned angrily responds with “One problem at a time, boy.” This was the era where Ned Flanders became a more bigoted Christian. I know some people don’t like this turn for Ned, but when a show is on for as long as The Simpsons characters are going to change with the times.
Homer: a man of many talents. Or maybe just this one?
We return, yet again, to the Simpson master bedroom only now things are far less frosty. Marge is delighted in Homer’s transformation and he has come to view being unselfish as a natural high like hiking or paint thinner. And he’s not done! Homer then unveils to Marge his latest gift to the town: an ice skating rink in the Simpson backyard. How he built that without Marge’s knowledge is not specified. Similarly, how could he, the man who couldn’t afford a Christmas tree, manage to buy all of the materials needed for a rink? I should stop asking questions. It’s a hit though as numerous people are skating on it. Comic Book Guy demonstrates he’s pretty nimble for a man of his generous waist even though his leap results in a fall. A fall that splits his pants. With a declaration of “Activate cloaking device,” he ties his coat around his waist, only for that to rip too. Overcome with depression, he chooses to engage candy bar sadly.
Nelson is showing off and giving Flanders the business here. What a guy.
Ned is shown making his way to the Springfield Men’s Mission singing “Here comes sandwiches,” to the tune of “Here Comes Santa Claus.” He has a plate of cheese on bread for the homeless who dwell here, but because this is Season 15 Ned we have to get a little peak in his head as he refers to this as Boozy Bum Lane. In other words, this is the Ned who partakes in charity not because it’s right or just a nice thing to do, but because he just wants to get into Heaven. He’s shocked to find the place empty, so shocked he even spells out the H word (no, not that one). And he soon realizes that everyone is at Homer’s where they can rent skates for free (how did he come into possession of all these skates? Shut up, Joe, just go with it) no matter how gross and black their feet may be. Ned is frustrated and dismayed to hear Gil (Castellaneta) refer to Homer as the nicest guy in town. Nelson (Cartwright) is also there to deliver his customary “Ha! Ha!” and add a dash of “Your position has been usurped!” He also makes a couple more passes to rub it in even laughing “You’re sad at Christmas!” While he does he demonstrates some really fine tandem skating with Sherri or Terri. Sometimes a guy surprises you.
Great sight gag, I approve!
After an act break, we return to the TV! Man, this episode has a lot of old Simpsons tropes between the bedroom scenes and the plot-advancing television spots. It’s the nightly news with Kent Brockman (Shearer) delivering a breaking news report on the nicest guy in town: Homer Simpson. He has to deliver it in his Brockman way though by first shocking and horrifying the viewer with the announcement that Santa Claus is dead! This gets a scream out of Bart and Lisa who are, strangely, the only ones watching the news in the house. Bart didn’t seem to believe in Santa way back in the first episode, but I guess he’s had a change of heart? Or maybe it’s just a part of him he can’t let go? This was all a clever setup by Brockman to declare that Santa might as well be dead, because Homer Simpson has stolen his spotlight. They then show a photo of Homer strangling Bart in front of Marge and Lisa, but it’s been digitally altered to replace Bart with an image of a bouquet of flowers.
Ned, you’re starting to freak me out a little bit.
Next door, Ned is practically steaming watching this report. He starts tugging on his moustache and assuring himself “Pain is the cleanser,” in an attempt to banish his jealous thoughts. Mel Gibson would approve. A ring of the doorbell gets him off the couch and it’s a pregnant woman (Hayden) who needs help with her car. An overzealous Ned offers to jump the car, rotate the tires, and even fold the map she’s holding. This just turns her off and, calling Ned a creep, the woman says she was looking for Homer Simpson. That is apparently the last straw as Ned vows to show the whole town that he’s nicer than Homer. That he can be the nicest man who ever lived! He then looks at a picture of Jesus on the wall and tells him he said nicest man, not man-god, and to keep his pants on. I don’t think Jesus wore pants, Ned. Hah!
Skinner and his mother asking the important questions here.
To make good on his boast, Ned has decided to go door-to-door dressed as Santa Claus handing out presents to everyone in town. His first stop is the Skinner residence where Seymour (Shearer) is flabbergasted by Ned’s mission. Agnes (MacNeille) barks at him, “What’s your angle, pervert?” and Ned is actually honest by answering “Giving in this world, living in the next!” In other words, he just wants to get into Heaven. When Skinner asks how he can possibly afford this on a widower’s salary, Ned informs him he rented out his house to a fraternity. We cut back to Ned’s home and there are Greek letters (Sigma, Chi, Sigma? I’m not up on frat business) above the door and a keg goes flying through the front window. We hear an agitated Rod also shouting “Stay out of our medicine cabinet!”
That’s quite an imagination you’ve got there, Homer.
Homer takes note of Flanders’ good deeds and scoffs at them. We see he’s already been to the Simpson house and gifted Bart a Krusty-branded version of Operation. We hear the toy groan when Bart “tweezes my wang.” I feel like they’re usually more subtle than that? Homer, apparently taking Ned’s bait, wants to outdo him and thinks the best way is to buy everyone a car. Lisa, ever the voice of reason, is there to tell her father that he doesn’t need to outdo Mr. Flanders and to remind him to remember the theme of the season. Homer seems to think it’s despair and Lisa goes on to share her feelings on the matter of gifts as a Buddhist. She thinks people would be better off without presents, which gets Homer thinking. We see a car, a Christmas sweater, and then an image of Budai (smiling fat dude often mistaken for Buddha), and they all combine into an image of Budai (Azaria) driving. He offers Homer some sage advice, “[…]attachment to material goods kills the soul.” Then, for some reason, Budai gets pulled over by the cops in Homer’s imagination and vows to never return to jail. Homer is satisfied now and decides he needs to take away everyone’s presents! He then thanks, Buddha which brings back his brain cloud to show Budai getting arrested and threatening the cops that they’re in trouble if he ever gets out.
Look at Santa’s Little Helper! He’s cuter than Bradford II!
And now it’s time for an extended Grinch parody! Homer, with assistance from Santa’s Little Helper, is going to go house to house stealing all the presents under the tree in town on Christmas Eve. And as he does so, he’s going to sing about to the tune of “You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch” which goes something like this: You’re a hero, Homer Jay. You’re as crafty as a skunk. They’ll thank you in the morning for stealing Flanders’ junk, Homer Jay! You’re a double-bacon genius burger, and just a little drunk!” As he does, we see clips of him walking like the Grinch, slithering like the Grinch, cutting down stockings like the drink, and chloroforming a toddler like the Grinch. Wait! That’s all Homer and not a good look for the big guy.
This sort of thing didn’t work out all that well for the Grinch, but maybe it will for Homer.
At dawn, Homer is seen driving the family station wagon into the center of town with a massive sack of stuff tied to the roof. He hops out of the car and douses the bag in gasoline before hopping onto the ground to put a hand to his ear. There he waits to listen to the thanks coming from the folks of Springfield. It’s a rather clever inverse of the Grinch. He wanted to hear sadness and anger over his stealing Christmas, but heard singing instead. Homer wants to hear the singing, but he just hears anger. First from Lenny, then Dolph (MacNeille), and then we start to jump around. Snake (Azaria) is shown shocked and saddened by the fact that he’s been robbed at Christmas and reflects, “Man, so this is how it feels.” In a season of Simpsons repeating Family Guy gags, I feel like I have to point out that Family Guy did a very similar joke where an inmate stabs himself to see how it feels. We then jump to a rather sad scene at Nelson’s house. He wonders if his dad came back in the night to steal their presents while his mom (MacNeille) just gruffly says “I wouldn’t put it past him.” She references the night he left and Nelson gets defensive insisting he just went to the store and when he gets back he’s going to wave those Pop Tarts right in her face! Poor, delusional, Nelson.
Definitely not a gracious mob.
Homer then pulls back a little disappointment in hearing anger, but he points out happily that a mob is approaching shaking its fists in anger! The show decides to let Cookie Kwan (MacNeille) and Drederick Tatum (Azaria) get some lines in before the mob begins pummeling a confused Homer with snowballs. Even the Simpson family joins in on the beating. And who comes to Homer’s aid? Why, it’s Ned Flanders, of course. He stands protectively between Homer and the mob to tell them what Homer did was wrong, but that maybe he was also wrong to give everyone those gifts? Ned gets bombarded with snowballs for suggesting such and knocked to the ground.
Well, I hope this hurts less than a football to the groin, Hans.
Now, it’s Homer’s turn to rise to Ned’s defense. He shouts out for everyone to wait and look to the sky for there is the Christmas they need. And in the sky high above Springfield is a brilliant, shining, star. Everyone is transfixed with Selma (Kavner) even declaring it a miracle. We cut abruptly to find out that it isn’t a star, but a flare fired by Hans Moleman (Castellaneta) who appears to have gone off the road and is stuck chest-deep in the snow. It’s his last flare too, but don’t worry, for rescue dogs have come to his aid! Oh, actually those are wolves and the McGrew-like Moleman is blind and confused and sure to die.
Homer’s big speech is a thing of beauty. Bravo to writer, Michael Price, who penned this one.
Back in the center of town, Ned is finishing up reading from the Bible, the same passage old Linus referenced in A Charlie Brown Christmas. Before he can finish though, Mayor Quimby (Castellaneta) buts in to say that Ned can’t pray on city property. Homer takes it from there, “Let’s just say that on this day, a million years ago, a dude was born who most of us think was magic, but others don’t, and that’s cool. But we’re probably right. Amen.” The crowd returns with an “Amen” as well, and I just love that summation by Homer. It sums up that Christian smugness so prevalent in American society since that’s the majority opinion.
He’s such a good boy!
Homer then decides, with Ned’s help, to return all the gifts! As the two toss gifts to the mob, we get the expected animation of Santa’s Little Helper doing his Max impression as well. To sneak in an extra joke, we also get to see Professor Frink (Azaria) open his present and find it’s a brassiere (his choice of words), but in the spirit of Christmas, decides to make pretend that he has boobs. Bart is shown sharing his sentiments that this is a great Christmas and that not even Moe’s (Azaria) annual suicide attempt can bring him down. We then cut to Moe on top of City Hall threatening to jump and no one taking him seriously. Moe vows to jump and that they’ll all be sorry, but then laughs and confesses he’s not going to do it, but slips and falls anyway.
And as for Moe…who did NOT die!
No one was paying attention to old Moe for they were busy launching into a rendition of “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing,” because we need to tie this back to Peanuts one more time. Moe actually gets to deliver the “Peace on Earth and mercy mild,” line so we see he’s not dead, just really, really, hurt. As the crowd sings, we cut back to the wrapped astrolabe on the roof of Homer’s car. We hear it say that today is the birth of Jesus, and also the birthday for singer Barbara Mandrell. Snake then steals it for good measure, a nice way to bring the whole story back around to the beginning. We fade out on the crowd singing. Merry Christmas!
I like that they got the astrolabe into the end somehow.
As far as Simpsons Christmas episode go, that is one of the most joke-heavy ones they’ve done. There are tons of one-liners and just silly moments for the sake of comedy. Yeah, there are plenty of holes one can go poking through it, especially if past episodes are brought up. I’m always a little surprised when this turns into a “Homer Loves Flanders” redux in the second half thus leading into the Grinch parody. It’s quite a ride considering where we started. There’s really no B plot as the plot of the episode just moves from one stage to the next. I like that about it and it is reminiscent of “Grift of the Magi,” another Christmas episode that just moved from one situation to the next. The difference there is that one morphed into a Christmas episode where as this one was pretty much committed the whole way through.
The stop-motion segments are great and really help to give the episode a “special” sort of feel.
As I mentioned during the write-up, there are a ton of moments where TV is used to advance the plot. I’m pretty much okay with it though as there was some great comedy to be found there. The Christmas special parodies were all well done, even if some played it mostly straight. The extra surprise of stop-motion utilized was pretty damn cool too and shout out to Chiodo Brothers Productions, Inc. for producing those segments. Some of the jokes could be described as easy or layups, but I found they worked. And try to keep in perspective that some of this stuff was still pretty novel back in 2003. Now, a Grinch parody feels a bit more played-out, though I’m struggling to think of many Magoo parodies so The Simpsons was and is still ahead of the curve there.
“‘Tis the Fifteenth Season” may honestly be the funniest Christmas episode of The Simpsons. That doesn’t mean it’s the best, but there’s a solid amount of laughs to be found. Some don’t like the portrayal of “Jerk Ass” Homer like we see in the first act and I also know folks who don’t like what Flanders morphed into in the 2000s. Such opinions are valid, but for me, it works. This is funny television. It’s not trying to make much of a statement, just lampoon Christmas specials. There isn’t really a cynical message either so if you don’t care for those types of Christmas specials then I don’t think this one qualifies. It’s just a bunch of stuff that happened at Christmas.
Merry Christmas from me and the Simpsons.
And that’s it for the 2024 edition of The Christmas Spot! If it’s the last time I do this 25 specials in 25 days thing then I feel like I went out with a pretty solid selection of Christmas episodes. There was some good, even some great, and some stinkers, but those are fun to read and write about. It was a lot though as I finish writing this one on December 23rd, possibly the latest I’ve taken to finish one of these. That’s partly why I feel like I need to take a step back because it’s become harder and harder to find the time (and material) to keep this up. Whether you read one or 25 of these things this year, thank you, and I hope you had some fun. Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukah, joyous Wednesday, and good luck in the new year!
That’s a wrap on Christmas 2024, but if you must have more here’s what we had to say on this day last Christmas and beyond:
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The Nostalgia Spot 