Background
If you’re a reader of the Sunday Comics, you might have seen (and even read) the rather popular strip named Mutts – by Patrick McDonnell. Dark Horse has the license to produce figures of the Mutts characters, and recently launched two lines of figures: Vinyl and PVC.
Working directly with Patrick McDonnell and the sculptors at Yoe! Studio, Dark Horse brought main characters, Mooch and Earl, to vinyl form in 8-inch tall rotocast figures. They also released a boxed set of 4 PVC includes Mooch, Earl, Shtinky and Guard Dog.
Packaging
Both lines have similar box artwork, as well as being window-front. I give the advantage to the PVC packaging due to what’s on the back of the box. The vinyl figures simply have a photo of the alternate vinyl figure, however, the PVC set has a comic on the rear (as well as character drawings).
The Figures
The vinyl Earl figure (the one we are reviewing) is approximately 8” in height and has 2 points of articulation (the arms). He is wearing a blue dog collar that has a gold plastic “Mutts” tag on it.
The PVC set contains 4 figures of varying sizes (albeit the same scale) around 3 to 4 inches in height. None of the figures have points of articulation and are made to be plastic figurines for display.
Our Opinion
Dark Horse is becoming well known for creating vinyl (and other) figures of your favorite comic book characters. While Mutts might not be the largest read comic in the newspaper, there is an audience for such a line of collectables.
Vinyl fans will realize that the quality is not that of some of the higher-end vinyl companies. In exchange, you’re not going to need to auction off a kidney to purchase these figures. You’ll see some obvious seams…but they are on the back of the figure, which is helpful for collectors who keep their figures boxed.
The PVC is of average quality for PVC figurines. They are probably what the hardcore Mutts fans would gravitate towards, since there are more characters represented.
You can pick up these figures at the following:
Panik’s Toy Box: PVC Set – $14.99 Earl and Mooch – $17.99 ea.
PVC Set Grades:
Quality: 6/10
Paint: 7/10
Durability: 9/10
Hype: 5/10
Fun Factor: 7/10
Value: 6/10
Overall: 6.8/10
Earl Vinyl Grades:
Quality: 6/10
Paint: 7/10
Durability: 8/10
Hype: 6/10
Fun Factor: 8/10
Value: 9/10
Overall: 7.4/10
Mutts Vinyl Figures
Flocked Snoopy Series from Dark Horse
NYCC 2008: Dark Horse
