Background
Kidrobot turned a few heads when they announced a mini figure line based on The Simpsons. However, the designer toy world and Matt Groening's artwork have been intertwined for some time now. While The Simpsons license was more mainstream, in 2005, Critterbox revealed a vinyl series based on Groening's Life In Hell comic. Unfortunately, that line never came to be.
In recent years, we have seen Kidrobot - as well as Toy2R - release several characters from The Simpsons. One of those Kidrobot figures is the Lard Lad vinyl. Lard Lad is the mascot for the donut company of the same name. He looks eerily similar to Bob's Big Boy and first appeared on The Simpsons Treehouse of Horror VI. You might remember that Homer stole Lard Lad's giant donut, causing some citywide destruction.
The Facts
Lard Lad
Series: The Simpsons
Manufacturer: Kidrobot
Artist: Matt Groening
Material: Rotocast Vinyl
Dimensions: 6” tall
Points of Articulation: 3 (neck and arms)
Accessories: Lard Lad Donut
Packaging
The packaging is fairly standard. The pink box has a plastic window front. The Lard Lad logo appears on the other sides of the box, almost looking like it was screen-printed on there. Inside, the figure is twist-tied in place. Gasp!
Our Opinion
The first thing I noticed is that the Lard Lad figure isn't holding his donut over his head. He's not looking up at that colossal fried chunk of dough in envy. But that's because Kidrobot didn't want to make an ultra-realistic sculpt of this figure...they want it to fit their Simpsons platform.
Kidrobot has released several series of The Simpsons 3” mini figures. And to keep it in scale, it makes sense that the Lard Lad character is twice as large. It uses the same basic body shape with a newly sculpted head and body (the bow tie is sculpted). And rather than holding the donut above his head, that donut has a sculpted peg that you slide into Lard Lad's open hand.
I noticed a few things about the figure. First, his eyes are pointed in the wrong direction. In all of the stills I've seen, Lard Lad's “pac-man” eyes point in the opposite direction. Also, his eyebrows appear extremely thick when compared with the animated version. As far as paint, it's fairly average for a production piece of this size. Around the eyes could be a little tighter, but there's nothing egregious about the paintwork.
OVERALL: If you like previous releases from Kidrobot's The Simpsons mini lines, then you'll be pleased with the Lard Lad vinyl. You just need to remember that they're combining an animated character with a platform...and they've actually done a lot better than other companies/lines that we've seen out there.
You can pick one up at the following:
3DRetro: $39.99
Kidrobot: $39.95
Lard Lad Grades
Figure Quality: 8/10
Sculpt: 8/10
Paint: 7/10
Accessories/Outfit: N/A
Packaging: 6/10
Durability: 9/10
Fun Factor: 9/10
Value: 8/10
Overall: 8.8/10
