The Good: Voice chip is nice.
The Bad: Bears no resemblance to Scotty, Ridiculous, Overpriced.
The Basics: Another annoying Star Trek Wacky Wobbler may be avoided by toy enthusiasts everywhere with the release of the Scotty Wacky Wobbler!
I know everyone who reads my reviews knows that I am not a fan (in principle) of the Bobbleheads and Wacky Wobblers and the like. One need only read my review of the Funko Gorn Wacky Wobbler (click here for that!) to know I have been hugely disappointed by the merchandising around Star Trek of late. After all, a quality toy could be made, but it was not. Funko seems to be geared toward the cheap and trendy with little regard for real value or what diluting the market does to the value of the other, quality toys. Today I am having a problem with the Mr. Scott Wacky Wobbler toy. I am upset about the Scotty Wacky Wobbler because it bears more of a resemblance in its coloring and expression to Fred Armisen (from Saturday Night Live).
The only advantage this toy has over other Wacky Wobblers is that there is a sound chip in it, but even that is not enough to make me even consider recommending this substandard toy.
Basics
For those unfamiliar with the concept and the execution, Funko Wacky Wobblers are a bobblehead style toy which is basically a statue figure that has an abnormally large head set atop a spring. The plastic toy has somewhat distorted features and does not do anything as much as it sits where it is put and reacts mildly to vibrations. The Scotty Wacky Wobbler is part of Funko's Star Trek line which has gone a long way to helping to prove that Trekkers will not just buy anything that says Star Trek on it!
Scotty is the human Chief Engineer and miracle worker of the U.S.S. Enterprise and his Wacky Wobbler debut has him in his classic red Engineering uniform. Both of Scotty’s hands are molded into fists. As one would expect of a Scotty toy, he has his black hair parted and he has Montgomery Scott's piercing brown eyes. This looks like Scotty at attention. The Scotty Wacky Wobbler comes embedded on a pedestal stand which keeps it stable and from tipping over when one whacks the head.
This is a poor toy interpretation of Scotty, mostly because his head is unrealistically large and his skin is far darker than Scotty or James Doohan's skin tones were. Scotty was pretty caucasian and this toy makes him look Arabic. As well, this is a very animated-looking Scotty and it looks ridiculous.
Accessories
The Scotty Wacky Wobbler comes with no accessories.
Playability
Wacky Wobblers are, by their nature, pretty terrible on the playability front. They are not posable as the feet are molded to the stand they come on and Scotty is no exception to that. Scotty has articulation at the shoulders where the arms are on simple swivel joints, but the overall playability is still incredibly low. Scotty can punch other Wacky Wobblers, but he cannot do anything else.
The main function of a Wacky Wobbler is the spring under the head which allows it to move. Scotty's spring - at least with mine - is surprisingly tight, so it reacts more when hit as opposed to bobbing around like a bobblehead. As such, this becomes a weird stress-reliever as opposed to an exciting, playable toy. Rather annoyingly, Scotty features a voice chip with James Doohan’s lines as Scotty. When tapped, the Wacky Wobbler delivers the lines “Captain! We are losing power in the warp engines!" and "Montgomery Scott. Chief Engineer. Call me Scotty." These lines soon wear thin and become more annoying than cute. And the batteries in this never seem to die fast enough!
Collectibility
The Wacky Wobblers have sold generally poorly, which tends to point to the idea that they were overproduced in an already saturated collectibles market. It's always nice to know geeks won't buy just anything. The Scotty Wacky Wobbler seems to be selling even worse than some of the others, arguably because James Doohan is no longer on the convention circuit autographing each and every weekend. As well, the collectible value is likely to go down as these age because the batteries in them are likely to corrode and most fans will not be happy to have toys that may come out of the package damaged.
Overview
Not fun to play with, having a more annoying bonus function than most toys, the Scotty Wacky Wobbler is a novelty toy that quickly loses its novelty. Star Trek fans can do better and they should!
For other media-themed figures, please check out my reviews of:
Revenge Of The Sith Jeremoch Colton
Lost Shannon Rutherford
Kubricks Watchmen Set B
1/10
For other toy reviews, please check out my index page for an organized listing!
© 2010 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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