raditionally, near the end of October, the TV series The Simpsons treats its viewers to a trio of tall tales to spook and amuse. Known as "Treehouse of Horror," these episodes have been the most anticipated and loved of each season. Each year, producer Matt Groening spoofs various horror tales from popular culture using America's favorite dysfunctional family.
For the past three years, Toys R Us has distributed exclusive playsets based on the "Treehouse of Horror" episodes. This year, Donuthead Homer, Witch Marge, Hugo (Bart's evil twin) and Evil Willy share a tiny room in Hell's "Ironic Punishment Division."
In "The Devil and Homer Simpson," Homer sells his soul to Ned Flanders, aka Beelzebub, and is taken to hell, where he is tortured by being force-fed doughnuts. This, of course, has no effect on Homer, who just keeps asking for more. Marge fights Ned in court and wins back Homer's soul. But as a parting gesture, Ned turns Homer's head into a doughnut.
In "Easy Bake Coven," Marge stalks a small town as a witch flying on her broom, trying to eat the town's children, inadvertently inventing the tradition of "trick-or-treating."
In "The Thing and I," it is discovered that Bart has an evil twin who has lived the last decade in the attic with only a baby-food jar full of screws for companionship. But is he the evil twin? Or can Bart's behavior better explain matters?
In "Nightmare on Evergreen Terrace," due to unreasonable budget cuts, demands by Groundskeeper Willy to repair certain dangerous problems at Springfield Elementary lead to his death. He returns, Freddy Krueger-like, to take revenge upon the townsfolk of Springfield by making them pay—with their childrens' blood!
The playset consists of a backdrop of hell with demon, stalagmites and a conveyor belt. It features three Intelli-Tronic connection points on which each character can be placed. Pushing buttons associated with each connection point triggers three sound samples for each character from the appropriate episode. For example, Evil Willy will say, "When I'm done with ye, they'll have to do a compost-mortem." Witch Marge says, "We're here to eat your kids." Hugo says, "I went mad after they cut us apart. But I'll be sane once I sew us back together." Donuthead Homer says "Oh, but I'm so sweet and tasty!" They speak 12 samples in total.
Each figure comes with accessories. Homer has a doughnut, Marge has a broom, Hugo has a can of hot dog meat (with a hand visible at the top), and Willy has a hat and rake.
Flawed, fun
and hard to find
After three years, the eagerly anticipated Treehouse of Horror playset is still one of the most popular of the Simpsons line. Last year, the playset, including Kang, Kodos and Homer, could not be found at Toys R Us unless you were incredibly lucky. They flew off shelves before dust could collect on the boxes.
The figures are great representations of the characters from the TV series. Playmates has done an admirable job on the Springfield characters' likenesses, though they often suffer in articulation.
One would think that after three years some of the inherent design flaws in the original Treehouse of Horror playset would have been solved, but many are still here. For example, like the original Treehouse playset, this one comes with four figures, but only three connection points. One would think they would either add a fourth connection or remove a figure from the set.
It can be incredibly difficult to fit the figures into the Intelli-Tronic connection points. Often, when a figure is jammed onto the leads, it isn't fully connected, and instead of hearing its voice sample we are greeted with an "Aaargh" sound that indicates no figure is in place. Sometimes a considerable amount of force is required to fit the figures into place and to remove them.
Also, not all figures can fit on all of the three connections. Homer, Marge and Hugo are fine, since their footprints are small but sprawling. Evil Willy can fit comfortably only on one. On the conveyor belt connector, his other foot cannot rest properly because of the sudden raising of the belt, and on the far left connector there is no room for his other foot at all, so he cannot even be placed there.
While these flaws are annoying, they seem irrelevant when you consider the basic "cool" factor of this toy. It is aimed mainly at adult collectors, and some of its flaws can be forgiven as it is intended less for play and more for display. And when it comes to cool, few TV series meet the criteria better than The Simpsons. The fact that this playset depicts that series makes it cool enough. The fact that it is a depiction of one of the coolest episodes from the series makes it even cooler.
The bottom line on this playset is that it is highly popular and will be a part of any avid Simpsons fan's collection, even if only to get a figure of Groundskeeper Willy as Freddy Krueger!
