What did toy maker Kidrobot do right in my never so humble opinion? Why, thank you for asking. I will divulge.
Well, first and foremost– they made Selma smoking. That makes me happy on so many levels. It’s the bread and butter of the character, the personification of the 90s, and a true blast to the past.
So, while this collection of ‘Craptacular’ Simpsons key chains from Kidrobot aren’t brand-spanking new, I still had strong feelings about them and wanted to take a moment to shake my Wizard’s stick at them.
Note that while ‘Craptacular’ might be a Simpsons-invented word, I think it’s funny Kidrobot would choose to latch on to the word when these key chains are a little bit in the not-so-awesome-looking realm of visual quality. More on that soon.
These were released near the end of 2018 in celebration of The Simpsons 30th Anniversary. Thirty years on the air, and I still remember when the first season launched. Admittedly, I remember more when the third season launched– by then I was addicted. But I still remember those very, very early episodes like “R-D-RR”, “My Dingaling!” and Homer chasing Bart around the house when Bart was green from whatever chemicals he got spilled all over him.
And yes, I remember Brown Smithers and black-haired Chief Wiggums.
Heh– Wiggums.
From my observations, there are two types of Simpsons fans. Ones that have stayed with the show all the way from inception to the present (which is a very small percentage) and the people like me, whose favorite show in the whole world, The Simpsons, was (mentally) cancelled somewhere around the 9th-10th season.
You know– the people who to this day speak in 90s Simpsons quotes.
Kidrobot Craptacular Simpsons Key Chain Gallery:
What I really like about this line of key chains from Kidrobot is that they’re a deep dive into the series and each key chain refers to a character or moment that even drop-off fans like me can understand. I see Mr. Plow. I see Bohemian Lisa. Devil Flanders. And even Duff Man. That makes me really happy.
Sideshow Bob would have made me even happier, because he’s my favorite character outside of Selma, but that’s another story.
What I don’t like, and this is sort of my opinion on much of Kidrobot’s inventory, is sort of the cheap paint used on their ‘toy’ items. I feel like Kidrobot is somewhere lost between art student sculpture fodder (like their line of Faberege egg inspired bead rabbits that always manage to sell out), their $50 Reptar statue from Rugrats (which they insist are collectible statues) or their $75 Sonic the Hedgehog in action piece (which reviews state is of extremely low quality). So, they do these three things and I feel they don’t do any of them particularly well.
These Simpsons key chains, while a step in the right directly, aren’t perfect. But they are what they are– $6 blind boxes. Nothing more.
But if they really wanted to do that deep dive they’re promising, they should have included a key chain of Bart as the Raven. Unfortunately, that imagery is left in our memories, and shall be lifted…
Never more.