To celebrate the 25th Anniversary of Jim Henson's wildly popular puppet variety show, Palisades Marketing has created a line of action figures based on the series characters. The initial line consists of Kermit the Frog, Miss Piggy, Dr. Bunsen Honeydew and Dr. Teeth. Also available in the first release is the Muppet Labs playset with Beaker, Honeydew's noisy sidekick.

The sculpting of the figures has been done with a painstakingly amount of detail to replicate the characters. The fact that the figures are sculpted to imitate the fabric of the puppets is a wonderful touch, rather than trying to make them smooth, like previous figures have done. The characters have folds and creases where they would in the fabric and even the accessories are well detailed. There are enough bendable points for good poseability, but not so much so that it takes away from the quality of the figures themselves. The little touches, like Dr. Teeth's glasses are what really rise this series to the top of the quality ladder.

Each figure comes with a base and accessories, and as said before, the accessories are as good in quality as the figures themselves. In fact, the accessories are fairly sizable, unlike some lines that just add something to put in the character's hand. Dr. Teeth's keyboard and hat are essential (especially if you plan on having him posed as part of the Electric Mayhem). Honeydew's Muppet Labs book and robot rabbit are possibly the best of the accessories, especially considering that the robot rabbit is basically an additional figure all it's own. Ms. Piggy comes with her own dresser table and mirror and Kermit comes with a coffee mug and television camera.

Coming in September 2002 is the second series, which will include Gonzo, Fozzie Bear, Sgt. Floyd Pepper and Crazy Harry (the one who likes to blow things up). Also coming in September is the Electric Mayhem Playset with Animal. If both lines do well, I expect to see more and more of the classic characters brought to the toy stores. And to be honest, how are you gonna make the best of the Electric Mayhem Playset without Janice and Zoot?

I can, with no doubt, state that this is the best lineup that Palisades has released to date. The level of detail and quality is superb. Fans of The Muppet Show will be pleased, with maybe only minor quibbles about the exactness of color tones. This series proves to me that Palisades can put out a top notch series in competition with McFarlane.

- - Kinderfeld