C. Montgomery Burns (Simpsons (Super7)) Review

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C. Montgomery Burns (Simpsons (Super7)) Review

C. Montgomery Burns
Simpsons (Super7) (Super7)The oldest, richest, most powerful, and no doubt meanest person in Springfield, and now a 7" scale action figure. Excellent…

C. Montgomery Burns (Super7 opted not to call him just Mr. Burns) has a very unique head design, no doubt coming from the Simpsons' early years. The big forehead, long, pointed nose, and overbite make him stand out a bit from most of the characters in the show, and you'd think it'd be hard to convert to three dimensions. Surprisingly, no, as Super7's team of sculptors produced a spot-on recreation of the character's unusual appearance. The one oddity is that when you look at him from below, his jaw and chin appear small, almost as if they're going into the roof of his mouth. The Playmates version did the same, and here, I feel it would've looked nicer if his lower jaw was bigger. Burns gets two extra heads in addition to the neutral expression: one happy and one ticked off and yelling. The yelling head has some side-eye going on, and whenever a figure does that, it bugs the hell out of me. The pupils are merely painted, so you can just cover them with white and repaint them facing forward.

At about 6 3/4" tall, Mr. Burns is dressed in his usual green suit, and any long time Simpsons fan would know the clothing started out more blueish, whereas merchandise and comics had him in a green suit. Once the show went digital ink and paint, his suit became green, but I'll admit I prefer the bluer suit (I believe S7 would've done that eventually had they not lost the license). Still, the simple outfit looks great, and the paint is also a big plus. Granted, the head is simply cast in yellow plastic and given a matte finish rather than painting the skin tone as with previous figures, the lines around the eyes and hair are clean, as is the edges of the shirt and tie underneath the suit. There's a few marks here and there, mainly around the teeth, which also suffer from fuzzy edges, but I don't think it'll be anything too noticeable. What is noticeable, however, is the creasing in the right leg. I assume something got into the molds with mine, and isn't a persistent issue, but other than that, the sculpt is solid.

For a frail old man, Mr. Burns can move quite a bit. He has a ball-jointed neck with surprisingly good range, along with swivel/hinge shoulders, elbows, wrists, knees, and ankles, barbell waist, and ball-jointed hips. Most of the joints should move fine, but the elbows and knees were really tight, and I had to work them carefully, in addition to some heat, to get them moving. His hips are more limited in movement than most figures in the line, and that issue can be attributed to not just the hard plastic of the suit, but also the design of the joints, preventing them from being able to go out too far. In contrast, the knees (aside from the tight hinges) and ankles have plenty of range, and some great arm poses can be achieved as well.

Charles doesn't have a lot of accessories, but at least he's better outfitted than Ralph. He has to come with Bobo, his cherished teddy bear, and while he's been worn out a lot from all the years, the sculpt is great, as is the paint. There's also Blinky, the mutated fish, served up on a platter. Usually we get him in a bowl, so kudos to Super7 for doing something different. Other specific accessories include the trillion-dollar bill, and the "Burns Weekly" magazine from "Fraudcast News." Not a memorable item, but a fitting one for the character. In addition to the extra heads, Burns has four sets of hands: "wedged" (which come in handy for holding the smaller accessories), relaxed, a set for holding Bobo (with vertical hinges, a first and only for this line), and two for going "excellent." Closed and/or pointing hands to go with the yelling head would've been nice, as well as a pack-in of Stewart, the duck who somehow got hired by Burns, to keep up the theme to animal buddies being included with certain figures.

Mr. Burns is a good figure, but is he excellent? Not quite. Some touch-ups to the paint and articulation, along with a few more accessories would've made him feel more "ultimate." If you're not interested in paying $55 for a Burns figure, you'll be pleased to know Jakks Pacific has one in the works that will no doubt be cheaper, as well as vampire version for the Treehouse of Horror enthusiasts. By the time those are out though, this one will probably be cheaper, so hold out for a bit if you want a better deal.

- 5/17/24