The Year Without a Santa Claus

When The Year Without a Santa Claus came out, I remember its reception within my family was lukewarm. The general concensus was that it was no Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. Over the years, however, it has grown on us, and it seems the general public as well, and has culminated in this set of action figures!

Present of course are Snow Miser and Heat Miser, along with two each of their little clones. The part of the show that everyone remembers are their bragging introductory songs, an old tradition now, alas!, mainly confined to rappers. Santa Claus, in his "civilian" red suit and Mrs. Claus are here, as well as the Laurel-and-Hardy-esque elves, Jingle and Jangle. Accessories include a newspaper (announcing Santa's plan not to come--he's the problem here, people!), a basket with a Santa costume (that Mrs. Claus tries on when she considers subtituting for Santa), and several spare "stuffed" toys including a giraffe, zebra, and elephant.

The figures came three in a box, with accessories. In one box were Santa, Snow Miser and Jangle; in the other Mrs. Claus, Heat Miser and Jingle. At $60 altogether, that breaks down to about $10 per figure, not a bad price at all. The beauty of figures like these is that because they are based on "Animagic" puppets that are to all intents and purposes highly articulated dolls, a perfect likeness can be achieved that is impossible if sculpting from life or graphic animation. And perfect they are, from the watch dangling at Jingle's vest to the spangly fabric of the Miser's jagged shirts.

Many thanks to Tom at Z's Toys for finding me these at such a reasonable price. On the back of the box was also a picture of the line-up of PVC figures that included these six characters and five more from the show: Iggy, Vixen, the Mayor, the Dog Catcher, and Mother Nature.