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Truly an anamoly in today's market the pop-out people are a fun and exciting product using the Futuram license. No talking features, no articulation and no hefty price tag. Just little cardboard cutouts that stand up in front of another cardboard cutout. This first set is called the 'Classic Collector's Edition' and includes all of your basic characters. Fry, Leela, Bender, Dr. Zoidberg, Nibbler, Prof. Farnsworth, Amy, Hermes, URL and Smitty are all represented here. Why, you may ask, is Smitty and URL included? Well, my feelings are because they were shown in the first episode of Futurama and it is a better fit than proposed later releases. Characters like Brannigan and Kif may seem more appropriate but they make their debuts in the more appropriate second series 'Love's Labours Lost in Space.' Subsequent releases will all be based on individual episodes of Futurama and they all look great as well. With each set comes two sets of backgrounds that can be used for the characters to stand against. This first set comes with the Planet Express Conference Room and a New New York City background. One of the really cool things about the pop-out people is that over time you will have the chance to mix and match characters against various backdrops that are planned. If you don't see your favorite character here chances are they will be released in a future set and can be placed to interract with other characters from different sets. All this without having to worry about if one character is compatible with what playset... er, background. The second set released in this series focuses on the episode entitled 'Love's Labours Lost in Space.' Characters included in this set are Leela in regular outfit, Zapp in his lovenasium attire, Nibbler, Fry, Bender, Kif, a purple fruit snake, Leela in PJ's and Zapp in his captains outfit. Backgrounds include Zapp's bedroom and the planet Vergon 6. One of everybodies favorite episode, as it introduced Zapp Brannigan, this set is as enjoyable as well. Dark Horse was able to capture the flavor of this episode by including the two Zapp's and the two Leela's. Leela holding her 'special' attire is very funny as is Zapp's pose as he rubs his arm to feel that levour. With the two backgrounds and character selection there is definitely two sets of themed characters to interact with each background. Both Leela and Zapp's characters works well in the lovenasium and the rest of the characters fit nicely against Vergon 6. There are no mixing of characters and backdrops on this set, although there is nothing stopping you from doing it. The only character who is a bit out of place is poor Kif but would you have it any other way? He could go in the lovenasium or Vergon 6 but he is not a perfect fit in either nor is he entirely out of place. As is the strong part of this series of pop-out people is the ability to interchange characters from other sets. You could bring in Dr. Zoidberg or perhaps the Leela from the first set and place them against the Vergon 6 background with no problems. As you could also introduce Amy into the lovenasium and if you stretch it a bit, Smitty and URL as they bust in to get medevial on Zapp's ass! Another fine set in the pop-out people line by Dark Horse Comics. Just in time for Halloween Dark Horse Comics gives us the 'Hell is Other Robots' set. Based on the episode of the same name where Bender becomes a member of Robot Scientology, renages, then must endure a trip to Robot Hell and one certain Robot Devil. A pretty good character selection as this time we get less main characters and more supporting characters which is great for the overall line. Included are Bender, Fry with static afro, the Robot Devil, Fender, a robot floozy, the Robot Preacher a robot demon and a butterfly-bot. The backgrounds include Robot Hell and 'Reckless Ted's Funland' Amusement Park. As I said before the character selection in this one does not focus on the main characters and instead gives us more of the supporting characters. I think this is great! I love the two robot demons, the robot floozy and Fender. I wish there could have been some way to include more of the demons so you could have 4-5 of them. I think it would have made Robot Hell a better looking set. I guess I could always buy more sets! I would have also liked to have seen the Beastie Boys heads included here as well but it really does not take away anything from the overall finished product. The only problem with this set is the inclusion of the amusement park backdrop. None of the included characters really fits in with it. It would have been better I think to have included the seedy neighberhood that Bender visited while looking to score some electricity. That would have given the robot floozy, Fry, Fender and the Robot Preacher a more appropriate backdrop in which to display them. Bender works well in either setting and again, since this set did not really include alot of main characters even though they appeared in this episode, you can get the Leela from the first set and put her in Robot Hell or possibly even the amusement park. While the Fry that was included here is hilarious it does not fit really nicely anywhere but again you can pull in one of the other Fry's for the Robot Hell or amusement park. Keeping to their promise to get our holiday themed sets out by the holidays Dark Horse delivers us 'Xmas Story' so that we might enjoy them in this holiday season. Even though this set contains the same amount of characters from previous sets it looks a little sparse to me. Characters included are Leela, Fry, Amy, Bender, 3 robot hobos and the Robot Santa. Backgrounds include the Planet Express lounge and a very nice exterior scene of the Planet Express building. As with Hell is Other Robots this set includes the robot hobos but it would have been nice to get a couple more of these. I am sure they could have fit a couple of more on here. While all the main characters and Amy are shown in there skiing gear and are appropriate I would liked to have seen Farnsworth here as well or perhaps Amy with jet pack and star instead of the skiing Amy. The only problem is who do you throw away? The robot hobos are great as is the Robot Santa and this set would not have been complete without Fry, Leela, Bender and Amy. Also, like Hell is Other Robots this set has two distinct settings that each character fits in. Fry, Leela and Bender fit nicely on both sets even though they were never shown this way in the episode while the robot hobos are more appropriate against the exterior scene as is the Robot Santa, although he would fit nicely in the Planet Express Lounge. This set is probably a little more difficult to mix and match with the other sets already released but not impossible. The robot floozy could go well with the exterior scene and Farnsworth and Heremes could go with the lounge backdrop even though they are already shown on it. They could also go on the exterior of the Planet Express as all of the characters releases so far could do. All in all another great set that will be a blast to pull out every Xmas season! The fifth set to be released in a projected 10 comes from the Season 2 episode Put Your Head on my Shoulder. Dark Horse must have had some fun when putting this set together as we get plenty of background and secondary characters. Included in this set are Malfunctioning Eddie, Bender with shock abosrbing bumpers, headless Fry, Victor, Gary, Petunia, Sal, tow truck driver and Amy's body with Fry's head attached. I really like that Dark Horse is not relying heavily on the main characters when putting together these sets and are branching out to give us lots of characters from the Futurama universe. The backgrounds included are the Mercury landscape and Elzar's restaraunt. This is where this set could have been better. The only character who really goes with and looks appropriate with the Mercury landscape is the tow truck driver. If they would have used Amy and Fry in her new car I would have liked it better. Elzar's restaraunt works better as Gary, Petunia and Sal can all be placed nicely against it and still look good. The problem comes from some of the other characters - again where do you put them? Herein lies part of the strength of the pop-outs. You can place them against other sets already released. I think this set could have benefitted better by coming with say Malfunctioning Eddie's car dealership or some of the other changes mentioned earlier. Overall, however, like I said I like the character selection and the expanding universe of Futurama pop-out people. Another really great set of pop-outs from Dark Horse. Plenty of background characters that helps to capture the look and feel of the episode Fry and the Slurm Factory. Characters included here are Glermo, a grunka-lunka worker, Slurm Master, Fry, Trixie and Dixie, Slurms McKenzie, Zoidberg and a Wormulan guard. The only drawback to the characters chosen for this set is similar to the complaint I have about some of the other sets in that it would have been nice to include more grunka-lunkas. They are small and one or two more could have been fit on the card withouth sacrificing any other characters. It is great to see Zoidberg in his Slurm shirt as well as getting Slurms McKenzie with his party gals Trixe and Dixie. The backgrounds included are the Slurm prodcution chamber and the Slurm factory. Both backgrounds work really well with all the characters included here. It is a little bit of a stretch for one or two of the characters but it is liveable. Zoidberg is the only one who is hard to place in a definitive place but then again - he's Zoidberg! When has he ever fit in? Even though Leela and Bender are not included with this set it should be no problem to get them from some of the other sets already released. Same with Farnsworth, Hermes and Amy. This is one of the best set of pop-out peoples released to date by Dark Horse and I hope they continue on beyond their projected 10 set commitment. Other sets that would make good companion sets to this one include the Problem with Popplers and Mars University - keep your fingers crossed. Great little fun figure from Dark Horse Comics. Bendy Bender has bendable arms and legs and comes with a rod for bending. Did I mention this figures name was Bender? No moving parts or opening doors like the MAC Bender figure but that is not what this figure is about. Although not a difficult figure to get correct - if the proportions are off this would have been a terrible figure. Nice paint job to boot but again nothing complicated about Bender. There is a Previews exclusive Bender figure that is 100% glow-in-the dark that is available as well. 2001 - Leela Bendy 7.99-10.99
2001 - Kif Kroker 7.99-10.99
 Taking the pop-out idea one step back to the past - Dark Horse Comics delivers the Futurama Paper Doll Book featuring Amy and Leela. The images inside are much bigger than I expected but there are not as many poses as I thought there would be so it all balances out. Both Amy and Leela come with 5 'sextacular' outfits each to go along with a base image of them in their skivvies. While most of the outfits are made up - one or two are actually taken from the show. An example is Leela's poodle skirt outfit as seen in the recent episode 'Roswell That Ends Well.' It makes me wonder if at some point all of these outfits will be seen in an episode as it is possible the artwork for the book could have been based on episodes that were intended to run last year. We shall have to wait and see. Amy comes with fencing, an outfit that I can only describe as 60's, a nighty, space warrior and what looks like a Queen Amidala/ Mars heritage outfit. Leela comes with the aforementioned poodle skirt, tennis gear, a swedish little number(?), fur hat, coat and shoes outfit and a sexy space outfit. Throughout the pages for each character are little word balloons with quotes appropriate for each character. Kudos to Dark Horse for taking the time to do a little research on this even though they are not perforated and cannot be taken out. The first and last page that Leela and Amy come on are hardstock paper ideal for standing up the characters and displaying. I wish they would have used the same heavy paper for the rest of the book as we get just glossy paper which doesn't look like it will stay on the characters very well. The inside flap of the book is a nice New New York street scene as seen on the first pop-out series released. The cover graphics could have been better as well. All stock images using the retro theme from the bendies and tin toys from RocketUSA. I would like to have seen more graphics throughout the entire book as well. Since you can't use the quotes in any way a little picture of Amy/Leela with the word balloons would have been good. The book is much bigger than I thought it would be as well. This is magazine size - big magazine size like Spin Magazine which left plenty of room on each page for little filler graphics. Overall it is a fun little product that again like the pop-out people takes us back to a much simpler time and simpler pleasures. It is kind of ironic that a show about the future is spending so much time in the past. I hope Dark Horse periodically releases new paper doll books as there are many other characters that would be fun in this fashion. A paper doll book of nothing but robots would be fun. How much fun would it be dressing up the Crushinator? Or Miss Vergon 6? But the ultimate paper doll book would be Dr. Zoidberg with fashions provided by J. Claw! This is a must! No, seriously - we must have it! If you would like to give your opinions or discuss this item go to the Futurama Foundation Message Board and give your thoughts. BENDER HALLOWEEN MASK  This is a picture I took at the San Diego Comic-Con 2001. This Bender mask is very large - larger than I had imagined it from seeing the pictures. Surprisingly there is some nice little detail work on the mask as the teeth are sculpted and not just painted on. Some might say that this is not consistant with how the character is portrayed on the show but I think it adds a little to the overall appearance of it. There is a little tear away tag at the top of Bender's antennae that should be taken off if you plan to use it. I left it on as it makes for a nice hanging hook. I actually have mine hanging on the wall as a sort of futuristic tribal mask. Ooooh very scary! The only thing that I wish is that this, along with the lunchbox, came in some type of packaging.
2001 Leela Glow-In-The Dark Bendy 7.99-10.99
2001 Kif Glow-In-The Dark Bendy 7.99-10.99
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