There are two pieces of sound effects genius in the "Peanuts" cartoons. One is the muted trombone effect they used to represent the teachers (or any adults) talking. You know, the "mwah-mwah-mwahmwah," and then Linus would say "Yes, Ma'am!" Genius. The other sound that I'm glad they did was the sound for Snoopy's voice. In the comic strips, we can see what Snoopy is thinking (and thus "saying,") but in the cartoons, instead of having Snoopy talk, Schulz decided to have friend (and animator) Joe Melendez do the voice for Snoopy. Part howl, part yawn, part...whatever, it's a distinctive voice that always gets Snoopy's meaning across without actual words. Fantastic.

One of Snoopy's most memorable schticks is of course playing the World War I Flying Ace--flying his trustworthy Sopwith Camel into dogfights (heh!) against the Red Baron. In "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown!" Snoopy gets extended scenes where he's flying his plane-doghouse into battle, gets shot down, and has to make his way across the French countryside to safety. As a child I found the scenes quite scary, but now they intrigue me--a great measure of their impact.

So when I saw that this particular Snoopy figure came with the Flying Ace helmet and scarf, I knew this was the one I had to buy. There are three other Snoopy figures out right now, but this one's the best. It even includes Snoopy's little bird friend Woodstock, who didn't even exist yet when the "Great Pumpkin" special was animated, but would surely have been included if he had. So a nice bonus there.

Playing Mantis took a chance with Snoopy--he's about the size of your average Happy Meal toy, and because of his necessarily hollow head (so he won't tip over) he can come off as "cheap" looking. But they've taken care to make him the most versatile of figures in the line by giving him special joints that work only for Snoopy, but are necessary for him to recreate those "Flying Ace" scenes.

He has the standard joints at his neck and shoulders. Then cutting diagonally from his belly down to his tail is another joint. Seeing it in the package, I thought "well what the hell is THAT?" But it turns out that's the joint that makes the whole figure work. Because of that joint, you can swivel his hips from his torso 180 degrees, and then swivel both feet back around so they face forward, and voila! Snoopy sits. Good dog! At first I thought "wouldn't it be easier to just have a standard hip joint like Star Wars figures have?" But Playing Mantis' solution preserves Snoopy's "roundness." I've come to really like it.

Snoopy is of course just black and white, with a black collar and the black spot on his back; and unfortunately, whoever was painting collars that day got a little bit sloppy, so his black collar is smudged onto his shoulder. It bugs me a little bit, but not enough to launch a class action lawsuit.

He comes with his green pilot's helmet, which is a softer plastic that can be easily put on Snoopy's head and removed again; he also comes with a red cloth scarf that you can wind around his neck perfectly to complete his look. Woodstock is a simple (and tiny) one-piece figure with no joints, but he's only an inch tall, so I was happy just to have him. They also come with the obligatory pumpkin patch base--so when all six figures are together, you've got a pumpkin patch about a foot long!

There's another "Great Pumpkin" Snoopy figure that comes with a Doghouse playset for about twenty bucks. I didn't buy it, because if I had brought HOME a doghouse, I'd be IN the doghouse. Know what I'm saying? Choose your battles, toy collectors.

There are two other Snoopy figures out right now as well, both are nice. One is from the Peanuts Baseball series, which includes Snoopy and THREE of his bird friends as outfielders...and the other has Snoopy and Woodstock together with a birdbath and (I believe) Snoopy's dog dish and Woodstock's nest. All are very nicely done, but I wanted to play "Shoot Snoopy down over France."

I picked this up at Kay-Bee Toys--the figures are being re- released with additions to the line in time for Halloween--if you're interested, I'd start keeping an eye out in the next few weeks. The figures are a lot of fun for children or adults, and if you haven't completely started thinking and acting and talking ("Mwah-mwah-mwahmwah") like one, these toys could be for you.

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The other figures in The Great Pumpkin line include:

Charlie Brown
http://www.epinions.com/content_109784698500

Linus Van Pelt
http://www.epinions.com/content_110064733828

Lucy Van Pelt
http://www.epinions.com/content_110433242756

Schroeder
http://www.epinions.com/content_110467059332

Sally Brown
http://www.epinions.com/content_110546161284



Recommended: Yes

Amount Paid (US$): 3.33
Type of Toy: Action Figure