Peanuts Fans tend to divide Schulz’ work into two periods: Pre-Peppermint Patty and Post-Peppermint Patty. Her introduction to the Peanuts Gang in the early 1970’s brought with it Marcie and Franklin, and winnowed out Violet and Patty as second-tier Peanuts characters. I’ve had a hard time accepting Peppermint Patty…I think she’s often abrasive and rude (although certainly no more so than Lucy is), but beneath her tomboy-ish exterior, there’s a tender girl who wants to be loved, but fears she never will be because she’s not “cute.” Peppermint Patty’s constant sidekick is Marcie…she was introduced in the comic strip some time after Peppermint Patty was…they met at Summer Camp, and Marcie and her quirky habits (calling PP “sir,” being a 4.0 student in a comic strip of D minuses, etc.) instantly took off. Oddly enough, I’ve always liked Marcie, even though I haven’t liked Peppermint Patty. Marcie is often the only character besides Woodstock who participates in Snoopy’s fantasies…

Anyway. A few years ago Playing Mantis/Memory Lane Toys started their line of Peanuts action figures…and it’s been successful enough that there have been several themed series. The best in my opinion is The Great Pumpkin series, but there have also been solid Christmas and “Good Ol’ Charlie Brown” series (based on the Sunday comic strips). The one series I didn’t have any interest in until now was the baseball-themed series, “You’re An All-Star Charlie Brown.” But that’s changed.

Peppermint Patty and Marcie have finally joined my collection via the baseball series, and they come with a playset that’s cool enough that I want to continue collecting the baseball Peanuts.

The Dugout Playset comes with two low benches for the characters, a chain link backstop fence (mounted on some “grass”), and a scoreboard which perches on another small section of grass. The scoreboard displays the score at the middle of the Seventh Inning, and Charlie Brown’s team has yet to score. There’s a sound chip in the scoreboard that plays three sounds: the crack of a baseball bat, cheers, and “AAAAUGH!”

Peppermint Patty is dressed in a white shirt with a green collar and stripe, and is wearing green shorts. She comes with a baseball cap which fits snugly over her brown hair, but her hair is sculpted well without the cap too. They’ve made progress in how well the 2-D comic strip likeness is captured in these sculpts, and Peppermint Patty is nearly perfect. Her nose, crooked smile, and freckles all complete her look, and even though her articulation is as limited as the previous Peanuts figures, she’s able to hold both her baseball bat and her mitt convincingly. The mitt is a softer pvc plastic, which slips on over her left hand, and works very nicely. Now if they’d only included a baseball with the pair…

Marcie is the manager for the team, so she’s out of uniform…which is good for me, because it means she’s dressed in her traditional orange shirt and brown shorts…they’ve made her a bit shorter than Peppermint Patty, which is perfect, and she’s even got the white-colored “clouded” glasses that she wears in the strip. Marcie isn’t able to hold the baseball bat (and the character wouldn’t be able to herself), but does come with a small clipboard which fits nicely into her hand. The baseball diamond is sketched out on the clipboard with Charlie Brown on the Pitcher’s Mound, Schroeder’s Catcher, etc. It’s a nice touch…even if Peppermint Patty and Marcie have always played against Charlie Brown, never on his team.

This is a great set, which completes both the lineup of characters and the Baseball Diamond that comes with the other figures. This is the first of the Peanuts playsets I’ve bought…others have included a school classroom (complete with “mwah-mwahs”), Snoopy’s Doghouse, and a Halloween Party. I bought this just for the characters included, but it’s cool enough that I may get suckered into buying the rest of the team. It certainly wouldn’t be the first time.

There, I got through the whole review without mentioning lesbianism. I think we should all be proud.

* * OTHER PEANUTS ACTION FIGURES * *

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
Snoopy and Woodstock http://www.epinions.com/content_110593281668
Sally Brown http://www.epinions.com/content_110546161284
Frieda http://www.epinions.com/content_117939146372
Pig-Pen http://www.epinions.com/content_117924662916




Recommended: Yes

Amount Paid (US$): 4.98
Type of Toy: Action Figure