This Saturday Night Live Weekend Update set with Tina Fey and Amy Poehler debuted a few years ago back in 2015. I'm reviewing now in 2018 because I just recently discovered the existence of this item by browsing for dioramas and play sets . Plus I can hardly find any reviews on this item on Youtube or anywhere so I thought I'd take a crack at it. As you can see the name of this set is called " Saturday Night Live Tina Fey & Amy Poehler . Notice that it mentions the included Weekend Update diorama piece on the packaging however it is easily noticeable that the two action figures of the women are the main selling points. At least it is for the company that made this set, which is Bif Bang Pow . However I did not purchase this set for the two figures . I purchased it for the Weekend Update Diorama piece and you'll understand why as you continue to read this article . By the way I purchased this off an E bay auction for a very nice price of around 12 dollars with free shipping .
This review will be done in the following format . First the two figures will be reviewed. Second the Weekend Update fold-out diorama , third a look at the two figures inside the diorama and finally a look at how six inch scale figures can be implemented into the set .
Nice packaging with an old school style. Notice that there are no bios for the two women about their careers and career accomplishments. I'm cool with that because a lot of people know about both Tina and Amy and if they do not, they can just Google their names or get their Wikipedia profiles . Now on to the two figures .
As you can see, besides the fold out diorama there are no accessories. No microphones or chairs for them to sit in, just the two figures and the diorama .
Despite looking cartoonish in the face , the figures have a perfect likeness to the real life Tina and Amy in my opinion . Because of the scale of these figures, being right at three inches tall it would be difficult to get fully detailed realistic looking faces . If the figures were in the six inch scale, then making them look realistic would be much easier to do . When I first saw these figures online, I thought they were about the same height as your average G.I. Joe figure. But as you can see they are shorter than Joes as the Joes stand almost four inches tall at 3.75 inches . Notice also that the same body mold is used for both figures. They share the same body mold but different head sculpts . As you can see the articulation is also limited . There's knee movement along with up and down leg and arm movement . And the heads rotate to the sides. Even though I'm not a big fan of three inch figures but these two are pretty nice and fun to have in the collection. Now on to the fold-out Weekend Update diorama .
You will have to hook the diorama together to get the look that's on the packaging . There are no instructions or directions that come with the set . So I'll describe what you must do as best as I can .
(1) Notice the two pegs on the Weekend Update map . One is at the lower right bottom of the map and the other on the lower left bottom .
(2) There are some open slots on the sides of the Weekend Update desk . Take those two pegs and insert them into those slots by folding the corners they are on . After following these steps you should get the look below.
Here's the outcome. I know my setup is nowhere near perfect and is no where near as perfect looking as it is on the packaging, but it will do for now. I'm still satisfied with this play set . I've also seen variants of this set online only where the Weekend Update Map is a light brown instead of blue .
As for the size of the set, as you can see it is just a tad under six inches tall and is almost nine inches long in width . Now let's see how the two figures look inside the set .
Notice the reflections of the figures on the desk. Despite being made of soft cardboard the desk has the same reflective traits as a real wooden desk. A very cool effect .
I think the figures look great inside the set despite having no chairs to sit in . As for getting the best camera angle to get the illusion as if they are sitting, I recommend taking the picture directly in front of the desk. This way it would be hard to distinguish if the figures are standing or sitting . Now to see how a six inch scaled figure fits in with this set .
Perfect fit however she is not sitting in a chair or standing. Find out how as you move along this article.
So how did I get this Buffy the Vampire Slayer figure ( I forgot the character's name ) to fit into the desk ? As you can see the answer is above, as she is sitting on her knees to give the illusion as if she is sitting down . Sorry for the poor picture quality but at least now you know the secret of how to install six inch scale figures into this play set, despite the figures being almost as tall as the set itself . Also if you watch the real Weekend Update on Saturday Night Live you'll notice that you do not see the chairs the news anchors/ actors are sitting on, you just see them . So rather you want to display the two figures that come with this set or other figures from another toy line, it can be done as you can see .
FINAL THOUGHTS
(1) ARTICULATION LIMITS - Of the two figures of Tina Fey and Amy Poehler , the limits are no up and down head movement and no outer leg and arm movement. As the articulation category does not apply to the play set .
( 2) STANDING ABILITY OF THE FIGURES - They stand well once you balance them properly despite having heels.
(3) WHAT I LIKE BEST ABOUT THIS WHOLE PLAY SET ? -Both the figures and diorama piece are nice . Plus I like the fact that the Weekend Update set up can be used with bigger taller figures from other toy lines . This is great for toy photography shots and if you crop your pics it does not just have to be a Weekend Update setup. With cropped pictures it can be any news desk with any news anchor . Plus the Weekend Update set is the exact look of the current real life Weekend Update set on Saturday Night Live at the time of this writing .
(4) WHAT I LIKE LEAST ABOUT THIS WHOLE PLAY SET ? - There's nothing disliked.
(5) WHAT COULD HAVE BEEN DONE TO IMPROVE THIS WHOLE PLAY SET ? - Provide some chairs for the anchors to sit on and make the whole news set a little bigger to accommodate larger action figures .
(6) GRADING SCALE - I give everything a Perfect Ten !!! The two figures and the diorama setup all put together .
(7) FINAL ANALYSIS - If you want a " Saturday Night Live Tina Fey & Amy Poehler" set for yourself I recommend going to either Ebay or Amazon. Plus I'll admit I do watch Saturday Night Live and I'm a fan of Weekend Update . Not only that but Weekend Update is my favorite segment on the show. Plus I love dioramas made for six inch scale figures. Also the Weekend Update map is the exact color I wanted, the light blue map just like the current real Weekend Update background map . So buying this set was a no brainer for me along with being a satisfied purchase .
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