Neca Simpsons figures

So now that I've seen the Neca 25th Anniversary Simpsons figures, the Celebrity Guest wave 1... I gotta  say, not impressed. For $11 (which seems oddly affordable due to the ever increasing cost of action figures... sadly) I wanted more. And I certainly wanted better sculpts.

The only figure I wanted from this wave was Tom Hanks, but now seeing the figure... it doesn't look like Tom Hanks... it doesn't even look like the Simpsons version of Tom Hanks. It looks like generic background Simpsons character in suit. Here's both the 5" version and the minifigure version.

I thought the Yao Ming figure was better done, even if you can only really tell who he is because of the basketball and the fact his sweater says "YAO."

Actually, the best sculpted figure was the James Brown figure, which I'm not talking about here because I actually bought it and might go over it at a later date. But knowing me, probably not.

Ultimately, I think these figures are a step down from the Playmates Simpsons figures. The Neca versions are too angular and sharp, losing some of the cartoon feel. Also, it's really only of interest if you want an action figure of a celebrity done in the Simpsons style, which seems like a really niche market. But these are nicer than the Macfarlane Simpsons, since these are actual action figures and not stationary dioramas with no play value.