When I was a kid, I used to get £1 pocket money a week. I could either keep it to save up for something big that I wanted or my dad would drive me to the local garage so that I could buy a new Smurf for my collection. They're still at my mum & dad's house and I must have over a hundred of them ! It was therefore a real trip down memory lane when I received some new Smurfs to review !
The new Smurfs all represent sports so they're perfect for the current Olympic Games frenzy. I do remember sports-themed Smurfs (and Super-Smurfs which came in boxes with removable accessories !) in my childhood collection so they're perfectly in-keeping with the rest of the figures.
We received five Smurfs but there are ten new ones in total. The manufacturers say : "It’s time to get sporty in Smurf land! Just in time for the very special sporting event in London this summer, ten new Schleich Smurfs are here, with one even wearing a winning medal! Who would have thought that Smurfette is a sporting all-rounder, the blonde Smurf shines not only as a gymnast, but is also unbeatable as a beach volleyball player. Her sporting talent is also evident in the relay race, quick as a flash, she passes the baton in no time. The Sprinter Smurf is also very quick, once he leaves the starting block, he’s running so fast you can only see a blur! The Schleich Smurfs are representing lots of sporting disciplines. Whether shot put, javelin, running or swimming, they always cut a good figure. However all this sport can sometimes be exhausting, as the Weightlifter shows, with his last strength he braces himself and manages to lift the weight!"
What I love are all the little details and expressions that make each one individual, such as the cocked eyebrow and tongue sticking out in concentration for the javelin-throwing Smurf. I remember spending hours setting all my Smurfs out and making up stories with them as a kid, so these would be great for some Olympic-themed creative play.
I think the faces and colour of the Smurf figurines have changed very slightly compared to the ones I used to collect in the seventies so I went and did a bit of investigating. Wikipedia explains : "From 1959 until the end of the 1960s, Dupuis produced Smurf
figurines. But the best known and most widely available Smurf figurines
are those made by Schleich,
a German toy company. Most of the Smurf figurines given away as
promotional material (e.g. by National Garages in the 1970s and McDonald's in the 1990s) are also made by Schleich. New Smurf figures continue to appear; in fact, only in two years
since 1969 (1991 and 1998) have no new Smurfs entered the market.
Schleich currently produces 8 to 12 new figurines a year. Over 300
million of them have been sold so far."
I need to find my old collection in the loft at my mum and dad's house to double-check ... not to mention to add the new Smurf figurines to their friends and get them all out across the floor to have a Smurfingly good afternoon of fun smurfing around with them !
star rating : 4/5
Disclosure : I received five Smurfs from the collection in order to write to review.
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