At the time this post is going up, the Simpsons episode featuring Fruit-Bat-Man will be over in at least part of the US. And as some of you now know the story behind Mr. Burns’ Fruit-Bat-Man costume and the Fruit-Bat-Signal, it’s a good time to ask – what’s the point of premium outfits?
Fruit-Bat-Man is the second premium costume we’ve seen this year (Mr. Plow was the first). And while they’re fun and add new storylines to the game, they’re a bit expensive for what they are. Generally, they come at the same price as a premium character. But the difference, of course, is that you’re not adding a character to your game – in fact, you’re taking one out. Sure, when your character puts on a premium costume, his or her tasks earn the premium rate – but that character is also no longer available to carry our regular tasks. And that means that a premium costume doesn’t add as much value as a premium character that costs the same donut price.
I’ll still keep buying them, though – I’m a sucker for these things, and I have a blog to write. But it’s certainly a question worth asking. For me, the jury’s still out on this one.
Oh – and what’s the point of the picture? It’s the Simpsons version of former US Attorney-General Janet Reno, who guest stars as herself on the Fruit-Bat-Man episode of the Simpsons.
Perhaps you’ve already addressed this question at some point, but I figured I’d try and ask here: does the 50% bonus that comes with fruit-bat-man apply to to other costumes? Such as Devil Flanders or Cool Homer?
Hi Thomas – it only applies to the premium costumes like Mr. Plow and Santa Homer. I’m not sure about Devil Flanders or Witch Marge, as I missed out on those. Worth a post, I think
Ok, I figured it was the costumes that had to “bought”. Thanks for the clarification though! Great work with this site by the way, I find something new and informative everytime I come one here
I disagree, even though you put a costume on a character, his regular tasks are still available. Depending on where you are obviously. I had the fruit-bat costume on Mr. Burns and as my story progressed a task for Mr. Burns arose, I just had to wait til a Fruit-Bat task was finished and then just change costumes. YES it’s not a new character but you have ONE character with TWICE the amount of tasks to choose from.
That’s a good point, Mike
What about witch Marge?
I think I would enjoy the episode tie-ins if I actually got to see the episodes, as they haven’t aired in the UK yet. I’m still waiting to find out what the cool brown house is all about, so it’ll probably be 6 months before I see the fruit bat episode.
I live in the Netherlands and I just finished watching the Fruit-bat-man episode here; wtso.net