Review of Ash Williams - Evil Dead 2
Exclusive Sixth Scale Action Figure

Introduction

Sideshow Collectibles has been stepping outside the usual licenses recently, announcing more figures that are 'one offs', characters that everyone loves from favorite films, but which don't have a lot of supporting characters around them. They released Snake Plissken in 2015, and late last year/early 2017 we saw the shipment of Beetlejuice. Their latest in this 'one here, one there' strategy is Ash Williams from the Evil Dead series of films and now a television show.  This particular version is based on his look in the second film.

When I review Beetlejuice, I reiterated my hopes that we'd see this plan continue, and sure enough, during Toy Fair they announced Jack Burton from Big Trouble in Little China, another 80's action favorite and another chance to visit the Kurt Russell portrait.

Ash came in two versions - a regular and a Sideshow exclusive that includes one additional accessory. Both cost $240 initially, although you can find the regular release slightly less at a few retailers. Don't forget to check the Where to Buy section at the end of the review.

Packaging - ***
Nothing out of the ordinary here - standard shoe box with a double plastic tray inside holding things safely, and it's all collector friendly. As with other recent releases, there's a cigar band style slip around the trays, but no slip cover inside. And of course, there's the exclusive sticker on the outer box.

Sculpting - ***1/2
I suspect this portrait will generate much debate. There are those out there who hate Sideshow and anything Sideshow does, so much so it's become a religion for them. There are others that will always be in their corner, even when they drop the ball badly. Those factions will always clash, and when Sideshow produces a figure that's pretty damn good, but not without its flaws, the rest of us will get dragged into the middle.

That's what we have here.  Let's talk accuracy first - there's no doubt this is a young Bruce Campbell as Ash. With the recent Ash Vs Evil Dead tv show (which, if you're not watching, what's wrong with you?) some fans can't get old Bruce out of their head long enough to realize he didn't always look...old. They have the right eyes, nose, and lips here, creating an instantly recognizable portrait.

Except...it's more on the caricature side than perfect realism. I'm not talking full on carnie sideshow drawing, but there's a slight exaggeration to his most notable facial aspects, as though the sculptor saw the line and stepped *just* over it. You can argue that this matches the style of the movies - the characters were often portrayed in lighting and makeup that made them look slightly unreal and definitely over the top.

My biggest complaint on the accuracy would be around the chin, the one place I think they took the 'style' a bit too far. He's got a solid, square jaw, no doubt about that, but here it's accentuated just a little too much.

Some realism is added back in with a nice skin texture, finely detailed hair, and some very nice work on his 'battle damage'. But there's still just a slight bit of what Mezco once called 'stylized' in this sculpt.

The other aspect that boosts this portrait up is the emotive element. Rather than giving us a mannequin expression, we get the cocked eyebrow and attitude, without going over board.  This is Ash at his steely best, and it's a great way to pull the portrait back towards realism.

Like Snake and Beeltejuice before him, there will be some that pan this portrait. They'll be wrong. That doesn't mean it's perfect, but it's well above average, and should make true Ash fans extremely happy.

There's some other interesting aspects to the sculpt this time around, including the chest hair. Remember, this was when men still had chest hair, and didn't think looking like a 13 year old boy was sexy. The work on the boots and chainsaw is excellent as well.

The chainsaw deserves its own discussion here, since it's technically not an accessory but a part of his permanent look. It looks fairly screen accurate to me, with a very realistic sculpt and some nice touches, like the inclusion of the pull handle on a short rope. You can't actually pull it of course, but having it dangle slightly away from the saw adds some more realism to the look.

Paint - ***
I couldn't help but mention Snake and Beetlejuice when discussing the Sculpt - now I'll mention them again in this category. Both of those sculpts were hurt by less than stellar paint jobs. Unlike both of those attempts, Ash has a very good paint application, one that doesn't require any changes or upgrades.

The skin tone and variation is excellent, with clean, straight eyes and zero bleed. The eyebrows and lips look perfect, and there's the right amount of realistic looking blood (it has that perfect, slightly translucent look of a liquid, rather than dry paint) on his various wounds.

The skin color and texture translates to the neck, chest, arm, and hands, creating a smooth consistency across the body parts. The hands have additional dirt and grime, and the chest hair and abdomen wounds sport their own excellent paint applications.

But that's not where it ends. Part of what boosts this score, as in the Sculpting category, is the great work on the chainsaw and boots. The wear on both looks great, and this is an excellent example of the paint making the sculpt even more realistic and life-like. Both the boots and the chainsaw look terrific thanks to the paint, but these are both areas - accessories and boots - where Sideshow has always excelled.

Articulation - ***
The underlying base body is tight and stiff, allowing him to maintain poses long term, even with the large chainsaw.

The neck has a ball joint at the jawline which works quite well, but doesn't have any mobility at the torso where neck is solid and stiff. The arms and legs all have standard 1/6th articulation, but the pants and boots are a little restrictive on the hips and ankles. It's not a huge issue, but he can be a little harder to get into deep stances. There's a waist and ab-crunch as well, and the shoulders and wrists have the usual rotating hinge joints.

There's no cut bicep, and the elbow is a rotating hinge rather than a pin or double pin. These were changes made to create a better looking bare arm, and it's a concession I think was smart. Some people will still complain about the look of the elbow and wrist joint, but it's a compromise that works for me.

Accessories - ***
Ash has a reasonable number of accessories, particularly if you picked up the exclusive.

His left hand is the chainsaw, and it's *probably* removable. I tugged a bit but wasn't interested in forcing it. However, there's no additional right hands, so swapping isn't an option. They could have included a bandaged stump, but it's not an important issue.

There are three additional left hands to go with the gun grip he comes wearing: fist, open grip, and tight grip. These swap easily, and all have their own wrist peg.

He can't function without his boomstick, and the sawed off double barrel shotgun looks great. All the details are here, and the breech opens to reveal two shotgun shells already loaded! It fits neatly in the holster on his back.

The Book of the Dead got him into this whole mess, so it's a necessary inclusion here. The detail work on the skin cover and screaming face is excellent, bringing the Necronomicon to life.

The regular release also includes the severed head of Henrietta, with one bulging white eye. The paint work on this one is a little toy-ish, but the overall sculpt is terrific.

Both the regular and the exclusive include a basic display stand with support and Evil Dead 2 logo. Nothing special here, but useful for those that use stands in their display.

The exclusive includes one additional extra, and this is one of those cases where if you can get it at the same price as the regular, go for it.  The additional accessory is Ash's severed right hand, now possessed and out to kill him. There's a ton of ways you can use it in your display, and the sculpt and paint are fantastic, right down to the rotting flesh.

Outfit - ***
The outfit consists of the boots, pants, belt, shirt, rigging, and shotgun holster.

I've already gone on about how great the boots are, and they really are the highlight of the outfit. The pants look good and the tailoring is decent, and the belt does it's job just fine.

The torn shirt looks good as well, exposing his wounds and looking fairly screen accurate. I'm assuming this is hand done, and it's tricky to get consistency and accuracy when doing damage like this. They've added some nice dirt and blood effects as well, creating a consistent look between the damage to his clothes and the damage to his body.

The rigging is well made and fits tightly, with a metal hook on the right side. The one complaint I have is with the shotgun holster, which is made from a very thin material. It feels and looks cheap compared to the rest of the figure, and tends to hang at a weird angle when the gun is in place. Like many of the costume pieces on the earlier Snake Plissken, this holster just seems slightly out of place in terms of quality.

Fun Factor - ***1/2
With great accessories that make for terrific poses and displays, you'll have plenty of fun finding the perfect look.  Swap in Henrietta or the Necronomicon, and you'll have a completely different look. The overall costume and accessories are quite sturdy as well, making you less nervous about posing and re-posing, always a big plus for this category.

Value - *1/2
And this is the one place where poor Ash really, really takes a hit. The very top of the market right now is in the $240 - $250 range. Anything above that better be something mighty special, like all die cast, or 18" tall. Figures in the $240 - $250 range are those that exhibit not only top notch quality, but special features like second portraits, lights, sounds, or diorama pieces.  The figures in this range can't be average - they have to be top of the heap.

Ash isn't average, but he's not quite top of the heap. He is one of the best releases from Sideshow in recent years, even with his handful of flaws. I'd go $200 for him in a heartbeat, and at $220, he'd get another half star in this category, almost reaching an average score. But at $240 he really needed something extra to get him another full star here, and the price will pull him down in my personal Overall.

Things to Watch Out For -
Take a little care working with the very stiff hands - putting the accessories in and out could be tricky, and you don't want to force anything. You should also be aware at all times of the shotgun shells. The breech opens pretty easily and they can fall out, lost to the carpet forever. Other than that, you should be good to go!

Overall - ***
This is one of Sideshow's best releases in quite awhile, sporting both a solid portrait and a solid paint job. He isn't as good as Hot Toys at their best, but it's unlikely that we'll be seeing anything other than Marvel, DC, and Star Wars from Hot Toys anytime soon. If Sideshow can produce other lesser demand characters like this for the fans, and do it at this level of quality, they'll have themselves a strong place in the market.

While I can whine about the price, I also understand the reality - they aren't making thousands of these. Ash Williams might be a bad ass when it comes to demons, but he's no Han Solo when it comes to market demand. One of the issues we may have to accept to get this sort of character is a higher than expected market price.

I'm willing - I've already pre-ordered Jack Burton. And I can't wait to see what else Sideshow may have in store to reveal at SDCC this summer!

Score Recap (out of ****):
Packaging - ***
Sculpting - ***1/2
Paint - ***1/2
Articulation - ***
Accessories - ***
Outfit - ***
Fun Factor - ***1/2
Value - *1/2
Overall - ***

Where to Buy 
Online options include these site sponsors:

- Sideshow had the exclusive, but he's now sold out. Even their stock of the regular release, also at $240, is sold out!

- or you can search ebay for a deal.

Related Links -
It's been awhile since we had many Evil Dead toys, but once upon a time they were pretty common. Sideshow has done several 12" figures before, including regular Ash and S-Mart Ash.

If smaller scale figures is your thing, there's the 7" Evil Ash, and S-mart Ash, and series 1 and series 2 of the 4" Army of Darkness figures. Mezco even did a series of Mez-itz!

You should also hit the Search Reviews page, in case any other applicable reviews were done after this one was published.

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