Review of Season of the Witch Halloween 3
Action Figure Set

Introduction

Every once in awhile, I skip a line and deeply regret it later. One of those is the clothed 8" series of horror figures from NECA. I didn't get in at the beginning, and it's turned into a fantastic series. Ah well, you can't collect everything.

But this week at Target I came across a set that is part of the series that was just too cool, too unique, too interesting to pass up. It's the Halloween 3 Season of the Witch three pack of kids, all wearing their respective masks.  I'm not sure how I'm going to display this - it really doesn't fit in with the 7" series very well - but I couldn't pass it up. Hopefully, this doesn't mean I get sucked into spending way to much on the earlier releases to catch up.

This set of three cost $50 at Target, although you can pick it up at various online retailers as well. Target, or at least the one in my area, is restocking a lot of old and new NECA figures right now.

Packaging - ***
There's nothing super exciting about the package, and it's an actual slip cover, rather than a cover that opens. Slip it off, and you'll see the three figures behind the large window. The text and graphics are decent, and the cover art is particularly well done. There's no instructions, but you won't really need any.

Sculpting - ****
There are six heads here, two for each child. They come wearing their normal Silver Shamrock Novelties masks. They are not removable, and while you can see their eyes underneath, that's the only part of their face or head that's exposed. The second set of heads are what happens after the chip is activated while watching the tv special.

The regular masks look terrific, with a ton of detail and texture. The skeleton is my favorite, but the witch and pumpkin are just as good. The witch's cowl is not cloth, but sculpted as part of both heads. However, it blends in nicely with the rest of the cloth costume. All six heads have the Silver Shamrock 'label' sculpted on it somewhere.

The melting heads, with squirming bugs and insects, look fantastic. Again, there's a ton of detail work, with every nook and cranny defined. The texture has that squishy appearance, and there's a nice contrast between the sharper surface of the bugs and the softer surface of the disintegrating masks.

The heads swap easily as well, and choosing which you'll be displaying will be a tough decision. The figures stand about 5 1/2" tall, designed ideally for an 8" line, but you might be able to get them to work with some 7" figures depending on your assumptions about the kid's age.

Paint - ***1/2
Great sculpts deserve great paint, and NECA comes through. Small details on the heads, like the teeth, tongues, and eyes, are well done and quite clean. The masks look amazing, almost too good, which is why they were so popular with the kids.

The rotting heads have some nice color with the creepy crawlies, contrasting with the broader mask color. Even the smallest bugs are detailed, and the agony of the wearer is clear.

While most of the rest of the figure is covered in the costume, there's one other paint area worth noting. Each of the kids have different athletic shoes, with very clean paint ops.

Articulation - ***1/2
The underlying bodies are well articulated, and getting most poses shouldn't be too much of a problem.

The ball jointed neck allows for tilt and lean, and the heads swap easily. The shoulders, elbows, and wrists can manage natural arm poses, including different ways to express their agony. The torso bends, leans and turns well, and the hips, knees, and ankles can manage short to medium stances well. Deeper stances are a bit more difficult, due to less rocker movement in the ankles than I expected.

I did dock them slightly though, due to some looseness in the hips and knees. They aren't floppy, but keeping them standing was a bit of a trick in some poses.

Accessories - ****
These guys are well outfitted, but it's really the inclusion of both heads that boosts this score for me. Picking one look is going to be tough, and switching around is likely.

Along with the two terrific heads for each figure, there's a second set of hands as well. They come with gripping hands, designed to work with the bags, but you can easily swap to a set of gesturing hands, perfect for any pose with the melting head.

There are three Trick or Treat bags, one for each of course. Two are plain brown, while the third is printed on white stock.  You can improve the look of these, particularly the brown ones, but stuffing something inside and working the top around it.

The pumpkin kid has his witch hat as well - this is one of those kids that liked to mix themes - and it fits over the pumpkin stem.

To create the perfect scene, there's a nicely scaled 80's style tube television. The screen is lenticular, designed to mimic the flashing symbol used to activate the chips in the masks. Tilt the screen and it switches from the shamrock to the pumpkin.

Outfit - ***1/2
These figures are part of NECA's clothed action figure line, and as such each has a fabric costume. The pumpkin kid has a simple black body suit. It's well tailored and has decent stitching, but there's nothing else particularly exciting about it.

The skeleton, my favorite of the three, also has the black body suit, but with a skeleton print on the front and back. It's very high quality, with little chance of peeling or damage.

The third figure is the witch, with a black robe with big collar. The collar includes a wire to help pose it around his shoulders. Again, great tailoring and stitching, with good quality materials.

None of these costumes is super complex, but all three are well executed in this scale.

Fun Factor - ****
With the two sets of portraits and the tv, you have a lot of display options. Use them with their melting heads in various poses of agony, or pop on the regular mask heads and add them to any Halloween diorama as some Trick Or Treaters. There's a ton of potential!

Value - **1/2
You're getting three high quality figures with two portraits and several other accessories for around $17 each. While there's some re-use of parts, it's still a solid average value.

Things to Watch Out For -
Hands and heads pop on and off pretty easily, so you should have few worries. When popping the hands off the witch, make sure you aren't grabbing the cut edge of the costume too. Otherwise you should be good to go.

Overall - ****
These are some really fun figures with a ton of display potential, all based on a movie from which I never thought we'd see figures. Halloween 3 was an interesting situation - when it came out, everyone (myself included) hated it. There's a simple reason - we went in expecting one thing and got another. In his books on screen writing, William Goldman explains why that's such a terrible idea and how it almost ruined his movie, The Great Waldo Pepper. It's hard for movie goers to appreciate a movie when it's not the movie they came to see.  Carpenter and Hill actually had an idea ahead of their time (doing each new Halloween as a separate stand alone story about the holiday), but audiences didn't know that's the direction they were going, and they expected to see Michael Myers.

Years later, it's easier to appreciate Halloween 3 as a stand alone film, and it's much better than folks gave it credit for originally. Don't get me wrong...it's not great. But it is a solid Halloween themed horror movie, and deserves to get this set of action figures for your self.

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

Where to Buy 
I picked up the set at Target where it was $50. Online options include these site sponsors:

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This product was purchased for the review by the reviewer. Photos and text by Michael Crawford.