Review of Father Christmas Figura Obscura
Action Figure

Introduction

It's that time of the year - time for elves on shelves and mensches on benches! I hope you're having a great holiday season, filled with family and friends.

Last year, the Four Horsemen did a special figure as part of their Figura Obscura series - Krampus. They did a black version that was quite limited, and then released a red one shortly after. They are following it up this year with the opposite side of the ancient Christmas characters - Father Christmas. He was available for a short period a couple weeks ago and sold out quickly, but perhaps we'll see them do some sort of variant to meet additional demand. He cost $60 initially.

Packaging - ****
The box has a great wrap around lid with beautiful graphics. It's made from very sturdy cardboard, and the interior trays are all collector friendly. The likd is held in place with magnets, and doubles as a thick background card for your display, if you so choose. I used it for the photos.

Sculpting - ***1/2
Keep in mind that this is not 'Santa'. This is the European version of the character that was transformed into Santa Claus by the 1822 poem commonly called "Twas the Night Before Christmas". Before that, Father Christmas was a bit more svelte, hardy, and serious. In 1862, Thomas Nast took the description from the poem by Clement Moore, and illustrated the first version of Santa as we know him today. This Father Christmas borrows heavily from the pre-Moore/Nast version, but it also has the facial hair that Nast made famous - and that he sported himself.

There are two portraits, one with a long beard, one with a shorter beard. They both have the big Nast mustache, but otherwise the sculpt is the same. He's serious looking, not the smiling friendly Santa we know, but the more dour European character.

There's a ton of detail in the beard, and the face has the wrinkles and lines of age and wisdom. This guy stands about 6 1/2 inches tall, fitting in with other modern 1/12 scale lines.

If you're wondering about what's going on under the robes, I included a photo in the Articulation section. This is one of the sculpted knight bodies from their Mythic Legion series.

Paint - ***1/2
The paint work is generally clean and sharp, with even lines and consistent coverage. There's a blip here or there - the right eye seems slightly off center - but they are really, really minor nits.

I particularly like the wash used on the beard to bring out the detail of the sculpt. It's not so dark as to be distracting, but it does make the sculpted strands pop.

All the accessories have clean paint as well, including the smaller toys.

Articulation - ***
As I mentioned earlier, the underlying body is a sculpted knight in armor. I've included the photo below to illustrate.

You can see all the excellent articulation, and stripped down, the figure can take just about any pose you can throw at it. But once you layer on the robesn and cloak, and add the bearded head, the mobility drops considerably. The beards pretty much take out the ball jointed neck, and while the shoulder, elbow, wrist, chest, hip, knee, and ankle articulation is all still there, the thick clothes means you won't get a lot of range out of them. Still, you should be able to get natural stances with the accessories, and you probably weren't looking for ninja poses with this character.

Accessories - ****
He comes with a ton of extras, including some hidden away in his sack.

There's no extra hands, just the gripping set he comes with. There are two heads as I mentioned earlier, and both look fantastic. They swap easily as well.

He has two different sacks for his toys. One is a more modern cloth sack, while the other is a sculpted man-purse that hangs over one shoulder, and is already filled with permanently attached goodies.

He has a number of separate goodies for the kids as well, all very old world in design. There's a drum, which can be hung from his belt by the metal chain. There's a duck, a dog, an elf doll, a trumpet, and a wired tree you can place them under.

I mentioned the cloth sack, and some of these items are already in there, along with two knight's  helms. You can put these on Pops Xmas, but you're more likely going to use them with your other Mythic Legions figures.

To go with the two heads, there's also two head bands of garland. These fit neatly around the brow, and look good with either beard length.

There's also the hood, which I'll discuss more in the next section on the Outfit. The coolest extra is the long staff with the hooked top, perfect to hang the lantern. Yes, there's a cool lantern, and while it doesn't light up, it does look great.

Outfit - **1/2
I have one big issue with the costume, and it hurts the score here.

The costume includes the robes, the hood, and the belt. The robes, while thick, are actually pretty well tailored for this scale. I wasn't very fond of the hood at first - getting it to lay right on the shoulders and head took quite a bit of futzing. I did most of the photos without it, and thought that was how I'd end up displaying the figure. But I eventually got it to look reasonably good, and I ended up going with the look you see in the photo below for my display.

The bigger issue is the belt. Once it came unhooked, there was no way to get it hooked and keep it that way. The small post doesn't hold, and the belt tends to fall off the figure because of it. I was tempted to glue it, and when that happens you know I'm frustrated.

Fun Factor - ***
While you won't get a ton of poses out of this guy, you can get a number of important ones. The joints are tight, and he can manage good arm poses with the staff and lantern.

Value - **
While this is a great figure overall, it's also a very expensive one at $60. That's still not One:12 pricing, but overall this figure isn't quite at the same level of quality either. It's a step up from the NECA $30 figures however, and is a terrific example of an old school Saint Nick.

Things to Watch Out For -
Not a thing. Once you open the belt though, don't expect it to close again. So maybe don't take it off?

Overall - ***1/2
The big issue here is with the outfit, thanks to that damn belt. At this price point, I expect the belt to be able to close at least once. Without it tightly snapped around his waist, the look and fit of the coat and robes isn't as good.

But it is an excellent Father Christmas otherwise, and getting not just a ton of extras but two different heads is a big plus. He's also an excellent addition to Krampus, and the two can square off against each other on the shelf.

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

Where to Buy 
This guy was originally available through the store at the Four Horsemen website, where he was $60. Now your best shot is to search ebay for a deal.

Related Links -
Last winter I reviewed their Krampus figure in this same series.

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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