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Packaging - ***1/2
The figures come backed in a large window box, both in attack positions facing
forward. The base is easy to see, and blends in nicely with the graphics
and color of the package. The die cut front looks great, and overall, it's
top notch work. My only complaint - and you knew I had to have one - is
the huge number of twisties. Okay, I suppose this is the evil we must bear
to have the figures so well positioned in the box, but you better have your wire
snips handy when you open this thing up.
Sculpting - Jason ****; Freddy ***1/2
As I mentioned earlier, Jason has his 'real' face on under the mask, and
it's quite the gruesome visage. But what did you expect - Brad Pitt?
Since you never get to see the face in the film though, you'll have to take
NECA's word for just how accurate it is. There's certainly no lack of
detail and realism, and giving us the actual face is a great touch for this set.
Jason's body is appropriately scarred and damaged, and he has a good
heft. The hand sculpts work with the possible poses, and the overall leg
sculpt allows him to stand fine on his own, even without the included stand.
Freddy is also highly detailed and butt ugly, but I did have a couple minor
issues with him. The detail work on the faces and heads is amazing,
although there's not quite as much difference between the three heads as I'd
expected. At the end of the review I have a shot of all three heads next
to each other. The hat fits best on the head he comes packaged wearing,
but it can fit on the other two heads if you'd prefer. All three heads can
fit on the body as well, because they all have a post, but I wish the one with
the magnet (intended to be carried by Jason) had left off the post. It
would have looked far better hanging in his hand without it.
The body details are great as well, although a little more damage to the body
here would have looked great, especially considering the abuse he was taking
during this part of the movie. But my only real issue with Freddy's sculpt
is one of scale - he seems slightly too big in comparison to Jason. There
was a major difference in size between the two characters in the movie, but the
difference here doesn't seem quite as pronounced. That might not be a bad
thing - making Freddy more shrimpy here may have thrown off the entire
look. But it's tough to tell what the best call was without seeing any
alternative. But if you compare these two figures to the prototype shots,
you'll notice that there isn't as big of a size difference between the two as
there was then.
While the details are great on Freddy, especially his heads, my favorite work
is on his gloved right hand. The fingers don't move, so the pose they
chose for the blades was critical. They did a great job though, and the
glove is one of my favorite aspects of the whole set.
I shot a couple photos with these two by the fishtank set from McToys.
I couldn't open the set - it belongs to my older daughter, not I - but I thought
it would be helpful anyway. These two are larger than the McToys versions,
in a 7" scale.
Paint - ****
There's not a lot of color variety here, but even with the drab browns, reds
and grays, NECA has produced an eye catching set.
Most of the complex work is on the faces of course, where the eyes, teeth and
skin have to be perfect. There's no slop, and everything is clean and
neat. Or as neat as a couple of hacked up, bleeding, undead freaks can be.
The paint work on the bases is also good, especially the flame effects.
One of the advantages of the flames is that they add some much needed color to
the otherwise monotone palette.
If I had to pick on favorite piece of paint work though, it would be Jason's
mask. The dirty brown, along with the rub marks on the red designs, give
it a tremendously realistic look, even in this scale.
Articulation - **1/2
These are more statue than action figure, but they have a decent enough number
of joints to allow for some variety in the poses.
Jason has neck, shoulders, wrists, waist, ankles and a cut left elbow.
The joints are tight, but workable, and he stands great on his own. The
arm articulation isn't extensive, but I did find it pretty easy to pose him in a
number of decent ways.
Freddy has neck, shoulers, wrists, waist, ankles and cut joints on both
elbows. Again, none of the articulation is exceptional, but it all
works. The neck joint is a little loose, since his head pops off pretty
easily (and has a nice bloody stump), but it's not a major issue.
Accessories - ***1/2
Both figures come with a burning dock base, and they can be used separately or
together. The flame effects work good, and the pegs are positioned well
for their feet.
While Jason doesn't require his stand, Freddy most certainly does. His
right foot is posed in a half step, so getting him to stand independently was
almost impossible.
There's also a small, separate Freddy vs Jason plaque that you can put any
where you feel the desire.
Jason's mask is removable, so I suppose that counts as an accessory, and he
has his trademark machete. For some reason, the back half of the machete
is covered in blood, but the edge is not. His right hand is also
swappable, and the second hand has a magnet in it to hold one of the three
Freddy heads. The hands swap easily, with little chance of breakage.
Freddy has the three heads I mentioned, all of which fit in the body.
He also has his hat, and his flaming section of dock.
Fun Factor - **
These aren't for your average six year old, and they aren't really built for
lots of play. They are intended for display purposes, so there's not a
huge fun factor. Still, I'm doing my best to remember to include this
category in most reviews these days, just in case you were considering giving
these to the kids to fight against Batman.
Actually, Jason is a better toy than Freddy, since he has far fewer pieces
that could easily break. The only risky area is his hockey mask straps.
Freddy is much more easy to damage, especially his blade fingers. These
are nice and stiff, unlike some earlier attempts, but are therefore easier to
break.
Value - ***
You can expect retail to be between $20 and $25. I'm grading these on
$20, and you can adjust from there depending on what price you find them at.
Considering that one of these would probably run about $10 at your local
specialty retailer, a price of $20 seems more than appropriate.
Overall - Jason ****; Freddy ***1/2
I had to split up the overall, simply because I like Jason quite a bit more
than Freddy. Freddy isn't bad, and part of the problem is the look of the
character in this film, but Jason is just about perfect in sculpt and paint as
you can get.
Here's what I'm going to write in a note for you to take home to your mommy -
McToys has nothing on NECA at this point. While you can easily debate
whether one version of these figures is slightly better than the other based on
personal preferences, you can't deny that these are as every bit as good as any
McToys Movie Maniacs in sculpting, paint, articulation and
accessories.
That's not to say NECA has blown them away - that's a tough one to pull off,
as McToys is a leader. But NECA has certainly pulled even, and now much of
the competition will be over licenses, and not quality. With the excellent
work by Mezco on the Hellboy figures, the field for great looking figures has
just gotten more competitive. That can only mean good things for the
collectors.
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