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New York Comic Con Exclusive
Cinema of Fear Jason

This coming weekend, geeks from around the world will pour into New York City for the New York Comic Con.  Running April 18th - 20th this year at the Javits Center, it's the East Coast's answer to SDCC.  It's only been around for a couple years now, but it's making terrific progress, and the promoters are doing a great job organizing interesting panels and bringing in popular guests.

Mezco will be exhibiting of course, bringing along a couple show exclusives, including a special version of their new 9" 'stylized' Cinema of Fear Jason Voorhees.

Mezco has done quite a bit of experimenting with scale in the last year, and will continue to do so this year.  They slightly caricaturized CoF line up is in a 7" scale, but they've decided to take that up a couple inches, add some soft goods, and mix gory with goofy.

Jason is going to be available at the Con for $30, or you can pick him up directly from Mezco right now, using their online store.  Jason is a limited run of 666.






Packaging - ***
Jason is large, so he comes in a box.  I prefer boxes of course, since they are always easier to store for the MIBers, they tend to handle shelf/storage wear pretty well, and they are usually pretty 'collector friendly' i.e. you can open them without destroying the package.

This package fulfills on most of those counts.  There are still quite several twisties, so returning him to the box is a bigger pain than most will want to suffer, but the box is attractive without being over done.  Considering this is a con exclusive, I'm surprised we just didn't end up with a plain white box!

Sculpting - ***1/2
Mezco has been playing around with their 'stylized' look for several years now.  Sometimes, it's been very much like a caricature from the local carnival.  Other times, it's been more cartoon style, almost animated.

Jason seems to fit someplace in between.  There's plenty of detail, much more than in a usual cartoony style, with nasty rotting skin, moldy teeth and rotting flesh.  This variant version has "fresh from the grave" moldering skin that is visible through tears in the clothing as one of it's unique attributes.

Jason is also very 'designer vinyl' like.  The size, proportions and style give off that vibe, so he's likely to be a hit with collectors of that genre as well.

The hunched appearance is completely sculpt - no padding is added to the clothing.  While Jason certainly never looked like he suffered from osteoporosis in any of the films, the look really does work for a hulking, evil character like this.

The hands are sculpted to work with the accessories, although the sculpts are designed really to work with different accessories.  You'll need to experiment a little to see which hand holds which goodie the best.

I did have a little trouble getting that sweet spot where Jason would stand on his own indefinitely, but it is there.  He's quite tall too, considering he's hunched over and still stands almost 10 iinches above the ground.

I really like this version, and it's something about this marriage between styles that works.

Paint - ***1/2
The paint work is solid, with particularly good work done on the face and hands.  The quality is almost perfect, with a nice gray/brown rotting appearance to the skin.  There's an appropriate wash used on the mask to imply dirt and damage, and the open wounds on his face are all the more painful in appearance due to the realistic paint job.

The right pupil on mine is a bit wonky though, having a bit of a blurp at the top.  It doesn't appear intentional - it's not really the kind of thing that would make sense even from a damage perspective - but with the mask on it's not noticeable.

Articulation - ***
The figure is more articulated than I had anticipated, with 14 points being advertised.

There's a ball jointed neck, and this works quite well.  With the hunched shoulders, it was important to provide a neck joint that would still allow him to look upward, and they did that quite well.  It also tilts and turns, allowing for plenty of personable poses.

He also has ball jointed shoulders, but remember that he's hollow like a vinyl figure.  The shoulder joints are less mobile than some ball jointed shoulders out there, but they still have a good range of movement.

There's also cut elbows, cut wrists, cut ankles, cut hips and cut knees, all designed to get him in just that right menacing pose.

Finally, there's a very cool torso joint, which allows for him to turn and tilt back and forth.  It works surprisingly well, and adds quite a bit to the poseability.

Accessories - ***1/2
Jason is well outfitted, with three weapons of personal destruction, and a poor victims severed head.

The severed head sculpt is excellent, although it's not quite as detailed in it's gruesomeness as Jason's own face is.  The hair is sculpted so it can be held in his left hand, to take home to mommy as a present.

He comes with a bloody machete, bloody axe, and bloody spear, all designed to look menacing and deadly.  The scale is good, and they fit nicely in his hands. The machete is intended to fit in the top cut on the mask and skull, but I never could get mine to stay there.  You might have better luck.

Outfit - ***1/2
The outfit is where the figure has two more distinct features over the regular release.  There's the battle damaged mask, complete with 'scratches' across the front, and dark brown pants.

The outfit consists of his shirt, jacket, pants and hocky mask.  The pants fit extremely well, with the trademark rope belt holding them up.  There's some great damage and dirt added, including some very suspicious stains...

The shirt and jacket look terrific as well, although the collar does ride up a bit on his hump.  That's just part of having a hump though...real coats aren't really tailored for the deformity, and I doubt Jason would have his clothes personally fitted.

The mask is fitted tightly on his head, but goes on and off fairly smooth.  The bands over and around are plastic, not material, which makes them look great in place, but take care you don't scratch the paint job removing or replacing it, and don't put too much pressure on the straps lest they break.

When you go with a scale smaller than 12", it can be very difficult to get clothing to look right.  Mezco is one of the few companies that's managed to pull it off, both with their Hellboy line, and now here.

Fun Factor - ***
Okay, so I don't know if you want your 8 year old playing with a monstrous serial killer that comes with a severed head.  But if you were of that mindset, you couldn't find one that's more fun!

Value - **
Just like everything else, Con exclusives are getting more expensive.  I was expecting something more in the $20 - $25 range, but this is at least a) large figure and b) a mixed media figure, adding a little value to compensate for the higher price tag.

Things to Watch Out For - 
The weapons can be a bit tricky to get in and out of the hands, so take a little care not to damage the paint on either when you're attempting it.

Overall - ***1/2
I was a little worried about the 'stylized' look with this figure.  At times, I've been a critic of the style - other times, not.  Once I had this guy in hand, I realized it really works for me this time.  I think that's due in large part to the designer vinyl feel to it, and the excellent work on the clothes.  If you're a Jason fan hitting the con, it's well worth snagging this guy.

My only hope now is that he's not the only figure we get in this style - I'd really love Freddy and Leatherface at least!

Score Recap:
Packaging - ***
Sculpt - ***1/2
Paint - ***1/2
Articulation - ***
Accessories - ***1/2
Outfit - ***1/2
Fun Factor - ***
Value - **
Overall - ***1/2

Where to Buy -
Jason is going to be available at the Con for $30, or you can pick him up directly from Mezco right now, using their online store.  If you'd like to pick up the regular, non-con exclusive version, check these sponsors:

- Time and Space Toys has him for $19.

- CornerStoreComics and Amazing Toyz has him for $20.

- Urban Collector has him for $20.70.

- Things from Another World has him for $22.50.

- For the UK readers, Forbidden Planet has him at 15 GBP.

- Related Links -
It's been awhile since I reviewed a Jason figure, but here's a few:

- from Sideshow, there's - and there's the guest review of the recent Sideshow Part 7 version, and myJason reviews, including Sideshow Part 6, Sideshow Part 2, Sideshow's Part 3, Sideshow Freddy vs. Jason, and NECA's 7" Freddy vs Jason set, and the large PF Jason.

- in the Cinema of Fear line up, there's the second set of Mez-itz, the first series of Cinema of Fear,

- and there's also the 8" version of Jason from Freddy vs. Jason.

- finally, if you're a Friday the 13th fan, check out the 3-D poster from Mcfarlane.

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