Packaging - ***1/2
Hey, it's not clamshell packaging, but it's still pretty good. Each card
back has a large head shot of the specific character, with great color and
lots of detail. The back shows off the rest of the line, and there's
plenty of text to explain the Pillar of Souls add ins and other features.
Sculpting - ****
NECA has some seriously great sculpting in this second series. While
not everyone of these figures might be your personal favorite, you can't deny
the level of detail, quality and attention that these sculpts have.
Skinless Julia is overall my least favorite of
these three, but I love her sculpt. She looks like she just jumped off the
page of Gray's Anatomy. They also came up with a terrific way to handle
the bandages - the dress and head piece are soft rubber, easy to remove, while
the arms are swappable with skinless versions. You do have to be careful
though, especially with the head covering. First, remove the arms from the
figure. Then the dress comes off over the feet very easily. When
pulling of the head covering, do it from the back, not front, and do it very
slowly. I managed to tear the chin on mine because I wasn't being careful
enough. NECA have their own instructions up at the site.
Pinhead is called 'hellbound' this time around,
and I'm assuming that's because the box is in the process of opening. His
hands are sculpted to work with the articulation and allow you to pose him
holding the Lament Configuration in both hands. The wrist/hand sculpts
might seem a little weird looking at first, but they have been designed to hold
the box. The head sculpt is all new, gritted teeth expression that works very
well with the character. The eyes could have had a little more expression,
but overall he looks great and there's enough change to the sculpt to make him
worthwhile.
Finally, Barbie looks great as well, although
he's likely to be a less popular character. He's not quite as cool as
Surgeon or Butterball, but the sculpt work is still great. The barbwire is
cleanly done, and both head sculpts look good and snap on and off easily.
His belts are also separate from his body/clothes, and he has a nicely sculpted
pair of sheers on his belt that aren't removable, but hang loose.
Paint - Julia ****; the rest ***1/2
I don't have any major complaints about the paint ops. True, some of the
figures don't have quite as much variety as others (like Barbie), but that's
more of a character design issue than a toy issue.
Julia stands out in this category because of the
exceptional work on her muscles, bones and cartilege. I wasn't joking
about Gray's Anatomy - she really does look like a drawing from that classic
tome. Sure, they don't look like they'd rather rip your soul out than talk
to you, but you get the idea.
The other two have clean ops, with good
definition between colors, no bleed and no slop. There's some nice added
blood, especially on the hands of Pinhead, and the small detail work on the
barbwire of Barbie is very clean and neat.
Articulation - Skinless Julia **,
Pinhead, Barbie ***
The articulation on these won't be amazing, but it's fairly adequate for the
characters.
Julia has shoulders, and cut hips on her
body. Her neck has a very nice ball style joint, so she can look up and
down as well as side to side. And surprisingly, both sets of arms have
wrist joints. While she had the most trouble standing - since Barbie and
Pinhead have flat bottoms that's not surprising - she still was able to stand on
her own.
Barbie has neck, shoulders, wrist and
waist. His articulation is somewhat limited, but works well with the
accessories. His lower body is all one solid piece, with a rubber skirt
over a plastic armature, similar to Pinhead.
Pinhead has neck, shoulder, wrist waist and cut
biceps. The arms work to come together in front and hold the box
nicely. His lower body is a rubber skirt covering an interior armature
again.
Accessories - ****
Here's another category that these figures truly excel in. Every figure
comes with multiple accessories, and they are all sensible and usable.
Barbie has the fewest of the set, with his
swappable head, flames to shoot out of his mouth, and his, uh, demonic martini
shaker. Does this thing have a name? Whatever it's called, it fits
perfectly in his hand, and the flames even look great.
Julia comes with her outfit, swappable arms, and
the bloody heart. The heart fits in the hands of either set of arms, and
the use of the rubber outfit was a great idea. You have to be careful with
the head covering, but once you get the hang of it, you can put it on and remove
it fairly easily.
Pinhead comes with the Lament Configuration
again, but this time it's in the process of opening. The sculpt is
excellent, especially at this scale. He also comes with two 'utensils',
attached to ropes on his body. Both can be removed, and are nice and
bloody.
But the really great accessory is the Pillar of
Souls. Each character comes with one piece of the pillar, and the
sculpting and paint ops on these is amazing! I've included photos of one
piece plus one shot of the completed pillar. I'll have more photos with
the second review as well.
There's a ton of great detail in the pillar, and
it snaps together fairly easily. It only goes together one way, and NECA
has instructions on the web site if you're having
trouble.
The top (or bottom?) piece that comes with Julia
is also designed to be used as a stand for her. The long pieces aren't
intended for that, because of the sculpting on them, but for them to do that for
Julia was another nice touch, since she has the most trouble standing.
Value - ***1/2
I'm grading these at $10 each - pay higher and take off some stars.
And at ten bucks, these are a great value.
First, this is a licensed product, not an in
house line. They have great sculpting, excellent accessories, and good
paint ops. The articulation is adequate, and they are well worth the $10
price point.
Overall - Julia ***; Barbie, Pinhead ***1/2
The first series of Hellraiser figures were good, but these blow them
away. The character selection is better, and there are at least three must
have figures in the series. The best part is which three are must haves
are likely to vary from person to person, due to the smart selection.
I should have the review up for Surgeon,
Angelique and Butterball next week, and at least one of those figures will be
getting four stars. Which one? You'll have to wait and see!
Where to Buy -
Your best bet is Spencers if you're going shopping locally, although Sam Goody
and Media Play should have them as well. On-line:
- Killer
Toys has them for just under $10 each, a great price!
- Time
and Space Toys doesn't have the second series listed yet, but if you missed
the first series they have the full set of six on sale for $60.
KEEP SCROLLING DOWN FOR MORE PHOTOS!
|