Michael Myers, Freddy Krueger, and Chucky

Michael Myers, Freddy Krueger, and Chucky

NECA

Michael Myers is back!  Right in time for Hallowee...er...Christma...er...Valentine's Day!  Jeez, NECA, what took so long?  Better late than never, I am very pleased to have the top talent in the slasher field in my collection.  And today he's joined by his good pals, Freddy Kruger and Chucky!

I bought Chucky on Ebay from China.  Mistake?  The price was right, but the quality is...iffy.  There are some plastic flaws in the hands and parts of the heads leading me to believe this is a knock-off or partially stolen figure with know off parts.   For the $16 I paid for it, it works.  It's still got some great articulation and a large amount of accessories.  It even came with the Good Guys box.

This version of Freddy is "Ultimate Nightmare on Elm Street 3: The Dream Warriors" Freddy.  That's a mouthful.  I waited to add Freddy to my collection for this specific figure.  Dream Warriors is easily the best of the series, and he's got some great accessories to showcase that:  removable hat, hypodermic claws, alternate burned-in crucifix head, mini-puppet Freddy, "paper-mache-and-popsicle-stick" house, and an interchangeable torso cover with screaming soul faces.  Gross and awesome at the same time!  Man, the FX in that movie are top-notch 80s!

It took a long time for NECA to get Halloween back in their stable of horror icons.  I think the last time they had the license was 2002 with their Reel Toys line...pretty rare and expensive these days.  Patience pays off with this new ultimate figure.  The modern articulation alone was worth the wait.  They started with the new Halloween sequel Michael, which is fine by me.  I mean, it's not like the Shatner mask The Shape changed that much over time.  I like the extra lines and dirtiness of it.  They really did a good job with letting you see the eyes behind the mask...not a lot, but just enough to be creepy-cool.

You get some pretty gruesome accessories, my favorite being the severed, "jack-o-lantern" head.  You can actually get Mike's fingers deep in those eye sockets, and the hole from base to mouth runs all the way through.  Too gross?  Well, he also comes with a traditional jack-o-lantern, complete with yellow light-up effect when you push down on the top.

You also get a couple sets of hands (the coolest missing a couple of fingers), and some murder weapons (fire poker, butcher knife, hammer.)  The hammer is probably my weapon of choice...my favorite "kill" from Halloween 2.  There is an alternate Michael head included, but it's purpose is kind of a head scratcher.  I noticed only slight differences:  the eyes behind the mask aren't visible and the hair is less mussed.

These pretty much close out all my needs for my small horror toy collection, unless NECA decides to release proper action figures that have been doomed to their crappy 8-inch clothed figure line.  Joining Captain Blake from the Fog, they're doing a set of the Halloween 3 mask kids AND Night of the Creeps Tom Atkins in this Mego throwback?  LAME.  And a set of aliens from They Live that will be out of scale with my multitude of Roddy Piper WWE figures?  WEAK.  Ugh, why are you doing this to the best of John Carpenter?!  This 8-inch clothed trend is close to displacing my hate for Funko Pops!

The Ultimate Warrior vs Brutus "The Barber" Beefcake

The Ultimate Warrior

vs

Brutus "The Barber" Beefcake

Mattel WWE Then, Now, Forever/Elite figures

Saturday Night's Main Event XXVII - July 16th, 1990 - Omaha Civic Auditorium

The Ultimate Warrior defends the WWF World Heavyweight Championship against Ravishing Rick Rude...and he did it in this particular attire and makeup!  This classic WWE figure from Mattel is a Walmart exclusive, "Then, Now, Forever" basic.  It's a nice, clean figure as far as paint apps go, but the mini Warrior mask cheek paint is kinda strange.  I know that when he did the full mask paint job, it was usually wrecked by combat and sweat minutes into a match...maybe he was just lazy that particular night?  Speaking of lazy, they included the WWF winged eagle championship belt with a white strap, but in this match, it should be light blue.  Warrior wore the white belt before the blue, and again sometimes after.  Eh, minor details.  And now I have a white belt for my custom "No Holds Barred" Rip figure!

Ed Leslie has had many, many horrible gimmicks that will probably never make it to action figure form.  He's very lucky to have been a friend of Hulk Hogan at the height of WWE popularity and be so fondly remembered for his time as "the Barber."  The shears gimmick came about in a "loser gets his head shaved" match between Rowdy Roddy Piper and Adorable Adrian Adonis at Wrestlemania III.  Yup, a gimmick born by real legends.  How is there not an Adrian Adonis figure in this line?! Travesty!

Anyway, they give Brutus a better treatment than he deserves with this Elite-articulated figure. The head scan is great, as are the paint apps on his tights and wristbands.  He comes with a removable cloth overcoat and plastic bow tie.  And to top things off, he has his shears that open and close.

For the sake of comparison, here is this figure next to Jakks Pacific's deluxe articulated Brutus.
It wouldn't be fair to nitpick a 15-year old figure, but it's clear to me why this new figure will be taking its place on the display shelf.