NOSFERATU

 Woah, its been a while since last entry, rigth? Time sure flys and i will try to update more often (not like someone is reading this at all tough...) since thanks to NECA, this last years has been a dream for us fans of horror movies and action figures as well with lines like The Thing, An American Werewolf in London, Elvira, The Munsters or the Universal Monsters, NECA is also doing figures of some horror characters from the silent era as well, aside of the Universal Monsters, characters from London at Midnigth and Nosferatu a Symphony of Horror.

Is no secret i love Nosferatu a Symphony of Horror, it was one of the most disturbing films i see in my childhood and with the remake a few months away, many companys has been doing figures of this particular version of Dracula. A few mobths ago i got the Mezco version - remake of theyr first figure - that stands as one of the best figures i ever seen and pretty soon Super 7 will release theyr own version as well, and of course, the NECA version from this particular entry.

This guy is actually tall, just as tall as Goliath of the Frankenstein Monster from NECA, and thats quiet a surprise for me given the shape of his back. He is actually taller than Lugosi´s Dracula as well but fits with most action figures scale. He can stand on his own pretty good tough in my particular case, this figure have some weak ankles articulations and he likes to fall sometimes. Maybe his thin legs and tall size dosnt helpt his stability either but most of the time he stand just fine.

He is articulated on the neck, shoulders, elbows, wrists, waist, legs, knees and ankles, ball joints like always with really good range of mobility. His coat is made with soft plastic, soo his head can turn and tilt with total freedom and his shoulders also have a big range of movement, tough his legs are very limited. I guess is inevitable with a coat but this is not a character with a lot of deep stances, specially from the waist down.

NECA has always been having a focus of great sculpt, specially on the horror genre, even if 20 years ago the paint of they figures was kinda of, the sculpt was always upstaidng, and with the last Universal Monsters line they show how faithfull to the actors they can be and this is not exception, this is 100% Max Schreck as seen on the silver screen.

The looong face, square jaw, the eagle nose and even the shape of the skull matches perfectly the actors face features mixed with a pretty natural texture and sculpting of realistic hair on the hair on top of his bat ears and thick eyebrows. At first i found the expression kind of boring but watching the movie again, is actually perfect, with the little fangs poking out of his mouth and the perplexed eyes with the empty expression is very faithfull looking for the scenes were the creature is roaming the city of nigth (or the ship as well).

The sculpt of the coat is very nice as well, with a very plastic texture to make it looks like leather and a nice and very natural looking set of wrinkles around his waist and around his arms to show how fit it is. The buttons at the front and the back are sculpted and under the coat it seems he is using a ruffled black shirt. 

His pants are very simple and natural looking as well as his shoes, but the hands are amazing, with the long fingers and knotty and veiny surface as well as the long fingernail, they are pretty menacing looking even in relaxed stand. 

The pants have a mutted black color with different tones of grey to make them look old and realistic while the shoes are simply black, the coat is sculpted on brownish plastic with some darker and ligthr tones to give it shape and volume, but theres nothign extraordinary looking here compared to the skin. 

Since this is a black and white movie, i dont think theres ever been a proof of the actual colors of the costumes or make ups, soo companys usually tend to add the colors they want, really, Sideshow gives Nosferatu a deep crimson coat with flesh color skin, while Mezco wen to dress hi totally in black at first and later in browns with a yellow skin, NECA decided to paint this vampire in a pretty ligth lilac, almost white.

Asice of the lilac theres darker purples around his checks and eyes to enhance his cadaveric face features. Actually the coloring looks too much like a silent movie make up, since they ahd to paint the shadows directly on the actors face soo the primitive cameras from back then could catsh the detaisl of theyr acting. This also gives Count Orlock a pretty ghostly appearance, almost like an ethereal being in contrast with his mute dark outfit.

The hair have different paints of black to make it looks realistic but really, the red eyes are a really good touch since they contrast way too much with the skin color as well as the outfit and makes his eyes looks very bulgy. More than a vampire, this monster looks like a ghost or a living corpse, perfect for the original concept of Dracula.

He comes with a lot of extras (unlike the last of the Universal Monsters): a rigth hand to hold the bottle thingy, a rigth hand to hold the quill, a rigth hand to hold the castle keys and a left hand to actually hold a key like he is about to open a door. Its weird they added a hand for each accesory but they all work really good but not as good as the open claws hands!!! Hands with HUGE spidery fingernails that looks really spectacular, the attack mode of Nosferatu.

There is also two extra heads. Its kinda tricky exchange them thanks to the neck section of the coat, but theyr work really good. One have a pretty icy and serious look, that ironically, looks more human. This is based on his look at the begining of the movie, when Count Orlock is on his castle. This aprticular head have the ears close to his skull soo the hat can fit.

The other head have a more playfull look, with a silly smile that show his fangs and his eyes looking at the rigth. He dosnt looks happy tough, he looks more devilish than cute. Both heads have a perfect paint that matches the paint of the base head.

Like i already mentioned, he comes with his turkish hat: a tubeteika. Its made of pretty softish plastic and have different tones of dark browns mixed with black to make it looks dirty and old. This can be pnly used with the serious head with the closed mouth since the pinty ears of the other heads keep the tubeteika away of his skull.

He also have the castle keys, like all other figures of the characters. The tubeteika and the keys are pretty much the esence of the very first time we seen the character on screen, soo they are the most important items. The chain of the keys is real metal and the keys actualy have different size and shapes tough they feel much more delicate than the Mezco version and fit them on his hand is really tricky thanks to his hard plastic fingernails.

His other accesorys are an ink well and a quill to recreate the scene when he is writting on the documents of the property he bought. The ink well have a very nice art deco design, with a copper texture and paint and actual ink on the top, looks very steam punk and the quill fits perfectly on the small hole on it and also on Count Orlock´s fingers. The grey and white of the quill have a nice contrast with the cooper colors of the ink well.

Then he have the letter he gets from Renfield. A real piece of paper with yellow color and actual prints on it, it shows a lot fo weird symbols and iconography only Orlok and Renfield knows how to read and some urabn leyends says this are real symbols of ocultism used in Germany 100 years ago. This piece of paper is really relicate and easy to lose tough!!!

And for last he have a black....thingy of unknown origina that at first i tough it was an enema but it seems is a bottle? A wine bottle maybe? I dont remember this item on the movie and it have a pretty futuristc and elegant design tough it have no texture, just black and shiny plastic here and i cant see how to use it.

Overall this figure is really really beautifull and different to the rest of the other figures of the character, with unique accesorys and a really interesting paint op. Is it better than the Sideshow version? Maybe...its deffinetly more natural looking, but is it better than the Mezco version? I dont know....

Quality wise, the Mezco ONE:12 version is better on everything, but its an stylized redesign, while this one is much much much faithfull to the on screen character soo i can really chose wich one is better since they have a totally different perspective.

The Super 7 version will be out soon but...idont know if i need it, not after this one since i am pretty sure Super 7 will not be able to do a better job than NECA but in the end, the Nosferatu licence is totally free soo i am pretty sure we will see more figures of him over and over again, specially with the remake next christmas. 

WOLFMAN

With The Mummy remake in the 90s there was a huge interest over the Univeral Monsters (that popularity was effectibly killed by Van Hellsing) and aside of Sideshows, the brand Jakks Pacific was also responsible to produce toys based on the Monsters. Soo far in the last 24 years, the toys of Jakks Pacific has been able to avoid completelly my interest soo i dont know too much about the brand, aside that The Mummy and Van Hellsing toys they produced were pretty awfull.

The original Universal Monster toys, tough, looked pretty rad since they came in big boxes full of windows, something pretty rare back then, and they also included a diorama/play set that set them appart to wath Sideshow was producing back then. They are pretty rare as well, at least in my country, i only see them twice at a very high price and all this made them even more important for the collection.

After 21 years i was finally able to get the Frankenstein Monster as well as the Wolfman. I am missing Dracula but from the 3, he is the most boring looking soo i am not too worried about him. The Franknesntein Monster tough, with all his set displayed with the chair and shackles is one interesting and atractive addition to the Universal Monster display but the Wolfman really stands out on his own as well.

He is on scale with figures of the beggining of the century; a head smaller to modern NECA or McFarlane Toys tough this guy in specifici is actually a little bit smaller given his legs position. He cant stand on his own, at all....not even with the base he stays uprigth thanks to the shape of his feet and, again, his legs position. The only way for him to stand is to hold him of the tree branch.

He is articulated on the neck, shoulders, elbows, wrists, waist, legs, knees and ankles tough this are all cut joints, theres not a single ball joint here. His head can rotate left and rigth but not up or down, and he can move his arms up and down but not open them, and his legs can move in diagonal soo he cant sit like the Frankenstein Monster and that makes him stand even more tricky. Very basic and simple articulations but that was the standar back then....

The sculpt is really good! The shape of the head, the lower lip with the tusk coming out, the hair deffinition is very very good as well, i am surprised they also reproduce the Lon Chaney Jr looks soo well and while the body is not that detailed thanks to his over simple outfit, the shape and wrinkles pf the shirt and pants around his body looks very very good. And while i hate he cant stand i am glad they keep the doggy shaped feet.

The paint is really good as well, unlike the Frankenstein Monster, the paint dosnt looks sketchy but is very very well defined, the pink on the lips, the white on the fangs, the black nose, the soft brown on the face and dark brown on the hair with different brownish tones on the hair to give it volume and details, even the eyes are extremelly livelly with the brown pupil, something i wasnt expecting from Jakks Pacific.

The green shirt and grey pants have no textures but they do have a wash of different tones to make them looks more natural while the buttons on the shirt and the belt are perfectly painted, as well as the black claws in both hands and feet, but wath really ruin this good looking figures is the shaved neck.....he have human hairless neck!! The hair of the ehad cover most of the neck tough but from the sides, the human neck is really visible.

The set piece is bigger than Frankenstein´s but not as heavy at the same time: a cementery scene with tombstones and trees and the nigth sky in the back. The sculpt in the ground have a dirty texture, stones and all around a very irregular terrain with a ditch in the center and two pegs in this specific part to stand the Wolfman. Theres a tumbstone on the back as well as a weirdlly shaped rock in the front and a cross........thingy that looks made with wood. The porpuse if this specifi items eludes my undertanding since is not a cross at all but i remember seen this in the cementery of Frakenstein, deffinetly.

There is a huge dry and dead tree on the side with a single articulated branch. The wood tecture as well as the stone and disrt texture are really good looking and the paint matched perfectly as well, The ground have different tones of greens to make some areas looks like short grass and its mixed very nice with the browns of the ditch in the center. The tocks have different greys and have also a weet texture while the cross thingy have different browns to make it looks like a real wood. The tree is a little too dark tough, it have ifferent tones of black but overall dosnt looks as detailed as the rest of the scenario and it dosnt mix too much with the ground colors. 

The background is not a carboard printed image but a thick plastic tablet that fits in the base and have trees scupted and painted as well. I wish tough they added more trees or tombstones since it looks kinda empty and i also wish they sculpted or painted stars in the sky clouds or something because the sky is just metalic blue and thats it, it looks too empty comapred to all the details of the ground or the Wolfman himself.

This time there is actual accesorys too, like a shovel. The shovel is very cute looking and looks too much like a toy, made with soft plastic and pretty plain and brigth colors. it fits on Larry Talbots hand but his place is agains the tree. There is also a lamp that fit on the characters hand and also can hang from the tree branches. The sculpt of the lamp fits to the overall tone but is just a black piece of plastic, with no color at all. I wish they painted the sides or they add a sticker to make it looks lit because its kind of difficult see wath this is.

There is also the action feature items!! Human feet, hands and head!! The sculpt and paint are OK and somehow, Wolfman can stand on his own with the human feet. The face sculpt is something more difficult, the face shape, sad expression on the eyes and even the messy hair are all close to Lon Chaney Jr Larry Talbot portrayal but each feature is exaggerated, like in a cartoon portrayal. The color on the eyes is very good, but the paint on his hair is very messy and they give him an odd orange wash too soo under direct ligth the paint looks pretty weird.

This is why the neck had no hair, i guess they tough it would be odd to add the human head to a furry neck and the wolf head hude the neck much better but i wish they did it the NECA way and make the neck exchangable as well but the swaping is pretty easy since the peg on the feet, hands and neck seems to be very strong (considering how old is this toy i was afraid the plastic would be britle).

Now the action feature: the sky block thingy have a hole shaped like clouds just behind the tree with a sky printing inside. In the back theres a lever, turn it and the sky moves like a clock and reveal a half moon half hidden by clowds, keep turning it to reveal the full moon in all its glory. This really helps make the sky piece much more complete and it works really good and is directly tied to the second action feature: transform Larry Talbot into the Wolfman.

Swap the hands and feet to have bin half changued with the half moon, swap the head to the Wolfman head for full moon to complete the mutation. Its a shame this has to be done manually, but this was the very first time they did a shape changin Wolfman figure and it stayed exclusive to Jakks Pacific for 20 whole years until NECA release theyr Ultimate Wolfman a few years ago and added the "changuing feature" again.

And laslty, the last action feature is the moon images glow in the dark. Is not mentioned in the box but its also pretty easy to see it, the half moon and ful moon are pretty brigth, a really awesome detail that makes even better and already brillant diorama.

This one, from the 3 Jakks Pacific figures, is the one i wanted the most, the best looking one and just like Frankenstein Monster, while the Wolfman figure looks not specially amazing, the whole diorama, moon changuin and accesorys all togetehr make this looks really rad!!

It sure is not as perfect as NECA´s Ultimate or even Sideshow version, but the human to wolf change and diorama stayed as a unique features of this version for 20 years and comparing it to wath was on the market back then (Palisades, McFarlane, Mexco) this was really such a unique premium figure in both sculpt and paint. It was really worth the long wait and made me wish Jakks Pacific managed to keep this quality for theyr Van Hellsing figures, maybe then they would had the chance to release the second serires with Karis the mummy, the actual Bride of the Monster and the Creature From the Black Lagoon.

FRANKENSTEIN

 At the end of last centiry and beginign of this century, theres was a boom of popularity of the Universal Monsters, thanks to The Mummy remake for sure, soo Sideshow release a HUGE collection based on those classic Monsters in all scales but the other company working on them back then was also Jakks Pacific, a pretty misteryous (for me) brand that was in chargue of The Mummy Returns action figures as well as Van Halleings´s.

But in between those two series, they also released figures based on the original Universal Monsters, tough only 3: Dracula, the Franlnenstein Monster and the Wolf Man. In my country those figures are very very rare and only saw them twice in the last 21 years and they are not cheap. I miss Dracula but i finally got the Frankenstein Monster after all this years.

Unlike all figures from back then, this one didnt came carded on a blister or in a clamshell but in a big box full of windows and artwork and it makes it feel like some kind of premium figure but in fact this Monster is not that big, he is on the same scale as most action figures like McFarlane or NECA had 21 years ago: one head and a half smaller than modern action figures, but still taller than a Figuarts or Figma (or Jada) this this guy is actually smaller to the Sideshow premium figures.

He can stand on his own perfectly with no problem and is articulated on the neck, waist, shoulders, elbows, legs, knees and ankles. The ehad is ball jointed soo it have a big range of movement up and down as well as the sides, all other articulations are basic cut joints - the standar articulations from back then - soo he can move his shoulders up and down but not open them to the sides, and elbows only bend to a certain degree.

I can judges the articulations all i can, they are extremelly stiff and useless but the reality is that all other companys used this same kind of articulation, including Sideshow. The Monster is not well known to be extrmelly versatile on his movement (aside of the circus freak version of Van Hellsing), soo the articulations match the character as well.

The sculpt is actually good!! Jakks Pacific actually did had contract with the Karloff familly and used Boris Karloff face feature instead of doing a generic monster. The sunken checks and sleepy eyes looks spot on as well as the shape of the nose, but also the face expression with half of his mouth open showing his teeth in a menacing growl is actually pretty close to Karloff portrayal of the creature.

The skin of the texture is that of a mummy and theres even the burn scar on the side of his face. His shirt and boots have a rugged texture and his hands have the same mummy texture the face have and all the stitches and open wounds are sculpted. The pants are extremelly simple as wella s the jacket but this last one is made with soft plastic soo the Monster can sit.

The paint tough fill me with doubts. Its not like this is the most colorfull or detailec aharcter out there but i feel the color palette is kinda dull. Totally black shirts and boots, plain green pants and grey jacket, with no shades or ligths or anything, just a plain single color for each part makes him looks very "toy-ish"The skin tone have a pale color (i am glad is not green!!!) and while the scars and open wounds show some red on theme, i feel like the white of his teeth, soft pink lips and eyes mix too much with the skin color.

Different tones of green, eye bags, the burn scar, all this details would looks much better painted but the paint is just way too....simple? This also mades me doubt a little bit if i can see Karloff in here or not, is like somehow, this figures looks like an unfinished sketch, i never feelt like this with other figure before.

This figure is actually not based on the Frankenstein movie, but the box says all over the place "Bride of Frankenstein" soo this is the reason why he have a brun scar on his face and his jacket is torn apart in some sections but more impostantly, this figure is based on a certain specific scene of the movie where the Monster is captured by the wosn people and took to the precint and chained to a chair inside a dungeon, soo this figure comes with said chair and even some part of the dingeon floor.

I dont know how to call this, a playset? Or a diorama? wathever is called, this is the reason this figure came in a big box and looked spectacular inside it. The piece is actually quiet heavy, is not holow plastic at all. The whole floor and chair are all made of stone. The texture is really reslly really impresive good and all the cracisk and divisions of the rocks that build thos primitive chair have a really crisp sculpt.

The back side of the chair is an imposing peice of raw wood with other two pieces to hold the Monster shoulders and a chain conecting both sections. Again, the wood texture is really impresive and realistic and the chain is real metalic chain, that put this figure above anything McFarlane is doing now day.

Theres two rings of plastic coming out of the floor at the side of the steps, with a real metal chain conecting to shackles around the Monster wrists. This shackles can be removed but given how thing they are and how old is this....i got the feeling they will breake the very moment i try to open them.

Give this is also an old school toy, not only he have a diorama/play set thingy, but he also have an action feature!! Push a lever in the back of the chair and the Monster will move his arms upwards breaking the chains and liberating himself!!!

Gladlly, the Monster articulations make it easy to fit him in the chair. He have a weird hole on his back (like seen in the second photo) that conects to the lever on the char. The rocky pieces with the chains cna be conected to the floor like puzzle pieces and they have a small hole and a peg to keep them in place.

But, the arms movement with the lever dont have enough power for the Monster to break lose of his chains unless his arms are almost all up, soo this action feature is pretty useless. An incredivly cool idea, but it dosnt work in reality. Despite of that, i would have LOVED something like this when i was a kid in the 90s......i think this would have been my favorite toy back then.

This Jakks Pacifis toys are soo difficult to find and soo hunted by collectors, but in reality the quality here is lower than that of Sideshow (and many levels behind NECA), the figure is kinda plain to be honest, but somehow, one he is conected to the big and heavy chair, with the chains surround him, this Frankenstein Monster is really really good looking and the fact it recreats an specific scene of a movie maks it even better.

This figure looks fenomenal on any horro themed colleection as well as Universal Monster collection but is also pretty relevant to anyone who collect figures based n movies as well. Shure this is not very fun to play with but visually speaking, this figure really delivers.

TRASHIN PUMPKIN

 The toys from the 80s are soo unique and special, not only they had sometimes big muscles, but they also came with vibrant colors, gore, ooze, mutilations, mutantions and monstruisity, some of them even transformed or were even dangerous, deffinetly an era that wont be back again. But Premium DNA has managed to reproduce that era with the remake of the Madballs action figures they produced a few years ago.

I am not sure how it worked, but after the release of the first Madball series, Premium DNA had a collaboration with the mobile game Need for Speed On Limit. The game had a scenario and a vehicle based on Madballs while Premium DNA produced an exclusive limited edtion figure based on that same collaboration, a stand alone new Madballs monster called Trashin Pumpkin.

In the same scale as the rest of the Madballs (only a head shorter than your average action figure), this guy is crazy heavy!!! But he can stand on his own perfectly thanks to his short legs and huge feet. He is articulated on the head, chest, shoulders, elbows, wrists, legs, knees and ankles. All ball joints soo the artculation have a big range fo movement BUT he suffers from a lack of movement the same way the other Madballs do.

Since he have no neck and his body is round, his head cant tilt up or down and only move to the sides and given how short are his legs they dont have many options of movement either. Also, his best is made of hard plastic and have a lot of spikes, while his arms also have thorns soo this keep his shoulder movement pretty limited. This is, sadly, something that cant be fixed given the nature of the character design tough i wish the vest was made in softer material.

This is a totally new Madball, and i am surprised that at this point it took them soo long to release a Halloween themed character, a sort of scarecrow with a pumpkin as head, this is a design very rooted on Halloween that could be perfectly on The Nightmare Before Christmas or Medievil, or even Ghostbusters.

The sculpt is soo soo seriuslly good, the pupkin have a rugged texture and the shapes around the sockets looks soo organic, theres very deep cuts on the back of his head with ooze coming out from it and the ooze have a softish and liquid texture. At first i tough the head was hollow but is not, the black inside really evade ligth nicelly and make it looks like theres nothing inside and the evil expression with the cross shape on his eye make it incrediblly creepy.

The stitches on the vest, the rope on his waist, the wrinkles on the panths, everything looks really good but not as good as the realistic skin texture on his arms and feet. The veins on the hands and feet and rugged looks of tendons mixing with skin is really amazing! This mix is realistic details along side cartoony anatomy makes for a really strocking combination.

He have big and pointy thorns coming out from his arms and feet as well as in the ivy tentacles around them and while they are incrediblly sharp, the end of the ivy tentacles is made of soft plastic. But like i said earlyer, the vest is not made of soft plastic and is very thin, wich makes me think it demands extra care soo the peice dosnt broke but judging the quality of the plastic used here, i doubt something like that happens anytime soon.

The paint aplication is at the same level as the sculpt. The big orange pumpkin have  a lot of darker washes in the rigth spots to make it looks, ready to rot away in any moment while the green ooze on his mouth have a totally different green color than the ooze coming out on the cutson his head. All this details reminds me soo much the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles toys from Playmates or the Toxic Crusaders.

Aside of the golden pin in the vest, the stitches have a different color and the vest itself have many tones of brown mixed with green that gives it a lot of deep and texture. The pants have the same tones and each patch have a different color as well. 

His skin coloring looks pretty natural, aside of the fact is green, it have a lot od dark green details and veins that makes his arms and legs looks like dry and old organic tissue made of plant. The ivy have a much more healtyer color but my favorite part are his feet, sicne one of his feet have an orange/brown color that, in fact makes it looks like this is a plant rotting away. Even the nails have a totally different color than the nails of the other more fresh feet.

Maybe because this is a special edition, instead of coming with 3 pair of hands, this guy have 5 1/2 pairs. Closed fist, open hands, graby hands and pointy hands like the rest of the Madballs but they also added grab hands with no ivy and an extra open palm with ivy on it. I find this pretty unecesary since i dont see why someone would display him with clean hands....but oh well, i guess is better to have more than necesary hands than having missing hands and the sculpt and paint is really good and they can be swaped pretty easy.

His best accesory is a pitchfork, pretty integral to the scarecrow look with the rigth amount of cartoony look: worms and green ooze as well as lot of blood and intestines wraped around the it. The material is kinda soft soo is easy to warp it, the sculpt of both groos and cartoony and the paint work matches perfecty.

Next he have a tire iron with both ivy, blood and even an eyeball in one of the sides with muscle tissue wraping round the metalic structure. I am guessing this is because of the Need for Sppeed theme since i cant see how this matches the character, but oh well, this is a really fun and creppy looking items toug its made with very soft material and is pretty difficult to put it on his grab hands made with haird plastic, at least difficult without damaging it.

He also comes with a piston, a pretty old piston with lots of blood on top as well as nails. It looks like a pretty gruesome and brutal weapon tough i cant see how i can pose Trashin Pumpkin with it since it even have difficultys holding it. The metalic paint of this item is really beautifull as wlel as the copper color in the nails.

While the other Madballs have only 3 accesorys, this have a fourth one; a severed hand. It is blue with darker blue spots and a bloody cut that shows the bone. It looks very very cartoony and i am not sure wath to do with it actually....Trashin Pumpkin cant really hold it and i dont see where to put this. It looks more like a scenary item for me tough.

And the last extra in here and unique to this figure is another head designed by James Groman. Its basically the same head but meanier and even much more gruesome than before: the pumpkin skin have holes and even more damage and looks even much more realistic this times!! The ooze looks less cartoony and theres purple worms coming out from his mouth and other areas but even much worse, he have human eyes inside his sockets and one is hanging from muscle tissue and almost falling into his mouth and in the back, one of the deep cuts have the knife still sticking out from it.

The paint is soo astonishing! Specially on the eyes!! With all those red veins and green pupil as well as the muscle tissue exposed. Worms, insects, cuts, theres soo much detail on this, it trully looks like a gruesome piece of designer art.

Premium DNA shocked me with the quality of the first Madball series but this one is even more impactfull. Articulation have its limits and this is not a cheap figure, but the amazing quality of the sculpt and paint deffinetly make it more than worth the money. 

The overall design is pretty top qualty as well, like i already mentioned not only this figure materialize the spirt of the 80s toys but also it can fit with any Ghotsbuster, Medievil or any ther horror and gothic collection. They are going to release a second series of Madballs soon and i am defifnetly pretty hyped to see this gruesome collection to keep growing.

KRAMPUS

 Krampus is told of in hushed whispers, for to say his name aloud invites his attention. The people of the frozen mountains know that this devil haunts them during the winter festival, while the good folk celebrate to drive away the chill and darkness of the season.

Krampus seeks out the wicked, especially children, for his punishment. Any he judges unworthy are whipped with birch reeds, locked in shackles, and stuffed in his basket. He takes these children away, perhaps to the underworld itself, never to be seen again.

If you see the shadow of a horned figure, or hear the discordant jingling of iron bells, take care: Krampus seeks fresh prey.

It was the Yuletide Demon - Krampus - the very first one to start the Figura Obscura toy line from Four Horsemen years ago and while i was able to ignore theyr Mythic Legion series for a long time (not that they are bad figures, quiet the opposite), i wasnt able to ignore the Krampus, i just cant. Releasing him on Christmas Eve, there was no more perfect way to start a series based on holidays or even....theres no better toy than this for the season actually.

Sadly, just like the Headless Horsemen, i wasnt able to get Krampus either and had to wait for the second version of the figure to came out and after a long long delay, he finally arrive. I was pretty excited for him in christmas but now on february it feels kinda off and wrong but the wait was worth it since the qualty is pretty high in here, even with the beautifull box he comes with (tough i admit, is less intimidating and spectacular than the Headless Horsemen).

Krampus comes in the same scale as the Horseman soo he fits with everything McFarlane, NECA, Storm, Furay, most action figures of the market soo he have the perfect size to have a precense on the shelf but not take too much space. He has no base but can stand on his hown tough is pretty tricky, sicne he is cloven footed, soo the legs needs to be in the rigth angle to have enough balance for him.

H eis articulated on the head, shoulders, elbows, wrists, waist, legs, tighs, knees and ankles as well as his tail. While all articulations are ball joins and in theory they must have total freedom of movement, the truth is that theres a lot of restrictions in here. His mane of hair around his neck limits his head movement a little bit but not much, but since he has no butterfly joint on the chest or double articulation on the elbows, his arms are can bend only to a certain degree and he can join his arms at the front.

The armor....belt...loincloth or wathever he is wearing is made with pretty firt plastic, soo his legs have a much better range of movement than his torso. Even his tail is removable tough he have the same issue the Headless Horseman have: his legs joints are kidna lose soo that makes him extra tricky to stand. I am not sure why the legs are soo lose while the shoulders are soo tigth...

The sculpt is amazing. The warped face features and wrinkles around his eyes and mouth, small eyes and animal like nose make him looks like a vampire bat. The fangs are sharp as well as the tongue and even his troath can be seen behind his fangs. The horns sculpt is extremelly realistic as well as the hair sculpt on his beard and mane that cover his neck. By the way, this hair can be removed as well.

The body is muscled, really fit but not too bulky, athletic with a ripped definition and very sexy details, like veins on his chest and biceps and his nipples, tough theres no skin texture in here. His gautlets, boots and armor thingy on his waist have a half medieval half futuristic design and not only have scratches and identations to make them look old and used, but they are made on very soft plastic (even one of the spikes on his boots is warped).

I love his cloven hoofs, they are also sculpted underneat and his tail is amde with haird plastic soo it cant bend but is sculpted in a movement motion, soo it can be turned around and looks different constantly, and it looks like a lion tail, very very cute.

The original version of this figure was pitch black, totally black with only his eyes and tongue shining in red, this second version have him painted on red skin with deep blue eyes. I find this much more better looking since the original version was....well....like a black shadow with horns, its was pretty difficult to discenr wath was Krampus and wath was metal or other element, but in here the red skin really contrast with the black metalic and black claws and show the details of the musculature much better.

His skin is painted on a vibrant crimson tough it have some dark shadows airbrushed soo the muscles can stand out much better, he looks really sexy and really hellish at the same time. The tail and his mane of hair have a much darker red on them, with black washes to give shadows to all that hair. The dark pink of the tongue get kost a little bit with the redish beard but the cream colored fangs stand out as well as the blue eyes that looks like jewells.

Theres not a single drop of paint in the wrong place in here, everything is perfectly painted, specially the hrosn with the brown wash that gives them a very realistic look. The very little armor he is weating is painted in gun metal black with some shine elements to make it looks metalic (while Super 7 insists this cannot be done with modern technology) and the cloven hoofs are missing the shine tones but have a very soft dar brown on them to make them looks organic with the horns.

The hairy loincloth on the front is painted on green, perfect for the christmas spirit of the character but also it contrast wonderfully with the red and black of the rest of the figure.

He comes with a lot of accesorys directly taken from the legends of  Yuletide. An extra pair of hands to hoold them that are very easy to swap, aside of his claw shapped hands, but he also have a set of shackles with real chains. In the legend he use this to catch children tough in here he can use them himself to have a eerie look, dragin the chains around hanging from his wrists. 

He also comes with a red cord with some ring bells attacjed to it. Six ring bells of small and big size that shine like jewells in hands of the Krampus and they actually works and rings, since the legends says Krampus is close when a ring bell is hear. Just like the shackles and chains, this cord with ring bells can be wrapped around his necl, arms or hands.

Krampus use also a birch reeds to attack his prey. This branches dont looks like too much but i guess they are a way of torture, like a whip. The sculpts is nice and to contrast with the red color of the demon, they are covered in white snow and they fit nicelly on his secondary hands.

His other accesory is his always needed and important woven basket to carry children. The basket is not that big and have a lid, but sadly the lid dosnt fit. The sculpt is nice and the design really fits the north side of the world art crafts, painted in yellow mixed with red and green, tough i find it way too colorfull for the Krampus, it looks very "toyish" but i guess that was intentional.

The basket have a ring on the side and a pretty raw looking yellow cord. At first i tough putting the basket on the Krampus back would be way too difficult with my big hands but i find how to do it, i just wrap the cord around the Krampus shoulders and tie it with a knot on his back and let the basket to just hand there....i dont know if this is the correct way to use this but its the easyer way for me and it does the job just fine.

Best of all, he also comes with the skull and hands of one of his victims!! A pair of bony claw shaped bone hands with an articulated peg (??) and a kid skull. There the hands have not much details, the skull is really good looking in both sculpt and paint, with a yellowish tone with some dark washes, its very realistic.

Put the kid hands at the endge of the basket in the inside and balance the skull in between them and you got the skeleton of a child peeking out from the Krampus basket!! Balance the skull is nto that easy, but the final display is really creepy and fun looking!!

Also, theres an adult skull included. A bigger skull with an articulated jaw and a ball joint identation on the base, i wondered why theres to skulls in here? And it seems this is actually the Headless Horseman missing head!! It fits him perfectly and rise the question of why the Krampus have his head???

Lastly, the box can be unfold like a 3 part screen to reveal an background for the figure: A snow filled natural landscape with snow falling and the moon peeking at the top in between dark clouds. There is also a pretty ominous rock formation in the center with candles on top that gives the impression of a shrine of some sort. There is also candles on top of the trees.

The artworks is beautifully done and is both relaxing and peacefull but also creppy and dark, theres is something blasphemous and weird in the candles at the top of the trees and the clouds almost engullfing the entire moon.

This is one of my all time favorite figures and one that i been waiting to get for a long time. This is the most classic Krampus, every single element is faitfull to the Yuletide tradition and is also one of the most devilish figures i ever seen. Sure some of his articulations are kinda lose but pretty much everything else is pure perfection.

He is deffinetly not as magestic as the Headless Horseman but is much more sexyer and Four Horsemen already added four more figures to the Figura Obscura line soo i am way behind. They release Santa to pair with this Krampus but i find him the less interesting release of the collection and somehow they also release Son Wukong, the Monkey King, but my interest is on the second Halloween and third Chrsitmas figures of the collection....