JACK GOODMAN & KESSLER WOLF

 For years i been avoiding the Toony Terrors from NECA, not because i dont like them, but quiet the opposite, i am a fraid to want to collect them all since the subject directly attack my tastes: a collection of creatures from horror movies but with a cartoon design. But from the many series they release the one that pick my attention the most was the An American Werewolf in London boxset with Jack Goodman on his ghost form and the Kessler Wolf. They come together in a big box and i finally get them at a super cheap price and could not resist.

First of all, despite the boxset packaging, i am surprised how tiny this figures are....Jack is like a head and a half shorter than a Figma/S.H.Figuarts and just barelly taller than a Funko Pop and the Kessler Wolf is the same size but in all four legs, soo he is shorter and i am not sure if this is accurate because i always tough this wolf was masive...i mean, the Ultimate Kessler Wolf, on all four legs, is almost as tall as a human figure but here he is the size of a standar dog but with a huge head.

Maybe is the cartoony anatomy that mess up the scales....but anyway, this two can stand perfectly with no need of a base and each one of them have 3 articulations: The head and the shoulders. Jack head is ball jointed, soo he can tilt his head and move it up and down and to the sides pretty good, but hsi shoulders only can rotate up and down, and given how close are from his body moving around looks awkard.

Kessler Wolf tough is a completelly static since the mane around his hed prevent his head to move at all and while he can rotate his shoulders, theres no use to doing it since he NEEDS all four legs in the ground to be able to stand. Soo the only "working" articulation here is Jack´s head since all other articulations are useless.

The sculpt is really good and i love in particular Jack´s half skeletal head with the messy pointy hair. The big jacket is full of cuts and it contrast nicelly with the short and thin legs ending in huge shoes that makes him looks really goofy and like something that perfectly fits on Tales From the Crypt Keeper cartoon from the 90s. 

The big head of the wolf with the giant gangs and eyes looks really cool and while the body is very animalistic, the human hands with long fingers make him looks quiet odd. The hair sculpt is extremelly basic and both of them lacks any kind of texture. The paint is very basic as well to give them a kind of cell shading look, with the wold being entirelly brown with the hands and face in blue, claws and fangs in yellow and eyes crimson red with a vibrant yellow.

Jack have a grey skin with green jacket and blue jeans vut is also full of mud and blood coming out of the cuts from his body but theres no shades or shadows or anything side of the base color.

Theres no accesorys either, just a background diorama printed on paper (or very thin carboard) with The Slaugthered Lamb pub on it as well as the moor and the full moon on the background. The paint is nice tough pretty simple, like the painting of a child´s illustrated book and the dark blue palette makes Jacm stands out nicelly but the Kessler Wolf coumflages on it a little bit.

This is pretty odd but, despite this are characters from a movie i really love and how nicelly is the sculpt and painting, i find this pair quiet boring. I mean, i know they are triying to mimic 90s toys here but add more articulations would had make a big difference. Not 25 ball joints but just let us move the legs or add ball joints on the shoulders or something... and is not like i dont like statues, i love them!! But when they have a very actiony and fluid pose or some pose that express the character personality, but here Jack is just in a musem pose and the wolf is just standing.....

Also the small size. This makes them easy to collect but at the same time makes them feel a little bit like blind box figures. I dunno...maybe make them bind box figures would make them more exciting. I dont hate them but i dont know wath to do with them either, specially with the spectacular Ultimate version NECA release a few years ago. I guess that means i am safe and wont collect more of this line.

KESSLER WOLF

 

Its almost christmas and wath a better way to celebrate than with monsters and horror, really this season is getting some amazing figures that reminds a lot the 23 years old line called Movie Maniacs. That line give us the monsters from the best horror films from the 80s and 90s but while that line died in McFarlane´s hands long time ago, NECA surelly continue the tradition in a really spectacular way.

Just just fresh from the Comicon here it is the Kessler Wolf, the monster from An American Werewolf in London, one of the best and most disturbing and memorable horror and wolfmen movies along side Dog Soldier and The Howling. And this is the best time to release action figures based on this movie since is the 40th anniversary of the film.

This monster is MASIVE....the box that contains him is really huge and feels almost like a vehicle or a playset from a 90s toy line. In scale with all ther NECA figures he reaches the chest area of all other action figures, on all four since standing on two legs he wold be huge. He is articulated on the neck, torso, shoulders, elbows, wrists, half "hands", legs, knes, ankles and half feet. I am not sure of i should call them feet or hands or ankles at all since his legs have a totally different anatomy, lets just call them half the legs?

The articulations are extremelly sturdy and stiff since they need to bear the hevy weigth beast, but they can sotate and move pefectly except in the torso, the midle torso movement is really limited but really, while articulations are fantastic and perfect they are kinda useless. You can put this beast on any possition aside of standing on four since he is a big hound and his back legs are too small to sopport him and the good foolks at NECA fixed this by NOT ADDING A GODMAN BASE...

Even getting a generic base is extremelly difficult since not even Play Arts Kai bases can support the masive weigth of this hound.

He is made with hard plastic except his torso and the middle section in between his shoulders and head, a mane of soft plastic to cover the ball joint on his head. The sculpt is TERRIFIC.... really, the fur texture is extremelly well done as well as his huge head, the small eyes with the evil expression and huge fangs protunding agresivelly out of his mouth.

The paint aplication is just FANTASTIC, just as good as the sculpt. There is an awfull lot of colors here, not just brown. There is different tones of brown to highlight the volume of the fur but there is also black shadows in strategic places and well as blue tones on his face. All this colors mix perfectly and looks incrediblly natural, even his blue feet dosnt looks out of place, they looks really organic.

His orange and brigth eyes, his yellow teeth, his weet gums and lips, the paint job is 100% perfect and looks like a museum replica of the wolf animatronic from the movie.

His only accesory is an extra head that cna be exchanged pretty easy and showcase his open mouth. If the closed mouth looks is already demonic and figthning, his open mouth is even more stuning and nightmarish since his fangs are covered in fresh blood and his tongue and palate have such a realistic texture and color. Really, you can count every single tooth on his mouth and each one is sculpted and painted independently.

I have to say, unlike the Dog Alien and Rino Alien, Kessler Wolf dosnt have too many pose options and feels really static, but i am impresed by the sky high quality on movement, sculpt and paint. There is literally no difference between this and the prototype and that is quiet a feat not many companys accomplish, specially at this range price.

They also released the nigthmare demon wolf from the movie but i am happy just with Kessler, i never dream having action figures from that particular movie. NECA is working on the monster from The Thing too but i am excited to see wath other monsters they release, i am already extremelly tired of Jason´s, Freddy´s, Chucky´s and Pennywise´s.