THE GHOST OF JACOB MARLEY

 Why do the dead walk the Earth? For some, it is because they fear what comes next, and so they cling to the memory of their mortal existance. For others, they haunt the living because they have unfinished business amont them. Still, there are some spirits who linger not by choice, but because they are cursed to do so. Such is the case of the spirit who, in life, was known as Jacob Marley.

Eternally fettered, the Ghost of Jacob Marley wears the chains he forged in life. Each link is a sin that he committed against his fellow man. Each ledger and cashbox and key is a reminder of opportunities lost, of chances to lift up and assist a fellow human that he squandered in his blind greed. This restless spirit now walks amongst mankind, forced to witness the fate of those he could have helped, but did not - and yet, somehow this damnable soul found a way to not only return to the land of the living, but to finally use his influence to help another. 

Christmas Eve is one of the nights pf the calendar year when the barriers between the worlds of the living and the dead begin to thaw. It is therefore no surprise that it was on this night that Marley´s Ghost appeared to his former partner, the miserly Ebenezer Scrooge. The specter brought with him a warning, that should Ebenezer not change his was, he too would be condemned to wear the chains of a life poorly lived. Yet Jacob Marley also briught with him hope, for he explained to Scrooge that he would be visited that very evening by three additional spirits and that he still had a chance to turn from his path - a chance sich old Marley had procured for him.

Ever the businessman, Jacob Marley was brokering deals with the spirits even as he dragged around the heavy burden of his own sinful deeds. For he could not assist those he shunned in life, but he could be the instrument that would help remdeem thr sould of Ebenezer.

This story is an old one, and most know that Ebenezer Scrooge was not only saved, but that he became as good a man as any knew. He held Christmas on his heart the whole year through, and all the lives he touched with his remaining time on Earth owed that good will to the ghostly intervention of the "good man of business" once known as Jacob Marley.

The Figura Obscura series for Fourhorsemen has been one of the most amazing lines i ever seen tough i dont have many of them, pretty much every single figure of the series stands out as a brillant collectible and the fact some of them are season themed turns them into something to looks forward every year. While this year they release the Mouse King that looks more like a Teenage Ninja Turtle character, in 2023 the Christmas season saw theyr Ghost of Jacob Marley, from Charles Dickens "A Christmas Carol" book.

While this particular story and its character as seen literally hundreds of version on screen and each one wathers down the concept little by little, the original Charles Dickens book was actually "a Ghost Story of Christmas" and was supposed to be haunting and creppy and the people of Fourhorsemen didnt dissapoint by keeping faithfull to the original printed story just like they did with the Frankenstein Creature last year.

Aside of coming in a beautifull artbox that mimics the streets of London full of spirits wandering around and being seen tough the window (tough this ghost renders are based on Fourhorsemen people), Jacob Marley is in the standar scale of the NECA, McFarlane and Storm figures soo he matches perfectly most of other lines in size and is the same size as Krampus and the Creature (and of cours he is a head taller than the Headless Horseman) and can stand on his own perfectly.

He is articulated on the neck, waist, shoulders, elbows, wrists, legs, knees and ankles. The ehad have a big ball joint that let the head be swaped pretty easy but the long hair in the back dosnt let him move the head backside tough the front have a good rnage of movement. The shoulders have a ball joint as well as the elbows and they can turn left and rigth as well. The waist dosnt move too much mostly because of the hip piece of his suit. This peice is made of soft plastic but it blocks the waist movement anyway as well as the legs movement.

The legs can rotate but like i said, the hip piece from his suit makes it difficult while the knees and ankles ball joints moves perfectly with no effort. Actually, the ankles are kinda loose and makes him fall now and then, but finding the rigth balance for them is not that difficult.

The sculpt is superb, like expected. Small details like the wrinkles around Jacob´s forehead as well as the veins, the bag under his eyes, the cut on his mouth, are very faintly and soft sculpted while the missing piece of flesh on his forehead and strands of hair have a very deep and strong sculpt that defines them nicelly. Jacob Marley´s face is cold, stoic, and very severe, and the shroud arund his face have a soft wool texture.

The jacket, the vest and pants also have the same texture while the sleeves end, inside of the jacket and boots have a very leatherish texture that makes them looks much heavyer. Both the vest and the jacket are made of soft plastic tough the vest have no reason for it, the jacket material helps to not limit his legs or even arms poseability.

The details like the big belt bukle and the big buttons on the jacket looks reayy good as well as the scard on his neck but the most oustanding part of this are the legs and the jacket, because, this is a ghost and ghost have no legs, rigth? Soo the boots and jacket are cast in transluscent plastic that reminds a lot the Invisible Man figures. The paint fades slowlly at the end of the jacket and the top of the boots soo the changue between "material" and "inmaterial" sections have an incrediblly soft and natural transition.

The color here is blue....like, theres a whole lot of blue here but theres a lot of different blues as well that ranges from the pale to the almost grey one. The pants have a grey color while the vest have electric blue and the jacket have a pale soft blue with the buttons painted on white and electric blue. The boots have a totally different blue while the skin have a mix of pale and electric tones.

The shroud and the eyes stands out very much since they are the only white parts and while the entire outfit have no shades or other shadows on it, the face and hair have a lot of different tone sof electric and dark blues, specially under the eyes to make the eyes stand out even more and make the hair looks old and dry. Overall, the palette gives a feeling of coldnes and stillnes while the translucent boots and jacket feels very icy.

Theres a lot fo accesorys here!! Like two extra pair of hands, one claw shapped and another one fully open in a very dramatic way. Both works good to hold the chains and can be swaped very easy. Theres a lot of veins and wrinkles on them as well as grey long claws but the ball joint is painted on blue, soo while swaping them constantly the blue color will chip away constantly.

One of the main items in this pack is the head with no shroud around it and the mouth fully open on a silent and groesque scream, the jaw disjointed and the sides of the mouth cut soo the mouth is open revealing all the tissues inside. The eyes expression is full fo suffering too but perhaps the part that make this even more gruesome is the fact the teeth are painted on yellow and the inside of the mouth and tongue on red, soo that make a ghastly contrast with all the pale blue around it. I cant say this enough: the scult of the inside of the mouth and face expression is amazing and completelly perfect.

There is another head that consist on a kind of.....metalic helmeth shaped like a skull. This helmeth is closed at the side with a padlock and have a long metal chain hanging from the chin with a big and heavy loocking padlock in the end. The metalic paint on it and the different components, loke the folden bolts and the golden padlock are really good and this is an addition to the torture of Jacob Marley tough i just wonder if this helmeth if for him or another figure......mmmmm.

The other centrail piece in this is his weigth mechanism: a vest made with leather straps cast in very soft rubber plastic and painted with browns and metalic bolts and golden rings. Each rings have a long chains conected to it if different lenght and this are all REAL chains and each chain have different shapped keys hanging from the half and some padlocks here and there as well.

There is two books hanging from two chains, one is thin and blue with a golden palque in front while other is brown and very thick with a belt closing it. The leather texture of the covers as well as the little golden and metalic details painte don them as well as the pages inside make this books little mrvells, just like the ones included in the Frankenstein Creature.

Three different cashbox hang from three different chains as well and each one of them have a unique design and color palette, with one being completelly square and metalic green, another one have a tall lid while the other have a round lid both with grey and golden details. The texture feels like old metal while the color aplication is perfect and all of them can be open to reveal theyr content.

Lastly, a big thick chains comes out from the pinal cord of the weigth device and conects with a big and heavy safe box with little wheels on the bottom and a perfectly sculpted lid with a convination device. This item have the same texture of old metal as the other chasboxes and the paint is mostly grey with golden finish touches in front and it can be opened as well to keep the skull helmeth safe inside.

This weigth device have one of the straps detached soo once the head of Marley is gone, it can be wrapped around his body very easy and stays there perfectly. The whole chains system is like a metalic cobweb that can be pused around Jacob Marley like tendrils or tentacles to give him a pretty dramatic and spectacular look. This torture device is pretty noisy and can be very anoying while posing the figure around but it also can helps to keep in in balance (or destroy his balance completelly as well).

Now the skull helmeth thing is inside the safe box but waths inside the chasboxes? A toon of keys, twelve different keys bassed on the keys in the boxes of the other Figura Obscura figures. The keys sculpt looks is supper detailed since some have very strange shapes and the metalic finish looks great.

At the begining of the book, Scooge see the face of Jacob Marley in the doorknocker just before entering his house and starting listen to chains on the stairs soo Fourhorsemen included not one but two drooknockers here as well, one with Jacob stoic expression and the other with his disjointed jaw fully open. The sculpt is fantastic and the cooperpaint mixing gold and green gives them a very natural texture and the wings are articulated tough i am not sure how to display this since they only have a hole in the back and the only way to make them stand is by hanging them on a nail in the wall.

And finally, since the experience of Figura Obscura starts from the very cover of the box, the box itself is an accesory: once the magnetic locks are open the wraping around the box opens like a screen and form a background for the figure. The scene shows the room of Scrooge, with his bed in one side, the window in the middle with a lonely canddle and Scrooge himself on his couch by the fireplace completelly terrified by witnesing the pale and transluscent figure coming from the shadows.

The quality of the artwork is amazing and manages to mix realism and stylism pretty good. The color palette of the whole scene is the same as Jacob Marley, deep and cold blue, but the canddle in the middle as wella s the clock tower in outside and the fireplace make a great contrast to the scene and the presence of Scooge on it make the figure actually interacts with the background to build an scene. This is not just a background, this is an scene happening between two different characters and this really makes the display pop up in a very magnific way.

I can talk endlessly about this figure. The Figura Obscura figures only comes out once ot twice a year but each one of them shines from head to toe and completelly unique and original, from the box to the accesory and to the coltural weigth the handle as well. I mean, if you are a reader of books this figure would be awesome given is one of the key characters from the principal work of Charles Dickens but if you are a Christas maniac this figure is a must and if you are a horror collector, this figure is also principal since this was the very first ghostly figure that manifest with chains.

This is one of those expamples of a toy being seen as a piece of art but all Figura Obscura have the same level of quality. They later released the Ghost of Christmas Past but its design was less dashing than Jacob Marley and a few days ago they releasing the King Mouse and i am not gonna get that but they also releaed this year the Jersey Devil and i am still hunting the Masque of the Read Death from a few years back but i hope this series keep releasing this kind of characters next year and focus more on season characters.

FRANKENSTEIN´S CREATURE

 First published in 1818, "Frankenstein; or The Modern Prometheus" by Mary Shelley is a tale of loneliness, despair, and the horrible consequences or a reckless pursuit of knowledge. 

Dr. Victor Frankenstein is a brilliant, but misguided man consumed by the desire to unlock the secrets of life. Building a creature out of body parts from corpses which he collects from gravesites, Victor achieves his dream and brings his monstrosity to life. Rather than being delighted at his success, Dr. Frankenstein is horrified by the creature he has constructed, and he immediately flees from the sight of this monster.

 Alone and unwanted, Frankenstein’s Creature escapes into the wilderness. Forced to learn the ways of the world on his own, the Creature is met with fear as he encounters humans for the first time. Chased away by their terror of him, the Creature moves from place to place until he stumbles upon a remote hut inhabited by a blind man and his two children. Observing this family from afar, the Creature learns to speak and he begins to understand the importance of belonging and family. This realization only serves to increase the sense of isolation that Dr. Frankenstein’s creation feels, and he is eventually chased away from the hut when the man’s children behold the monster who has invaded their home.

The Creature seeks out Dr. Frankenstein at his family home in Geneva. He demands that the Doctor create another creature so that he may have a companion in this life. Reluctant to repeat his past mistakes, the Doctor initially refuses, but the Creature persists in his demands. Eventually Frankenstein succumbs to these demands and begins to build a second creature.

On the brink of successfully creating life for a second time, Dr. Frankenstein realizes that he cannot go through with the deed. He destroys his new creation, enraging the Creature who vows revenge against his cruel creator.

Thus begins a series of horrific events; the deadly consequences of Dr. Victor Frankenstein’s unchecked ambitions. Lashing out against the man who made him and left him alone, the Creature kills the doctor’s best friend as well as Victor’s wife, losses which also contribute to the death of Dr. Frankenstein’s father. Grief-stricken and now as alone as the Creature to which he gave life, Victor devotes his remaining time on Earth to hunting down his creation so that he may destroy the monstrosity he has brought into the world.

Dr. Frankenstein chases the monster to the northernmost parts of the globe, nearly catching him during a harrowing dogsled chase. Eventually discovered by a ship and a team of explorers seeking out the North Pole, a sickly Victor relates his grim tale before he finally succumbs to the illness he has been fighting and dies.

The captain of the ship, a man named Robert Walton, authors a series of letters relating the incredible tale that has been told to him by the doctor, he also includes his own encounter with the Creature. Finding the monster weeping over the dead body of his creator, he listens to the monster’s tale of solitude, suffering, and hatred, as well as the regret he now has for his actions. With his creator now dead, he is truly alone in the world. The Creature escapes into the icy North to die, never to be seen again.

The Figura Obscura series by Four Horsemen is one of those collections thats hard to belive, a real dream come true kind of event for some collectors not only because of theyr quality and theyr amazing package, but because they been releasing characters from pretty...."obscure" topics like real life mithology or literally works, everything with a hliday spin into it: they release Krampus on Christmas day and they release the Headless Horseman in Halloween.

This figures have been the event of the season deffinetly, and finally i was able to get one of them in release season! The Halloween figure of this year, the Frankenstein´s Creature!!! And while theres hunderds of figures based on Boris Karloff Franknestein Mosnter from the Universal movie, this particular figure is entirelly based directly on Mary Shelley´s original vision, for the first time ever.

Aside of the magnificent box fill to the maximum of beautifull and haunting artwork (sadly, no glow in the dark this time), this Frankenstein´s Creature is on th same scale as the other figures of the serires if maybe a little bit taller, but not much. I wish he was bigger tough since in Mary Shelley´s book and movies, this monster is more taller than the average human. He can stand on his own perfectly soo theres no need of a base at all.

This monster is articulated on the neck, shoulders, elbows, wrists, waist, legs, knees and ankles. Theres no articulation on the chest or biceps, pretty odd for now day standars but i guess this is more for esthetic, tough the legs rotate as well as the elbows to five it a bigger range of movement. Of course the chest area and neck dosnt let his shoulders to go totally up but the rest of the ball jounts works really good, specially on the head since it let shim tilt his head and have a big range of up and down movement.

The hair dosnt block the head movement since it made with soft plastic and the coat dosnt get in the way either for the same reason, but the bandages on his waist really do block the legs movement a little bit, but aside of that theres a lot of poseability here despite this character not being know as a very flexible onw.

Now theres a lot going on here....a lot, from the figure to the accesorys. My only complaing with this figure is that is not asymmetrical enough since on the bock, the proportions of the creature are completelly wrong and one of his arms and legs are longer than the other, but here this guy looks pretty nicelly build, actually he have quiet a super hero musculature, somehting that dosnt match the book´s character but i guess Four Horsemen wanted to keep with the idea of this creature being superhuman strong.

The musculature and anatomy are really really good, and the skin wrinkles on the neck section as well as the elbows and knees to make it looks realistic. The skin have the texture of a dry mummy and every cut is sculpted as well as the stitches uniting each section. The autopsy opening on his torso is really striking as well as the veins and the wrinkles around the muscles. This is an extremelly realistic and natural sculp.

The face have the same old mummy texture on it but the face structure is very squareish, specially on the chin, matching the design of the Universal Monsters version and somehow mixing it with the Mary Shelley vision. The book read that his skin is soo tigth that some scars are opening and in some sections its transparent and the veins and tissues underneath are visible as well as the lips reced and show the creatures pearl white teeth all the time. While the transparent bits arent present, the tigth skin wround his mouth is really visible here and it even shows some of his skull structure underneath.

The eyes are sunken but unlike the original book description, they looks angry and sad at the same time and the hair is a series of random black strands made of soft plastic. 

The paint is just as high quality as the sculpt with a very soft dark wash that makes the wrinkles and mummy texture very visible and yet natural looking. Every single stitch is individually painted and theres not a single drop of paint in the wrong place and thats amazing given how small are this elements. Some of the cuts o the creatures body are still fresh and kinda bloody, soo they are painted in a wet red that stands out a lot, more specifically on his skill, near his shoulder and theres a big red blody cut on his back. Also the cut on the sole of his foot lose the stitches soo its drooping blood. 

The body is extremelly detailed and you can almost build an individual story on some of the details of it, is really amazing the level of quality Four Horsemen reach to the point is extremelly difficult to find something to complaing about.

The old jacket the creature is using is made with soft plastic and have fut on the neck and inside while the outside is made with different patches of very different material. Each patch is made with a totally different both texture and paint pretty similar to Sally´s dress from The Nightmare Before Christmas. Again, the golden stitches on the jacket are perfectly painted and they contrast a lot with the different colors and textures but my favorite part are the broken rags in the end and the sleeves, they looks specially dramatic.

The pants are made of a very thin black fabric and while they have no particular detail, the material is pretty fresh and flexible and that give his legs a lot of freedom. It have some holese here and there and a rough looking rope used as belt, tough this rope is glued soo it cant be removed, the pants open and close with a tiny velcro at front.

The shoes tough are exactly the same as Boris Karloff Frankenstein Monster, black with dark gresy on it and a very round shape with a thick sole. Its pretty neat how, while this design is specifically based on the book, theres a lot of tiny bits like this that are from the Universal movie, a kind of a mix with some of the most recognizable details of the silver screen design.

Now the accesorys....theres way too much here. For starter theres an extra pair of hands aside of this hands for hold items, theres a second set with open palms in a very dramatic gesture. The quality on sculpt and paints are exceptional and they are rpettye asy to swap, tough is strange theres not more hands aside of this but i guess this is thanks to all the other stuff he have.

There is an extra pair of feet!! Bare feet without the big Boris Karloof boots. This feet can swap pretty easy tough make him lose balance a little easyer than the big foots, the sculpt and paint is magnificent and full of details, like i already mentioned early, even the sole of one of his feet have an open and bloody wound. 

They also included two pairs of handcuffs, a small pair and a big pair. While they dont open the paint have a pretty natural rusty look and the chains are actually metalic. The small ones are for the creatures hands while the big ones are for his legs, tough they are very easy to put in place, the boots and pants get in the way a little bit soo is better to use the feet ones only when he is nude.

Yes....he can be nude. The jacket can be removed pretty easy as well as the pants and by exchanging the bare feet, he can be totally nude on all his gruesome glory. When he gets the spark of life in the book, he is totally nude of course, soo this version is to recreate that specific part and the nude version is actually....yhea, much more gross and scary than the clothed version.

Also all the details on that body are trully worth to be seen and to cover him private parts he have a kind of skirt made with wrapped bandages around his waist. The texture is really nice and the paint, while simple, have different tones of grey that makes every bandage to stands out independently from each other. Sadly, add this bandages is really difficult.....the torso must be separated in order to put the bandages and put the torso back but the proces needs a lot of strenght and delicacy to not broke the ball joint!!! Really, i am afraid to find out how much force it takes or even broke one of the leg pegs or ball joints while adding back the torso, its a pretty diffcult process but the end result is really worth it.

To recreate the birth of the creature they also add two extra heads with no hair at all. One have a serious black stare while the other have a fierce growling expresion showing his teeth. Both heads have exactly the same black lips, bloody scarsm sunen eyes and dry mummy skin tough here is evident all the sarcs and veins on his skill and back of the head. 

The heads can be exchanged pretty easy tough i wish the hair could be exchanged between heads beacuse giving the hair head a single expression while keeping the other epxression to the bald heads is pretty limiting for the display.

For the birth of the creature recreation he also includes a big medical table used in morgue. This is the biggets item of the pack deffinetly and is build with two sections: the base and the pillar with the table. The base have four feet and also includes a level that cna be pushed with the feet as well as a pretty compicated structure on the base that includes a black vale on each side in order to adjust the table heigh and inclination. In fact nothinf of this is of any use since the only working part is  jint on the base that lets you changue the inclination.

The articulation use a ratchet soo tis kinda difficult to  move it since it needs to be stroun enough to hold on the creatures body weight and it works really good doing it and keep the balance perfectly. The sculpt is good and the base inscludes some rust and sirty painted on it and the hole on the table have some fluids marks as well. Theres two rings on the side to hold into the chains of the creature but i can find any way to open up the metal chains to adjust them.

The table have two leatherish straps, for the legs and chest area, to hold the creature. The texture is nice and the paint basic and they are made of soft plastic but they reminds me a lot of 90s toys with this same straps and this material usually dont survive the march of time, soo i hope the material used here is more durable.

Sadly, not blanket to cover him, soo i had to use the Bride´s dress for this pictures.

There is a second table, a much more smaller version with no articulation and designed to hold on to the lab´s items. This base have the same fout leg base as well as the rusty paint and do its joob pretty good.

Then its the lab equipment. First of all two devices whos name evade me completelly, one looks like n engine with a rotating level and wired cables and the other looks like a tower difived in plaques that looks like a rudimentary batter and evidently, the other device is also used to generat electcirity. The wires can be conected to various holes in the battery and while the sculpt is really good, the color palette with silver, golden and browns for the wood parts make this items perfect looking to 1818.

There is also 3 weight for a scale with the same retro XVIII cenruty design but in darker metalic grey. While the creature cant interact with all this items, they helps a lot to build the perfect laboratory diorama.

Speaking of unusable items, theres 3 jars of different size and shape with investigation specimens. The jars are made of transparent plastic while the base is brown to make it looks like wood. The small jar contains a skeletal hand, the medium size jar contains a skull while the big size jar contains a rotting head. All jars can be open soo the items can be interacted with.

The hands can fits on the creature arms arctually and the skull and head can be placed instead of his own head as well but that would not make too much sence since i feel this are items to study the advancement of the decay of the flesh. The skull is really good looking, with a great sculpt and a very natural and detailed bony paint but the rotting head is really disturbing!!! With the same yellow color of the ceatures flesh, the same dark lips but with big swollen empty eyes, this actually resemble more to the monster description in Mery Shelley´s book.

Also included are 3 books: Dr. Frankenstein traveling log in the shape of a thin green book with a golden plaque in front, Dr. Frankenstein personal diary as a thick elegant red book with a strap and a buckle to keep it safe, and lastly Dr. Frankenstein experiment diary with the secret of life, a big and thick book in purple full of mistique symbols and a sun in front as well as a belt. 

Every single of this books is different, they ahve a different texture on the cover and each page is sculpted individually to the point the purple book even have lots of note and individual pieces of papers inserted in the pages. This book in particular plays a vital role on Mary Shelley´s storyline since its the one that reveals to the creature its own nature.

Aside of this exahusting amount of accesorys, they also uncluded a pretty rad boocklet full of artwork as well as a biography of Mary Shelleya s well as the people involved in the creation of this figure and some fragments and chaperts of the book. This is a pretty cool detail considering this is a figure based on a literary character and i wish the Headless Horseman also comes with something similar.

And guess wath? Theres more!!! The box flap can be removed to reveal a background for the figure: Dr. Frankenstein laboratory the night of the birth of the creature, with a thunder outside of the window, the table of the doctor with all his equipment, candles, books, skulls, fog and everything a gothic nightmare needs, painted in purple hues.

The puple is odd but i guess it makes a good contrast with the creature and the art quality is fantastic as well as the impresion and hard and resistant material. Tough i think the image is a little too close since items looks a little too big for the figure but despite to this, this really build an amazing display along side the monster and all the lab equipment included.

At first i found the creatures yellow skin to be a little odd, but the book actually describe it like this and it contrast a lot of the usual green monster image we have each time we think on Frankenstein. This figure is....amazing looking, from all its details and its accesorys, this is perfection for any horror fan who seeks something different and i am 100% sure next year Halloween Figura Obscura will add Dracula or The Phantom of the Opera to the collection.

Also, the gruesome sculpt, the lab accesorys, the dirtynes....everything here reminds me McFarlane Toys from the 95 to the 2005 and for a reason: the man who sculpted this worked at McFarlane and sculpted the McFarlane Monsters figures, some of my favorite toys from my childhood soo its pretty exciting to find that spirit, that same style reproduced and perf'ected in this figures, it almost feel like an alternatie time line of "wath if McFarlane wasnt bough by DC?"

Now i just need to put my hands on the last year Halloween and Christmas release before they reveal this year christmas Figura Obscura.

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....