MAYOR

 I love The Nightmare Before Christmas. When i was a kid that movie was my main fixation and obsession and not only show me a new way of animation and a new face of Disney (that never saw again) but turned me into a follower of an specific director for the first time; Tim Burton. And while the toys Hasbro did in the 90s were pretty much my favorite ones and i took them with me averywhere, it wasnt until NECA release they action figures series that i found the ultimate version of the characters in plastic form.

But long before NECA and while Hasbro was doing his thing, in Japan there was this company called Jun Planing that released the first figures of the movie in that part of the world. For the longest time i hear theyr figures are the best ones yet based on the work of Tim Burton and i must admit, theyr Corpse Bride figures looks beyond perfection but i was never able to afford theyr products, specially since now they are deffinetly discontinued.

In the end i take a chance and got The Mayor from theyr 1/6 scale figures. Aside of the box being damn pretty, this is in scale with Hot Toys, Sideshow, ThreeZero, Asmus, Mondo and other premium high quality brands and just like them, this Mayor have real fabric clothes. And just for reference, The Mayor is a small guy that reaches the chest of a standar human being or the belly of a Predator but his hat is HUGE and goes beyond the 8´ mark. 

For startetes, he cna stand on his own perfectly and thats a HUGE plsu given how small are his feet and his round shape, this gigure shows an impresive balance and i think this is the very first time i see a figure of The Mayor standing on his own. He is articulated on his neck of course, but also the shoulders, elbows and the left wrists and thats it. Honestly with this character design is pretty difficult to articulate him since any articulation on the legs would destroy his balance soo this is the maximum movement one can get in this guy.

I am not sure how the shoulders are articulated, i think they are ball jointed since they open very nicelly but the jacket make the arms be back at the starting point soo i got the feeling the shoulders articulations are kind of delicate. The elbows have a one direction joint and botht the head a wrists can rotate.

The sculpt is really magnifiscent, the texture on the hat is on point with the one on screen and the shape on the face and huge mouth size and eyes are also perfectly sculpted as well as each one of the big teeth. Really, this character is extra cartoony but not always they manage to sculpt the rigth proportions....just like Diamond Sleect did. The hands are funny looking and the spider bow tie and the ribbon on his chest looks terrific!!

His pants have a pretty good fabric texture as well while the shoes are simple, sculpted, but still just plain black. The pants are grey with light gray lines and both the red onf the ribbon with MAYOR written inside as the spider on his neck are perfectly painted and stand out a lot. The color of his arms is consistent with the color of his happy face and he have red fingernails.

Each teeth have a black line to divide them and the soft punk gums as well as the spiral aya are perfectly painted. The other face with the white skin and blue lips and fangs and bulging eyes is soo good looking i am not sure wich one display.

The jacket tailoring is really high quality, specially on the tiny and perfect buttons in front and the neck build. The fabric is thin and is made with velvet wich makes it feel really elegant but i am afraid it will be a dust magnet. The sleeves are kinda lose but that soo they dosnt limit the arms articulations and the end part of the sleves have a wire to open them or wrap them around his wrists. Its seems the jacket could be removed but the ribbon keept it in place.

He has no accesorys aside of his megaphone. The design and color of the item is very simple but effective and have an extra hand attached to it soo the left hand must be removed to swap it with the megaphone hand. Tough the shoulder articulation is not strong enough to keep the megaphone up and sometimes this item make The Mayor lose his balance.

While the figure is really huge, is completelly hollow soo it makes me anxious to consider how resistant that spheric body and hat coud be is he lose balance tough the fact is soo light deffinetly help the figure.

Overall, i always considered the NECA mayor as the ultimate figure of the character and while that one have a toon of accesorys, this one is much better on every possible level and thats quiet impresive considering this is a 1998 figure. This is the closest i can get to own an actual replica of a puppet from the movie.

This collection is not that big tough, aside of this guy theres Jack, Sally, Ooogie Boogie, Dr Flinckenstein and Lock, Shock and Barrel and while i like Jack and Sally, i seen them hundreds of times already but i am very excited to get Lock, Shock and Barrel.

SANTA JACK

By now NECA have quiet a long story of releasing action figures but also a lot of other kind of collectibles, like mugs and props from movies, specially back in the begining of the century (actually back then i dont think it was specially focused on action figures, it even release trading cards as well) and it was back then when they released not only action figures of The Nightmare Before Christmas, but also big 1/6 scale statues based on four of the characters. 

It seems they only released 200 of this statues and i am not sure was was theyr propuse since the box have no logo or artwork at all soo it seems they wasnt made for public purchase. Maybe they were online exclusives, or used for promotion? I have no idea, but it took me 18 years to find out about this collectibles and actually buy two of them: Harlequin Demon and the Wolfman but got lucky twice and snatched a third one recently tough it is the less exciting option of the collection: Santa Jack Sklellington.

Yes, the less exciting character because to be honest, Jack´s design is the most simple of the bunch and theres thousands of figures based on him also he have some design issues...mostly size tough, since this is 1/6, this mean this figure is HUGE....like taller than the Hot Toys, or Sideshow or any other 1/6 scale figure (except Hulk i guess).

He is tall, lanky and EXTREMELLY delciate!!! Given his slim proportions i am very afraid to broke him in any minute since the material its pretty hard, like resign. He have no articulations at all of course tough he already lose two of his fingers!!! I wasnt able to find them on the box and since how rare he is, i think i will bite the bullet and stay with this Jack with only two fingers on his left hand.

Of course he cant stand at all, soo he comes with a pretty basic but very thick and heavy black base. While in theory the base should be enough to keep him standing, the pegs are not only kinda short, but somehow they are not in the rigth possition and actually, the base is not big enough since his legs are too open!! Only one peg can fit on the foot while the other foot keeps out of the base. 

I am surprised about this given how perfect is everything else here and with the other figures. I tied a twisty between his feet and the peg just to be safe and rest stress to the ther peg but i think i will just use a base that hold him from the waist, just be be extra extra safe because one little fall and he is going to broke like a crsystal.

The sculpt is the same as the action figure soo is perfect. The limbs have the rigth size as well as the round head and smile and eyes. One could expect this characetr is extremelly easy to render in 3D but is very surprising how many companys did Jack wrong (Diamond Select) but NECA´S interpretation is always spot on, specially on the face with the small teeth scupted.

The paint is really good too, tough theres no wrinkles at all, the red Santa costume have some black airbrush to give it a little volume and shadows. The hat is much more darker than the rest of the suit, at first i toigh it was a mistake but in fact this is because this is the original Santa´s hat soo its made of a different older material than the rest of the suit made by Sally.

The mouth and the little yellow teeth are perfectly painted and theres absolutelly no slop at all and the black eyes have a shiny black paint that somehow make the empty sockets looks more alive. The beard dosnt have too much painting detail tough, just plain white, but dosnt loks bad at all.

His accesorys are the same as with the action figure. A sack full of toys tough this one dosnt have any way to look inside and have a pretty plain and simple grey painting, juts like the smaller version, tough much more heavyer.

Then theres a small little square open present with a white with black like attern on it and a black ribbon. While the ribbon was made with soft plastic on the action figure version, here everything is made of hard resign tough the paint is perfect even with the tricky pattern.

 And lastly theres a little kid with a shurnken head. I love how NECA give us this small characters as accesorys, back in the 2000´s this made the pack much more spectacular. Unlike the small version, this one comes with a thick and heavy black corcular base that makes it looks pretty elegant on the shelve. The scupt is fantastic and reflects Tim Burton´s style perfectly and the paint is also incrediblle precise, specially on the pijama pattern. His hair have a pretty natural wash of dark and light orange and the rabbit slippers are really cute.

Overall, this figure is trully perfect aside of the base not matchign the legs position, everything is pretty good looking, At first i wasnt interested on him because he is really REALLY delicate in plastic form, but in this material, is a miracle this Jack dosnt crumble under hiw own weight. I will use a base to keep him safe but given how rare this is, i think this is a very good addition to The Nightmare Before Christmas collection.

WOLFMAN

A few weeks ago i found something really unusual; large scale statues based on NECA´s The Nightmare Before Christmas action figures from 20 years ago.I never before saw something like this on in real life or onlain, not even in NECA´s official site. After some research onlain i only foind this are actually NECA´s official products and they was released in 2006.

Soo they are almost 20 years old but still, this statues have no presentation, they came in a brown cardboard box wth no logos, artwork or anything at all soo it made me wonder wath was theyr propuse?? They were sold to the public or to stores just for advertisment? They are part of a price or for internal use in NECA´s headquarter? At first i tough this were the prototypes for the action figures but it seems they produced 200 of this soo they are not unique, but they seems to be crazy limited.

Soo where did they sell such limited versions of theyr figures? Soo many questions but almost all info of The Nightmare Before Christmas related to NECA is about the action figures. This statues are not listed anywere really.

Soo it seems the collection consist in 4 statues: Jack as Santa, Dr. Flinkenstein, Harlequin Demon and the Wolfman. All characters from series 2 except the Wolfman and i was lucky enough to find not only the Harlequin Demon, but my favorite Halloween Town citizen as well; the Wolfman!!!

I love Tim Burton version of the Wolfman and when i saw this figure i was 100% i was going to get him no matter wath. The Wolfman is much more taller than the Harlequin Demon and nlike him...he can stand on his own thanks to his small paws and digitigrade legs but he comes with a round and very elegant base that let him stand with no problem....well, almost no problem.

This sculpture is a whole place, with no seams or different parts united and is made with resing soo this figure is EXTREMELLY heavy!!! Really a direct hit of this guy in the ehad can kill someone pretty easy!! And his legs are soo thin... plus the base is extremelly heavy as well but to hold him in place inly have two thin resin pegs that goes in a hole on the paws of the Wolfman, soo a tough movement of his upper body and the pegs can broke very easy.

With the pegs gone this figure is doomed to never stand again because given to the round and thick shape of his body i doint think i will be able to find a base suite for him soo i am really afraid of toush this guy, i got the feeling he is pretty delicate...i mean, my Wolfman action figure from NECA also broke his pegs and i had to glue him to the base...of the plastic version broke, i am rpetty sure this resin version could broke evn more easy.

Aside of that strong fear of brakeage, i have no issues with this figure, quiet the opposite. I always loved the action figure but this version make every detail pop up much more, the sculpt of the fur texture is pretty sharp but also the shirt have a texture of its own that mimics old fabric look mixed with some sections that feels a little like clay and this makes the figure looks an feels more like the puppet of the movie.

The head sculpt is excelent, with the sharp nail like fangs and the expresive eyes. The yellow and green of the eyes have a coat of shine that makes them looks weet and alive in contrast with the black body. More specifically, the fur is grey with darker tones of grey wash to enhance the sculpt and the black is only keept for the claws on the hands and feet.

The shirt also have a mix of different browns in a strips mattern and not only the paint is perfect in each strip, but the strip lines are also sculpted!!

Just like with the action figure version, theres not many accesorys here. Aside of the base he comes with a small present wraped in red with a yellow ribbon. Is much smaller and less eventfull than the Harlequin Demon present tough the sculp and paint are perfect.

And the biggesta ccesory is a singing elf! A perfect replica of the elf included in the action figure except this have no articulation on the neck and arms and the piece of paper cant be removed. He also comes with a round and black base that somehow makes this piece looks pretty elegant.

The whole elf texture looks like hand made with since the prints of fingers are visible all around  and of course, the paint is perfect if a little simmple and the side of the paper in front of him have the musical notes painted on it (i wish they were at the othe side tough) and while i never was fond of this little guys in the action figure series, this one hace a nice quality to stand out as a general Christmas ornament.

This figure is extremelly delicate but the sculpt and paint quality are much better than that of the action figure and given how big he is, is pretty easy he gets a lot of presence on any shelf or any collection, perfect for both Halloween and Christmas, this figure makes me wonder if they are really as limited as they say and makes me want to get the Dr.Flinkenstein but i doubt my luck strike twice after 18 years.

HARLEQUIN DEMON

 As silly as it sounds, its pretty easy to feel excited when finding unknown merchadise of a favorite series, movie or character, an item that holds a mistery of where it came, when and for wath porpuse. And a few weeks ago i found a mistery like this: statues based on NECA´s The Nightmare Before Chsitmas action figure series from 2004. 

I found two of them, with no presentation at all (with no window box to see the figure or a box with TNBC art al around or the NECA logo, they came just in a brown cardboard box with a bar code) and based in one character from series 2 and one from series 3. The one from series 2 is non other than the Harlequin Demon, one of the most "Burton-esque" designs of the movie since every bit of this character is reminescent of Burton 2D artworks and have his own twisted and childish visual cues.

I alsready did a review of the original action figure version of this character FIVE YEARS AGO !!!! Soo since its been soo long i will review this as a brand new figure instead of a variant. First of all this guy have an amazing balance and can stand on hiw own perfectly and unlike the action figure version, he have no base of any shape.

This guy is literally twice the size of the action figure and instead of plastic he is made with resin, soo he is also really heavy and have no articulations at all, even the tentacles on his head are not bendy, this is a solid resin piece, a single piece sculpture that is more for decoration than the actual action figures and comes in a pretty neutral pose (not like his body let him take many different poses anyway).

The sculpt is very good, with all the dragon scales that looks like a dress sharply sculpted as well as the spiky arms with a hairy texture, the odd alien like hands (he have no thumb!!!) and the short legs and feet with 6 fingers, all body proportions are great but the realy eye catcher is of course, the head: The big bowl shaped jaw full of sharp fangs and the skull levitating on top, covered in fangs as well, with the sharp eyes and tentacles that looks like horns.

Compared with the action figure, this sculpt looks even more faithfull to the on screen puppet. I mean, the action figure was always damn close but this version on a much bigger scale is even closer, if not perfectly match the on screen image. The lines on the tentacles are sculped as well as the expression line on his evil looking eyes as well as each torn on his hairy arms.

While the character is cartoony, the paint is really well done as well. The feet and arms are kinda simple with only the thorns painte din white in between the hairs and while his jaw is pure grey, the dragon scales have irange and yellow with a dark wash around that makes them looks....well, kinda dark, kinda dirty, a little old, the perfect texture the puppet had in the movie. 

The head too have a fascinating finish of blacks and greys that gives him a pretty elegant and silk texture to it. The orange on the tentacles is perfect and the yellow eyes with green framing have a weet and shiny layer that makes the Demon looks more alive.

One of the accesorys of the action figure was a mallet he uses to create his hats and in here the mallet is present but is part of the whole sculpture and cant be removed. The texture and soft brown coloring makes it looks like a tiny piece of wood despite the reson material.

His other accesory is his table, a wood table with a piece of paper on top, scissors and a yellow ribbon on it as well as a dead rat. In the action figure the rat was a separate accesory but here it is part of the table and cant be removed. The sculpt in the table texture is really sharp as well as in the fur of the rat.

The grey tones in the table paint makes it looks old and real and is a totally different grey than the one on the rat. The ribbon looks vibrant and the scissors are painted in silver soo everything stands out perfectly despite having mute colors that gives it a gothic look. 

Also, unlike the action figure, the table have a long peg in the side that must be inserted on the Harlequin Demon belly. This is another difference with the action figure version, tehres a hole on his belly.....and is rpetty odd looking but the table cover it. I am guessing they expect the table to be used as a sort of base and keep the figure in balance but the reality is that the Demon can stand on his own and dosnt need the table at all. I hate the hole on the figure but nothing can be done about it.

There is also the bat hat Jack put on the Demon´s head in the movie. The scupt of the fur is really really good and the grey paint of it is extremelly sharp and well defined, unlike the smaller sale version that is just plain grey, this one have different tones of grey in between the hair strands as well as in the wings. Tough for some reason it only have a single leg and of course, it cant be put on the Demons head since it made with resin and not soft plastic.

And finally he have a gift wrapped in orange paper with spiders and a grey ribbon. The irregular shape as well as the color palette mix perfectly the Christmas and Halloween spirits of the movie and the material make this little gift quiet heavy as well.

This character is a pure representation of Burton in his best moment and while this is an exact coy of the action figure eveb to the accesorys, the difference bewteen the two are quiet sharp and this version looks more luxury and perfect. Of coruse i am afraid to broke his head, the fangs of the pointy tentacles, this piece is really relicate but looks soo good on the svhelves, specially in this season!!

OOGIE BOOGIE VS JACK SKELLINGTON

NECA released 6 serires of action figures based on The Nightmare Before Christmas more than 15 years ago, including many amazing Halloween characters and a bunch of Jack and Sally variations. They also release a few special edition figures sets that include Lock, Shock & Barrel, but the biggest and most amazing set was actually a play set with the protagonist and villian facing each other: Oogie Boogie and Jack Skellington.

They come in the biggest box of the entire serires with two figures and a background diorama. The very first figure is Jack Skellington, pretty much the very first release of the character (thats why i didnt get it) with a small variation, an angry look on his eyes. He is articulated on the neck, shoulders, biceps, elbows, wrists, legs and knes and he cant stand on his own at all, to keep his balance he have a black token like base but even with this base, make him stand is really tricky.

The articulations are extremelly delicate and easy to brake, tough my figure is still perfectly safe, his arms are not strong enough to keep them in pose, the same issue all Jack figures have. Also the articulations cut the strips on his outfit soo as important as the character is, i think he is the weakest part of the play set.

The Oogie Boogie tough, he is golrious, just.....glorious and HUGE, he is the biggest monster of the collection and make all other Halloween Town citizens like dwarfs, no wonder why all of them fear them (except the smallest monsters in town, Lock, Shock and Barrel....how ironic). As big as this figure is, he is hollow soo he is really light weigth and can stand on how own perfectly despire his small feet.

He is articulated only on his shoulders and his jaw. This makes him a big statue tough it helps to make him looks like a whole creature with no divisions. His body have a burlap texture and the way he is turning to his side and the wrinkles on his body follow the movement, and how looks like all the weigth of his inside fall on his stomach is proof of how good this sculpt is. His green neon color have also shadows and soft washes to make him looks realistic and make him stands in an amazing way.

While the articulation on his shoulders dosnt have too much of an use, his jawy can be opened to reveal his yellow snake tongue with black strips. Its a shame the snake is not articulated, but it adds a lot of personality to an already amazing figure, seriouslly, even the sew on his sides are deeply sculpted, is amazinh how such a "simple" looking character have soo many details.

His only accesory consist on a pait of orange dices with gothic skulls sculpted on each side. This dices fits perfectly on his hand with the help of a peg and a hole tough is very easy to lose them given how tiny they are.

The playset consist on half a giant roulette with two giant cards on the back, its very simple to be called a playset actually, but is a damn good looking diorama. All the pieces are black with a stone texture, with the roulette having white spikes and some gothic deigns of skeletins and cats on a very dark red paint, this gives the feeling the scene is taking place on a dark room and let Oogie shine even more.

The cards with the King design are really good looking as well and even have articulated arsm soo they can open and be used as hazards agains Jack Skellington. The attention to details is really amazing adn adding more would make the scene looks busy. Also the roulette have pegs hidden on the texture to help Oogie and Jack stand more easy (specially Jack!).

This piece was really the cherry on the cake for the TNBC action figure serires and fits perfectly with the other figures. It seems NECA also had plans to release a second version of it with brown color Oogie but it never happens, but it dosnt worry me too much since i find this version perfect as it is.

Up to this point, NECA was already releasing lots of different licences with an amazing quality but very few was as complete, special or surprising as theyr first The Nightmare Before Christmas series (specially by looking to wath Diamond Select is doing now).