Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Halloween Retro Lovin': Part 2!

Freddy Krueger from Movie Maniacs Series 4!!!



In 2001 McFarlane went back to the old Freddy pool to bring us one nice freaking figure. Huge strides were made in his sculpt, and his paint work was stunning. But for all the improvements over the old figure, he still had several shortcomings that would keep him from being a perfect representation of our favorite bastard son of a hundred maniacs.

First off, hot damn, this fellow has one nice sculpt. McFarlane made his hat removable this time around, which was obviously a huge plus. That also meant that his face could no longer hide under a hat so the sculpt had to be spot on. Well, it sure as shit is. From the green eyes to the demonic smile to the bloody holes in his head, even a blind baby could tell that this was Freddy. Even his teeth look nasty. The great sculpt doesn't stop with his head though; his entire body is nicely detailed. The glove has been improved, with sharper claws and added blood. His burnt hand is nicely detailed as well. He even has sculpted mud on his boots. The shirt is smooth this time, without the texture of the older figure, but it really isn't a huge issue as the folds and wrinkles help make up for it.



The paint job helps him stand out too. The bloody holes in his head are kinda shiny to give them the look of fresh wounds. The blood isn't quite as crazy as his last figure, but there is still more than enough here to make it look as though he just tried banging Carrie. His hat has a few blood lines that make it look like he just put it on with his gloved hand. The slight mud on his boots looks great too. But there is a problem. The stripping on his shirt looks great, but his arms have no stripes. They are just red sleeves. It makes him look off, like he's wearing a sweater vest or something. It just doesn't look right at all.



His articulation isn't much of an improvement either. He's got 3 extra points compared to last time: his burnt hand now has a cut at the wrist, and both his boots have a cut at the ankle. The boot articulation is kinda pointless though; no matter what I do, this fucker falls right over. I'm shocked I haven't broken one of his claws yet. The neck articulation is also odd due to the way his head is sculpted. You can only have him look to the left or down at this muddy boots. No looking straight at all. These issues keep him from being a Grand Slam to a Triple (sorry, Dodger game is on right now).

No accessories this time either, except for his hat. Not a huge problem, but added accessories are always nice.

So if it wasn't for the red sleeves, limited head movement, and inability to stand, this would have been close to being a perfect figure. Luckily for toy collectors, a new company would jump into the world of horror figures and bring with them the awesome power of the "ball joint"...



4 comments:

  1. Fuck, and I'm stuck with the original sculpt. Lame.

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  2. He's still available if you don't mind spending a few extra bucks.

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  3. just an fyi, he didnt have stripes on his sleeves in the first nightmare on elm street movie. so it is movie accurate.

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  4. Wow. I'm so used to seeing the stripes that I never even realized they weren't there in the original film. I'll have to look closer next time I watch it. Thanks!

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