PASSING JUDGEMENT
Llama Comics Reviews
Neca's Tim Burton's
The
Nightmare Before Christmas
Series 6 Jack
Skellington
by: Matt of Steel
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It is hard to believe that this
line has gotten to
six series before I grabbed a Jack
Skellington. This could be because while there has been a Jack in
every series he was always in an alternate form after the first
series.
Saw this guy in a Hot Topic and
thought, "I'm too much of a fan of the film to not own this
character ever."
Am I happy I bought this?
Keep reading...
PACKAGING:
Your basic clamshell. Easy
to store for you mint-on-carders, but impossible to put back
together once breeched. It displays the items well and takes
up just enough space. The graphics are the same they have used
for the series and work fine.
SCORE: 4 out
of 5
EASE OF
ESCAPE:
Clamshells are known for being difficult to tear
into. That is why I always have an Xacto knife on hand.
I cut a window in the back large enough to pull the inner tray
out. Then you only have six twist ties to deal with that are
holding Jack in place. His accessories are all form fitted to
the tray making them an easy pop out. About two minutes time
spent on removal, not the easiest but far from
annoying.
SCORE: 4 out of
5 |
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SCULPT:
Same figure from Series 1.
Actually the basic same body from each series. Hey why
re-invent the wheel? He works well. Not the hardest
thing to capture in a small plastic toy form. Since the figure
from the movie was actually an armature-based puppet you are
basically making a smaller less articulated version. Still
this could have easily been messed up. He's in total
proportion with his movie counterpart. His face (mouth
especially) and hands (joints especially) are well done sculpt
wise. They could have skipped and had them simply paint the
smile and finger joint lines but they sculpted them giving them the
proper pop and weight they need.
SCORE: 5 out of 5
PAINT:
Given that this figure is only black and
white, they came quite close. No cigar though. I have
customized a fair amount of figures. I have dealt with the
horrors of painting thin lines. But I am a hobbist and these
are professionals with machines. While the lines never cross
they do bend and skew at places. Only noticeable if you
look with the "critical eye of doomy doom" that I typically employ
when passing my llama judgement. Just good enough to
not destroy the figure (like the purple movie Venom) but not beyond
awesome.
SCORE: 3 out of
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ARTICULATION:
Straight up the same as other
Jacks. They didn't break the mold, they just reused it.
Still it is a fair amount given his scarecrow-like build. 21
points in total if you are counting. He has the
double ball jointed neck thing I see sometimes. It is
jointed at the shoulders and at the base of the (literally)
skull. This works because only having a single ball joint
would not have a
llowed for much facial
positioning, but allowing his neck to tilt adds to the
characterizations allowed.
The joints are mostly
solid. Mine has a loose right elbow that won't stay fully bent
(I can fix it but many buyers wouldn't know how). Also
the cut joints in general seem to be in danger of popping
loose. They don't match up fully flush on both sides
meaning that there is an ever so slight angle in the arm and legs at
that point. A more advanced elbow joint would have fixed this
like the ones that some of the Hasbro Marvel Legends
are using.
I rate articulation on
both how effective it is in making and holding different
poses. But I also rate it on how it hides itself into the
figure. Perfect articulation would give us a statue like pose
no matter how they are arranged. Sometimes we get darn close,
this guy falls in the middle.
He
does have some unique stances but he can't touch his own head.
His hips don't allow his legs to bend up enough to let him sit
naturally in his chair. I understand NECA isn't know for their
articulation but they haven't even tried to update this guy in six
series. Come on.
SCORE: 3 out of
5
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SCALE:
He sits
about 7 inches tall (don't make me measure him) which works for
his figures. This also means that he doesn't look too odd next
to 1/12th scale figures like DC Direct or Marvel
Legends. He was quite tall compared to normal
humans in
the movie.
ACCESSORIES:
There
are five accessories here:
his desk, microscope,
scissors,
chair, and
display stand.
Well the
display stand is pretty basic. If he isn't
using the chair he'll need this. The scissors
are fairly boring as he has nothing to cut, at least they
have a joint so they function. Too bad his hands aren't molded
to hold them well. His afforementioned chair
is a perfect match the one in the film. The way his coat tails
are designed they kind of "clip" onto the chair which helps him from
falling off. You do have to get creative with the leg
placement so he doesn't tip over though. The
microscope is nice to see as it oozes the
unique Tim Burton design. Lastly the rather elegant
desk fits with the theme of the accessories
well. Jack looks good sitting at his desk (on my computer
desk) with all of his trinkets. I could have done with a
little more accessories but this is a fine amount.
SCORE: 4 out of 5
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CUSTOMING OPTIONS:
Um, yeah. He's not a good base for
much due to his limited
range in articulation. The
best thing to customize Jack
into is... another form of
Jack. The thing about this
character is that his
uniqueness in design is on the level
of South Park
characters. Though if you are itching
for some kind
of challenge, try molding his head and
sculpting alterations in
the copies to give you the
many faces of Jack in
this scale . |
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FINAL THOUGHTS:
So am I happy I bought him? Yeah. He
hasn't blown me away, but it is an upper level piece in quality
and design. There is some paint
slop issues and
a little bit of loose joints but mostly a well made figure that even
though he is ever so thin... I don't worry about breaking. If
you missed getting normal Jack in series 1, this is
a fine
version to fill the
void.
FINAL SCORE
(not
an average)
4 out of 5
Oct 30, 2007 |
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DC Comics images copyright 2006 DC Comics or Respective Owner. Marvel images copyright 2006 Marvel Entertainment or Respective Owner.
All other images copyright 2006 Respective Owners.
