Several months ago, when NECA was planning their 2013 San Diego Comic Con exclusives, a fan had a great idea: take a standard Friday the 13th Jason Voorhees figure and give him a shiny new deco that recalls his appearance in the classic Nintendo video game. This simple, yet ingenious, idea proved to be one of the runaway hits from SDCC, and I was proud to gush about the concept and execution when we added our feature after the Con. It takes A LOT to get me to keep a figure mint-on-card, but since this was one of those instances where everything about a release hit on every level, I just had to preserve him as is. Well, quick to recognize a hit when they had one, NECA announced that fellow horror magnate and video game star Freddy Kruger (from A Nightmare on Elm Street) would be the next in their cache of properties to get a classic video game figure. Needless to say, I could not go without this one, either.
I know, that preamble is really a setup for a review that cannot go as deeply as it probably should, but I just cannot bring myself to open these figures. Like Jason, Freddy really is just a repaint of an already existing figure, but in the end, I don’t expect that it will matter much to most collectors, especially those that are in the same frame of MOC-mind as me. Sure, if you are going to open them, it is easy to tell that Jason is actually a superior figure to Freddy. Jason has had an articulation upgrade to his classic figure, so repainting that in the garish NES colors already puts him slightly ahead of the game. The game? See what I did there?
However, unless you are really concerned with posing this figure in an extreme way, you probably will not be bothered by this. Freddy has what I like to call “old NECA” articulation. As NECA has evolved, articulation has gotten to be more of a focus and a strength for them, and this Freddy base is from before that time. Now, NECA has always had very strong sculpts, so there is certainly no need to worry about that, and plastic Freddy has never looked better than in their hands.
It is really the paint deco that makes this figure so unique. Like Jason, NECA has taken Freddy’s color palette from the 8-bit swath and has delivered a Freddy Kruger in neon orange pants. Now, under most circumstances, people would probably be calling for the painter’s colorblind eyes, but in the strange world of pixelated design, the team nailed it. I think putting the reds and oranges on a realistic Freddy sculpt (and the blues and greens on Jason) has the potential for disaster if not handled correctly. But never fear, Randy and his team know how to please that touch of nostalgia in all of us while still being respectful to the figure and property. It kind of creates a perfect storm for a very creative variation of such an iconic character, and, as it stands, it worked so well on me that this is currently the only Freddy Kruger figure on my action figure shelf.
All that said, the packaging does its duty in amazing fashion with this figure, and that is the main reason I just cannot bring myself to open it. It sells the complete effect of this figure so well that it is a very rare case of when the package is just as important as the contents. Now, I know that marketers will tell you that it is always the case with these things, but from a realistic point of view, I have not seen it done so well in a long time. I absolutely adore the recreation of the Nintendo cartridge box. The art on the front is pitch-perfect and the “NECA Seal of Quality” in lieu of the “Nintendo Seal of Quality” is one of those things that makes every fiber of my collector/toy fan/classic video game guy/pop-culture being beam from ear to ear.
Plus, once you open the front flap you are treated to the ability of displaying the figure prominently while being offset with a recreation of the final screen from the game; this is a great counterpart to the “loser” screen in the Jason packaging. Now, just because I am not opening these doesn’t mean that the packaging isn’t collector-friendly because I think that it is. It looks like it is possible to remove the figure from the box and put it back with minimal damage to the packaging. So if you really have to bust this figure open, you should be okay. Again, though, you are not going to get much posing anyway, so in a very rare case, I would actually recommend keeping Freddy all boxed up. Let’s face it, it is safer that way anyhow.
My apologies for possibly shortchanging an in-depth look at the actual construction of this figure, but as I said, I think the figure is more special kept MOC. Really, though, I think that is point, too – the figure and box work together to give you a very unique and very cool display piece. I have had people comment on the cool nature of my displayed Jason figure, and I am positive I will be getting the same response about Freddy. NECA is continuing this execution with RoboCop up next, so be on the lookout for him in a few months. I would love for them to go back and redeco their Simon Belmont figure in the classic game colors. So if you are a Freddy fan, a video game fan, pop-culture enthusiast, or just someone with a fun sense of style, I cannot recommend this figure (and box) enough. You can grab yours from the linked sites below. Thanks for checking this out!
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