With some very noteworthy Mezco releases hitting hard and fast this week, there is a lot to say and talk about, especially where Iron Man and Catwoman are concerned….
So I’m going to start with Ash. Ha! I do have a reason for this, though. Right now, if you haven’t ordered those two figures, you are preparing to pay the secondary market prices. But Ash is still fairly available, so if you like what you see, you might be able to snatch him up for a good price. I figured I’d look at him first, because that may not be the case, come next week.
So Ash Williams comes to us by way of his appearance in Evil Dead 2, which is the source of choice if you want a classic movie version. I’ve always been an Army of Darkness guy personally, but I get the love. Anyway, this selection locks in a pretty specific likeness, clothing and accessories, but luckily those choices check most the boxes for me.
The biggest draw (and the toughest part) of getting a good Ash figure is always going to be the headsculpt. And since this is the Ash of decades past, that means no 3D rendering, this one has to go manual. Aaand despite a lot of fuss, these heads do the job just fine. The sculpt is perfectly recognizable, the paints are top notch, and the expressions are great. You have the slightly worked-over standard head, the bloodied up “fecal hits the oscillator” look, and a nice bonus Deadite Ash version too.
This is all stuff that NECA has done a few times over, of course, and they have also managed to a pretty good job. I used to own quite a few of those, and this isn’t the first time I regret selling them. I’m sure there will be plenty of comparison shots out there, but I think this one stacks up against the most recent offerings. Maybe a little better, if you like the style. Occasionally, I’ve heard people call Mezco’s take on Ash kinda “cartoony,” which is funny, because that’s a decent descriptor of Bruce Campbell’s face when he was younger; probably why it took him so damn long to get old! One thing about this thing, and I know it sounds like a cop-out, it’s surprisingly difficult to convey in photo. I had a helluva time not washing it out, and it was mostly just overcast. I apologize if he comes off soft in the pics, in person his sculpt and paint are much sharper.
Accessories for this figure also include the all important chainsaw appendage, fists (for both hands) and a pair of grip hands. He also gets his signature boomstick- a sawed-off 12 gauge side-by-side probably made by Stevens for Sears- and the notorious Necronomicon ex mortis. And since Ash isn’t exactly a guy heavy on accessories, we get that nasty little severed hand offering a salute, and the deadite Henrietta’s severed noggin. And while not an accessory in the strictest sense, Ash’s harness is nicely done here, with a solid scabbard on his back and the pull-rig for the chainsaw to hook onto. Kinda makes me wish the chainsaw had a little pull cord that I could attach to it.
The articulation and clothing are in good concert here, with the shirt and pants looking great, and really any sensible pose is going to work here. The pants would stop him from doing the splits, but that’s about it. I especially like the extra details on his trail boots that show when the pants hitch up a little. Actually, I like a lot of these little extra details- the shirt tear is stitched to the pant leg tl keep it from getting caught, there’s a nice dried blood and some mud wash, and tne overall detail and fitting makes this some of the best “regular clothes” I’ve seen yet in this scale.
While similar in size and style to the Star Trek bodies, and boasting the same articulation count, Ash has better torso range and a slight improvement in the single elbows, though I would have still preferred double joints. The neck joint and ankles feel a bit more fluid here as well. I didn’t get very crazy with the posing- since stupid DisThunder doesn’t have any deadites to fight- but you’re not going to have trouble getting some good fight poses. Scale-wise, if you own any Trek figures or the Joker, you know where he’s at. Buffy here is a Harley Quinn figure, so plan on him being close to the same height as a Rogers/Punisher figure, but much slimmer.
So, if you happen across this figure still available somewhere, and he should be, I definitely recommend picking him up. He’s a nice figure all his own, but he’s essential to go with Mezco’s other horror figures. He does a fine job of getting me amped up for more future “regular” clothed characters as well. And he helps me get that much closer to a BroForce roster- He and Robocop make 2 in one week!
