NECA has continually delivered some of the best nostalgia-based products in the business, due in no small part to their love of 1980s properties. This year, they’ve blended that 1980s iconography with a figure style that once ruled the 1970s, and the results are all but impossible to resist.
Much like Funko’s ReAction lines, I’ve been guilty of picking up a few of these figures and carrying them around with me in the store for a bit before begrudgingly conceding that I can do without buying every cool toy I see.
I did finally cave on this particular Jason figure, thanks to the perfect timing of price and curiosity, and I can see how addictive this style and scale can be — If you’ve already got one, it ain’t hard to justify any additionals.
This was a curious choice for a first figure, especially considering the dubious nature of the fifth Friday the 13th movie, but knowing the movie, I had to see if the figure reflected the “spoiler” element where our old hockey mask was concerned.
Made in 1985, the show was already old by the time I saw it on VHS in the decade after its release, but what it lacked in style and substance, it made up for in sex and gore, which is absolutely what you’re looking for as a junior-high kid when it comes to video rentals. There was one interesting little wrinkle, which, sorry, I’m gonna spoil it. It’s been almost 30 years, so it’s not like you haven’t had a chance…
Jason in this show isn’t actually “the” Jason; it’s grieving paramedic named Roy Burns who was driven to “Jason-dom” by the murder of his son. Dun Dun Duuuun! I remember hearing once that they had intended to use him as the new Jason villain for a sort of second trilogy, but people were pissed off and the box office didn’t support it.
Well, the figure certainly doesn’t disappoint there, or really anywhere, for that matter. He comes with some good, bloodied accessories, all pointy; and extra hands, all bloody. The cloth coveralls are really nicely done, with some dirt and grime applications on them, and the mask and face underneath are easily as good as any of the 7-inch versions… well, maybe a little on the soft side, but it’s a good blend of modern sculpting with a classic styled figure.
He comes up a little short next to my Figures Toy Company Batman, but I’m not sure which is more consistent with Mego-type scaled figures, so that might be no biggie. One definite improvement I noticed over the Megos I did have as a kid and the Batman I currently own is the body used has nice, tight joints that hold poses well. The articulation is mostly standard, but he does make use of modern ankles and hinged wrists, and those are a definite plus on any figure.
Overall, I’d say anything south of $30 is a pretty good deal for the quality of figure NECA’s cranking out here, even if the character (and movie) maybe isn’t the first choice when it comes to a Friday the 13th figure collection-starter.
