NECA Nightmare Before Christmas

Noticed the 4 pack and jack is up on bbts but no Sally 🙁

I PO'd Jack already

Posted by: @joshsquash729

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According to their site, they do. And ship everything in your order at once, so it's advised not to mix pre-orders and in-stock.

Thanks, Squash

Got shipping notice for the wave from NECA Store just now. No estimated delivery date just yet, but hopefully not too long. Going from Illinois to NY. At the very least I'll have it before the holidays, which is what matters. Don't know if I've ever ordered directly from the NECA store before, so I'm eager/anxious to see how well they package things.

Haven't seen a single review of the new Ultimates anywhere. Cautiously optimistic to see how these turn out. As much as I love the DST line, I'm definitely ready to upgrade my Jacks to something a little sturdier. I remember the original NECA line being a little prone to breakage as well, but they've really stepped up their game in the 20-ish years, so hopefully that applies here too.

I got a shipping notice while I was at work today, and came home to find my box already at my door. Now that's service! 

I'm still cracking things open, but I think Jack might be all new. There might be hand reuse, and maybe the torso, but the limbs are reworked, I think the hip setup for the legs is new, and the figure actually has swivel and rocker ankles.  Haven't had any issues with the articulation feeling fragile either. NECA did a fantastic job here.

I will say, with the original line, nothing ever broke for me until many, many years later when the clear plastic started degrading.

@detrimental-fig That's nice to hear that Jack feels nice and sturdy. Have you tried swapping any of the heads yet? Is it easy enough to do, or does it feel like he could break there too?

Did they include the signed card too? If so, who'd you get?

@joshsquash729 The heads pop off and on pretty easily. I did have to heat up a few of the heads the first time.  After that it was kind of a matter of holding him by his torso and wiggling the heads over the ball joint. I have zero worry about the head/neck setup breaking.  I used some heat to get the feet moving (I wasn't sure they were even articulated at first, the originals weren't, but they were askew in the packaging), and to help get the hands to swap the first time.  After messing with it, I don't personally have any fear of this thing breaking under normal use. It is a twig of plastic nonetheless, so a little caution doesn't hurt.

My cat actually knocked Jack off the desk rubbing on it while I was up last night, and he survived that fall to the floor.  I do think long-term I may look into another stand JUST to be extra safe.  Speaking of, the stands are all dated 2023, so they may've been sitting on these figures for a little while? 

And I got Chris Sarandon.  Not the first one I would've wanted, but still pretty darn cool having "Jack" regardless of which version. 

Got my set yesterday too, as well as the Chris Sarandon card. Ah, well. I knew he'd be the most commonly packed one. Still a super cool collectible to have; they certainly didn't have to include them.

All in all, I quite like the figures! A vast improvement over the DST figures (at least their Jacks and Sally), and from what I remember, more sturdy feeling than NECA's previous offerings. They do indeed feel less likely to break; I was able to swap heads and hands with no problem at all. I still handled them more gently than I would other figures with swappable parts, Jack especially, but I didn't feel like anything was coming apart. The only resistance I really met was swapping Jack's hands; the pegs do feel a bit on the small side, and even twisting and pulling, I was afraid I'd break something, but his slightly thicker limbs do help.

Personally, I think the swappable heads/face plates are a genius idea for the line. The movie is literally made by swapping out thousands of different expressions, so in a way, it feels like a mini, cheap version of the actual puppets. Jack especially is so emotive for a little puppet, and including him with just one head- whether smiley and happy or evil and grinning- never quiiiite captures his magic. Sally too- she's often included with either a happy or blank expression, when she spends most of the film looking sad and anxious, so kudos to NECA for providing a bunch of different expressions for them both.

Kudos as well for allowing them to be able to hold most of their accessories too. That was perhaps my biggest gripe with the DST figures- breakage aside- nobody could hold anything they came with. It's still a bit of a job here too, but nothing too taxing.

My biggest issue so far are the stands and the warping that took place in the package. Almost all the figures, along with Sally's cat (who I'm so happy to finally have a figure of), came out of the package with a foot bent around 45 degrees or so. Even with some finnagling, I haven't been able to straighten them out fully, though I haven't tried any heating yet. The Jacks and Sally can still stand on the included stands easily enough, but Mayor's feet are way too close to use both feet on the stand. He can use one, though, and it certainly helps; even though, because of his low hanging coat, he can sorta balance on his coattails, but the slightest little knock sends him tumbling to one side because of the bent foot, so the stand comes in handy. The Jacks as well have taken one or two little tumbles, just due to being a little top-heavy, but I do think their legs support them well enough on the stands. Especially if you lean them up against something, I don't foresee any real issues.

All in all, I'm quite pleased with these. They're great improvements over previous offerings from many companies, and they still blend in rather well no matter what company's figures you're displaying them with. As previously mentioned, I'd love to see NECA take a crack at the remaining main characters- Dr. Finklestein, Oogie, and LSB, if not Santa too. I'm cool sticking with the Halloween Town citizens we've gotten before, but if they were to offer any of them, and they're as well made as these, I'd snag them. Same with the old Spiral Hill box set; if they were to re-release that with these new figures, I'd buy it in a heartbeat. That, along with perhaps the angel statue, have felt like the biggest diorama omissions across the board (though I do have the Funko versions of both). Spiral Hill especially is just as iconic as Jack himself.

Anywho, bravo, NECA! 

Guys, we need pics...

Did some comparisons, these are just all new figures. The sculpts are sharper, cleaner, thinner, more accurate. I think the Mayor might be the only one with true reuse on his body and head, but the arms and swap hands are all new. 

I wonder how these will be distributed? NECA's site seems to be the only one with them in stock; BBTS and Toywiz are saying January, and they aren't listed anywhere else. **EDIT: Looks like they are in other specialty shops, coming January

Thanks for the reviews, everyone, I'm excited. Does anyone have the Revoltech Jack? I'm wondering how tall he is compared to this NECA. Someone once said he was small, but in all the reviews he seems to be between 7-8 inches. 

Sorry, friends- still no photos (I'm terrible at taking them, let alone posting them, and my photography skills would turn anyone off), but wanted to pop in and say that I can indeed confirm that these are a little more sturdy than previous offerings. I'm still figuring out the right balance on how to pose them on the stands, so in the meantime these have all taken a few tumbles off the shelf- about 36 inches high, onto wood floors, and so far no breaks. I'm sure that luck'll run out eventually, but for now, they're good! It can be a little frustrating, especially with Jack, as I'd wager decent money that a lot of his accessories weigh just as much/more than he does; I keep trying to get Santa Jack to hold one of the small presents, but the weight of it makes him fall over almost every time. I have them all slightly leaning against some of the DST diorama pieces until I can figure out where to put the center of gravity and all that.

Your mileage may vary, of course, but at least in Jack and Sally's case, they're definitely sturdier than the last couple attempts.

@joshsquash729 On the Mayor, he's got ball jointed feet if you need to "straighten" one out to help him support himself!

Sally and the Mayor are currently available on Target's website.

Santa Jack is up as well. I'm guessing regular Jack will be too, if he isn't already. Santa Jack was the only one I wanted. Of course, he's one penny under the free shipping threshold so I added a box of festive Sour Patch Kids to my order.

Target.com has added the standard Jack, and they still have the Mayor and Santa Jack. Sally is sold out now. My local Target also has standard Jack and Sally in stock. About 6 Jacks and 4 Sallys. I was excited to see them even if they missed X-mas by a few weeks.

This line has me so thrilled! I don’t know how it’s existing while DST is still re-releasing their greatest hits line, Super7 just came out with theirs. The licensing is weird! I’ll take it though. NECA’s original NBX line is one of my all-time favorites. I was kicking myself for missing out on the Jack expression pack though, so I am beyond excited to have a chance to get an even better version now.