Review of New Jason - Friday the 13th action figure
Cinema of Fear

Introduction

There are two classic horror films that truly jump started the crazed slasher as monster trend - Halloween and Friday the 13th. Halloween hit in 1978, and Friday the 13th came hot on it's heels in 1980. These films turned into huge, long term franchises, and both films have been remade in the last year or so.

Now, I'm not particularly convinced remaking them is very sensible. Neither of these scripts are great cinema, and the plots aren't deep or complex. There's nothing really unique to explore with a retelling, and the odds are close to zero that a remake will be better than the original. But with the remake comes new toys, so not all is bad.

In the case of Friday the 13th, Mezco is giving us several versions. The movie opens this weekend, so I have not yet seen it, but it appears from trailers and stills that Jason has two looks in the movie - with his traditional hockey mask, and with a cloth wrapped mask. To accommodate the different looks Mezco is producing several figures in different scales. Tonight I'm looking at the 7" figure wearing the hockey mask, but there is also this same scale figure with a wrapped head, sold as a Previews exclusive. There is a 12" version wearing the hockey mask too, and a 19" version wearing the wrapped cloth (from NECA). Yea, that's a lot of Jasons!

This guy can be found at a number of online stores, and you can expect to pay around $15 - $17, depending on the retailer.

Packaging - ***
No real surprise here - it's a clam shell. The included graphics are terrific, and there's some good background text on the reverse. There's a few twisty ties though, which I'm not fond of, and even less fond of in a tight package like a clam shell, where the figure has no where to go and thieves would have a tough time tearing it open in a store.

Sculpting - ***1/2
Without having seen the film yet, all we have is some dark stills and fast cut trailer scenes to compare, but from what I've seen so far, the sculpt is very accurate.

Before you ask, no, the mask is not removable. Oh, if you really want to pry it off, you could do it, but it's not designed to be removed.

Underneath, you can see the one horribly disfigured glassy left eye, as well as the less damaged right.

The mask and straps have a very realistic appearance, partly because they are sculpted as separate pieces and glued in place, and partly because the underlying face sculpt is designed so that they appear to sink slightly into him, as though it's a tight fit.

The exposed skin on the neck and face is textured, giving him a very weathered, rough look. The mask has seen better days as well, with scoring across much of the surface.

The body sculpt is terrific, and he stands just over 7" tall. The shirt looks great, and hides the waist articulation without interfering with it. The jacket has a different stitch pattern on the sleeves than on the body, which does seem a bit odd. But I'm assuming this matches the film, since it wouldn't make much sense otherwise.

The right hand is sculpted to work great with all three included weapons, and the left hand is posed in a great threatening gesture.

There are a couple minor negatives for me, however. Some of the clothing sculpt is a little soft, like the zipper on the jacket, and there's something a bit cartoony about the bell bottom jeans. It's not that they are bells, but rather the thickness and flow that makes him look more Shaggy than Jason from the knees down.

It's also worth pointing out that he stands great on his own, which is a huge plus for a figure with limited articulation below the waist.

Paint - ***1/2
Great sculpts deserve great paint, and Jason gets the full treatment.

While there aren't quite as many paint ops here as we've seen on many other Mezco figures, there's still quite a few more than seems standard these days, and they are generally all done with high quality and care.

The wash and dirt on the mask works great for me, although for some it may seem too much. That's where I am on the skin, actually - the dark wash ends up a bit too much on the exposed neck, although in person it's not as much of an issue as I've seen in some photos.

Some of the best work is on the hands, where they've done subtle veining on the backs. It looks great, and really adds to his 'living decomposition' appearance.

Some of the finer small details are a smidge sloppy, like the buckle on the leg strap, or the tiny silver zipper, but in general these are minor annoyances, and don't detract from the overall appeal of the figure.

Articulation - ***
If you judge looking at the figure in the package, you'd expect very little articulation, but that's not the case. Oh, he's not going to be doing any ninja moves on the shelf, but he can certainly take on a pretty wide range of poses.

The first, and most critical joint is the ball jointed neck. It has a very good range of movement, and allows tilting as well as up and downward movement.

There are also ball jointed shoulders, jointed only at the shoulder i.e. no bicep joint.

There are also cut joints on both elbows and both wrists, allowing for a greater number of arm poses than I had expected.

The ball waist joint is hidden underneath the t-shirt, and allows the figure to tilt forward and back, as well as side to side. 

There's also ankle joints hidden under the funky bell bottoms, and while the pants do restrict them quite a bit, you can still get more movement out of them than you might first expect. They really help balance the center of gravity on the figure when you've adjusted the waist or shoulders in more extreme ways.

Accessories - ***1/2
Mezco has done a nice job packing in some useful weapons for Jason, as he hacks his way through your display shelf.

There's a nice bloody machete, with an excellent sculpt (including sculpted blade damage) and decent paint. For the old school fan, there's a double bladed ax, also sporting a terrific realistic sculpt right down to the dulled edge of the blades. The bloody paint work on the ax is a bit better than what's on the machete, flowing in a more realistic pattern.

Finally, there's one of those climber tool's that works as an ice pick, hammer, wedge, and whatever else a mountain climber might need. Where Jason came up with this thing I don't know, as Camp Crystal Lake is an actual working Boy Scout camp in New Jersey, where they don't have a lot of call for mountain climbing equipment. But it's still pretty damn deadly looking.

All the accessories fit in the sculpted right hand, and the machete or pick can be slid in the sculpted 'holster'. As I said earlier, while this holster looks like the kind I've normally seen used for axes, the handle for the included ax doesn't fit particularly well.

Fun Factor - ***
Okay, so a crazed serial killer like Jason isn't something I'd give to a 5 year old, but this figure is not just a collectible - it's very clearly a toy as well. While it might never get used in that way, it certainly could be, with very sturdy joints and a high quality construction. I always like it when a 'collectibles' company remembers the roots of this particular style of figure.

Value - **1/2
As painful as it is, this $15 - $17 price range is the going rate for specialty market figures like this. Hell, it's starting to edge up there for the mass market stuff in this scale. Considering that Mezco through in a nice assortment of extras, I'm giving him an average value rating, which means that this score will have no effect either positive or negative on my Overall. In other words, you pretty much get what you pay for.

Things to Watch Out For -
Not a thing. He's very sturdy, with solid joints, and I'm from what I've seen, the paint quality is pretty consistent across the line.

Overall - ***1/2
I'm willing to give the new film a chance, even if it the odds are against it. From what I've read, it doesn't look good...but that doesn't mean that the figures or the slightly updated character designs don't look terrific. I'm happy to add this guy to his cousins that have come before, and I plan on grabbing the 19" version with the wrapped face as well just to mix things up a bit.

Score Recap (out of ****):
Packaging - ***
Sculpting - ***1/2
Paint - ***1/2
Articulation - ***
Accessories - ***1/2
Fun Factor - ***
Value - **1/2
Overall - ***1/2

Where to Buy 
If you have a local Hot Topic or FYE that still carries action figures, you may find him there, but your best bet (and in some cases cheaper bet) is online:

- Entertainment Earth has this version at just $15, with the Previews exclusive version for $19 (wrapped head), and the 19" version at $40. Just search for 'jason'.

- or you can search ebay for a deal.

Related Links -
I've looked at a lot of Jason stuff over the years:

- recently, we has the excellent 12" Jason from Mezco.

- Mezco has also done other smaller scale Jasons, like this one from part VI.

- the Mezco stylized version is one of my favorites.

- from Sideshow, there's the my Jason reviews, including Sideshow Part 6, Sideshow Part 2, Sideshow's Part 3, Sideshow Freddy vs. Jason, and NECA's 7" Freddy vs Jason set, and the large PF Jason.

- also in the Mezco Cinema of Fear line up, there's the second set of Mez-itz, and the first series of Cinema of Fear.

- and there's also the 8" version of Jason from Freddy vs. Jason.

- finally, if you're a Friday the 13th fan, check out the 3-D poster from Mcfarlane.

You should also hit the Search Reviews page, in case any other applicable reviews were done after this one was published.

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