MOVIE MANIACS III from McFarlane Toys

By: Dan Cziraky
Date: Sunday, October 22, 2000

C'mon, who can resist having the ugliest, most disgusting movie monsters in history sitting on their shelves. No, I'm not talking about the cast of A Chorus Line, but McFarlane Toys' MOVIE MANIACS series! Yep, after starting the first Movie Maniacs series with those modern age greats, 'Freddy Krueger,' 'Leatherface,' 'Jason Vorhees,' and the two alien sex machines from Species II, we got a larger run with Movie Maniacs II's 'Ghostface,' 'Pumpkinhead,' 'Chucky,' 'Norman Bates,' 'The Crow,' 'Michael Myers,' and a 'Chucky & Tiffany' boxed set from Bride of Chucky. Horror fans haven't had such cool monster figures since Kenner's first Alien figure back in '79! So, for MM3, the guys at McFarlane got us a great set of maniacs. 'Blair Monster' and 'Norris Creature with Spider' from John Carpenter's The Thing were reviewed two weeks ago (TU #11), so now we'll go right to the rest of the gang:

*Ash from Army of Darkness: This one's the most-requested figure since McFarlane first initiated the MM line! At long last, toy customizers can stop hacking up G.I. Joe's and other figures, as 'Ash' has been brought to the world of little plastic things in rather glorious fashion. The resemblance to Bruce Campbell isn't dead-on, but it's pretty durn close. The figure has eight points of articulation, including interchangeable chainsaw and metallic hands. There is also his 'boom stick' (shotgun), Book of the Dead, and a little, demonic mini-Ash (non-articulated) with medieval fork. The shotgun fits into a holster on his back, but when I put the gun in on my review figure, the holster split wide open! A call to McFarlane customer service remedied the situation, however. Besides the movie poster, there's a little flyer hyping the Evil Dead: Hail to the King computer game.


* Edward Scissorhands: From Tim Burton's film of the same name comes the second Johnny Depp action figure. Okay, now I want an Ed Wood figure with removable wig and angora sweater in MM4! Anyway, ES here has great detailing, although the hair looks more like a dryer lint sculpture than anything else. The figure has eighteen points of articulation, including individually articulated scissor-fingers! The attention to detail here is amazing, and the likeness to Depp very good. No accessories, but there is the poster repro. You could make some cool dioramas with ol' Ed here, using model railroad shrubbery.

*Brundle Fly from The Fly (1986): The gooey, final version of Jeff Goldblum's transformation from David Cronenberg's revisionist remake of the 1958 classic makes for an interesting figure. 'Brundle Fly' has that one 'extra' arm coming out of its side, coated in squishy, translucent green plastic simulating the slime so prevalent in the movie. It even has the wiry, black hairs on its back, and furry bristles on its mandibles. It has nine points of articulation, and a base that it pegs into (the mismatched feet won't allow it to stand on it's own), as well as the poster reproduction (remember that 'Be afraid. Be very afraid.' tagline?). Disgusting, but absolutely adorable!

* Snake Pliskin from Escape from L.A.: Frankly, I'd have preferred the Escape from New York version of Snake, but this one's still pretty kick-ass. Snake's in a kinda static, guns-drawn-and-ready pose, but still has seven points of articulation. What's really kinda cool is that you can yank off his arms and hands, giving you the option of displaying him with or without his coat! Give this figure to kids that like to pull the wings of insects!! Snake's got two laser-site pistols that fit into his thigh holsters, as well as a larger rifle and, of course, the poster art. While the figure looks just like Kurt Russell, the expression on his face looks more pained than tough. Also, the watch on his left wrist split and came off on my figure. McFarlane Customer Service is sending me a replacement.

*John Shaft from Shaft (2000): While the Samuel L. Jackson update didn't take the world by storm, you gotta admit it was a cool move (if a bit risky) to make a figure from it. The likeness to Jackson is downright scary, and the pose is very cool (but a tad static). Shaft has eight points of articulation, and comes with a gun that fits in his side holster, as well as removable sunglasses. As with every MOVIE MANIACS regular figure, there is a small-scale movie poster on an H.R. Geiger-ish stand.

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*King Kong Deluxe Figure: This boxed figure has a large Kong from the 1933 classic, but it isn't in scale with the rest of the series. Kong comes on his New York stage debut platform, having already broken free of his chains. The figure is highly detailed and quite savage looking, but it doesn't quite capture the true look of the '33 Kong. Kong has six points of articulation, but his closed hands won't let him pick up the small, non-articulated Fay Wray figure. Speaking of which, not only doesn't it look like Wray's Ann Darrow character, but she's been given brown hair instead of blonde! I mean, c'mon here! That was the whole point of Kong's attraction to her: she was blonde! To top it off, the restraint platform is a bit flimsy. Not one of McFarlane's better efforts in this line; plus, the boxed figure doesn't come with the poster art stand.