Toy Review – Friday the 13th 2009 Jason Voorhees Action Figure from NECA

Last week I got some flak for stating that nobody likes Alien Resurrection, so I will amend that today by saying that four people like Alien Resurrection.

Honestly I thought the whole vagina thing would be more controversial.

This week I definitely don’t want to alienate anyone (see what I did there?), so I don’t want to say that nobody likes the 2009 Friday the 13^th remake.

Fortunately I don’t have to say that because the 2009 Friday the 13^th remake is pretty darn good and definitely far better than Alien Resurrection.

The remake incorporates elements of the first three films and streamlines the mythology in a pretty logical way. It basically takes Marvel’s Ultimate approach to Jason and in my opinion does it very well. It doesn’t replace any of the originals, but to me it stands as a worthy update to the franchise.

Jason himself is, of course, updated as well. Lots of extremely dumb things could have been done with Jason’s design. Heck, some of them have happened in past movies. But this design gets back to basics, in a way, while bringing his signature look into modern times. Let’s face it – the khakis and olive button-down are classic, but not very visually interesting.

This time around the Crystal Lake Killer is wearing a strangely unique jacket over a ripped up t-shirt and some old, beat-up trousers. His face is more Wrong Turn mutant than the Madball we saw in a few of the original films. And both the head sack and hockey mask are used.

Jason was played by the 6’5” Derek Mears, making him one of the taller actors to take the role. The movie emphasizes and even enhances his size, making Jason seem bigger and more powerful than ever before.

Okay, maybe not more powerful. This Jason doesn’t turn doors into clouds of splinters. But his raw strength is almost supernatural.

This is not the first action figure of the 2009 Jason by a long shot. In what is a very unusual occurrence, both NECA and Mezco released figures back when the movie came out. Mezco’s was part of their slightly exaggerated, almost caricature-ish Cinema of Fear line while NECA’s was part of its more realistic Reel Toys range.

Looking at them now I’m surprised by the fact that I prefer the Mezco release. The NECA one is fine, but not totally accurate and kind of dull. Mezco’s at least has some personality.

Now, of course, we have this new Ultimate release from NECA. Is it truly “Ultimate” or even necessary? Read on and find out!

Toy Review – Friday the 13th Part V: A New Beginning Ultimate Roy Burns from NECA

Who would’ve imagined the phrase “Ultimate Roy Burns” would ever be used, let alone the cause for so much excitement among Friday the 13^th fandom?

I’m not going to sit here and tell you that I’ve been a fan of Friday the 13^th Part V: A New Beginning from the start. First of all, I didn’t even see the movie until long after it was released. I was later on the game on Friday the 13^th than I was A Nightmare on Elm Street, I think because I found Jason scarier than Freddy. I’ll have to sit down and think about it someday, but I remember a very real apprehension about watching the Friday the 13^th movies.

I did not like Part V the first time I saw it. Or the second or third, probably. It was only a couple of years ago that I finally was able to put aside the fact that ***SPOILER*** Jason isn’t really in the movie. This was a very dumb thing to get hung up on, especially for someone who likes Jason Goes to Hell as much as I do.

A couple of years ago I picked up the Blu-ray set of the eight Paramount Fridays and had a little marathon. I ended up liking all of them a little more than I remembered (except for Part VIII, which I still think is trash), and finally came around to the fact that A New Beginning is pretty darn good, despite having the least likeable cast of all of the movies.

Replacing Jason Voorhees with Roy Burns was not a bad idea. Within the context of the insane Friday the 13^th universe and timeline it’s actually one of the less ridiculous things that has happened.

The movie has great kills, Tommy Jarvis’ continuing story is pretty good, Reggie is fun (they should have brought him back at some point), and Violet’s dance scene is one of my favorite things in the whole franchise.

The funniest thing about Roy is that he’s so obviously not Jason, but for some reason his likeness and mask have been used on a lot of merchandise over the years, so a lot of people don’t even realize he isn’t Jason. I have a Friday the 13^th shirt that is clearly meant to sort of represent the franchise as a whole, but the image on it is Roy.

So now NECA, one of the best toy companies on the planet, has released an action figure immortalizing the Jason-who-wasn’t, Roy Burns.

Will it take years to appreciate NECA’s Roy or is he a hit right out of the box? Read on and find out!

Needless Things Podcast 273 – Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan Needless Commentary

https://www.podbean.com/media/share/pb-gmuuf-b78411

Part of an ongoing series – the Needless Things Irregulars gather in the Phantom Zone to provide their own unique commentary on classic genre films!

After a thrilling NTP Facebook poll, the Crystal Lake Killer Jason Voorhees defeated the Prince of Polka “Weird Al” Yankovic when a tied vote led to a Mrs. Troublemaker run-in, resulting in Friday the 13^th Part VIII taking the July Needless Commentary crown!
Released on July 28^th, 1989, Jason Takes Manhattan was the highest budgeted Friday the 13^th movie to date. Those extra dollars didn’t help because it also yielded the poorest box office. Taking the masked killer out of his natural environment was an inspired and interesting decision, but it would take a strong story with a commitment to quality to pull it off.
Listen in as Dave, Arian, Ryan, and Nicole discuss the commitment to quality and the strength of the story in this month’s Needless Commentary!
Be sure to join the Needless Things Podcast Facebook Group and get in on the conversation for this week’s episode! Let us know what you think!
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Halloween 2018 Toy Review – Savage World Horror from Funko

It looks like Funko has found the next action figure format to go completely bonkers with.

Their initial launch of Mortal Kombat characters didn’t exactly excite me, but once they added Conan, Thundercats, these horror icons, and most recently a crazy assortment of DC Comics characters; I had to consider myself a fan.

I suppose these horror figures are sort of divisive. If you’re a fan of weird stuff and different takes on or mash-ups of things you love, these are great. If you’re a stuck-up sourpuss that hates fun, they probably aren’t for you.