Toy Review: Friday the 13th Part 3 Jason Voorhees By NECA

NECA has been utterly charming me with their excellent releases over the past year or so. When I saw this Jason Voorhees in Toys R Us I realized I only have one Jason in this scale and it’s the McFarlane one. Well, I also have the one from the remake, but that doesn’t count.

            While I don’t love the Friday the 13^th franchise like I do A Nightmare on Elm Street, Jason still holds a special place in my heart. As a matter of fact, I think Mr. Voorhees franchise is overall a little better than Freddy’s, especially if you include the remakes. While the Nightmare series went downhill after the third installment, the Fridays stayed solid until Part VIII and then came back strong with Jason Goes to Hell and one of my all-time personal favorites – Jason X.

Part 3 was the one where we got the Jason Voorhees that everybody knows and loves, which is part of the reason that I felt I had to have this one. In this movie Jason is still mostly mortal and seems to die – although in a somewhat mundane manner – at the end. It’s the movie with that irritating jackass Shelly that pulls pranks on everybody.

Anyway, NECA makes awesome figures and any rationalization other than that simple fact is just me making shit up. I just wanted another NECA figure.

First Glance: This guy is big and somewhat misshapen. Which works. I couldn’t tell for sure if his mask came off or not. It does. And what’s underneath is grody. To the max.

Articulation: NECA’s releases have been getting progressively more articulated as the Reel Toys line has gone on. They’re very good at getting in a good amount of articulation that makes sense.

Head – Ball joint

Shoulders – Ball joint

Elbows – Swivel/pivot

Wrists – Ball pegs

Waist – Rocker joint

Hips – Ball joint

Knees – Swivel/pivot

Feet – Same as wrists

None of Jason’s joints have a really wide range of movement. His shoulders are particularly restricted, though by the sculpt, not his shirt. They just aren’t meant to move a whole lot.

His hips are also restricted, but this is due mostly to the crotch piece.

The elbows and knees move quite well. The swivel portions have a full range and the pivots are as deep as they need to be.

In all honesty, Jason doesn’t need to have that much movement. The dude pretty much just walks and slices and this figure can be posed to do both of those things just fine.

All of the joints do move just as much as they are meant to and hold poses perfectly well.

Sculpt: Obviously this is a 100% new sculpt, though most parts are shared with the other figure that was part of this series. This is the battle damaged version, which I prefer because of the wound to the head, which the machete fits into quite nicely.

Jason’s head under the mask is nasty. It’s like Sloth from The Goonies got boiled. And fried. I love the unevenness of the sculpt and how this guy looks menacing and goofy at the same time. This version is much less gory than later versions would become and holds slightly more of a vestige of humanity.

The arms are sculpted as shirt sleeves and look good. The articulation is worked into the sculpt very well. I love that the hands protrude so far out of the sleeves. It gives a nice, creepy look that emphasizes how large Jason really is. His right hand is posed as an open fist to hold whichever weapon you choose to put in it. The left is in the classic “Getcha!” pose. Both hands have a high level of detail and look human, yet creepy.

I’m not gonna lie – Jason’s crotch piece looks kind of like a diaper. It isn’t terrible and I appreciate the design choice to attempt to hide the hip joints. I think it’s more that the coloration is very slightly off from the legs than the shape of the thing.

Jason’s pants are strangely undamaged. I am going to assume this is accurate for the look because I honestly don’t know any better of the top of my head. I just realized his shirt is the same way. It’s actually kind of nice to have something different than a bunch of torn, tattered clothes. This is Jason at his Sunday Best!

His feet are boots. They’re fine and are thankfully not made of rubber. And no – I will never let go of that years-long run where NECA made everybody’s feet out of rubber.

Coloring: I absolutely love the paint on this guy. The washes on the pants and shirt look very good. The blood spatters are somewhat reserved and that makes them creepier than if the figure was just covered in gore.

The washes of dirt and grime look good and are well-placed. The bottoms of his pant legs are nice and dirty, but fade as the stains go up. There’s some grime at the top of the pants as well and overall the paint job creates a nice effect. His boots are fairly dirty and check out the detail – even the little eyelets are painted!

Jason’s face is detailed in a disgustingly impressive manner. Again, it isn’t completely crazy and mutated like later versions. Just nasty. The detailing of the mouth and eyes is a stark contrast to the fleshy parts.

Flair: Jason’s shirt is a separately sculpted piece that is loose enough to allow for the abdominal joint to move a bit. It’s crooked on his torso and shoulders, which lends to his slightly misshapen form. The coloring matches the arms perfectly and the blood spatter isn’t overdone like it is on the McFarlane version. The holes where the arms protrude are tight enough that you can’t see anything of the torso underneath.

Accessories: Jason comes with his hockey mask, a machete, a knife, and an axe.

The weapons look great. The knife has an amazing paint job with not only a painted handle and blade, but painted rivets and blood stains. The axe is blood-free but features nice detailing. 

The machete looks pretty much like you’d expect. Great.

The mask is fantastic, with a flexible plastic strap and actual holes cut in it rather than just sculpting. The paint job perfectly reflects the movie; as it is yellowish and stained. And of course it has the red triangle. The mask fits on the figure easily but in a very specific way. It also stays put.

Packaging: Bech. Clamshell. I don’t like these, but it’s what NECA uses. Sometimes. I do like the way that they do the graphics and the inserts, though.

Not only does NECA’s packaging feature credits for the creators:

There’s also a brief biography:

Value: I have no problem paying $17.99 for these figures.

Overall: This is a great Jason Voorhees figure. It isn’t my favorite version of the character, but it is probably the most iconic. NECA did a great job representing that and if you’re only going to own one Jason this would be a good one. I can’t think of a thing NECA could have done better.

5 out of 5

If you can’t find one at Toys R Us, you're probably going to have to check out eBay.

-Phantom