By
Dave
Some of the things I love the most are ones that I didn’t
like at all at first – Big Trouble in
Little China, Evil Dead, and Rad
Ranger come to mind.
National
Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation also makes that list.
Actually, the only Vacation movies I liked the first time were European Vacation and the recent one with Christina Applegate and Ed Helms. I think I got the original and Christmas Vacation by my second viewings of those. The other two; the less said the better.
Clark Griswold is an idealist. He wants things to be just
right for his family and always has a vision of how things should go, rarely taking into account reality or even what the rest
of his family might want. He’s a big believer in “father knows best”, but not
in an arrogant way; just a deluded one.
I can relate to much of that. Fortunately I have a lot
more self-awareness than Clark and fight my desire to be that guy as much as I
can. I’ll start planning the big vacation, but I’ll catch myself just shy of
paying for it before consulting the family.
Because of all of that, I have a much deeper connection
to Christmas Vacation – and most of
the Griswold movies – than I used to. Before I had a family they were just funny
movies. Now they speak to me on a whole other level that I can relate to. Clark
Griswold is both a role model and a cautionary tale. He’s an inspiration and a
warning.
Side Note: It’s probably worth mentioning
that the pictures in this review were taken with a Nikon D3400 camera. I’ve
been wanting a nicer camera for years and Black Friday presented me with a good
enough deal to justify buying one. I’m still learning, but I’m definitely
impressed with the difference in quality, even with these first test shots. I
hope you guys enjoy better pictures going forward on Needless Things.
THE
PACKAGE
Fortunately NECA’s non-horror retro figures come in
window boxes rather than plastic clamshells. There’s a picture of Chevy Chase
looking appropriately crazy on the front (thought the figure sports a different
crazy – yet still accurate – expression) surrounded by imagery from the movie.
The back is a picture of the figure with a blurb of some
sort up top. I can’t read the blurb because FYE’s price sticker is in the way
and isn’t the kind that peels off easily. I could’ve used the ol’ heat gun on
it, but it just wasn’t important enough to me to read that blurb.
Side Note: I did pay a bit of a premium for
this figure. To me that thirty bucks is pretty steep, but I thought I had
missed out on this figure, so when I saw it in the wild a couple of weeks ago,
I jumped on it. It was worth it to me.
There’s a plastic tray inside securing the figure and
accessories. Behind that is a cardboard backdrop depicting the majestic,
illuminated Griswold home.
All in all it’s a perfectly good, if unspectacular, box.
It lacks the tremendous art of the horror figures, but gets the job done. And isn’t
a clamshell.
THE
TOY
Standard male NECA retro figures, like the Megos that
inspired them, all share a basic body. There’s plenty of articulation – not anything
on the level of One:12 Collective or even Marvel Legends, but certainly
superior to Mego. I think of it as “reasonable articulation”; the figure can be
posed in ways that a standard adult might move rather than a superhero.
The Chevy Chase likeness is tremendous. NECA went all-out
with the expression and used “FULL ON CLARK MANIA” rather than going for
something more subtle. This is Clark Griswold moments after he’s careened over
the edge, as he’s shouting, “Where do you think you're going? Nobody's leaving.
Nobody's walking out on this fun, old-fashioned family Christmas. No, no. We're
all in this together. This is a full-blown, four-alarm holiday emergency here.
We're gonna press on, and we're gonna have the hap, hap, happiest Christmas
since Bing Crosby tap-danced with Danny fucking Kaye. And when Santa squeezes
his fat white ass down that chimney tonight, he's gonna find the jolliest bunch
of assholes this side of the nuthouse.”
I’ve mentioned before that NECA almost seems to have
different levels of paint quality. There are some lines like Aliens and Evil
Dead where you have to look at several figures before you find one with
acceptable paint – let alone great – and there are others that seem to have a
much higher level of quality control. While I’ve only seen one of these, the
fact that it has such a good paint job suggests that this figure falls under
the latter category. The hair, eyebrows, and teeth are immaculate, but the
placement of the irises and the tones on the skin are the things that make this
paint job stand out. Excellent work, there.
The figure has several items of fabric clothing, most of
which are successful. Clark’s Santa coat looks great. The red fabric is bright
and hangs nicely for this scale and price point. The white fur trim is bright
and – amazingly – nice enough that it isn’t shedding. It fits the figure very
well and just generally looks like it should.
The pattern on the trousers is woven and not just
printed, so they have a great look and texture. The shoes have a great level of
detail in the paint and sculpt. The laces and seams are distinct and the soles
are painted.
Clark’s dress shirt looks as good as it needs to. The
fabric is light and moves nicely and the fit is good. A Velcro closure holds
the front shut – it’s not like we need buttons at this scale and honestly I
prefer this to those oversized buttons you might sometimes see. The collar is a
little wacky, but again, at this scale and price point I think NECA did just
fine. The shirt stays tucked into the trousers as you move the figure around,
so you’re not constantly having to tuck a too-short shirt back in like you have
to with some other lines. You know what I mean – you don’t even want to pose
the figure because you know getting the clothing back into place is going to be
such a huge pain in the ass.
Finally, the tie. The tie looks terrible. It could be
worse and I get the feeling that this is NECA doing the best they can with what
they have, but there’s no way around the fact that the elastic and ribbon combo
they’ve got here looks like junk. If the collar could sit properly it wouldn’t be
as bad, or if the tie portion looked a little more finished it might be okay.
As-is this piece is just bad. The Texas
Chainsaw III Leatherface has the same problem and it’s one that NECA needs
to figure out.
THE
ACCESSORIES
Clark comes with a Santa hat, a Wally World glass, and
the model of the pool he’s planning to buy with his Christmas bonus.
The pool model is just a fun extra that I’m happy to
have. Ideally the water would have been a translucent plastic piece (I’m about
seventy percent positive it is in the movie), but it doesn’t ultimately matter.
The sculpt is excellent and the paint is great.
The figure looks good holding
it.
The Wally World moose glass is a nice translucent plastic
that really looks like glass. The sculpt is nice and it’s even hollow. You
could put a dab of egg nog in there if you so desired. I wouldn’t recommend it
because you just know it’d end up all over Clark’s nice coat, but you could.
In
the movie the characters hold these glasses by the antlers, but the figure can’t
quite make that happen – the fingers are too far apart. Personally, I don’t find
this to be a huge problem.
Clark’s Santa hat is a lot more specific than I had realized.
The fur trim is huge. Since the hat is a sculpted plastic piece it doesn’t match
the coat, but this doesn’t bother me. Your mileage may vary. There are three
silver bells that look great and are a detail I hadn’t noticed before. The hat
fits nicely on the figure’s head and stays put well.
THE
VERDICT
The necktie bugs me, but otherwise this is an excellent figure.
The poseability is more than you need and the rest of the soft goods look
great. That Chevy Chase head sculpt is just fantastic. I love seeing it on my
desk.
Some folks will see this as a must-have toy of a beloved
character, some might not be able to justify the price tag for a “seasonal”
piece. For me, it’s one of those figures that I can’t believe got made and that
I’m delighted to have in my collection.
Buy one from Amazon now and help out Needless Things!:
No comments:
Post a Comment