But with the wonders of VHS and DVD, that changed once it hit the home market. Adults and teens finally saw it, and many more kids did as well, leading to great home sales. Over time, it turned into a cult favorite, with a huge following, particularly in the goth crowd.

When the film was originally released, so were toys of course. However, the soft box office translated to soft sales for the action figures and other goodies. At one point, many of the hardest to find figures today were on clearance in the 2 for $5 bin at your local Kaybee. Once it hit the Blockbuster shelves though, the toys disappeared fast, and today, the old toys are hugely popular.

NECA decided that it only made sense to revisit the action figure concept, and has now released their first four all new characters from the film. Tonight's review will cover Jack, Sally, the Mayor and the Vampire. This is the first time we've seen the Vampire in plastic form, and while the other three were done before, the new ones have little in common with them.

If you have any questions, comments, or suggestions, you can always reach me at mwc@mwctoys.com. If you enjoy this review, take a minute to check out my other site at Michael's Review of the Week, and let me know what you think. Now on to the review!

"NMBC Jack, Sally, Mayor and Vampire"

This first series runs for about $13 each at Hot Topic, but we all know how overpriced they can be. I haven't seen them yet at Media Play or Suncoast, but I'd assume they'll be showing up there soon as well for at least a buck or two cheaper. I have some other on-line options for buying them at the end of the review, as usual.

Packaging - ***
NECA goes with my favorite - clamshells - but I believe they've set a new world record for the use of twisty ties. Somebody must own stock in the twisty tie market, or have an awful lot of extra wire around that they need to get rid of. The designs themselves are attractive if standard, since there's been very little variation in the look and feel of the license since the very beginning.

Sculpting - Jack, Sally, Mayor ****; Vampire ***1/2
If you think you've seen nice NMBC stuff before, think again. NECA has complete redefined the action figure line, blowing the old versions out of the water. It's not hard to believe that they'd be better than the old ones, since those were produced for the mass market over ten years ago. Things have come a long way since then, but NECA did more than just improve on the concept - they produced absolutely amazing sculpts even by today's standards.

Jack and Sally are the best of the set, which makes for a nice set for your shelf. These look so close to the movie that it's really amazing, and they rival some of the best sculptures and busts based on the license.

The Mayor is also extremely nice, with lots of small detail work, and great texture detail to define different parts of the character. For example, the lapels are a smooth plastic, while the jacket has an extremely fine cross hatching, and the ribbon has a heavier wrinkling. That kind of attention to specifics adds realism and depth to the toys, setting them apart from the usual.

The Vampire is my least favorite sculpt, but much of that has to do with the bendy arms He does match the show extremely well, and his hand is sculpted to hold the umbrella. His scale seems about right, but I haven't watched the film in quite some time.

Speaking of scale, it looks good across the whole series, and these are much bigger than you might first realize. The hand sculpts are decent on all of them, as both the Vampire and Mayor can hold some accessories, and Jack has all kinds of posing possibilities between the hand sculpts and wrist joints.

Only the vampire stands on his own, as the rest of the designs call for very, very tiny feet. You'll need to use the enclosed stands, but that's not a negative, since it's a requirement of the character design.

Paint - Jack, Sally, Mayor ****; Vampire ***1/2
The paint ops are exceptional across the board, and for a movie that's so dark, there's a surprising amount of color.

Jack is only black and white of course, but those are tough colors to put together. They tend to bleed into each other, and the definition between the two can be hard to keep sharp and clean. But Jack is amazingly good, especially the extremely small, fine white stripes in his suit. They aren't perfectly straight, but again, that's exactly how they were on the character in the show. Really look this figure over carefully, paying special attention to the small details like the stitch marks on the mouth, the joint lines on the hands, and the eyes on the cat, and you'll be as amazed as I am.

Sally has lots more color, although they are muted earth tones. Again, the stitch marks, small lines, and various patterns show some truly impressive work, and I think Sally will be very high on my list for Best Female Figure of 2004.

The Mayor has some great work, especially in his two faces. Both the happy and scared face have lots of tiny, minute details, all cleanly done with no slop. The overcoat is shaded rather than being a single color, and the spider tie has perfectly painted tiny legs.

The Vampire was the only one to show any sort of sloppy work, and that was extremely minor. His face wasn't quite as perfect as the others, but if he wasn't getting compared to such perfection, he would have scored better.

Articulation - Jack ****; Sally ***1/2; Mayor ***; Vampire **1/2
Most of these figures sport amazing articulation, especially considering how tough these designs are to work with. OF the set though, Jack is easily the most impressive here.

Jack has a ball-jointed neck, with TWO joints - one at the top of the neck and one at the bottom. He also has ball jointed shoulders, cut biceps, pin elbows and pin wrists, chest (at the break in the coat), hips, cut thighs, and pin knees. The arms and legs are extremely thin, but the joints are surprisingly sturdy. You do have to be a little careful, and I had popped the right leg off a few times at the hip when I was repositioning it, but for the most part the joints work great.

Sally isn't quite as flexible, but is still pretty well articulated. She has a ball jointed neck, ball jointed shoulders, cut biceps, pin elbows, cut wrists, pin knees, ball jointed hips and waist. Most of the joints are also pretty well hidden, yet with a decent range of motion. Only the hips are restricted by the dress.

The Mayor has a great number of joints, but I had the most trouble with them. He has a great ball jointed neck that has an excellent range of motion, ball jointed shoulders, cut biceps, pin elbows, cut wrists, a ball jointed waist, and a split joint between the two huge, pudgy legs. My big issue here was with the arms, where the pins in the bicep cut joints are too short. Any time I tried to move the arms, they popped right out, and weren't strong enough on their own to move the shoulders.

The Vampire has another nifty ball jointed neck, and it works great. There is no single joint more important than the neck, and the ones that NECA has used here give these figures so much more life and personality. The vampire also has a shoulder and wrist joint, and the arms are bendy. The arms are very soft though, and the wrists tend to pop out. He can't really hold his umbrella up well due to this softness, and I would have prefered a little more strength.

Accessories - Sally ****; Jack ***1/2; Mayor, Vampire ***
Everyone of the figures comes with a good number of accessories, but a Sally is really outstanding in this category.

Sally has a gaggle of accessories, all very show specific. There's a Jack-O-Lantern and Jack-In-The-Box, both different than the ones that come with Jack, her black cat (who stands fine on her own), her basket, a blanket to cover the basket, and a bunch of her cooking/picnic items. There's the Salt and Pepper shakers, bottle, fish bones on a plate, jar of deadly nightshade, and spoon with tiny holes drilled in it. The basket can easily hold the bottle and plate, and the plastic blanket is sculpted to fit over the top of them, allowing the bottle to peek out. The paint ops are fantastic here as well, with all the smallest details included.

Jack isn't any slouch though. He has his pooch, Zero, who hangs in the air on a clear stand. There are two Jack-o-lanterns, different sizes and faces, and a Jack-in-the-box with a Jack-O-Lantern head. The same exceptional sculpting and paint work is here as in the figures. He has a small display stand as well, which is critically important to keeping him standing.

The Mayor and Vampire have far fewer accessories than the other two characters, but still aren't too light. The vampire has his umbrella, which comes apart to allow you to place it in his left hand. He also comes with his 'scary teddy', who floats in the air like Zero on a clear stand. He doesn't require a display stand himself, since under his robe he has a round, clear body that can easily support him.

Finally, the Mayor includes his huge roster book, a bottle of ink, a megaphone, his Halloween plans, and his duck on the little cart. The duck can be removed from the cart, but I was suprised that when I unrolled the plans there was nothing printed there. He includes another small stand, and again, it's pretty important to keep him standing. His hat is also removable, and fits on his head quite tightly.

Fun Factor - ***
Kids do love this movie, once they've gotten the chance to see it. The sculpts, articulation and accessories actually make this a great line for any kid who's a fan of the film, but they might get a little frustrated by the joints that tend to pop apart, and the inability of the figures to stand on their own.

Value - Sally ***; the rest **1/2
Sally includes so many cool accessories that it's tough not to see a great value here. At $13 though, the rest are priced about right. If you can manage to pick them up for closer to $10 - $11, then you can add another half star no problem.

Overall - Sally, Jack ****; Mayor ***1/2; Vampire ***
This is one of the finest set of figures produced by NECA so far. It has everything - show accurate sculpts, amazing detail, excellent accessories that fit right in with the characters, creative and useful articulation - they really hit a home run here.

If you're a fan of the movie, you do NOT want to pass these up. They won't get nearly the kind of production runs of the original figures, and they'll be highly sought after in no time. Now if they want to make me really happy, they'll produce my favorite character, a Dr. Finklestein.

Where to Buy -
I bought mine at the local Hot Topic. On-line options include:

- CornerStoreComics has the set for $44, or each figure for $12. They also have some of the re-issued original figures.

- Killer Toys has the set of four for $48.95.