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Which brings us to day four of the 31 Days of Halloween and someone who definitely brings you nightmares... FREDDY KRUEGER! Starting in 1984 ol' Fred head has been terrorizing movie goers non-stop. Wes Craven's creation along with Robert Englund's brilliance has brought us one of the most iconic horror characters of all time. For several years now Mezco has been cranking out toys of Nightmare on Elm Street as well as other horror franchises in their "Cinema of Fear" line.



For the most part I have avoided their toys because I'm not a fan of their nearly static poses. Mezco decided to switch scales and bring things down to my favorite size, 3 3/4 as well as amp up the articulation in these new smaller scale Cinema of Fear toys. Not a moment too late either as Mezco has lost the license to many of these characters within the next year. So is Freddy a dream come true or will this little bugger leave you with nightmares?




Packaging:
The packages are pretty plain but definitely will catch your eye in a toy store. The font and general design seems more geared towards Nightmare on Elm Street than any of the other properties in the series. There is a jagged edge to the top, sides and bottom of the card backer, with a warning at the very top corner that this is for ages 18+. I don't think I've ever seen a warning like that on a toy I've purchased at Toys R Us.



The back shows the other figures in the series. Jason from Friday the 13th (whom I'll be reviewing soon) as well as Leatherface from the Texas Chainsaw Massacre (who I could care less about). It also runs down what accessories each figure comes with.



The package is decent but nothing you're going to want to keep. MOC collectors may or may not enjoy it. I do wish the back of the package gave us a little bio on the characters, but I guess with the convoluted backstories of most of these characters it could be tough. Plus you've got a dozen or so Elm Street movies you could rent if you want a bio.

Articulation:
For a company who's 6 inch figures might as well be made by Todd McFarlane for their articulation, Mezco really decided to put some motion in these smaller scale figures. Freddy has as much articulation as Mezco's Hellboy 3 3/4 figures. Mezco has really done a great job implementing this articulation and I almost want them to do all their figures like this.



Freddy also has a waist joint, but it doesn't really turn. So I'm not counting it. Freddy can get in a lot of poses, but his arm articulation could be a little better at the elbows. He basically has GI Joe 25th style Duke arms. I'm also a little leery to turn the wrists on him. I should also mention that the gloved hand is only a swivel, whereas the other hand has the pin/post ball joint deal.



At first I thought the arms were simple cuts, but they are indeed a joint. This allows a greater amount of posing, but it'd be nice if Freddy could put his glove in front of his face. Still considering the design of the character, it's pretty darn impressive.

Sculpt:
Freddy looks the worst of all the 3 3/4 figures. That doesn't mean he looks bad though. In fact from certain angles he looks REALLY like Freddy, but others not so much. There is definitely some Robert Englund in there though.


He's burnt up like a weenie and his name is Fred.
The paint aps are varied, I picked one with less brown on his face because I liked the way it looked. My GF actually said there was too much of it. Most of the others seemed to have even more of the darker brown burnt flesh, so you may want to pick one depending on your personal Freddy preference.


It's a little disappointing that his sweater isn't painted on the arms, but within a minute or two I didn't even really notice it. The rest of the paint work is really solid, but as I moved him around I did notice some flaking. Given the tricky nature of trying to paint a character like this I think Mezco has done an admirable job.


Scale wise he's pretty much genuine 3 3/4. If you're looking for human victims your best bet is Playmates Star Trek figures. That's good because they're cheap! He could torment your GI Joes of course, but he'll be a tad short. Nothing wrong with that as Englund wasn't a huge guy as Freddy and Jackie Earl Haley is small too. Krueger has some imp like qualities.


As for the sculpt itself, I feel it's pretty good. Freddy has a bit of a giraffe neck, but depending on how you move his head it looks better. His hat is removable and surprisingly he really doesn't have any pinhead issues. The sculpt is pretty good underneath the hat as well.


Freddy is sort of hunched and there are certain parts of him that just seem a little off. But you know what? It's a 3 3/4 Freddy and that's pretty cool.

Accessories:
First and foremost Freddy has his hat. What would Freddy be without his hat?! It's a great sculpt and looks good on his head. It's pretty tight to get off that first time, but it fits back on alright. However if you never want Freddy to lose his hat, just never take it off the first time. Once you break that seal it's a lot looser.


The other accessories are somewhat laughable. Freddy comes with a pretty generic stand with blood splatter on it that looks pretty cool. His final accessory though is the most peculiar. It's Freddy's patented garbage can lid! What? You don't remember Freddy's garbage can lid?! Well he did use one. I think... Once.


Unfortunately it's not so much the inclusion of the lid that's baffling, but just how cheap it is. There is a handle made onto it, but it's sculpted flat. So Krueger can't even hold it! The underside looks cheap too and it just seems like Mezco threw this in here because they wanted to give Freddy an accessory. I'm all for extra accessories but I think they could have done better. Points for effort Mezco, but deductions for execution.


Despite these issues with the accessories, it's all pretty minor. Freddy doesn't really need any accessories, so I understand where Mezco might have some issues. I guess giving us something is better than nothing.



Additional Notes:
Freddy Krueger has always been my favorite of the modern horror icons. I'm not sure exactly why, but he has. I used to have one of those Freddy Krueger dolls that was out of scale with everything but had cloth clothes. I believe I bought him at Woolworths.


Freddy is also the only modern horror icon that I've ever dressed up as on Halloween. I believe I went as Freddy two years but I can't specifically remember. I know I went at least once. I might still have my Freddy glove around here somewhere.

Value:
$10! You thought $8 for a GI Joe was bad! Of course Mezco is a smaller company so I guess it's understandable. It still feels like a lot for such a small toy. Especially when the larger ones are only like $13. I almost didn't pull the trigger on these guys because of the price.


Oh yeah, 3 3/4... Hail to the king (of scales) baby.
You might should just save yourself some gas and get all three figures from BBTS for $23.79 over at their site. And no, I'm not getting any kickbacks for that either... It's just a good deal. Assuming you want all three.

Score Recap:
Packaging - 6
Sculpting - 7
Articulation - 7
Accessories - Garbage Can Lid, Hat, Stand
Value - 6
Overall - 6 out of 10

Freddy is only slightly above average, but he's still a great toy. For my money he's definitely worth it. If you want a Freddy Krueger figure to haunt Scarlett's dreams or to do battle with any of your 3 3/4 figures then you'll need this figure. I'm already planning a ton of corssovers because Freddy in this scale allows him to interact with everyone from Yoda to Captain Kirk to Spirit. You can't put a pricetag on that kind of awesome.


You got the body and I got the brain!
As Halloween draws closer I'm getting more excited by the day. Getting these small scale Cinema of Fear figures just put the icing on the cake. I'd love to tell you more, but I'm about to go have Freddy fight Ash and Hellboy and Han Solo.