NECA Ash (from 'Ash vs the Evil Dead') Figure Review

At this point NECA have done a whole bunch of Evil Dead figures from all the movies, but I was especially intrigued when they first showed off their figures based on the 2015 TV series.

There's something even more endearing about an older, grumpy and frumpier Ash.

I've picked up one figure so far from this series but after taking pictures of him the other night I realise that I should seriously get some more!

A point to note, there are two versions of this figure. After the below figure was released NECA went on to release an 'Ultimate' version that comes with 2 x extra heads, his 'woody' hand and a picture of his car.  Bloody typical, I should have waited haha.

Enjoy the pictures and review :)

Before I get into it, I just want to touch on the series itself. I wasn't convinced that Evil Dead as a TV series was a good idea at first. Honestly, after watching the pilot that notion was proven wrong. If you can only ever be bothered to watch 1 episode of this series make sure you watch the pilot. It basically serves as Evil Dead 4. I loved it. As for the rest of the series? Overall I enjoyed series one. I thought there were some really high points but also a couple of low points.

I always enjoy seeing Lucy Lawless, who ends up playing a major character in it but personally I thought maybe she stood out a bit (not in a good way) for some reason. I can't put my finger on why, maybe my brain just couldn't accept her as a character and just screamed at me IT"S LUCY LAWLESS.

Clearly and obviously the star of the show was Bruce Campbell, who excels in every episode, but it's nice to see that his other co-stars Rav Santiago and Dana Delorenzo get lots to do as well and genuinely are likeable and entertaining right from the start.

I regret to say I've not quite finished series 2 yet. I'll get back to it soon. The 'Ashy Slashy' stuff was great, and I'm pleased to hear it's been picked up for series 3. Anyway, figure talk now!

Sculpting: As you can see, clearly they nailed Bruce. Not to belittle the sculpt but I imagine Bruce Campbell has one of those faces that's not too hard to capture (strong chin, furrowed brow, Elvis hair do).  Those elements alone make my eyes immediately see Campbell. That aside I love the sculpt though, it's great that they've not been shy about capturing his aged appearance, giving him slightly loose skin around the jaw, mouth and eyes. He also comes with a sneering second head that's equally as good. NECA have been doing some great work in this scale of late, what with the Aliens series and all the great Arnie figures they've done. 

Other than that, there's great attention to detail overall on his clothing right down to little details on his shoes. 

Disclaimer - The Necronomicon that he's holding in the pictures was not included. It's from an old McFarlane figure that I own.

The shotgun he comes with slides easily into the holster on his back.

Paint: NECA (in the main) does a good job on paint these days but I'd say this figure has better than average paintwork. The blue shirt makes the character pop and it's all done really well. He has subtle weathering where his shirt is slightly dirty but not to the extent where the paintwork looks sloppy. There's great attention to detail, like how his shotgun holster has extra paintwork to replicate a leather effect. His face is spot on, he even has a little stubble painted on under his lip. I should mention though that I've seen some 'dodgy' paint jobs from one figure to the next. If you have chance, try and buy this from a shop so you get chance to pick which one has the best paint job.

Articulation:  His articulation is pretty standard for this type of figure really. Ball jointed head and neck, ball jointed shoulders and hips. Pivot jointed wrists, elbows, waist and knees. His ankles seem to be a ball joint but it's difficult to get much movement out of them due to the sculpt on his trousers. Sadly it does limit his ankles quite a bit and as a result he can be quite difficult to get standing on his own.  For the photos I ended up sticking him on a Star Wars stand I had handy.

There isn't a ton of range to his upper body but I guess you don't need much to get him in the various poses you'd want. A tip that I've found works well with all NECA stuff, pop him on a radiator for 15 minutes. It really frees up the joints. With this figure it especially helps as it allows you to work around the ankle issue a little.


Lastly, that T-Crotch piece (his nether region) Some people aren't fans of the look. I personally just see past it and it doesn't bother me, I'm used to it from the GI Joe days. Perhaps though they could have gotten around using the crotch piece by giving him rubber trousers over thin articulated legs? An old company Art Asylum used to do this on their Star Trek figures and it worked really well.

As mentioned here's his second head below.

The inclusion of a chainsaw arm was a no brainer lets be honest.

Accessories: As always, here he is below with a can of Coke for scale. No he doesn't come with the can haha. As pictured he comes with a robotic arm, chainsaw arm, a shotgun and 2 x heads. It's a pretty good set for the price (approx £20 at the time). Obviously he doesn't come with as many accessories as the Ultimate version that NECA later released, but that set goes for around £10 more. The exclusion of a Necronomicon/Book of the dead is definitely a shame though (you don't get it in the 'ultimate' set either), there's no reason why Ash can't always come with one. Maybe they could have taken the opportunity to include different versions with different figures, e.g. an open version of the book etc.

Overall it's a wonderful figure. The series of Ash vs the Evil Dead figures they've released so far are great ,but after multiple Ashes and Deadites there's still no sign of a Pablo or Kelly figure? NECA stop sitting on your hands and get it done!

GAME OVER MAN!