Six-Shooter / Jester (Puppet Master (Neca)) Review

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Six-Shooter / Jester (Puppet Master (Neca)) Review

Six-Shooter / Jester
Puppet Master (Neca) (Neca)It's been a few years already since NECA put out their first Puppet Master figures. The two-packs they did, one with Blade and Torch and the other with Tunneler and Pinhead, were very well-made with specific accessories, but they just stopped after that. The drought seems to have ended now with two much-needed characters: Jester, who I assume is the puppets "leader," and Six-Shooter, who debuted in the third movie.

Starting with the one who came first, Jester is a rather devious-looking fellow, ready to find another victim. There's three sculpted lines running around the head, replicating how the parts of his head spun around to change his expression in the film. That feature was supposed to be here, but it got omitted; I guess it would've been too hard to implement given his small size. You still get two extra heads, one with mouth agape and another looking rather worried. The paint's mostly good, but the hair on all three portraits suffers from uneven edges that don't match up with the sculpted hairline.

Of course, Jester's wearing the usual jester get-up, and his hat is a separate piece that just rests on the heads. It's a little tricky to fit on properly, and NECA should really look into using magnets. The outfit matches the movies well, with a great pattern used for the sleeves. The wash on the top brings out the look a bit, and I like the golden finish on the boots, but the paint on the joints chips off easily. Without the hat, Jester stands about 3 7/8" tall, putting him in pretty proper scale with NECA's taller figures.

Then there's Six-Shooter, another sinister face. His big grin, complete with gold tooth, is certain to strike fear into others. I like how he looks more than Jester, due to the less pale skin and realistic wrinkles in the face. His hairline is cleaner, but there's some paint rub-off from the hat onto the forehead, though said hat fits on his scalp better than Jester's. The bandana rests around his neck, but can be lifted up to cover his mouth.

Six-Shooter is taller than the other puppets at 4 3/4" without the hat, the reason being that he has six arms. I guess Toulon thought the only way he could manage that is to give him an unusually long torso. He's got the "western outlaw" look down pat, complete with vest, gun holsters, and little spurs on his boots. Jason Frailey sculpted both figures, and he did a great job replicating the original puppets into this smaller, plastic form. Six-Shooter's outfit has clean paint for the most part, the knee joints don't seem to have paint, being black as opposed to blue.

The articulation on the pair is both plentiful and useful, allowing for plenty of poses. The barbell neck and waist on both have a good amount of tilt, and Six-Shooter adds a rolling joint for his chest. There are swivel/hinge shoulders, elbows, and wrists, with Jester having double-jointed elbows for deeper bend. Six-Shooter doesn't have those, but with six arms, there's still a lot he can do. A few of the hands are vertically-hinged, so they can work better with the accessories. There's also ball-jointed hips, with some twist up at the sockets, alongside swivel/hinge knees and ankles, with Jester getting extra swivels at his boots. It can be a little tricky to keep them standing due to the small feet, and the lack of peg holes don't help. Most of the joints moved fine, and the heads and hands swapped with a bit of force, but one of Six-Shooter's hands doesn't want to hinge.

A nice selection of accessories is included for plenty of deadly fun. Aside from three different heads, Jester has two pairs of hands, designed to work with the various weapons. He can wield a spiky marotte, a meat tenderizer, and a scalpel, and they fit just fine in the proper hands. As for Six-Shooter, he comes with six little, well, six-shooters, for him to fire off, and a ton of hands. Three pairs each are included for open, gripping, and gun grip hands, and having all these hands is a smart move. This allows him to hold all six guns at once, and the inclusion of basic grips lets him hold other weapons.

It's been a long while since we got any NECA Puppet Master figures, but these are worth the wait, thanks to accurate sculpts and tons of extras. The paint could be a little nicer, but that's my only real complaint. We still need Leech Woman to round out the original six, and some Totems along with Decapitron would be great as well. Hope we don't have to wait two more years for those.

- 4/6/24