With the upcoming Ash vs. Evil Dead TV series (Starz) set to premiere tonight for Halloween I thought it would be fun to take a look at all the creature and monster figures available over the years from that world. So if you don't know Ash is our chainsaw-handed hero who fights the evil that is thrust into our world.
The Evil Dead universe all started with a short filmed written and directed by Sam Raimi and starring none other than Bruce Campbell. That short film was called Within the Woods (1978), which then helped lead us to the first in the trilogy of movies called Evil Dead. The plot of the first Evil Dead movie is a group of friends travel to a cabin in the woods where they unknowingly release monsters and demons that possess your flesh and body.
This bring us to our monster figures from throughout the series of movies. NECA decided to release figures in conjunction with the 25th Anniversary of the Evil Dead 2 film. Deadite Ash was released by NECA back in 2012. It stands 7" tall and features over 20 points of articulation and also includes a tape deck, the Necronomicon book, and Linda’s severed head accessories.
Our next figure from the anniversary NECA release is a set featuring Hero Ash, standing 7" tall, also with over 20 points of articulation. It comes with the deer head accessory, his boomstick and of course, his chainsaw arm. Deadite Henrietta who was played by Sam Raimi’s younger brother Ted in the film, is Ash’s most memorable foe after Evil Ash, and still one of the most disgusting monsters ever to be seen on film. Every gross old lady cliche in the book is put it into the suit, and the figure exudes all of this. Jason Frailey who did the sculpt on this did a superb job. Henrietta's horribly grotesque face is a stand out in what is overall a perfectly sinister figure. Articulation is amazing, paint makes this figures skin stand out and makes ours crawl. She comes with a horribly beautiful second interchangeable head (which is bendable), a stand which plugs into her back (and is hidden by torn clothing) which makes it look like Henrietta is hovering in the air. NECA also decided to go with real hair on her alternate head which works great.
Moving right along we come to the third movie in the series called Army of Darkness. In this film Ash is transported back in time to 1400 A.D., where he must fight an army of Deadite soldiers led by an evil version of himself, and retrieve the Necronomicon (The Book of the Dead) to return home. The first monster he comes across is the Pit Witch.
The Spawn.com (McFarlane Toys) line released a Musicland exclusive feature film figure 2-pack set. The Ash figure comes with his trusty boomstick and chainsaw hand accessories, while the Pit Witch figure features real chains and a removable hand. I love the look of the Pit Witch, although not as impressive as NECA's Henrietta sculpt or paint. Pit Witch comes with some articulation, paint is nice and you get nice rendering of what appeared in the movie. There was also a cool double pack exclusive set that included Army of Darkness Ash vs Evil Ash (above).
Palisades Toys (before going out of business in 2006) produced two series of 4″ scale Army of Darkness figures, these figures were available in the fall of 2005. The first series of figures were released as two packs while the second series had blind packaging (which we now refer to as blind box) so you never knew which figure you were buying (the packages even had a chase figure). Each set of figures has perfect paint and sculpting, and also included many accessories from their film counter parts.
Here is a list of all figures released by Palisades Toys:
-Duke -Pit Deadite -Deadite Infantry -Red Knight -Deadite Archer -Deadite Captain -Evil Ash -Winged Deadite -Red Knight Infantry -Pit Battle Ash (with chainsaw) -Blue Knight Infantry -Chase Figure S-Mart Ash
I believe Palisades was one of the only companies to date to release a winged Deadite which to me is an impressive feat, because it's lovely.
Evil Dead II figure (soon)
Sideshow Toys released Ash and Evil Ash figures a few years back. Both of which are 12" figures and come with real clothing as well as a stand. They also have pretty amazing articulation which is as follows:
-neck/shoulders (ball jointed) -bicep twists -elbows (double-jointed) -forearm twists -wrists -chest,waist,hips (ball jointed) -thigh twists -knees (double-jointed) -lower-leg twists -ankles
Since Evil Ash has an identical body to Ash let's focus on his difference. He has a grizzly face with exposed teeth, A bone skull helmet which covers his black clumps of hair, rib cage bone armor, shoulder and elbow pad armor over top of his blue shirt. Both of Evil Ash's hands are exposed bone. He has a torn up red cloak and his outfit is full of stitches where it had been sewn back together, after a nasty chainsaw incident. His one main accessory is a blood soaked sword. Evil Ash Is painted with great care and is everything his first name says.
Next up is the MezcoToyz Mez-itz line which released a three pack of figures from Army of Darkness, it included Ash, Evil Ash, and Pit Witch. Each one of the these figures had eight points of articulation and very top notch head sculpts. The paint on these figures were decent, but not perfect. Each figure comes with a base with two skulls and a cardboard background. The character's accessories are as follows:
Ash: Chainsaw, Metal Hand, Shotgun
Evil Ash: Bloody Sword
Pit Witch: Book of The Dead
This was a cool little set from Mezco, but not a must have like many others. Funko joined the Evil Dead world by releasing it's own lovable Pop! versions of Ash, and a Deadite soldier from the Army of Darkness movie. The deadite soldier is a cute skeleton figure with a helmet, shield and weapon. The clothes that are left on his body are torn to pieces, there was also a glow in the dark version of our sweet little Deadite.
The Ash vs. Evil Dead TV series is right on our doorstep, so who or what might we see our reluctant hero take on? I for one would love to see more distinct villains, like Henrietta or Evil Ash. Both have great presence and both have great action figures. Maybe Ash may end up fighting some classic Universal Monsters (if they can get the rights). Who knows? All I know is with a second season already announced, we will definitely see some groovy battles, baby.
Make sure to press Like on Facebook. Happy Halloween and later, eh!