Chucky

Around the time of the surprisingly solid reboot of the Child's Play series, in came NECA with their Ultimate Chuck! "Hi, I'm Chucky! Wanna play?" Gunned down by Detective Mike Norris, dying murderer Charles Lee Ray uses black magic to put his soul inside a doll named Chucky - which Karen Barclay then buys for her young son, Andy. When Chucky kills Andy's babysitter, the boy realizes the doll is alive and tries to warn people, but he's institutionalized. Now Karen must convince the detective of the murderous doll's intentions, before Andy becomes Chucky's next victim. There have been numerous Child's Play toys over the years with the little plastic slasher in action figure form, including at least one by NECA themselves, but this is the first Chuck actually in rough scale with other action figures. Yes, the original Good Guy Doll was just under three feet in height, which is just under 4" in NECA's usual scale, making this the first Chucky from any company who can fight with your Jasons, Freddys, Leatherfaces and Michael Myerses! (Before this, he was always in his own standalone scale, kind of like NECA's also-great Gremlins.) The first clue that this is something special is the spectacular little packaging that conceals the Chuck: adorned entirely in yellow and Good Guys illustrations, the packaging for the Ultimate Chucky is a unique spin on the "Ultimate" packaging, referencing the packaging from the original films (inspired, just like the Chucky doll itself, by Hasbro's 1985 "My Buddy," a bold [and successful] attempt to market a doll to boys). We frequently see Good Guy boxes in Child's Play and the sequel, and it's enchanting to see it here brought over to the action figure, which is sure to please Mint in Box collectors. Opening him up, this is instantly the best Chucky action figure ever made. He's dressed in his adorable little suspenders, perfectly detailed with the many different colors over his outfit and his tiny red-and-white shoes. The little stitches are especially impressive, as are the little decos across his suspenders. Because Chucky's visage changes across the films, we get multiple heads here so that you can have Your Friend 'Til The End with the face sculpt you want: The original smiling Good Guy doll head, from both before the doll is possessed by a serial killer and after, when Chucky hides his true nature from everyone (leading to one of the best scenes in the franchise, where Andy's Mom realizes that the doll is talking and operating without its batteries!) A sneering, horrifying Chucky face, teeth exposed in a grimace with horrifying murder-eyes. This is the "default" Chucky face, not too different from the face on the poster of Child's Play 2 and 3. A Two-Face style open-mouth grinning face, depicting Chucky from Child's Play 3, after part of his head is torn off, exposing the human-like muscle and viscera underneath (by this point Charles Lee Ray has spent too long in the doll body, so it's becoming "human") A stitched-together face from Bride of Chucky, after Tiffany steals the torn-to-pieces doll from the police lock up and reanimates it using voodoo. The stitches in his face are very impressive, an excellent and unique look for the character that continued into Seed of Chucky. For such a small figure, Chucky has equally impressive articulation, with balljoints at the neck, wrists, waist, and ankles, then swivel/hinges at the shoulders, elbows, hips, and knees, plus swivel thighs. There's so much movement and poseability to this little guy, and he has plenty of accessories to go with it. Count them out: The original Voodoo Knife, as seen in the original movies and on the original movie poster A switchblade from the Doll Factory finale of Child's Play 2, which was then wedged into... The bloodied stump that was Chucky's hand, now a bladed-weapon after he forced the switchblade into it during the big Child's Play 2 finale, interchangeable with his hand A baseball bat Chucky beat both Andy with in Child's Play and later Officer Mike in the finale A butcher's knife from a kitchen block, seen multiple times across the series A more generic hunting knife, the likes of which are also seen multiple times across the series A small pistol, which Karen shot Chucky with in Child's Play and recurred throughout the series A razor blade, with which barber Botnick attempts to shave Chucky with in Child's Play 3 only to have his own throat slit A yardstick, used to beat Ms. Kettlewell in Child's Play 2 after she locks Andy in the classroom and tosses the doll into the closet A "Good Guy" hammer, one of the accessories that came with the original Good Guy dolls and used to knock Maggie out the window in Child's Play An impressive 10, count them, 10 weapons for Chuck to use! But that isn't all! Following on from the excellent packaging, each Ultimate Chucky also features his own cardboard Good Guy doll box, where you can store Chucky just like he was on the shelf, even with a little clear window to look in at the doll! This is icing on the already-incredible cake. Ultimate Chucky is an amazing little action figure and one of the best in the already-impressive Ultimates line. We've already seen a follow-up to this amazing toy, a set of Chucky and Tiffany based on their Bride of Chucky appearance - maybe with the success of the new film, we'll see a Buddi doll as well, so that the original Charles Lee Ray can face off with the new Mark Hamill voiced Chucky? -- 09/11/19

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