Bio-Exorcist Beetlejuice

When the new Beetlejuice movie opened, McFarlane Toys announced a Movie Maniacs version in his iconic striped suit, Mezco announced a One:12 Collective version in his iconic striped suit, Bandai announced an SH Figuarts version in his iconic striped suit, and NECA announced... this. Need to scare the living away from your comfy haunt? Just say "Betelgeuse" three times and you'll summon the afterlife's leading bio-exorcist! No, don't say "bettel gweeze," say "Beetlejuice." I remember, back in the days when we were all trying to get The Ghost With the Most into McFarlane Toys' Movie Maniacs line, there were a handful of fans who insisted on spelling it "Betelgeuse," like idiots. That's the same type of performative pretension that makes dumdums insist David Fincher directed a movie called "Se-Seven-En." Nitwits. You know that joke about how "you weren't weird for liking anime, you were weird for trying to do their special attacks during recess"? This is that, but for grown-ass film nerds instead of baby weeaboos. If you've ever wondered, Beetlejuice the character gets his name from Betelgeurse the star, presumably for no reason other than it has a strange name that's silly to say. "Beetle juice." Tee-hee-hee! It's not like the character has any particular connection to astronomy or mythology or even Arabic culture. (The constellation known as Orion was, to the ancient Arabic world, al-Jauza, "the Central Woman"; the red star that makes Orion's right shoulder was Yad al-Jauza, "the hand of al-Jauza," but the letter ya looks very similar to the letter ba and so sometime in the 1200s a European translation error turned it into Ibt al-Jauza, "the armpit of al-Jauza"; since the Greeks never specifically named Betelgeuse (or Rigel), that's why we use the Arabic names even today.) NECA not immediately doing Beej's striped suit as an Ultimate makes sense: they can re-release their old toy right away, to get some more money out of those molds while also gauging interest; if it's there, they can do a "real" one later, and for now focus on things that are new. At least new-er: Kenner did make a toy of this look, as "Shish Kebab Beetlejuice," back when they had the license in 1989, but it's certainly been ignored since. This is Beetlejuice as he first (physically) appears, bursting out of his grave in the Maitlands' model. He's wearing a ratty trenchcoat over a red shirt with a black pattern, blue pants with two belts, and mismatched shoes: a sneaker on his right foot, and a dress shoe on his left. It was sculpted by Jason Frailey, who also did the original Cult Classics figure, and it all looks great! The coat appears to be decaying with age, and the fungus or whatever that is on Beetlejuice's skin is spreading maliciously. The hair is cast from translucent plastic, as a way of making it look slightly wispy. The figure includes multiple heads: one wearing the Tour Guide cap he had one when he first came out of the ground (or at least out of the plywood, cork, and rubber), and one bare, since he threw the hat away almost immediately. But even more than that, he has multiple faces. NECA's trying something new with this figure. Similar to what they did with some of the Gargoyles figures, they've given him swappable faceplates. Right out of the tray the bare head has a yelling face, the hat head has a crooked smile, and then there are extras that are both snarling, but look either happy or angry. All four can fit onto either head, so you really get your choice of how you want the toy to look! The 2 Beetle 2 Juice figures NECA's made so far don't have a similar feature, so it remains to be seen if, when they do finally backtrack and make some new toys for the original, those will share the design and really up the display options. It'd certainly be a way to encourage fans who already have the older molds to buy the costume again. It should not come as any surprise to you that an action figure released in 2025 has better articulation than one released in 2008. NECA's "Ultimate" figures have a predictable level of quality, and Beetlejuice meets it - like, the only real questions you need answered if you're familiar with the format are things like "does he have single elbows, or doubles" (single) and "does the coat get in the way of the legs" (a little, yes), but you already know you're going to get good, solid joints that provide a decent amount of poseability. The new faceplate idea does cause a minor issue, however: because the face needs to come off, the socket for the balljoint sits farther back in the head than usual, so from the side it looks like he's craning his neck forward at an odd angle. And then the hair means he can't tip his head back at all, only forward. Like we said, a minor problem, not one that can't be lived with. Amusingly, since Beetlejuice never wore this costume anywhere outside of the model in the attic, this figure is actually larger than a 1:1 version would be. Judging by the scene where Adam takes the spider off the model house, and comparing the size of the distal segment of the small finger (one inch) and the size of a door (seven feet), we get can estimate the model is somewhere between 1:84 and 1:112; since that range includes the popular HO scale (1:87.1) used for so many model trains and whatnot, we can assume that's what Adam was working in, and so an accurate size for this Beetlejuice to be would be a little over ¾" tall - roughly the size of Baby Sinclair's Cookie Creature, and thus small enough that they could have made a "real life" Beetlejuice as an accessory! Sadly, they did not. The figure gets six hands: a wide-open "flying through the air" pair, a relaxed left hand, and right hands that are either cupping, pinching, or pointing. Beyond that his accessories include a lantern, the little rat he pulls out of his coat pocket and hands to Barbara, a pre-bent flier the size of an envelope (which fans often mistake for a business card, despite the size), and an issue of The Afterlife newspaper. The rat is the only one he uses in the graveyard; the others are from when we first see him, shadowed in his lair. And hey, speaking of graphic design: the front of the box is designed to look like the flier that falls out of the Maitlands' copy of the Handbook for the Recently Deceased, which is clever, but why is the backdrop behind the figure just a Neitherworld hallway and not the model? That's the only place he wears this costume, so it would make sense to show that. Could they not get a good enough still of his tombstone? While we do still look forward to an Ultimate pinstriped Beetlejuice from the first movie, getting something different than every other company is making is a welcome thing. Plus, it's cool to see NECA pushing their own standards forward with those extra faces. -- 07/20/25 "Beetlejuice" or "Betelgeuse"? Or "Beetle Juice"? Tell us on our message board, the Loafing Lounge.