Michael Myers & Dr. Loomis

While Sheriff Brackett and Dr. Loomis hunt for Michael Myers, a traumatized Laurie is rushed to hospital, and the serial killer is not far behind her. Back in 2004, NECA made a Halloween two-pack of Michael Myers and Dr. Loomis. The company has come a long way since then, in terms of sculpt, painting, articulation and manufacuring; and now, 18 years later, we finally get an update! Minus the "front porch of the Myers house" diorama, sadly. You've gotta pick your financial battles, after all. Technically this set is based on Halloween II, which allows NECA to reuse the Michael Myers molds they developed for the 2019 release. What sets this apart from a Halloween 1 design? A couple bullet holes in the front of his jumpsuit, that's all. Horror nerds could probably tell you that the right breast pocket is held on by 43 stitches instead of 37 stitches like on the first movie's costume, but to us? Big blue coveralls are big blue coveralls. No difference. Having never seen Halloween II, Mike's accessories don't really mean anything to me. Why is there blood coming out of the eyes on the alternate head? I don't know, I just know it's an iconic look from the movie. The sculpt is the same as the normal head, it just has the blood. The 2019 toy had a third head, featuring blond hair (because Michael has feeling flirty that day, I assume?), but that one's not included here, meaning fans who bought the old version still have something special. The hair on the back of his head mask is lighter than the rest for some reason, and there's a red dot on his neck where he got stabbed by a knitting needle in the first movie. Nice attention to detail! A Michael Myers has to have some weapons, because how else will he kill indiscriminately? This set includes the kitchen knife he steals from Mrs. Elrod in the beginning of the movie, the hammer he killed the hospital security guard with, the syringe he used on Nurse Janet, and a scalpel that was his main weapon of choice for most of the film (and was apparently strong enough to lift Nurse Jill at least a foot and a half straight up off the ground). Also alternate hands to hold all those things. Each of the hands is shaped to hold one specific item - the "hammer" hand is open just slightly wider than the "knife" hand, etc. - but the hand for the syringe is a left hand, when you know he only attacks one person with the syringe and he does it with his right hand. One thing I definitely didn't know about the movie was that it was set in the X-Men universe, and that Michael apparently gets the Phoenix Force at some point. Mutant powers would certainly how he survives everything he survives. Anyway, the set includes five flame pieces to cover the figure: one for the body, one for the face, two for the thighs, and one for the right elbow(?). At some point surely people will stop trying to set Michael Myers on fire, because even fulled engulfed, it never works. He's always perfectly fine moments later. It's because he was born in 1957 and asbestos was all over the place back then. You grow up with lead paint and leaded gasoline, your brain is stunted enough to vote Republican; you grow up with asbestos in your walls and your blankets, you breathe weird but can't be set on fire. It's a trade-off. Fans have been asking NECA for an updated Samuel Loomis for years, but various rights issues kept that from happening - both related to the movie as a whole, and to the actor's likeness. But if there's one thing NECA's known for behind the scenes, it's their ability to do things that are supposed to be undoable. The first indication they'd finally cracked it was the January 2020 announcement of a Mego-knockoff two-pack of Loomis and Laurie Strode, and now we've got a real action figure. Despite (or perhaps because of) Michael's inhuman durability, this small-town psychiatrist is the only one who ever really manages to handle him - possibly because he's known him since he was six years old, possibly because he's the only character Michael attacks non-lethally (and whether that is because Michael respects/care for him or is taunting him is up for debate). That means he has to spend most of the movie running around looking for Michael, only finding him near the end and coming in to be the big damn hero. Since Michael Myers wears a dark jumpsuit, his nemesis wears lighter colors, favoring a brown suit and beige overcoat. This set includes an alternate pair of arms for Dr. Loomis, giving you the option of displaying him with or without the coat. The suit jacket is not intended to be removed, but if you do, you'll see that his "shirt" is actually just the small section visible between the lapels of the jacket, like a dickie slipped over an otherwise-smooth torso. The jacket is open just far enough at the bottom to give a glimpse of his stomach, but it's small enough that you won't notice it's unsculpted. We know that eldritch warlock Trevor Grove did the sculpt for the retro 8" clothed Loomis, and his name appears in the credits on this packaging as well. NECA's announcement for this set said that both figures "feature digital facial printing for extra accuracy," but Loomis still has a hand-painted look. I was going to say that you could use this figure to create a custom Back to the Future Principal Strickland, but I just this second learned that he was played by James Tolkan, not Donald Pleasence. Who knew! Not me, that's for sure. Like any good psychiatrist, Dr. Loomis's accessories include two pistols. They look nearly identical, but one is the Smith & Wesson Model 15 he always carried, and one is the Colt Trooper he snatched off the US marshal the governor sent to bring him back to Smith's Grove. Which one is which? I cannot tell you, because they look the same to me. [The Model 15 has a more angular sight at the front, while the Colt's is more squared off --ed.] He also gets an alternate hand with a lighter, because it wasn't weird in 1981 for characters in a movie to smoke. Maybe not the safest idea in a room filled with ether fumes, though. Finally, since the Halloween movie series is 95% funded by the American Jack O'Lantern Council, the set includes a jack o'lantern. The 2019 Michael came with the one from the opening credits, which looks normal until it splits opento reveal a skull inside; this set comes with the one from the movie poster, which is a normal pumpkin blended into a skull in the front. Shame we couldn't get both at once. A pumpkin bonanza! Halloween II was not directed by John Carpenter, so it's not as well-crafted as the first one; it's certainly better than all those mid-years sequels, but that's not saying a lot. The first Halloween didn't create the slasher genre or the "final girl" trope, but it definitely codified them and brought them into the mainstream, and its success inspired a boom in poor imitators; Halloween II feels like it's chasing those imitators instead of forging its own path. There was more intense gore, more gratitous nudity, and generally a more slapdash feeling. On the other hand, we got the reason for Michael's vendetta against Laurie Strode, and Dr. Loomis being a badass, so maybe it was worth it? It's certainly aged better than everything it was up against. And this set is better than the 2004 one... with the exception of not including a porch for them to fight on. -- 07/24/22

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