OAFE – Blog

Well, we've just crossed a threshold! Regular Advent calendars run from December 1st to the 24th, meaning yesterday would have been the last day. And yet, here we are on the 25th, with a figure that's still thematically appropriate: Santa Stripe. Based on an advertisement that ran in newspapers back in the day, this new mold sees a Gremlin wearing a red suit and hat. We can tell it's Stripe because a bit of his lingering hair peeks out from beneath the back of the cap. What a fun nod to the traditional "countdown calendar" season! The hands and feet are a glossier green than the head, but having the bright coat separating them makes that less noticable.

Clearly Jakks knew that some people would be using this like a normal December advent calendar, because today's toy is Santa Gizmo. Same mogwai body as usual, but this time the head is molded with a floppy red Santa hat on top. Actually... only now do I begin to question my assumption; is the head a separate piece glued on a shared body? If it is, the seam between the two is very tight, almost as if it had been molded as a single piece. Could very well be! Most sculpting is done digitally these days anyway, so the body could still be identical between all of them.

Dang, it took 13 days for Daffy to go from his mogwai form to a grown-up Gremlin? He really is the most unpredictable one around, isn't he! His bright green body gets dark spots by the elbows, matching the few on his ears. The ears curve forward, and his little flap of "hair" droops over to one side. He's still got the wild eyes, and a silly smile.

Another plain green Gremlin, with a big white smile and red eyes. This one has a few brown spots painted on the upper edges of the ears and on the back of the forearms. It makes him look just a bit different from the rest, adding some variety.

Oh-ho-ho-wow, something not even NECA has done! This is a Gremlin skeleton, from the scene where one ready-to-rampage Gremlin opts to take a souvenir photograph of his buddy, whose flesh is instantly fried away by the camera's flash. This mold is a new one, because nothing about the existing body looked like bones. There are no ears on the head, because ears aren't bones, and there's even a little furrow between the forearm bones. He's got a distinct rib cage, spine, and pelvis, and even tiny kneecaps. The inside parts of the skull - eye sockets, nose, mouth - get orange paint to make them stand out.

Adult Mohawk gets the darker green body, and still has a light yellow stomach. His ears are gigantic, sticking out way wider than his arms, and they're painted with little stripes along the lower edge. He's got his extra-pointy "beard" coming down off his chin, and his namesake mohawk of spikes is painted bright red. He does look quite intimidating, even at this little size!

Hey, look at that! It's our old favorite, the Electric Gremlin! Either Jakks used the same specific frame of animation NECA used, or they based this on NECA's toy. It's even got the same kind of base holding it up. The major difference is that here it's molded in light blue, rather than translucent blue. The eyes and mouth are painted even lighter. The layers of the sculpt are just thick enough to create shapes, while not making the living lightning look too thick.