It’s a truly great time to be an Evil Dead fan, but for reasons that I’m going to save for next Tuesday’s Feature. Today, I’ll just say it’s a great time to be a NECA fan, because they give us figures based off of cult classic movies, which most toy companies wouldn’t touch. I could say it’s because they’re too niche, but over the decades, Evil Dead has obviously fought its way into the pop culture hall of fame. The moment I saw Ash here show up on NECA’s Ebay Store, I started chanting, “I’m gonna get you… I’m gonna get you…”

As always, NECA’s Ultimate figures come in beefy boxes illustrated with original movie poster or concept art. In this case, it’s that delightful skull with eyeballs that I associate with the original VHS tape that I had. I’m sure I’ve recounted my lifelong battle with insomnia here before. It started when I was a teenager and movies like this one often helped me get through those long and weary nights. It may sound odd, but it was like I could relate to the heroes in these horror flicks, as I too was trying to survive another night for the relief of dawn! Anyway, the box features an opening front flap and everything is collector friendly. There’s a ton of display options with this figure, so I’m just going to try to look at the accessories and extra parts by following Ashley throughout the course of the first half of the film or so.

Ash comes straight out of the box already messed up, and I mean that in a good way. Let’s face it, it doesn’t take long for the Deadite shit to hit the fan in Evil Dead 2, and Ash here already has plenty of it all over him. He comes donning his familiar blue button down shirt, now smeared with white demon goo and given a very nice sheen of paint to make it look drenched.

His pants and Timberlands are caked with mud and the stitching and texturing on the plastic fabric are amazingly realistic. They also did some particularly nice detail on the shredded left leg of his pants. No matter how many times I hold one of NECA’s figures, I’m always in awe of the love they put into every little detail. Just look at his boots. The laces and the treads are just fantastic. The body features what has become pretty standard articulation for this line, with rotating hinges in the shoulders, elbows, hips, knees, and ankles. The wrists are ball jointed, and you get ball joints in the waist and neck.

The portrait features Ash with the bewildered and horrified expression that he has for a good deal of the movie. At least before he decides he isn’t going to take it anymore and starts kicking some ass. He has the bloody forehead from the wound that I believe was sustained when he went through the windshield of his car and hit a tree. Then again, he has so much blood on him at any given time, it could be from anything. It’s a great likeness to young Bruce Campbell, and while it is a very specific expression, I’d say it works for a good deal of poses and display options.

Naturally, two of the most iconic props in the movie are included as accessories. Call it the Naturom Demonto, the Necronomicon Ex Mortis, or just the plain old Book of the Dead, it’s the book that started it all. While this little version is not bound in flesh and inked in blood, it comes straight from the Castle of Kandar and it’s a nice little reproduction for this scale. The other accessory here is Professor Knowby’s Panasonic tape recorder with the recording of the incantations. Recordings that you should never play, because then stuff like this happens…

“Hello, Lover!” Yes, you get poor Linda’s head. She didn’t stand a chance in this film, as Ash was forced to decapitate her with a shovel a little more than five minutes in! How many movies can top that? On the other hand, Linda had more screen time after she was dead, and became a whole lot more interesting. The… um, head sculpt here is really well done, with some especially fine detail work and paint evident in the teeth. The neck stump is also fully detailed.

Linda’s head is also present in the scene with one of the best/worst examples of ADR ever… “WORK SHED!” And yes, the work shed is the scene that introduces us to the iconic chainsaw, an accessory that is sadly absent from this box. But, I wouldn’t be surprised if something shows up next Tuesday to remedy that. Of course, at this point, Ash gives up the chainsaw anyway in favor of…

The shotgun! “Old double-barrel, huh? Blow your butts to kingdom come! See if we don’t!” Only to drop it rather quickly, because he has more pressing matters at hand. HA! 

Yes, next up, we have the possessed hand. Apparently all those bites from Linda didn’t do him any favors. The regular hand pops out at the wrist and you can pop in this one. “It went bad, so I had to lop it off at the wrist.” 

The severed hand arm is replaced at the elbow, similar to NECA’s T-800’s damaged arm and features Ash’s stump wrapped in a dish rag and duct tape. This is a great looking piece, and it’ll likely be the way I display the figure most of the time.

You also get a second possessed hand. Overturned bucket and copy of A Farewell to Arms, not included!

Now, if I were to axe you what other accessories you want, what would you say? You in the back who said chainsaw… get the f’ck out. We already addressed that issue. No, it’s the hatchet and it’s covered in green Deadite goo.

And last, but certainly not least, the set includes a second portrait for possessed Deadite Ash, and holy hell is it a great piece of work. In terms of overall detail and paintwork, I think it beats the regular portrait. Damn, I’m really tempted to pick up a second one of these figures now so that I can display both heads.

Wow, this is a fun figure and certainly worthy of the “Ultimate” moniker. I know that quite a few people were pissed off that the chainsaw wasn’t included and I seem to recall Randy took a bit of heat about it on Twitter. In a perfect world, I would have loved to see it in there, but let’s face it, this isn’t the only Ash we’re going to be getting so there’s plenty of opportunities to get that particular accessory into the collection. One thing I’ve learned is that NECA is really good about planning these things out, and if one accessory had to be jettisoned to include some others, it meant that there was a plan for it later down the road. I’m fine with that, because I love everything we got in this box, and there’s nothing I would want to give up. And as I’ve hinted a couple of times, next Tuesday, I’m coming back with a look at my first pair of figures from the Ash Vs. Evil Dead series.