For better and for worse, A Nightmare On Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors was the start of Freddy’s venture into MTV territory. No longer truly scary, but also more refined and polished. Regardless of how the later films fared, Dream Warriors was very much a blast to watch with Dokken’s “Dream Warriors” during the opening credits, the inventive kills, and of course, the one-liners by Freddy. NECA released two figures based on Freddy from Part 3 years back, and with those now long out of print, those who missed out have been given a second chance with this Ultimate Part 3 figure.

Packaging:

As with other figures in the line, the figure comes in a collector-friendly windowbox package, recreating the poster art for the film. The front flap opens to reveal the figure, along with the accessories. The back of the box features the film’s premise, accompanied with shots of the figure and accessories. It’s pretty standard stuff at this point for NECA, but it still rocks to see that Dream Warriors one sheet.

Sculpting/Paintwork:

Once again, top notch by the NECA crew for bringing Freddy to life in figure form. The crazy detailed sculptwork in Freddy’s flesh, the ribbed look of the sweater (and for the alternate look, the great detail in the “Chest of Souls”), wrinkles in the pants and shoes are done with amazing skill. I also love the syringe hands, which have the fingertips done in a translucent blue plastic instead of paint to really sell the look.

As with the sculptwork, the paint on the figure is awesome. There are some nice variations in Freddy’s flesh, as well as some metallic paint applied to his gloves that really sell the sculpt. Small details such as teeth are also painted with no bleeding, and the eyes are lined up correctly. Overall, the paintwork is nice and clean.

Articulation:

As with the other Ultimate figures, Freddy features over 25 points of articulation. The head is on a balljoint, which moves up and down, side to side and rotates left and right. The arms are on a pin-and-socket joint, and can move outward and up and down. Moving Freddy’s right arm to a full 90° can cause the sweater piece to pop out slightly, but that’s a minor thing. The elbows bend roughly 45°, and can rotate side to side. The hands are on a ball joint, and can rotate all the way around with no problem. Do be careful when switching out the left hands, as the syringe hand can be a little stubborn to pop onto the peg. And, given that the plastic used in the hand isn’t as flexible as the normal version, it does potentially pose a breaking problem. Keep that hair dryer handy.

The waist is on a ball joint, although you don’t get as much movement out of moving it back and forth as you would side to side, due to the stiffer plastic used for the swappable fronts. The legs are on a pin-and-socket joint, and can move up and down, rotate side to side and outward. The legs bend at the knee, and can rotate side to side. The feet are on a ball joint, and can rotate left and right, but not so much up and down or side to side.

Accessories:

The Ultimate version combines all of the accessories from the two original figures released, so you’re not missing out on anything. For starters, there’s Freddy’s signature fedora, which snugly fits on both heads. Speaking of which, there’s the alternate head with the burned-in cross. What’s cool is that NECA worked in some light-piping into the sculpt, so that when light hits the head in the right way, it looks as if the cross on Freddy’s forehead is glowing. Very cool.

The figure also features a swappable chest for the Chest of Souls. Instead of the regular torso piece, the front of the chest pops off, which then allows you to plug in the other chest. The plastic used for these pieces is a stiffer make than usual, and as such moving the arms can sometimes cause the piece to begin to pry off the pegs. It’s nothing big, though. Freddy’s alternate syringe hands are also included with this set. And again, because of the plastic used they are a little stiffer and can potentially be a breakage issue if you’re not careful. Using the hair dryer trick to soften the plastic to allow you to pop on the hands does help.

As for the other accessories, included is the unfinished model of the Elm Street house Kristen is seen working on in the film. It’s nicely replicated, and features some nice details in the sculpt (such as the popsicle sticks used in the boarding of the windows). Lastly included is the Freddy puppet (arguably one of the highlights of the film for me). This guy looks great for such a small figure, and features articulated arms that can move up and down, and his head swivels left and right. The problem is that the way he was packaged (at least for me) caused the legs to be fixed too close together. Even with the included minibase that plugs into his left foot, the puppet can’t stand on its own. Again, use a hair dryer or boiling water to reshape the legs.

Overall:

Definitely a great figure. While there’s nothing new included with this figure from before, the amazing sculpted details and painting make it a figure worth grabbing. For those that missed out on the original releases early on in the line, this is a welcome second chance to get a representation of Freddy from one of the more memorable entries in the series. For those who have those original figures, however, it might not be worth it to grab this one, even with the updated articulation in the legs and collector packaging.

Big thanks once again to Northmen Collectibles for making this figure available.