When Tim Burton created The Nightmare Before Christmas while working for Disney I don’t think the powers that be had any idea what kind of a gift he had just given them. Obviously they didn’t since they didn’t even believe enough in the film to release it as a Disney film instead opting to put it on the company’s Touchstone brand. In creating what is now a beloved film, Burton gifted Disney something it values more than art itself: merchandizing. In particular, a product that could be sold and tied into the two most commercialized holidays on the planet: Halloween and Christmas. It’s a film that stars Halloween characters creating their own Christmas special. Or, to perhaps put it simpler, it’s a Christmas movie with a Halloween aesthetic.
With the Halloween season upon us it felt like a good time to take a look at a figure that I’ve had in my possession for a little while now: NECA’s Ultimate Jack Skellington. NECA released action figures based on The Nightmare Before Christmas many years back, but in 2024 the company decided to return to the franchise with some all new sculpts. There isn’t much shortage for merch based on the film these days, but NECA felt like it had something to say where the characters are concerned. Those old toys were okay for their time, but could use an update. Super7, Diamond Select, Beast Kingdom, and more have all tried to put their stamp on the franchise as well in recent years to varying degrees of success and failure. NECA, always being more of a horror brand when not making Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, must have felt like it could top them all and they may have done just that.
Jack Skellington was one of four figures released by NECA at the end of 2024. Missing Halloween, but arriving in time for Christmas was Jack, Sally, the mayor, and a Santa variant of Jack. I had planned on reviewing at least some of those figures for Christmas last year, but I never had an opportunity to buy this particular figure during that window. And that’s fine, because as a standard Jack this is firmly in the Halloween part of the film and a better figure for this very moment.
Jack comes in the standard Ultimates style box with artwork on the front and photography on the sides and back. There’s no credit for the artwork so I assume it’s from Disney. It certainly looks nice if you’re an in-box collector, but I am not. Once Jack is removed from the box he’ll stand around 8.25″ to the top of his head. He’s composed entirely of plastic with no soft goods at all. The plastic is also fairly rigid including the tails on his coat and his bow tie. The proportions look spot-on to the source material with incredibly thin, long, limbs. The body looks like it’s all black plastic with white lines painted onto it for his tuxedo. There’s an intentional wiggle to those lines reflecting the look in the film and I almost wish I had two figures to compare each other to see if there’s a random element to the shape of the lines or if this is taken from the film. The application isn’t perfect. There’s some messy paint on the right thigh of my figure that I lament not noticing at the store when I picked this guy up as I had a few to choose from. The backside of the coat tails also aren’t painted, or if they are it’s a touch glossy and I wish it were matte. The white of the hands and the chest are clean as is the head.
And speaking of, that head is magnificent. They all are, actually. NECA really captured the look of Jack with each and every portrait in this box and it’s what sells the figure. By default, we have a smiling Jack portrait but there’s also a mischievous grin, an open mouthed smile, angry smile, a look of wonderment, an “Ooo” mouth, a scared portrait, and a howling one. That’s eight total portraits, if you weren’t counting, and you practically have enough to do your own stop-motion with this figure. There’s also four sets of hands to add to the expressive nature of the figure and they are relaxed, pointing, gripping, and I guess what I’d consider clawing. He doesn’t have a tight gripping hand, but aside from that I can’t think of anything that’s really missing. Some of the heads are better than others when it comes to paint, but mostly to how the head was extracted from the mold. My howling head has a blemish by the left eye and a couple of them have little divots in the top of the skull. They should hopefully be visible in the pictures.
We have a few other accessories to talk about including the best, little, ghost dog around: Zero. He’s sculpted in this milky, translucent, plastic with a nicely painted jack-o-lantern nose. His head rotates, but that’s all for articulation. He does come with a transparent ball-socket stand that gets the top of his head about 3.5″ off the surface if you’re keeping him parallel with the ground. You can tilt and move him about on the stand and it’s a solid way to pull off Zero. I wish the plastic had more of a blueish hue to it instead of a yellowish one, but I’m happy we got a Zero with Jack. The other accessories include a pair of jack-o-lanterns, the jack-o-lantern jack-in-the-box (that’s a lot of hyphens), and the framed picture of Jack holding yet another jack-o-lantern (he is the Pumpkin King, after all). Lastly, there’s a clear, oval, stand for Jack that works only so well. It has two pegs on it, but I’ve found if I actually use both pegs that Jack will fall over eventually. The jack-o-lanterns help here because they have some weight to them so you can plop on the stand to help stabilize things. I think it works best to only use one foot peg on the stand and turn it so it’s pointing out from Jack for a little more coverage that way, though given the proportions and tiny feet in play here, this is a figure that’s never going to be 100% secure on your shelf. He really needs more of a doll stand to grab him at the waist. Just be mindful with where you leave this guy on a shelf.
Articulation for Jack is basic, but also pretty substantial given what’s here. He has a simple ball joint at the head and another at the base of the neck. Since there’s really nothing to get in the way, Jack can look up and down pretty well even with the neck joint having minimal range. From there, we get ball-hinge shoulders, hinged elbows, hinged wrists that swivel, ball-jointed diaphragm, ball-socket hips, hinged knees, hinged ankles, and ankle rockers. Even though the knees and elbows are single hinges, they bend well past 90 degrees because there’s just nothing to impede them. You can swivel at both points as well, but the pins are tiny and I can’t say I like the feel there. The diaphragm joint rotates pretty well, but doesn’t move forward and back much. The hips will let Jack do splits while the angle of the pelvis won’t let him kick out straight, but the leg will go off to the side and pretty high. He’ll pretty much do what you need him to do, but there’s no getting around that his limbs are all very thin and slender. There’s a fear element to working some of these joints out of the box. Bending the knees the first time was one of those moments where I just had to take a deep breath and see how it goes. Everything has been fine so I’m not saying there’s any issues with the durability or quality control, but the design of the character is going to lead to at least the perception that this is a fragile figure. And I don’t think there’s any getting around that, but from what I’ve experienced the figure is structurally sound.
If you have ever wanted an action figure of Jack Skellington then I think you’ll be very happy with this NECA figure. NECA captured the look and personality of the character to near perfection. If it can be helped, I just recommend finding him in store where you can cherry pick the best paint job available and mind those lines. I was caught up in making sure the heads looked as pristine as possible and didn’t even look at the legs, not that I should have to, but I wish I had. Otherwise, I love the look of this one and he looks like a puppet from the film. You could probably substitute this figure into a shot of the movie without anyone noticing. Getting Zero included is a great perk while the other accessories help for a festive, Halloween, display. And if you want to leave him up all the way through Christmas then you’re more than welcome to, though NECA also has a solution there as well.
If you liked reading about this Jack Skellington then here’s some more seasonal fare that may interest you:
12 Films of Christmas #8: The Nightmare Before Christmas
Is it a Christmas movie? Is it a Halloween movie? Can a film be both? That seems to be the big question surrounding Tim Burton’s multi-holiday classic The Nightmare Before Christmas. Released on Disney’s Touchstone label (because the company was too scared to be directly associated with the film at first) around Halloween 1993, The…
Keep reading
Funko Pop! Halloween Huey, Dewey, and Louie
There’s a scourge taking over our local record stores, clothing outlets, and gaming boutiques. It comes in mass quantities dominating its chosen territory at the expense of other merch. It swears no allegiance to anyone and will even place mortal enemies side by side as it amasses an army of licensed property of yesterday and…
Keep reading
Dec. 12 – Teen Titans Go! – “Halloween vs. Christmas”
It’s a battle for the hearts of children around the world! What is the superior holiday: Halloween or Christmas? Today’s entrant is founded on the premise that Halloween is the only holiday to rival Christmas as far as what children look forward to most. This feels more or less on point as a kid…
Keep reading
The Nostalgia Spot 
Leave a comment