Tag Archives: the fiend

September 24, 2025

Super7 The Misfits Vintage Style Action Figures

By Joe
We got ourselves a trio of misfits.

A few months ago, we took a look at a pair of Glenn Danzig action figures made by Super7. The figures depicted Glenn in his Samhain era and his early Danzig era. The figures were in the style of old Masters of the Universe action figures with only the smallest of revisions. Now, we’re back with The Misfits era of the same because you can’t have a Samhain and a Danzig Glenn without a Misfits version. And since Super7 has a longstanding working agreement in place with Jerry Only and his brand, we have a Jerry figure and also a bit of a Super7 original in the form of the band’s mascot The Fiend (aka The Crimson Ghost).

If you have the Danzig figures or read my review, then you know what to expect with these ones. The figures come on a blister card designed to mimic the MOTU cards they’re inspired by. The dimensions are even the same as the current MOTU Origins packaging. The cardback depicts an explosion of skulls on a neon green which is very Skeletor-like while the card bubble is in the shape of the Fiend’s visage. The rear features some artwork from the Die, Die My Darling single and a cross-sell that only includes these Misfits figures. It does not include the Danzig ones and I guess that’s because we’re dealing with two copyrights. The Danzig figures were licensed through Glenn’s evilive imprint while these are through the new entity, Misfits AD, referring to The Original Misfits which is shared by Jerry and Glenn. I thought maybe Jerry’s would just be through him, but I guess not. Both of their websites are referenced on the box. There was some weird hang-up with the Danzig figures from Super7 and I don’t know if it had anything to do with the legal stuff or if it was an approval thing. This Danzig, as well as the other two, were cancelled at one point while Jerry and the Fiend were not. Whatever the issue, it was resolved and they’re all here now.

“Let’s all laugh at his lack of accessories!”

We’ll start with the Glenn figure first which features the frontman in his skeleton shirt and sporting his devilock hairstyle. The torso is basically a blank body with the skeleton image printed on the front only with the back left bare. The head is the same head that came on the Samhain figure only now it lacks blood and the eyes are painted. The crotch piece is basically a blank with some slight creases sculpted in and it’s shared with Jerry and the Fiend. The legs are reused from the Samhain figure with the only difference being the boot buckles are painted silver on this one where as they were blank on the Samhain version. Glenn has no accessories, which is pretty weird and also pretty cheap. The other two each came with a microphone, and while it is kind of boring, this figure should have at least come with the same. They already tooled it, how much extra cost could that possibly add to the package? A quarter?

Eat your heart out, Skeletor!
They apparently scrapped the painted bones.

The Fiend is an interesting inclusion, but not unwelcomed. He features a unique, hooded, head and his skull face is painted white. It’s quite clean and I like the black and white approach to the figure. The torso is a blank done on black plastic while the legs are the same as Glenn’s only his buckles are left bare like the Samhain figure. Distinguishing him from the others is this wrap-around skeletal armor with the Fiend Club logo stamped on the front. It carries onto the back which is nice and it’s glued in so you can’t remove it without some hassle. Interestingly, all of the promo shots of the figure featured the skeletal-printed arms that Glenn has plus paint on the legs, but the final edition is bare. For accessories, The Fiend has some catcher’s equipment on his right forearm which is something Glenn used to wear as part of his stage getup. It is removable so if you want to swap it with Glenn you can. He also has his own take on Skeletor’s Havok staff only this one is topped with a jack-o-lantern that’s based on the Halloween single artwork. It’s black and white as well as it’s done on white with black, painted, features. The paint isn’t as clean, but in terms of accessories it feels appropriate.

Jerry is the most involved of the group from a sculpt and paint angle. He’s depicted in his current stage outfit which features a black, spiked, vest trimmed with red and The Fiend behind the collar. The paint is just okay on the vest as there’s some red on the back of the collar and some other slop in places. The profile looks pretty good and they got the little hit of red under the eyes mixed in with the black. Super7 was pretty kind to Jerry’s receding hairline and the devilock comes down over the nose and mouth. The arms and legs are both unique to Jerry as he has his big gauntlets and his unique boots which also have a relief of The Fiend sculpted on. Jerry does come with his bass which looks pretty good. The paint on the strings isn’t very clean, but the cyclops skull at the head of the neck looks okay. The strap is covered with spikes which are legitimately pointy. The outside is black while the inside is painted red. Jerry’s left hand is positioned so he can hold the neck while the right hand is flat like he’s slapping his bass. I don’t think he plays like that, but it’s fine. It’s a little tricky getting his hands over the strings so it’s probably easier to pose him with his right hand up like he’s getting ready to smack the hell out of that thing.

Removable armor.
Works with Glenn too.
They apparently had a higher budget.

There’s not much to say about articulation here. It’s very basic as we have a swivel at the head, shoulders, and waist. The hips are a ball-hinge, but since the legs are preposed they’re not particularly useful. As a trio, it’s a fun mix on the shelf, but sticklers for era may be annoyed. This is basically 80s Glenn and modern day Jerry which might bother some. It might have made more sense to base the figures off of a specific show in the 80s, maybe set during the Walk Among Us era, and then do another set based on the current version of The Misfits. It’s also a little disappointing that Doyle didn’t join in on the fun. He is his own, separate, license and I’m guessing Super7 tried, but he either wasn’t interested or they couldn’t come to an agreement. Maybe he still has regrets over those dolls they used to sell at Hot Topic? And it’s unfortunate that The Misfits never really had a permanent, iconic, drummer. I guess Robo is the most famous? It might have been fun to make The Fiend the drummer, but since we don’t have a guitarist I guess it doesn’t feel like a missing piece. Super7 likely doesn’t want to tool any drums anyway.

Left to right: $26, $30, $35
What you’re getting.

If you like these figures based on The Misfits then you should have no trouble finding them in various places. They’re basic, but there aren’t many sets of Misfits figures that include both Jerry and Glenn. The real drawback here is that these will set you back $30. That’s a ridiculous price for what you’re getting, these should be less than $20, but that’s also Super7 for you. There are a lot of Misfits collectors out there who will scoop these up and probably multiples to keep some carded, but even so, I can’t imagine they’ll sell out at $30. You’re probably better off waiting to see if anyone has to discount them. The Glenn one is a particularly bad value since he doesn’t even come with a single accessory. These are for the diehards only and that particular niche of Misfits fans who also like vintage toys. The rest need not apply.

The Misfits and Danzig are no stranger to toys:

Misfits Holiday Fiend Figure from NECA

2020 will be remembered for a lot of things, many of them not good. One non-negative aspect of 2020 that will be memorable for me was that it was the year I really got back into toy collecting. Most of that was courtesy of NECA toys and their various Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles lines. Those…

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by Joe

NECA Misfits Ultimate Fiend Action Figure

When Glenn Danzig and Jerry Only reached a settlement over who owned the rights to The Misfits in the mid 90s (resolution: they both did), it set off a wave of new merchandise plus a new version of the band. What had once been a logo found mostly at punk and metal shows, the visage…

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by Joe

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December 13, 2020

Misfits Holiday Fiend Figure from NECA

By Joe

2020 will be remembered for a lot of things, many of them not good. One non-negative aspect of 2020 that will be memorable for me was that it was the year I really got back into toy collecting. Most of that was courtesy of NECA toys and their various Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles lines. Those started hitting retail in 2019, but that year was largely a catch-up year as NECA rolled out figures to market that had previously been made available as convention exclusives, which I had purchased at the time. The first new to me figure release came in November of 2019 in the form of the cartoon Bebop and Rocksteady two-pack. Waves 3 and 4 hit in 2020 along with new releases in the movie line such as Casey Jones and Super Shredder. Super7 got in on the fun too launching its own line of TMNT products and I didn’t just stop with that brand. I also got figures from Hasbro, Bandai, and more as the lack of entertainment options and stay-at-home orders had me turning to toys to fill time.

Since 2020 ended up being a big year for toys on this blog, it seems only fitting to interrupt the annual Christmas Spot advent calendar (don’t worry, this doesn’t replace a normal entry) with a holiday themed toy review. In this case, it’s the Holiday Fiend action figure from NECA. The Fiend, also known as The Crimson Ghost or Misfits Ghost, is the mascot of the horror-punk band The Misfits. When it comes to Misfits fandom, there have been two camps for the past 25 years: the Glenn Danzig camp and the Jerry Only camp. Sometimes the fandoms have overlapped, but for the most part fans seem to pick sides. For me, I was always team Glenn. Nothing personal when it comes to Only, but I just never liked his version of The Misfits. The original band broke-up in 83, and it wasn’t until the mid-90s that Only and his brother Doyle tried to resurrect the band. After some litigation with their former frontman, it was decided the two individuals would share merchandising rights to The Misfits and that Only could continue the band without Danzig. Shockingly, The Misfits have now existed as a Jerry Only band far longer than it did with Glenn Danzig as the singer and songwriter of the group.

Santa Fiend has come to town!
He’s got a bag that’s filled with…something.

Since I wasn’t a fan of “The Newfits,” I tended to avoid the merch put out by that band. I did end up with a t-shirt here and there, but I tended to only buy stuff that Danzig put out. The same has been true of the various dolls and toys that have come out over the years, including the original release of this figure I’m about to talk about. The original NECA release of The Fiend is clearly an homage to the album cover of American Psycho, the big come-back record for Jerry’s version of The Misfits. Being that, I never had much interest in it. Throw in a dash of Christmas though and now you have my attention! I’ve managed to resist Christmas themed releases before with The Misfits. Only’s band even covered the holiday classic “You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch” and released it as a single with artwork basically depicting a mash-up of the classic character with the Misfits Fiend. I was able to resist though, and it was made easier by the fact that the cover was really not very good. I’ve caved this time though and it’s time to find out if that was worth it.

If you want to lessen the Santa look you can remove the hate, though why would you want to do that?

The Fiend comes in a window box package featuring some festive artwork on the front. Inside you get a good look at the contents of the box with some nice product shots on the back. The Fiend stands at about eight inches and is basically just a plain, black, action figure. And that’s because you’re never meant to see what’s under his robe, and I don’t think the source material has ever revealed what’s supposed to be there anyway. All that is visible are the face and hands, which are skeletal in nature, but also have always embodied the look of the serial from which the character originated. That means that rather than just being an actual skeleton, the being is clearly wearing black gloves with printed bones and the head is wearing a mask. The new, festive, robe is meant to be the defining characteristic and it’s a plush, red, piece of fabric that looks rather lovely draped over this handsome boy. The ends of the sleeves and the hem of which have been embroidered with white to give the figure a very Santa Claus look. And he even has the hat to complete the ensemble. The robe isn’t mean to be removed, but I’m sure you could if you wished. The hat is and it sits over the normal hood The Fiend features. A plush, green, sack is also included to create a Santa Fiend look and one is left to ponder what this creature would bring to all of the good little boys and girls of the world? Skulls?

Oh, my!

The base figure underneath is pretty basic. I think, but I don’t know for sure since this is the first horror or music figure I’ve purchased from NECA, that this body is pretty standard for the company’s clothed releases. The head is on a simple ball peg (and it’s really tight) with good rotation and tilt. The shoulders are standard ball-joints and the elbows and knees on this figure are single-jointed hinges. The wrists rotate and have a hinge each and unlike the head are really easy to remove, so much so that I accidentally have popped them out when manipulating the figure. There is no ab or upper body rotation, but there is a waist swivel. The legs are on ball-joints and actually have very good range of motion. There’s a thigh swivel and the ankles are hinged. The Fiend, if you were wondering, appears to be wearing black high-tops. It’s an acceptable amount of articulation for what this figure is, but one thing missing that disappoints me is the lack of peg holes on the bottoms of the feet. This guy can be tricky to stand because of all of the material draped over the figure and I really wish I could utilize the standard NECA stand. Instead, something more like a Barbie stand is needed as I don’t want to spend 10 bucks on an action stand for a figure that literally just needs to stand.

He looks positively resplendent in those robes!

The star of the show is the Christmas soft goods. The robe is really nice to look at and NECA included wires where needed. It shimmers in natural light and really catches the eye and I love that it’s hemmed with white at the cuffs and bottom of the robe. A Velcro strip runs up the front of the robe so if you wish to take a peek underneath you certainly can. The hood is a separate piece that is stitched to the back of the robe. It has a wire running through the hem and you’ll probably have to manipulate it a bunch out of the box. The only odd aspect of the robe I’m not sold on are the sleeves. They’re meant to have large cuffs that hang low, but NECA tailored the white onto a smaller cuff to go around the hand leaving a big hole behind it for the rest of the red cuff to hang down. I think it would look better if they had done the white around the whole thing and inserted another wire for posing as it’s just kind of weird as-is. The hat is a simple, Santa, hat that also contains a wire. It fits snugly on the Fiend’s head and looks pretty terrific. The sack is basically just a piece of green velvet-like material with a string tied around the end. There’s nothing inside it, though it has a wire running around it to allow for some posing. I kind of wish NECA had filled it with cotton or something to fluff it up. I suppose I could do that myself if I was willing to mess with the knot on it. It gets the job done though.

If you prefer a more “classic” look, NECA included a second, all-white, face on a second head.
Christmas Evilive!

NECA opted to include some swap-able parts with this figure, though they’re not particularly exciting. The finish on the face of the included head has some embellishments on it. I think it’s from the original release which is aiming to mimic the American Psycho cover by Basil Gogos (who also did the art for this release) which was going for a grave-emerging or crypt-lurking kind of look. Only now, the colors are a muted red and green to go with the whole Christmas theme, but it almost looks like some sort of weird camo. I’m not really a fan. The alternate head is a bone white version with no added paint which is basically how the character was depicted in art on the classic releases like Horror Business. The hands on the stock version also feature the same red and green paint on the back of the hand and they provide alternate bone white versions to match the face. All four hands are in a relaxed, open, position. He doesn’t have any proper gripping hands, but since the sack is light and empty he can still hold onto it well enough. Swapping the head on this guy was quite a bitch. I had to give it a real, good, tug to get the stock one off and I heated the other one with running water to get it on. I didn’t want to use a heat gun or anything given the presence of soft goods which could catch fire. At least I don’t like the regular head very much so I shouldn’t have to swap it again.

I think this is the look I’ll stick with.

The Christmas version of NECA’s The Fiend action figure is largely as expected. While I think there could have been some better design choices and I wish the stock head better matched the artwork, this figure should largely satisfy any Misfits fan looking to add the ghost to their holiday decorating. I love Christmas decorations and this guy will certainly stand out with what I already have. I could even see some NECA collectors paring this guy with the Santa Stripe released this year from the Gremlins line. And fans of the Jerry Only Misfits who already have the Horror X-Mas release should definitely try and pair that with this for their holiday display. The only reason not to is the price. At an MSRP of $35, this guy is on the pricier end of NECA releases. That could have something to do with the cost of the license, and anyone who saw the merch prices at the more recent Misfits shows know how expensive that stuff can get, and it’s definitely more than what I’m used to with NECA given what’s in the box. If price is an issue, maybe wait until the spring when this guy hits clearance. At least this isn’t an exclusive and you should be able to buy this wherever NECA products are sold, in particular the horror figures.

And if you’re still on the fence, he makes a nice tree topper!

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