Toy Review: Fresh Monkey Fiction Naughty or Nice, Wave 2: Nasty Krampus

I'm continuing my look at a handful of figures from the second wave of Fresh Monkey Fiction's "Naughty or Nice" line of holiday action figures. Today, I'm reviewing "Nasty Krampus," and I'm going to start with what's probably my largest complaint in the review: I'm not crazy about that name. Does that matter? Not at all! But still, it feels like a rather dull descriptor for what's a pretty exceptional toy. 


Naming conventions aside, this combines the Krampus head, hands, and tail from Wave 1 with the naked torso used on the Wave 2 Barbarian Santa (no judgement: creative reuse is the name of the game when it comes to action figures).


I don't have much to say about the individual components I haven't said before: everything looks great up close. I slightly prefer the paint on the first wave face, where the horns were a lighter color, but that's personal taste (and I'm really stretching to find something to nitpick here). Overall, the paint looks fantastic - I particularly love how the darkened coat ends conceal their original purpose and read as straps of fabric.


But what really matters is how well it works when we take a step back, and that's where this guy really shines. While I liked the Wave 1 Krampus, I felt like the overall design was hindered by the limitation of having to rely on a body designed (and dressed) as a typical Santa Claus. Changing to a bare torso helps a great deal to evoke the sense this is a monstrous being. It also ties the design a little closer to the characters' roots. I'd still love to see a version with hoofed feet, but this is a big step in the right direction.


I also want to call attention to another detail where this improves on the Wave 1 figure: the tail comes pre-attached this time. It's still the same joint, but installing it in the factory sidesteps issues of breakage when assembling. I'm still going to take care with it, but it seems much more stable to me.

I should mention the longer sculpted fabric impedes the range of motion a bit, but for my money that limitation is worth it for the improved appearance.


Let's move on to accessories. Nasty Krampus comes with several reissued items from the last wave, along with a couple significant new additions. Let's run through those reissues first: you get another plate, green cookies, and glass of black liquid, a gift box (now with brown paper and black ribbon), an extra open hand in case you don't want him holding his spear, and the same white base bearing the line's name that's accompanied every one of the figures I've bought to date.


We've gone through this before, but I'll say it again: the cookies, plate, and cup of whatever are fine. I'm not sure they add much value here, but they certainly don't take any away. Same goes for the base - I've never really liked this design much, but you won't need it to get Krampus to stand, anyway.


The gift box is fun, and the color scheme fits nice with this version, though - again - I can't really imagine using it as a prop while displaying this.


The alternate hand's a nice addition, which gives you a handful of potentially useful display options, assuming you're not planning to use the spear. 


Speaking of which, let's talk about the two new items, the spear and chains. For all intents and purposes, these are the only accessories here most anyone will care about, so it's a good thing they knocked them out of the park. The chains are metal, attached to plastic cuffs (pop off Krampus's hands to slide them on his wrists), and these look great. More than that, these are part of the character's lore, as Krampuses are traditionally chained and controlled by Saint Nicholas.

The spear is less authentic but still awesome. And while this isn't the weapon of choice for the character, the design incorporates elements of tools traditionally used by the demon, particularly his switch. I like this quite a bit and plan on displaying him with both chains and spear.

Do I wish we also got a switch and sack? Of course. But there's no denying this looks great and is closer to resembling the Krampus of modern costumes and illustrations. At the end of the day, this is a fantastic figure destined to replace the Wave 1 version on my shelf. I absolutely feel like I got my money's worth with this guy, and I'm not even grading on a curve for the low production run.

Fresh Monkey Fiction has a red Krampus in the new wave, which - based on the images they've shared - looks good but more like a generic demon than Krampus specifically. In my opinion, this is easily the version of Krampus to get if you can find one... at least among those the company has released so far.

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