Toy Review: Four Horsemen Studios: Figura Obscura: The Ghost of Christmas Past

 

The second figure in the Four Horsemen Studio's line of A Christmas Carol figures is, naturally, their take on The Ghost of Christmas Past. If you missed my review of Marley's Ghost, this line (or sub-line) recreates characters from Dickens' classic as seven-inch action figures. These aren't cheap (the first two figures ran me $70 each), but the quality, attention to detail, and generous accessories go a long way towards justifying that price tag.

They've followed the lead of several adaptations in making the spirit female. Dickens' original implies the spirit itself is non-binary, shifting between forms as its light flickers like a candle's (that's also the rationale behind the figure having four arms, an image pulled from the original story). Because the character's always shifting, you could make the case any visualization is accurate to the source material. Personally, I like this interpretation quite a bit.

As was the case with Marley, the box itself has value. It resembles a book and opens the same way, then the magnetic "cover" comes off and doubles as a backdrop showcasing an iconic scene from A Christmas Carol.

Also like Marley, you're getting your money's worth when it comes to accessories. Unlike Marley, it's less a single accessory justifying a $70 price tag than several extremely cool add-ons they included. The spirit comes with six extra hands (that's in addition to the four already attached, so ten in total), three additional heads, two alternate hair options, a candle stopper, a holly branch, a staff with another candle stopper on top, a pair of attachable arms allowing you to choose between displaying her with two or four (the original book specifies the spirit can appear both ways), a booklet containing the second Stave of A Christmas Carol, and a stand with a detachable Victorian street light.

The street light is probably the most attention-grabbing accessory, so let's start there. It's evocative of the era and story, and the candle inside serves as a nod to the character it's accompanying. In the comically unlikely event anyone alive chooses not to display this with the figure, it could be repurposed for any number of displays. It's awesome.

Next, let's talk about the staff. This actually comes in two pieces - a stopper for the top and a golden rod it connects to. Only in my case, the rod part was missing. I reached out to Four Horsemen's customer service to see if there was anything they could do, and within a week they'd mailed me the missing piece. That's some damn fine service, if you ask me.

Also a damn fine staff. I like that it's essentially a 1:1 scale toy candle snuffer simultaneously scaled up for use as a staff and scaled down for an action figure. It looks gorgeous and fits the character wonderfully.

The other extra I'm using for the figure is the holly branch. Once again, it looks fantastic and works wonderfully as an accessory.

This comes with four head sculpts, counting the one the figure comes wearing. Three of these are relatively subtle variations on the same idea, shifting from normal to menacing before jumping to a monstrous jaw seemingly ready to devout its victim whole. I'm not entirely sure what the intent was with that last one - maybe they just wanted to give everyone the option of displaying a more extreme reinvention of the character. Alternatively, it can be used to create a more generic ghost, if that's what you're looking for.

Whichever you pick, they're all well sculpted and painted. Any will work with the three hair pieces, giving you twelve different combinations to pick between.

Let's talk about the removable arms. The lower pair of arms don't attach directly to the figure but instead are made possible by a separate sculpted piece that snaps into her back. On its own, the piece looks weird, but once in place it's sturdy, effectively hidden by the character's outfit, and provides a full range of movement for the extra arms. Whether you choose to display the figure with two arms or four, the figure looks fantastic.

You're going to display her with all four arms, though, because it's way cooler that way.

The outfit is made of a thin fabric wired to stay in whatever interesting position you pose her in. Again, this all looks and works great.

The extra hands and candle stopper are appreciated, though I can't really think of any use for them in my display. But the figure, the lamppost, the staff, and the holly branch are everything I could have asked for, if not more. So far, I'm loving this line.

I should mention there's a "Haunted Blue" variant of The Ghost of Christmas Past, just as there was for Marley. Based on the pictures, I don't like the look of that version quite as much, though your mileage may vary.

I'm looking forward to seeing the remaining releases. Assuming I'm in a similar financial position, I imagine I'll want the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come and Scrooge (I can't imagine any other way to wrap up this line). I'll have to see what their interpretation of Christmas Present looks like, however, as I actually have an alternate option thanks to Fresh Monkey's Fiction's Father Christmas figure.

Don't be surprised if you see a review of the Ghost of Christmas Present up here, anyway. If it's as cool as the last two releases, I'll grab one in a heartbeat.