Toy Review: Fresh Monkey Fiction Naughty or Nice Wave 3: Father Christmas

I've reviewed quite a few of these over the past few years, so by now I'm assuming you know the drill. But in case anyone new is joining us, Fresh Monkey Fiction is an independent toy company catering to collectors. They finance their releases through presales, and for the past three years they've been producing Christmas action figures in a 6-inch scale. Mostly these have been variations on Santa and Krampus, and the subject of today's review is no exception.

Father Christmas, of course, is England's version of Saint Nick. Well, sort of. Okay, it's a little complicated, as it's not clear how much of his genesis was inspired by Saint Nicholas of Myra as opposed to alternate traditions, and for a while he became something of an unrelated political symbol opposing Puritanism, but over the last few centuries depictions of Father Christmas converged with other yuletide gift-givers, and now he's as likely as not to just look like Santa, red suit and all. Regardless, holiday movies from Great Britain still tend to at least reference the Father Christmas persona in some way.

But one of his older green outfits received a lease on life thanks to Charles Dickens. The Ghost of Christmas Present is, for all intents and purposes, Father Christmas, so variations on that color scheme and iconography endured in popular culture while other similar characters (say the various fur outfits worn by a number of 18th-century contenders) have largely vanished.

Aside from some new accessories, Father Christmas is cobbled together from parts created for earlier waves. In fact, the head and body appear to be using the same sculpts as the Wave 2 Father Frost figure, so you could argue this is technically a variant of that toy.

That's not necessarily a problem, as the designs of the two characters these are based on have roots in the same traditions. Still, you might want to give these two a little space apart on the shelf to avoid them looking redundant.

These run around $37, so it's a good thing Fresh Monkey Fiction isn't stingy when it comes to accessories. Father Christmas comes with a hood, a wreath crown, a cane (which in turn has an optional piece for the bottom), a miniature toy horse, a pair of alternate hands wearing brown mittens, an alternate head, a gift (with removeable lid), a list, and a base.

The hood and wreath each look great as headwear, and both will work with either head. I'd actually expected to use the hood based on pictures, but when I played around with them I discovered I liked the wreath a little more. It was close, though.

The staff looks absolutely fantastic. The green thing that can go into the bottom is fun, though I prefer the look of the staff without it.

If you don't want to use the same head Father Frost came with, you could always go with the alternate. This one is younger, with a brown beard and spectacles. The sculpt was also used in a variant called, "Storytime Santa" from the same wave, though the paint is different enough to provide variety.

I suspect the inclusion of this head may be a nod to the appearance of the Ghost of Christmas Present in The Muppet Christmas Carol. The character in the movie had red hair instead of brown and didn't wear glasses, but I feel like there's at least a slight resemblance.

The miniature rocking horse is a lot of fun - I always appreciate when things like this are included. The gift box is nice, too, though if you're collecting toys from this line you've probably got a bunch of those by now (same goes for the list). In the past I've dismissed the stands as unnecessary, but since then I moved my toys to a glass display case, which gave me cause to reconsider. If you're placing these on a surface with even a bit of texture, you most likely won't need the stands, but they're turning out to be more useful than I initially assumed.

The last accessory is the pair of gloves, which I'm sorry to say I wasn't able to try out. The pegs on the hands feel a little too loose for my comfort, and I don't want to risk them breaking in an attempt to get them out. I could just be overcautious, but I've had enough mishaps over the decades to not want to take chances.

I was a little surprised they didn't think to include a torch or horn of plenty, given The Ghost of Christmas Future's use of that in A Christmas Carol. I don't consider it a major oversight, but it felt like a missed opportunity.

Also, if you ended up with a green sack from the wave 1 Krampus, it compliments Father Christmas nicely. I tried the cape, as well, but couldn't get it to work.

This isn't the best release in this line, but I'm happy to have it and would love to see additional holiday gift givers in future waves... assuming they make future waves. If not, well... I can't exactly complain. This is something I waited decades to see realized, and I absolutely love the display I've put together so far.