Disney Infinity "Pirates of the Caribbean" Hector Barbosa 4" / 10cm Animated Marquette Figure

continued from previous post...

Disney Infinity is an action-adventure game with physical toys, open world creation and story-driven gameplay. Characters, play-sets and other features are brought into the game using figurines and discs with the included Infinity Base.

Three figures were released for "Pirates of the Caribbean": Captain Jack Sparrow only came with the Starter Pack while Davy Jones and Barbosa were Single Character Pack / Villains Pack and Single Character Pack / Sidekicks Pack respectively.

I like the styling of these figures because they are very similar to the Gentle Giant animated maquettes of Star Wars, Lord of the Rings and "Pirates of the Carribbean: At World's End" that have been released recently. While the Gentle Giant animated maquettes were too costly for my liking, these were well within my price range. Scroll down to see the pictures

Barbossa is portrayed by Australian actor Geoffrey Rush in all the films. Barbossa was first introduced in the series as the villainous and treacherous captain of the Black Pearl after committing mutiny against the ship's former captain, Jack Sparrow, in the series' first installment Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003).

Having met his demise in the climax of the film, his character is revealed to have been resurrected at the end of Dead Man's Chest (2006).

In the third film At World's End (2007), it is revealed that Barbossa is also one of the nine pirate lords in the Brethren Court, the Pirate Lords of the Seven Seas.

In the fourth film On Stranger Tides (2011), he has become a privateer in the King's Navy and is ordered to be Jack's guide on an expedition for the Fountain of Youth.

In the "Becoming Barbossa" featurette on the "Lost Disc", Geoffrey Rush shared his personal take on Barbossa's history: his family was poor, and he ran away from home when he was 13. He went to the sea, and seeing how well the captains and officers lived, decided to become a captain himself. At first, he wanted to be an honest seaman, but quickly recognized that piracy was easier and more lucrative.

Barbossa has a pet monkey called "Jack"

Here's a look at Jack the Monkey

Barbossa is one of those figures never released by Hot Toys even though the 1/6 scale company released almost every other major character from the "Pirates of the Caribbean" movies

It would have been nice to have a Hot Toys MMS "Pirates of the Caribbean" 12-inch Geoffrey Rush Barbossa figure but that doesn't seem to be happening

Another close-up shot of Jack the Monkey

So this will have to do for now ;p

Related posts:
February 2, 2012 – Comparing Hot Toys DX06 Captain Jack Sparrow head sculpt with the other earlier released heads posted in my toy blog HERE
February 3, 2012 – "Ahoy, me mateys!" A look at Hot Toys Pirates of the Caribbean 12-inch collectible figures (pictures HERE)

Disney Infinity "Pirates of the Caribbean" Davy Jones 4-inch 10 cm Animated Marquette Figure

Disney Infinity is an action-adventure game with physical toys, open world creation and story-driven gameplay. Characters, play-sets and other features are brought into the game using figurines and discs with the included Infinity Base.

Three figures were released for "Pirates of the Caribbean": Captain Jack Sparrow only came with the Starter Pack while Davy Jones and Barbosa were Single Character Pack / Villains Pack and Single Character Pack / Sidekicks Pack respectively.

I like the styling of these figures because they are very similar to the Gentle Giant animated maquettes of Star Wars, Lord of the Rings and "Pirates of the Carribbean: At World's End" that have been released recently. While the Gentle Giant animated maquettes were too costly for my liking, these were well within my price range. And since I already have Hot Toys 1/6 scale "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End" Davy Jones fully pose-able 12-inch action figure (see my toy blog post HERE), I just felt that this would be a nice addition to the PIRATES collection :)

Disney Infinity "Pirates of the Caribbean" Davy Jones Single Character Pack / Villains Pack comes with sword-slashing skills

Scroll down to see the turnaround views of Disney Infinity "Pirates of the Caribbean" Davy Jones 4-inch tall figure :)

Davy Jones with octopus head and octopus' tentacles as beard, a right hand with a long tentacle in place of his index finger, a crab's claw for his left arm and the right leg of a crab, resembling a pegleg.

The scourge of the high seas, a ship even the pirates fear - The Flying Dutchman and her captain, Davy Jones - half human, half sea beast and totally heartless!!

NEXT: Disney Infinity "Pirates of the Caribbean" Hector Barbosa 4" / 10cm Animated Marquette Figure

Related posts:
February 2, 2012 – Comparing Hot Toys DX06 Captain Jack Sparrow head sculpt with the other earlier released heads posted in my toy blog HERE
February 3, 2012 – "Ahoy, me mateys!" A look at Hot Toys Pirates of the Caribbean 12-inch collectible figures (pictures HERE)

Review II: 2005 released NECA Deluxe Jack Skellington with interchangeable heads toy figure

continued from earlier post...

Part 2 review of my Halloween toy blog post of the 2005 released NECA Deluxe 14-inch tall Jack Skellington with interchangeable heads toy figure. In the first part review posted HERE, I covered the packaging and each of the 12 interchangeable heads individually. Now let's look at the Jack Skellington figure itself.

NECA Deluxe Jack Skellington is 14 inches tall, and besides a total of 12 interchangeable heads, is said to have 19 points of articulation. The Nightmare Before Christmas originated in a poem written by Tim Burton in 1982, while he was working as a Disney animator. Disney only decided to produce the movie after the success of Burton’s films Beetlejuice and Batman in 1989. Even then, Disney released the film under their Touchstone Pictures banner because they thought the film would be "too dark, and scary for kids." Scroll down to see the pictures of this NECA 14-inch Jack Skellington :)

The Nightmare Before Christmas, often promoted as Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas, is a 1993 American stop motion musical fantasy film directed by Henry Selick and produced/co-written by Tim Burton. It tells the story of Jack Skellington, a being from "Halloween Town" who opens a portal to "Christmas Town" and decides to celebrate the holiday, with some dastardly consequences. Danny Elfman wrote the film score and provided the singing voice of Jack, as well as other minor characters. (source: wiki)

As you can see, Jack certainly needs help standing and posing ;p NOTE: The clear display stand is NOT included. I had to use it for Jack to pose and take pictures.

Putting Jack Skellington in a running pose helps to highlight his lanky body the way he was designed. He is supposed to be a human skeleton wearing a suit after all.

I loved the movie and the concept. Different towns for different holidays and Jack ends up in Christmas Town. His intentions though noble has a disastrous effect on himself and teaches us that we should never try to be somebody we are not but just love ourselves for who we are and what we are good at.

Jack Skellington first appeared in Tim Burton's Beetlejuice (1988). His head can be seen atop Beetlejuice’s carnival hat.

Burton did NOT direct the movie due to the film’s time commitment and his scheduling conflicts with Batman Returns. Burton hired his friend, Henry Selick, to direct — this was also his feature film directing debut. He went on to direct two other classic stop-motion films, Coraline and James and the Giant Peach.

The film used over 230 sets that were set up in 19 soundstages. The stop-motion musical had 24 frames to a second, meaning they had to pose characters 24 times for each second of the completed film. That consisted of roughly 110,000 frames. It took an entire week of shooting to create one minute of film. And the movie therefore took more than three years to complete.

Each puppet had an armature inside it, enabling flexible movement. There are as many as 60 individual characters, with three or four duplicates each. The sculpture department consisted of only four people.

Sources:
18 Things You Probably Didn’t Know About "The Nightmare Before Christmas" posted HERE
20 Crazy Facts About The Making Of “The Nightmare Before Christmas” in honor of the movie’s 20th anniversary posted HERE

Related posts:
January 19, 2009 - Pirate Jack from Walt Disney Pictures "James and the Giant Peach" posted in my toy blog HERE
December 24, 2009 - T'was the night before Christmas with Jun Planning 16-inch Jack Skellington as "Sandy Claws" posted HERE
October 31, 2010 - Happy Halloween from Jack the Pumpkin King (pictures HERE)

Happy Halloween with Jack Skellington from Tim Burton's 1993 The Nightmare Before Christmas

Halloween or Hallowe'en, also known as All Hallows' Eve, is a yearly celebration observed in a number of countries on October 31, the eve of the Western Christian feast of All Hallows' Day. It initiates the triduum of Hallowmas, the time in the liturgical year dedicated to remembering the dead, including saints (hallows), martyrs, and all the faithful departed believers.

Typical festive Halloween activities include trick-or-treating (or the related "guising" or "trunk-or-treating"), attending costume parties, decorating, carving pumpkins into jack-o'-lanterns, lighting bonfires, apple bobbing, visiting haunted attractions, playing pranks, telling scary stories, and watching horror films. (source: wiki)

What better way to celebrate Halloween on Toy Haven than with Jack Skellington. Jack Skellington is a fictional character and the protagonist of the 1993 film The Nightmare Before Christmas. Jack is the Pumpkin King of Halloween Town and lives in a fantasy world based solely on the Halloween holiday. It’s been 20 years since we all saw the pumpkin king on the big screen. Scroll down to see more pictures, including the other 11 Jack Skellington heads that came with this 2005 released NECA Deluxe Jack Skellington with interchangeable heads toy figure.

The box itself is no biggie, just a plain black box with window display showing off Jack and his extra 11 interchangeable heads, each one with a different expression. This NECA Deluxe Jack Skellington with interchangeable heads toy figure was released in 2005. It was touted as "the first action figure of its kind. No other figure has come with so many different heads and with such high articulation at this size."

NECA Deluxe Jack Skellington is 14 inches tall, and besides a total of 12 interchangeable heads, is said to have 19 points of articulation. Jack certainly needs help standing ;p NOTE: clear display stand is NOT included. I had to use it for Jack to pose and take pictures.

The head that Jack comes with (pictured above) is the most famous and common smiling head. Then there's the scary head (picture below). Scroll down to see the rest of the heads

These Jack Skellington heads were created to change Jack’s expression during stop-motion animation and used in the filming of The Nightmare Before Christmas and James and the Giant Peach (as “Captain Jack”).

This faithful reproduction of the various Jack heads is really something :)

The Nightmare Before Christmas, often promoted as Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas, is a 1993 American stop motion musical fantasy film directed by Henry Selick and produced/co-written by Tim Burton. It tells the story of Jack Skellington, a being from "Halloween Town" who opens a portal to "Christmas Town" and decides to celebrate the holiday, with some dastardly consequences. Danny Elfman wrote the film score and provided the singing voice of Jack, as well as other minor characters. (source: wiki)

The Nightmare Before Christmas originated in a poem written by Tim Burton in 1982, while he was working as a Disney animator. Disney considered developing The Nightmare Before Christmas in 1982 as either a short film or 30-minute TV special. The studio eventually shelved it for being “too weird.”

Disney decided to produce the movie after the success of Burton’s films Beetlejuice and Batman. Disney then released the film under their Touchstone Pictures banner because they thought the film would be "too dark, and scary for kids."

The film earned $50 million in the United States on its first theatrical run. Since then, the film has gone on to receive widespread critical acclaim. On October 20, 2006, Walt Disney Pictures reissued Nightmare (no longer under Touchstone) with conversion to Disney Digital 3-D.

The film was nominated for both the Academy Award for Best Visual Effects and the Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation. Nightmare Before Christmas won the Saturn Award for Best Fantasy Film, while Elfman won Best Music. Selick and the animators were also nominated for their work. Elfman was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Original Score. The American Film Institute nominated The Nightmare Before Christmas for its Top 10 Animated Films list.

Well done, Jack Skellington (wink wink)

The long list of accolades do bring a smile to his face haha

Look who is having the last laugh now XD

And here's a motion capture gif image of some of Jack Skellington heads

As Jack Skellington would probably say "Happy Halloween everyone :)"

More than 400 distinctly different Jack Skellington heads were used for Nightmare Before Christmas so these 12 heads are only the tip of the iceberg!

Sources:
18 Things You Probably Didn’t Know About "The Nightmare Before Christmas" posted HERE
20 Crazy Facts About The Making Of “The Nightmare Before Christmas” in honor of the movie’s 20th anniversary posted HERE

Related posts:
January 19, 2009 - Pirate Jack from Walt Disney Pictures "James and the Giant Peach" posted in my toy blog HERE
December 24, 2009 - T'was the night before Christmas with Jun Planning 16-inch Jack Skellington as "Sandy Claws" posted HERE
October 31, 2010 - Happy Halloween from Jack the Pumpkin King (pictures HERE)

NEXT: More poses of NECA Deluxe Jack Skellington with interchangeable heads toy figure. It's a treat ;p