Four Horsemen Studios popular Figura Obscura continues to offer some impressive looking figures, and Jacob Marley is one of the latest additions to the line, originally offered in 2023, he is now being offered again by BigBadToyStore, but this version does not have the glow effect. Originally he was supposed to come with this feature but the Horsemen announced that there was a miscommunication with the factory that did not apply this feature to this version. However, the colors on this one are super vibrant and you won’t notice anything missing until you turn off the lights, so it’s not a big deal.
Jacob Marley is inspired from A Christmas Carol, which is a classic Christmas story of when the Ghost of Marley appears to Scrooge. He informs his former business partner that he is destined to exist in purgatory and roam the Earth, but has a chance at redemption and will be visited by three ghosts, the Ghost of Christmas Past, Present and Future.
Thank you to BigBadToyStore for sending along the Four Horsemen Studios Figura Obscura The Ghost of Jacob Marley (Haunted Blue Version) figure for review.
Availability: December 2024
Jacob Marley comes packaged in a window box with a wrap-a-round cover that serves as a diorama to display the figure. The cover includes a door with an image of one of the included door knockers, beautifully done artwork by Nate Baertsch throughout the packaging and include book. The back of the cover includes a description, and there are also images of spirits on the sides. The diorama shows Scrooge in his bedroom being haunted by the included figure, Jacob Marley, and this artwork is also quite impressive. The window box itself features more great artwork showcasing the spirits and England in the 19th Century, and he comes in a plastic tray for safe keeping.
There is also an included book that tells the story of A Christmas Carol, but with all the great artwork that you see on the packaging. Obviously there are many more pages, and if you want to read this book you’ll have to buy the figure at BigBadToyStore.
The ghost of Jacob Marley is painted in a bright blue to represent a spirit visiting a room, with some dark blue washes throughout the sculpt, bronze buttons, a white scarf around his neck and a white string around his head. The long jacket and clothing is inspired by mid 19th century clothing in England, with the coat and vest are made of a soft plastic while the sleeves and pants are a hard plastic.
His head sculpts are quite impressive, with the taunting open mouth obviously the most appealing as it shows the pain and suffering he is enduring for a life of greed. On this head sculpt the mouth is wide open and you see the tongue and white teeth, and the look in his white ghostly eyes and expression that is showing you how much he’s suffering being forced to carry the chains, safe and chests around.
He is also fully articulated, and includes a ball jointed head, ball hinged shoulders, swivel-hinged elbows, swivel-hinged wrists, ball jointed and swivel waist, ball jointed hips, swivel-hinged knees, hinged and rocker ankles.
The harness is tricky to get on and you have to lift the arms up and place it over his torso, and some patience will be required. Just make sure to be extra careful as you slip this over his torso. Included with Jacob Marley is a chain-link harness with the safe, 3 cash boxes and 2 books attached to it, three sets of interchangeable hands, 2 door knockers, 12 keys, a ledger. I didn’t realize this under after most of this review, including the photography was finished, but the safe opens up and there is a hidden Iron Mask inside.
He includes four sets of interchangeable hands (4x open grip, 4x open hands).
The 12 copper keys are made of 4 different styles, with 3 each of these styles.
The Door Knockers are shown on the cover of the packaging, and there is a groove on the back do you can actually hang it on something. This includes an open and closed mouth.
Two of the cash boxes are on one side, with a black book, each with some great attention to detail, and the boxes have a removable lid. These are connected to the harness with chains, and there are various copper keys attached to the chains.
The safe opens up, as I missed this in the photoshoot, and is beautifully sculpted and detailed, with the chains connected to the handle on the side. A cash box and a blue book is also connected on his right side. The cash box also has a removable lid.
Jacob Marley is tormented and the screaming head sculpt and white eyes shows his suffering, while the safe, cash boxes, books and chains he is forced to carry around slows him down and makes it hard for him to move. This figure is a great representation of this classic story by Charles Dickens. The interchangeable hand sculpts, including the two open hand sculpts gives him some great poses, especially since he can hold the chains and raise the cash boxes or books.
I’ve fallen a bit behind on Figura Obscura, but Jacob Marley is certainly a must especially as a Christmas decoration and his popularity in pop culture. This is a character that fits in well with the purpose of the Figura Obscura line and also offered The Ghost of Christmas Past this year, but she will return next year most likely to select retailers such as BigBadToyStore.
Overall, Jacob Marley is an excellent figure that you need to own, so make sure grab him now while he’s available!
Purchase:
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