Now, before that, I thought Living Dead Dolls were pretty lame. When I was in school, all the mall goth-type kids talked about them. And those that I had seen prior to LeatherFace, were all mall goth-type dolls. None of them appealed to me, and I usually ignored them when visiting a comic store. But after getting LeatherFace and checking out the Archive at livingdeaddolls.com, I saw that there were a few pretty cool ones that I wanted to get. So in turn, LeatherFace started a new hobby/interest. Luckily, it's been one that both my daughter and I share, which has made it better than any previous ones I've had. You can sure as hell bet that her first Show And Tell time at school will be an interesting one!
So, starting this review site, I'm going to start it off with the first LDD that we bought: LeatherFace. If you're unfamiliar with toy reviews, they usually break things down into a few categories like packaging, sculpt, design, accessories, articulation and value. I'll be doing that and using the 5 star system where 1 = horrible and 5 = excellent.
Packaging: ***/*****
Most LDDs come packed in a coffin box with a clear lid so you can see the doll. LeatherFace comes in a unique, regular window box with a flap that features some pretty cool art. It's just a shot of him, but it's menacing enough to make you want to lift the flap and check out what's behind it. He's in a great pose with his chainsaw, probably ready to take out Franklin (that putz...).
Unfortunately, that's about the only good thing about this box. The inside cover is blank, there's just a take on the intro to TCM on the back, fixed to work with the toy, and there's not much else. While it's nice that he got his own special box, it's that of any regular toy's, and not very LDD-ish. Then again, LeatherFace isn't dead, so I can see why they'd avoid the coffin altogether. But aside from the front graphic, it's just too boring for me. For what it's worth, the artwork right behind the doll tries to recreate LeatherFace's kitchen with all the skulls and pelts on the wall, but it's too blown up to look good. Also, the flap closes via a spot of velcro.
Sculpt: ***/*****
In all honesty, LeatherFace doesn't translate that well to LDD form. In most of the movies, he's a big, husky guy. Out of all of the LDDS, there's only been ONE fat doll. Rather than fixing up that one, they more or less gave him the standard body, but did a completely different head sculpt for him, and it looks great. Looking over the head, it's really cool to see the cuts and bumps in the face mask. They even used leather straps at the ends to give it a handmade look!
But...just as with the packaging, it's the front that gets all the detail, as the back of his head is almost completely fresh. There are no cuts, bumps, or anything to match the great detail of the face. They didn't even give it a darker tone. Also, while it's not really a sculpting issue, the hair is a major mess. It's too thin and whimpy, and it's pretty much impossible to get it to look like the prototype images and box art's. I've tried getting it wet, using gel and several other things, and it always seems to revert back to whimpy. Maybe if they added more strands of hair, it would've fixed the problem, but they didn't, so it's holding the score back a bit.
Outfit: ***/*****
The rest of LeatherFace is pretty bland. He has a white blood-stained apron, rather than his traditional yellow one. That actually was the first thing I noticed being wrong with his look, and it's an eyesore since I'm a huge LeatherFace fan. He has his trademark tie, which is fairly accurate, as well as the short sleeved work shirt (with stripes??) and work pants. Probably the best feature of his outfit is the boots, which are completely new, and weren't recycled from any previous LDD.
These suckers are long, as you can see in the picture, and have a nice little design on them. Also, they aren't platforms like some other LDDs have to make them look taller. LeatherFace himself is actually a bit taller than the other dolls, so it's not the boots here, which was a nice change. They also have some blood on them, a nice touch.
I don't know what it is, but even if the apron were yellow, there's still something that looks off to me with the outfit. Maybe it's just because he's not bulky enough. Maybe it's the white shirt. I can't put my finger on it, even 8 months after buying the doll.
Articulation: ****/*****
LeatherFace has more articulation than any other LDD I've owned. In addition to the head/neck, shoulders and legs, he also has articulation at the forearms/wrists, which he kinda needs in order to hold the chainsaw. It was a great design choice and I wish they would've made this the standard instead of stopping with him. Since his release, there have been 2 other series released, and none of them featured this articulation. What gives?
Accessories: ***/*****
Good ol' LeatherFace comes with just one accessory- his trusty chainsaw. Even after converting it to LDD scale, it looks screen-accurate and fantastic. It's splattered with blood on both sides too- something that toy companies in the past have overlooked.
While an excellent accessory in its own right, there should've been more. I've noticed that through the line of LDDs, less and less accessories have shown up. The first couple of series had a whole bunch, and more recent releases have been lucky to get anything at all. And being one of the more unique killers in horror movies, LeatherFace sure as hell could've had more. A bucket, a hammer, some sausages, anything!
And I can't dock the score for this, but as mentioned earlier, since he's not dead, he doesn't come with a death certificate.
Value: ***/***** original price, ****/***** current price
When he came out late last year, LeatherFace retailed for $30. That's about $4 more than the average LDD. Now, if you can still find him in stores, he should be on clearance. I recently saw one Spencer's carry him for $13, and a number of online retailers have him for about the same price. If you were interested before but didn't want to spend $30 on him, now would be a good time to do so. But then again, I don't expect him to jump in value for a long time, if ever.
Closing:
With a great head sculpt, above average articulation and a single cool accessory, LeatherFace is still pretty average because of his outfit, horrible hair and the lack of more accessories. Even with being an exclusive (though not much of one since he's exclusive to TWO stores instead of one), he seems like a bit of a rushed doll, so it gives me higher expectations for the second LeatherFace coming out this year- the dinner party version! I say he's a cute doll, but nothing too special. If there's money burning a hole in your pocket, go for him. Otherwise, save your money for one you've wanted for a while, or one of the newer ones that's sure to sell out quickly.
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