Ghost of Jacob Marley (Mythic Legions) Review

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Ghost of Jacob Marley (Mythic Legions) Review

Ghost of Jacob Marley
Mythic Legions (Four Horsemen)Everybody knows the story of A Christmas Carol, having received various adaptations and retellings for years and years, but the one thing they all (almost all of them, at least) have in common is the presence of ghosts. The mysterious, life-changing night Ebenezer Scrooge has begins with the appearance of the ghost of his old partner, Jacob Marley, in his bedroom. Recently, I picked up Four Horsemen Studios' take on Marley, part of their "Figura Obscura" line, dedicated to various tales and legends.

The packaging is rather unique, with a painting of a Marley door knocker on the front and paragraphs related to the character on the back, but this part is a separate piece held onto a window box with magnets. Remove it and you'll see the reverse side has a backdrop showing a startled Scrooge in his bedroom, making for a unique display with the figure. The window box itself has nice graphics, done by Nate Baertsch, and it's not hard to remove everything from the interior trays, with only a few twist ties and bits of tape.

Designed by Eric Treadaway, Marley's ghost has a pretty cool head sculpt, with a stern look, sunken blank eyes, stringy hair, and ghastly blue skin. You'll notice he has a wrap around his head, and the alternate portrait demonstrates why. The head without the wrap has his jaw hanging wide open, and he's clearly not happy about it. He has a bit of decay on his head already, and you'd think this would happen with zombies and not ghosts, but no, even a specter like Marley is affected (who knows how old he was when he died). Both heads have great detail, and the paint is very clean as well.

Marley's outfit is very 19th-century (or pirate-y, depending on how you look at it), bearing a fancy coat and boots, along with tied cloth around the neck collar and a large belt. The detail and texturing are great, and the outfit has a bluish hue just like the skin. The bottom of the coat and lower legs fade into translucent plastic, emphasizing the fact that he's a ghost. He's fully painted and the outfit has clean edges, but there is some paint chipping off on the interior of the coat. Marley stands about 7" tall, putting him in-scale with figures from the likes of NECA and Super7.

Marley moves well for an old ghost, with a ball-peg head and waist, swivel/hinge shoulders, elbows, wrists, hips, knees (on the upper leg, similar to the Super7 Ultimates 4H also sculpts), and ankles, and swivel neck, forearms (at the cuffs), thighs, shins, and feet. The joints are pretty tight, and can hold a pose well, but you are advised to heat up anything that feels too tight to move. I had to heat up the shoulders and one shin to get them moving, and the ability to pop out some of the pegs with enough force makes freeing them up less risky. The range in the joints is pretty good, with plenty of poses possible.

For accessories, I already mentioned the alternate head, but extras hands are also included, with three different pair of grips (one being vertically hinged) and a pair of grasping hands. They can be tough to swap due to the peg design, but you shouldn't need any heat to do so. The harness is the main extra here, and it's easy to get it on the figure; just pop the arms off and slide it on. It has tons of metal chains hanging off it, connected to various keys, books, lockboxes, and a big safe. The safe opens up to reveal another accessory: a skull-like metal helmet with a chain and padlock hanging off it. I won't be using it on Marley much, but it's a cool piece regardless. He also comes with two door knockers with wall mounts, both designed after his different portraits, and a ton of keys: four designs and three of each. Also included are a blank holiday card and a booklet with the first chapter, or stave, of A Christmas Carol, which aren't really accessories, but neat little inclusions for customers.

While I missed him when he was in-stock through 4H direct and had to pay over $100 on eBay for him, I'm still really happy with Jacob Marley. He has a cool design with pretty good movement, and plenty of accessories to set up a fun display for when Christmas rolls around. The included stave hints at the ghosts of Christmas joining the Obscura line in the future, and I'll be more than happy to get those, and keeping my fingers crossed for Scrooge as well.

- 2/2/24