"The box...You opened it, we came." - Pinhead
Hellraiser has been racking up the sequels since the first film made its debut in 1987 from classic horror visionary Clive Barker. With it has come a trove of fans who love the concept of Pinhead, and all his Cenobite counterparts. Much is the case of horror flicks, viewers aren't necessarily concerned with the cast of characters playing "human" roles, but rather in how Pinhead and his crew are integrated into the film, and how said "human" characters will die - Specifically, how gruesome in nature they will die.
Sixteen years after the first film debuted, Neca produced a fan favorite line of figures based on the series. The line focused mainly on the Cenobites, not bothering to incorporate many of the human characters into the line, and the ones that are included were depicted in severely decimated states - such as Julia and Frank with no skin.
The first series is the most unique in that each figure came packed with a side to make the infamous box. This of course meant that every figure needed to be collected in order to do so. The only exception to this was the Wire Twins two pack which did not include a part.
The packaging was rather dark in nature, but feature a fantastic photo of the figure on the top right of each card. Also appealing to fans was that each card listed what series the figure inside was from on the top left under the title, "Hellraiser". This made it easy to keep track of which figures were associated with which line.
Series one included six figures, plus one two pack. The two pack was designed to provide fans with a slightly different twin, but still left them with no option but to purchase the single pack as well should they want to complete the box (as there was no box piece included with the two pack). The figures were;
Chatter, Pinhead
Wire Twins (two pack)
Series two did away with the box pieces, and instead incorporated the figures with several accessories, and interchangeable body parts such as heads. Out of the six figures produced, one was a resculpted Pinhead character. The line included;
Barbie, Butterball
Pinhead, Surgeon
The final series, series 3, had only four basic figures, and one boxed figure. The size of the overall figure in the box wasn't larger than the carded ones, but the protruding glob from his head ensured the need for the different packaging. Each carded figure came packed with a piece to construct the Leviathan. The series also included a third resculpted Pinhead figure. The figures included;
Frank, Pinhead
A four pack box set was produced which contained a selection of Cenobites from the first film. The set was called Cenobite Lair Boxed Set. The figures were no different than the prior released single packs from the various series.
Two exclusives were produced for the series, a pewter Pinhead which was made available only at San Diego Comic Con, and a mail away Chatterer II. Both were released in window boxes as opposed to on carded as the majority of the figures were.
The Hellraiser series of figures were highly accepted and appreciated by fans of the films, but didn't necessarily capture the attention of casual horror fans or average toy collectors - Though the sculpts are amazing, and certainly deserve their time in the spotlight. If there is anything that can be said about this set it is that Neca did it right. They paid perfect fan service to the series, and did it in a way that was hard to (if not impossible to) find any fault with.
Join us next time when we take a look at Neca's The Nightmare Before Christmas!
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