Welcome to Figures & Speech, Nerdist’s regular column by, for, and about grown-ups who still play with their toys but might want to know more before they buy.

I’ve been a fan of Freddy Krueger merchandise since around the time of A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master, the first one I saw theatrically, and the one that seemed to kick-start the heaviest merchandising. Perhaps not coincidentally, it was also the first movie to give Robert Englund top billing, and treat Freddy as the star rather than the villain. I had that first talking Freddy doll that got pulled from toy shelves after parents complained, the squirt-gun Freddy head that looked like it could have been directly cast from Englund’s face, and of course the McFarlane Toys Movie Maniacs action figure. Needless to say, since NECA took over the license I have purchased many of those as well.

NECA has done 18-inch Freddys before, but only recent monsters have been fully articulated. Dream Warriors Freddy is the second of these, based on a larger version of their regular Freddy action figure “buck.” The 7-inch figure has been released in numerous variants specific to each film, and now that it’s gotten bigger, the quarter-scales would seem to be following suit. I think we all know, though, that Dream Warriors Freddy (happy 30th anniversary, Nightmare 3!) is the best — he was the first to reveal his “chest of souls,” but he can also be a more standard Freddy as needed.

The box he comes in features a cardboard flap as a “door” to the house on Elm Street — you can open it to reveal the figure inside. If you want to actually take him out, he comes in the patented NECA “destroy the entire box to release the figure” quarter-scale packaging.

To change him from regular Freddy to climactic Freddy is easy – -all you have to do is pop off a chest piece. This means no mid torso articulation and very limited waist rotation, but it’s worth it.

He also has two different heads, which interchange by first popping off the ball joint on the lower neck, and then removing the head at the upper-neck cut joint.

The fedora fits on both quite snugly.

One thing I’ve learned about toy sculptors–they really go to town when they get the chance to do the inside of a mouth. You can only really pull that off in large scale; at least with humans.

Freddy’s second head has a bonus effect — a light-piped cross in his forehead to simulate the effect of holy water on his body. Naturally, he is none too happy about it.

While a lot of NECA 18-inch figures feel like they are so detailed you never want to play with them, Freddy is literally just an upsizing of the regular action figure that it feels like an invitation to play around. He may not be doing any full-on ninja moves, but with ball-jointed knees, elbows, ankles, hips, wrists, and shoulders, he can strike quite a few poses.

Now might be a good time to note that 18-inch doesn’t always mean quarter scale across the board: I’m pretty sure Ben Affleck is taller than Robert Englund.

Deadpool is whatever size anyone chooses to draw him, of course.

One day I’d like to see NECA shoot for articulated fingers on the glove. They have pulled it off on some others.

Not that visitors are necessarily deterred…

Still, while I can imagine even better potential additions, I must be honest and say this is my favorite Freddy figure so far. The detail is solid, and the playability is better than most in this scale and quality.

Oh, and in case you were wondering, those are the actual pipes in my garage. I’m thinking I shouldn’t go down there when it’s dark.

Freddy’s price tag is approximately $105. But it seems better when you realize it’s two different Freddys for the price of one.

Images: Luke Y. Thompson

Luke Y. Thompson is Nerdist’s resident toy-crazy Freddyphile, and will glady talk nightmares on Twitter @LYTrules