The Nightmare Before Christmas Mayor's Car

       

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Made By:
Disney (Gainmax)
Scale:
1/22
MSRP:
$29.99
Overview:
Packaging (Design):7/10
Packaging (Durability):4/10
Casting (Body):8/10
Casting (Interior):6/10
Casting (Chassis):N/A
Casting (Engine):N/A
Paint (Exterior):N/A
Paint (Interior):N/A
Paint (Trim/Graphics):7/10
Overall Panel Fit:9/10
Total Score:6.8/10

 
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The Nightmare Before Christmas Mayor's Car
The Nightmare Before Christmas Mayor's Car Certificate of Authenticity The Nightmare Before Christmas Mayor's Car megaphone horn detail The Nightmare Before Christmas Mayor's Car roof detail The Nightmare Before Christmas Mayor's Car Mayor figure The Nightmare Before Christmas Mayor's Car headlights The Nightmare Before Christmas Mayor's Car rear

 
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Background

While not directed by Tim Burton, The Nightmare Before Christmas very much follows his aesthetic from the characters to the buildings, and even the Mayor's car. With its cartoonishly exaggerated lines, vintage scrollwork, and sandworm-striped bullhorn, it would be right at home in Beetlejuice or The Corpse Bride and is as much a part of Halloween Town as the graveyard or Jack's house.

 

Packaging

There are two packaging variants available: an open box with the car on display, and this fully enclosed box. At first blush it seems like this would be the better choice, since the car is protected from damage by people or shelf wear. Unfortunately, the box itself is the problem. It measures just 9¼" (235mm) x 6¼" (160mm) x 4" (105mm), which is simply not big enough for the car and its remote. As a result, the soft vinyl megaphone horn and roof filigree are pushed up against the inside of the box and hence badly deformed.

The box looks pretty good: the front panel has a large photo of the car, an image of Jack Skellington, and the movie title logo, car name, and the age restriction/warning; each end flap has the movie title and a large picture of either Sally or Oogie Boogie; the back panel is another photo of the car with its remote in a green waving checkerboard "window," the movie title, a callout for this being an RC car, and an image of Jack, Sally, and Zero around a single gravestone. The legal information and battery installation info is on the bottom panel, and the top panel is simply the movie title. Everything is set against a plain black background, and is generally clean and attractive work. But looking good isn't enough, and by crushing the very contents its supposed to protect it fails rather spectacularly.

 

Casting/Paint

As is usually the case for radio-controlled vehicles, the car is made entirely of plastic. The main body is assembled from three or four pieces of tough black ABS with outstanding fit and some excellent engraved detail including quilting, scrolls, and swirls. The front bumper/grille/headlight bezels and wheels are cast in gray ABS, and the hood ornament, megaphone horn, and roof filigree are cast in a softer vinyl that's just a touch more silver than the gray ABS. The tires are a barely-there skim of black vinyl over the wheels, but look pretty good thanks to a detailed tread pattern and the car's low stance hiding the hollow wheel backs. Translucent yellow plastic is used for the headlight lenses and rear lanterns. The only paint apps are yellow for the taillights and a reddish brown for the curtains in the side and rear windows. Coverage is...OK. Not great. If this was a more pristine car it would look worse, but given the funky design it doesn't look as bad as it could. The chassis is just big enough for the battery box, switch, and steering adjustment control, so there's no much in the way of other detail.

The interior, such as it is, is a flat tray just below the window sills and a vertical rear panel with a cast-in single seat and a dimple for the horizontal slot just above it. The megaphone tube goes straight down from the underside of the horn base to the tray, and is cast in the same soft gray vinyl as the horn. The top half of the Mayor is a separate assembly of three pieces, with his hands near (but not quite grasping) the separate steering wheel. He's very much a "close enough" kind of figure - the shapes, colors, and details aren't quite right, but not so far off that he looks completely off-model. Things like how the back of his head is just a blank gray panel rather than his second face, his eyes are the wrong colors, or his jacket is the wrong shape.

 

Features/Accessories

This is supposed to be a full-function RC vehicle, but mine doesn't do anything other than have the headlights light up. The rear lanterns look like they ought to light up, but they don't.

 

Accuracy

You're not going to be confused about what this is, but there's also a lot of room for improvement. First up, it's too stubby: the Mayor's car had a huge rear overhang, while this is much too short. The scrollwork on the body is nicely done, but wasn't there on the prop. The color is straight black, while it should be more of a dark ash gray. The megaphone is solid gray instead of striped. The curtains are brown instead of dark red. As for scaling...the website I bought it from listed it as 1/24 scale but the box itself says 1/22...though given the subject, there's some room for interpretation. It measures about 9" (22cm) long, 3¾" (9.5cm) wide, and 5¾" (14.5cm) high. You can add another quarter inch (.5cm) if the horn wasn't squashed.

 

Overall

Well, they can't all be winners.

 

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