Fairy tales may never be the same again... now that Mezco Toyz have gotten ahold of them. Mezco's Scary Tales action figures are new interpretations of fairy tale characters.

The first series of Scary Tales consists of:

• Red - Lil' Red Riding Hood
• Wolf - the Big Bad Wolf
• Alice - Alice in Wonderland
• White Rabbit
• Mad Hatter

The packaging for Scary Tales is rather clever: a fifth panel box which looks like an old book. Open the front flap to see the figure through the window, with all of the figures pictured on the inside of the flap. The inside of the flap also gives sculptor credits (Varner Studios), while the bottom of the box gives credits for the package design (Design Edge). The back of the box gives a short description of each of the fairy tale characters upon which these Scary Tales figures are based.

The Scary Tales action figures retail in the $9.99 to $12.99 USD price range and can be found at stores such as Musicland, Suncoast, Electronics Boutique and similar stores.

Click on a picture below to see more pictures of that action figure.

The Alice action figure needs her base to stand, due to her coy pose with her left foot curled to the side. The band-aid on her left knee adds to Alice's cute innocence. She is articulated at the shoulders, waist, and mid-biceps. Alice's short blue dress is nearly-revealing and we can see enough to know that it is not as cold in Wonderland as Little Red was in the Forest. Alice's accessories include a table with a key and plate sculpted onto it. The plate can hold her cookie, although Alice can as well. She can also hold the bottle. The cookie has one bite taken from it already and appears to be chocolate chip, but the bottom is either burnt or has a fudge-coating, as it is darker than the top.

In addition to the peg for Alice to stand with, her base has small indentations for the table legs and peg holes for the doorway, which is a big mouth. (Presumably the key from the table fits the lock on the door.) If you open the door, and then pull on the trapdoor inside, the tongue flips down to reveal a starry vortex background. This background is continued on the cardboard backdrop which fits into slots on the base. The base itself gives the impression of something liquid which is melting away. (The page of Alice pictures has an animated gif at the bottom which shows the door and tongue opening to reveal the background.

Alice is also available in an African-American version, which is packed one per case of Scary Tales. The AA Alice features a purple and yellow dress, which makes her a hit with Lakers fans. Some of us here at RTM are oblivious to sports, and it was Mez himself who pointed the significance of the purple and yellow out to us; the Lakers paint deco was not planned, but rather was a happy coincidence.

The Mad Hatter, to be blunt, is one freaky-looking action figure. His articulation is limited, but his details make up for it: neck, shoulders, and wrists. His right hand has only two fingers and is holding open his long jacket, showing off the axe, knife, and syringe inside the jacket. His creepy smile lets us see his gold tooth. The Hatter's vest is sculpted to appear as if it is made from skin, with ears and noses. His little shoes are skulls. The Hatter's hat has an ace of spades tucked into the band, and when you remove the hat, you can see the rat eating into his skull.

The Mad Hatter does not have a base as the other Scary Tales figures do, but does have quite a few accessories, including a rug made from the Chesire Cat, complete with tire tracks across the Cat's back. The Hatter's chair has a peg on the seat to let him stand on the chair. Like his vest, the seat of the chair has an ear and a face sculpted onto it. The most obvious feature of the chair, however, is the edge detail of the back: eyeballs. The backside of the chair features more eyeballs and a spine.

The Mad Hatter's table is made of a vertebrae frame with skulls on the corners. Tongues from the skulls are the legs. The table top flips over: one side has a pie (with face, of course) missing one piece and pie server, and the reverse side has a single piece of pie on a plate. The pie piece has an eyeball in it, as does the cup of tea. The teacup also has an ear on it. Handily, the Hatter can use his left hand to hold either the teacup or the elephant-shaped teapot.

The White Rabbit is a bit more fierce and stressed out than we remember him from our childhood. He comes with a pocket watch (with chain) which has a peg which fits into his left hand. He has articulation at his neck, shoulders, wrist, and hips. The collar he is wearing is a separate piece which can be moved a bit on its own. (If you slide the collar over a bit, you can see that his right nipple has a ring! He also has two rings in one of his ears.) The paint detail on the Rabbit adds to his appearance: his black tail matches the tuft of hair between his ears, and each of his paw pads is pink. He's also got a spiked "dog collar" around one ankle.

The Rabbit's display base is round with a spiral pattern leading up the the door in the tree. The door opens and there are muddy paw prints leading into the doorway. Behind the door is a recess which is painted to give a sense of perspective: bright colors appear to recede into blackness. Just in case the Rabbit's fierce expression didn't set the mood, the tree has a skull in its roots and a skeleton hanging from a branch.

Mezco's ClubMez is offering an exclusive repaint of the Rabbit to club members: the new paint deco is "black light reactive" so that it looks even more psychedelic than the regular version. (RTM will take a closer look at the ClubMez Rabbit in the near future.)

While obviously an action figure of the White Rabbit should put one in mind of Jefferson Airplane's hit song White Rabbit, what ran though the RTM Toy Test Lab Monkey's mind when opening the White Rabbit's door were the organ sounds of Ray Manzarek and images of Lara Croft and Mr. Blonde.

This may require a bit of explanation: the song White Rabbit has two meanings, one about Alice in Wonderland and one about psychoactive experiences. Aldous Huxley's The Doors of Perception was partially a recounting of his experience on mescalin.

Ray Manzarek played keyboards in the Doors. Jim Morrison named the Doors after Huxley's The Doors of Perception, which in turn was named after a passage in William Blake's The Marriage of Heaven and Hell. Another well-known Blake quote helped Angelina Jolie (as Lara Croft) solve a mystery in the film Tomb Raider. Michael Madsen, the actor who played Mr. Blonde in Reservoir Dogs, was also in the 1991 Oliver Stone movie about the Doors.

Was that too fast? A few more notes:

• The band Starship was once known as Jefferson Starship. Prior to that they were Jefferson Airplane. Lyrics to White Rabbit.
• William Blake in The Marriage of Heaven and Hell: "If the doors of perception were cleansed everything would appear to man as it is, infinite."
• The Blake quote in Tomb Raider is from "Auguries of Innocence": "To see a world in a grain of sand, And heaven in a wild flower. Hold infinity in the palm of your hand, And eternity in an hour."
• Online text of the Doors of Perception. Huxley also wrote Brave New World.

Whew. Nevermind all that. You came here for action figures, not history lessons. Click the links below to see pictures of Alice, the White Rabbit, and the Mad Hatter.