MUMMY

The Mummy, one of the most popular and exotic monster as well as the most ancient evil in the Universal Monster´s lore as well as one of the most difficult to handle (not even Universal knows wath to do with this creature new days...) was portrayed by Boris Karloff in 1932 in one of the most mystic and hypnotic movies from that era. Imhotep even managed to attract audience 70 years later thanks to the great remake of its movie (even if it was more a comedy than a horror film).

Sideshow did two versions of the character; one as a mummy - Imhotep, and another one in his more "younger" and almost normal look as Ardeth Bay. They did a great job with Ardeth Bey but i was much more interesting on his "monster" form even if it only appeares on screen for a few seconds. I tough it was going to be more difficult to get this version of the character but i managed to get him in mint condition (tough it wasnt cheap), sealed with his box in perfect state sporting the awesome movie poster.

He is as tall as the rest of the monsters with the same set of articulations on the neck, shoulders, biceps, elbows... tough unlike the rest of the collection he cant stand on his hown at all. Sadlly, Sideshow didnt give him a base soo i had to use one of my own for this shambling character.

The portrait was sculpted by Matt Falls and he did an awesome job handling Boris Karloff likeness and mixing it with the texture and details of the Imhotep make up. The many wrinkles have a deep carving and the grey tones make it looks like a dry almost carboard flesh, the mark on the nose, the deep blue sad eyes, all details are spectacular and makes it looks like a reanimated corpse.

The hands also sports the same level of sculpt and painting, with the bettle ring - source of his power, and a rich grey texture.

His body is covered in bandages, but very different bandages of those like the Bride. The Bride´s bandages are totally white and new, but Imhotep bandages are yellow and extremelly old looking. I love how Sideshow think on this tiny details. The possition of the bandages is actually the same as in the movie and even the lose bandage on his rigth arm and left foot are present.

Sadlly, as good looking as this figure is, the bandages are wraped around his body extremelly tigth wich blocks entirelly the articulations. Thats rigth, this totally articulated figure is actually a statue since he only can move his head and wrists and just a little bit of his shoulders. Also his arms are positioned in an odd angle but they cant be fixed, soo is very tricky to to display him since most of the time he looks.....unconfortable.

His accesorys consist on an exact replica of the ark found on Imhotep´s tomb, with golden writing and Thoth scupting on the sides. The lid can be opened and inside it can store the other accesory: the Scroll of Thoth that needs to be read to bring Imhotep back to life. The scroll is a piece of yellow paper with gerogriphics and art printed on it.

This piece of paper is trully good looking and it also incude a little black ribbon to rollit and store it inside the ark.

Overall, this figure is really REALLY good looking and beautifully crafted BUT his lack of movility is odd and awkard and really clash with the kind of figure it is. The point of the Sideshow figures is how real and life like look but is pretty difficult to display this great monster with such limited movility.

BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN

This one was the most expensive figure of the collection but when i saw her, i knew i had to get her and she was pretty worth they money spent. The Bride of Frankesntein stands out a lot in the old movies since she was the only female monster to have her own movie and the only good sequel of the Monster movies. She only appeare for a few minutes in the entire movie but Elsa Lanchester screen time was incrediblly memorable and hypnotic.

Sideshows did a great job again with her box, printin a big version of the original poster of the movie on the front, adding beautifull black and withe stills on the back and adding the entire cast and credits in the inside flap. I can have thecoldnes to store this boxes, i cant stop looking at them!

Like the other monsters, shes pretty big but, gladlly, shes still smaller to the Frankenstein monster!!! I am glad they did that since most companies do male and female figures the same size (like Hot Toys). Her articulations work wonderfully, with a ball jointed neck that have a lot of fredoom. She cant stand on her own thanks to her small feet but they give her a big base that works pretty good (unlike the Frankenstein monster useless stone base).

Now i was actually expecting to not have a body at all, or have a generic doll body under her dress, but with the high price, Sideshows was proffesional enough to do her un full detail. By saying this i mean, under her dress, shes totally covered on bandages!!! And this is not an outfit at all, those are totally separate and independent badages made of very high quality frabric, each one of them wrapping around her body perfectly. This not only looks great, but let her move with total fredoom. I dont want to think how much they take them to wrap every single of this figures with all those bandages…

Aside of the bandages she have her long long dress. And is pretty long and impressive to the poitn that reminds me a wedding dress. This is pretty much the most teatrical and awe inspiring outfit of all the monster figures.

Shes pretty low on the accesoryes department: She comes with her own heart, all bloody and detailed, coming from the chest of  amurdered woman (its pretty neat that the Monster comes with his bran and his bride comes with her heart) and a machine used by the Dr. Frankesntein to give electric impulses to the heart. Ass perfectlly done as this accesoryes are, they are not meant to be hold by the bride.

Now the sculp, and here is the tricky part. I had a hard time figuring out this sculpt; i wasnt sure if she was pretty or not or if shes Elsa Lanchester or not. Now i know, this is deffinetly Elsa Lanchester, but whoever did the sculpt (it wasnt Oluf W. Hartvigson) based his entire work on one single promotional picture of Elsa Lanchester looking directly at the front. This figure looks exactly like that photo, but when you look at hr from another angle, she dosnt looks too much like Elsa anymore. Herlips and jawline are too strong and almost looks manly.

Is pretty strange that this is the most human and simple character and yet they didnt do her as good as the rest of the monsters. She have all the scars shes supposed to have and her hair is pretty good looking, the withe strips on her hair are actually sculpted and the paint dosnt have any slops at all. I only wish her hair was more square looking at the end to make her look like Nefertiti.

Even if she dosnt looks 100% like Elsa Lanchester, the quality of this toy is pretty high and i was impressed by both the details on her dress and the impact of her design. Is pretty obvious shes the only woman of the group since she shines a lot between all the other monsters and screams for attention.

FRANKENSTEIN

Back in my childhood, when all kids where pretty excited about Spiderman or the Power Rangers and admired theyr power and theyr coolnes, i felt exactly the same admiration and excitment about Dracula, Frankesntein Monster, the Mummy, the Wolfman and the Creature from the Black Lagoon. I dont know if it was unnusual but the Monsters were my favorite characters and of course i had lots of books and small toys about them.

I didnt pay attention to them since i turned gamer and otaku soo i didnt notice about this good looking figures Sideshows made years ago. And to be honest, i still like them a lot since they embody all that is macabre and nostalgic.

The Frankestein monster was always one of the worst nightmares of my grandmother, tough i never knew why people fear of him. Even when i was kid, he didnt scare me much. Karloff acting wasnt scary or disturbing (like Max Shreck´s Nosferatu) but it was sad and tragic. I guess this is why this character was soo memorable in the horror history.

I was pretty lucky(again) to find him extremelly cheap and in mint condition. Unlike the Nosferatu, his box is a little old but in pretty good shape and i am glad, since the box is one of my favorite part. Sideshows splattered a lot of the Frankenstein movie still around it and added the cast list and credits inside the flap. This is pretty awesome since it makes it feel i am getting a piece of the movie and not just a toy. And the cover flap is the original poster used back in the 1920s for teathers.

I guess i dont have to say anything about how awesome and cool is this poster art. It trully shine as a piece of art.

Inside the box, the monster looked pretty boring but once out of it and in a clsoe look hes pretty damn good. His articulations are working perfectly and are less restricted than Nosferatu´s articulations. Also, unlike the vampyre, this monster can stand on his own (even with his tall nature) and dosnt need a base at all. Sadly, his head only can move from life to rigth and cant move up and down. This mean he can only be posed looking upward.

His outfir is extremelly simple and the colors are correct and he fabric is ligh and flexible. He comes with a totally useless base that looks like a stone floor piece and the flowers from the scene with the little Maria. Its pretty odd that such insignificant plants are responsiblle of the death of a little girl.

He also comes with the chains Fritz uses to restrain him on the cellar of the tower. This chains add a lot to the monster´s simple look and add a big dramatic effect. The other accesory is the Disfunctio Cerebri or Abnormal Brain wich comes inside a crystal jar with a pretty cool and vintage sticker. The brain can be taken out and is pretty realistic and detailed.

The sculpt is made by Oluf W. Hartvigson and is as good as the Nosferatu one. The texture on the skin and colors are much more clean and simple than Nosferatu sculpt and the hands are sculpted in a pretty dramatic style. My favorite part is how the tips of the fingers are painted in a darker green soo they looks like they are rotting, and the eyes as well, they are yellow and red and they looks like they are looking at the emptyness. Thats a great touch and fits pretty nicelly for a creature that has never been alive.

This is a great figure and i think is the best one of this character after the obsenelly expensive Premium Format statue.

DRACULA

Soo, i was full of doubts over this one, but in the end i get Dracula from the Sideshows 12″ series.

While the figures is in perfect condition, the box really shows this is pretty old collectible. It was repaired and i am keeping it gladlly, i love that awesome Dracula poster replica in the cover. Liek the rest of the series, the box is full of stills of the film and the credits inside the flap.

Now the figures. Its pretty good looking. Articulations are working pretty good and his white-tie and tails es nicelly detailed. The vest, the medallion, the white shirt underneat and the cape are pretty cool. Specially the cape since is made with high quality material and allows a lot of dramatical poses without making him lose balance.

His face is a really neat sculp of Lugosi but i really think they could use another face expression. While the pale color with the redish cheeks and forehead are close to the source material (like the poster), those elements combined with that smile of him makes him ooks kinda silly.

I would have expected him to looks evil, fierce or menacing but he is actually a little friendlly looking.

This is why i wasnt sure about him…is not Sideshows fault, but the original design of the character. Along side Nosferatu, the Monster and his bride, the Wolfman and the Phantom of the Opera; Dracula looks pretty boring and human looking…

But thats the nature of the character, soo it cant be helped. Sideshows did a great job detailing his entire costume and face (i love those wrinkles under his eyes and the metalic chain on his vest).

Where Sideshows lets us see a lot of lazynes is on the accesoryes. I think this are the worst from all the figures. He comes with the useless stone base, a couple of rats and a vampire bat. The rats are rescycled from Nosferatu and i cant belvie they didnt were able to sculpt new ones! And the bat is the saddest thing since the poor thing have no base to fly around Dracula and cant stand on his own either, soo hes doomed to stay on the floor like some kind of awkard plane that just crashed.

As boring as he looks, hes sctill a mythical icon, not only as a character, but his design is also as classic as the book inspired this movie. This is the last of my collection tough, since the Mummy and the Creature from the Black Lagoon are EXPENSIVE beyond any logic.

PHANTOM OF THE OPERA

Last week i saw two Phantom of the Opera movies on TV. Once was the 1989 version with Robert Englund as the Phantom and the other one was the 2000´s version with Gerard Butler. The first one was half close to the original story but had a terriblly odd and useless section in the modern world.

The later one scared me to no end. As much as i love Gerard Butler, seeing him as a hunky phantom, singing the Phantom Theme full of synthesizer with an 80s vibe, while flaming candlles comes out from UNDER water was terriblly disturbing. The only thing worst than stand that movie is the fact that it have many many fans who get surprised when they find out theres a Phantom of the Opera book.

Theres soo many movies of Gaston Leroux, and not even with modern technology, they been able to surpass the very first one made by universal. Lon Chaney design and acting as the phantom has been the closest to the book, creating horror and disgust as well as sympathy and sadnes for him: a horror that lurks behind the curtain of the most normal and pretty place in Paris. A horror born out of the need of love and affection.

Choose this guy was easy. I have no doubt to get it (unlike Dracula). Tough hes not the regular version but the “special edition”. It seems hes more limited than the standar version and that makes the box different. No poster as the cover but a Lon Chaney picture in high res as well as the tittle of the movie in silverish embroid. The rest of the box is still the same as the others, with the cast and credits inside the flap.

This “Silver Screen Edition” is monochrome and unlike other “repaint variants” from other figures, this one makes sence since this is the way we all see his characters, just black and white. He dosnt have too much colors to begin with tough, just the head, hands and bowtie are the colored parts.

The Phantom articulations works great and his clothes are lose enough to not limit them. Giving the crazy and theatrical nature of this character, hes pretty fun to play with and looks great on almost any pose. His outfit is also the most elegant out of all the monsters, with a smoking and a pretty cool cape with holes for his hands. My only complaing is that his cape sometiems makes him fall and the base dosnt help too much.

He comes with the useless stone base (tough he dosnt have any problem standing without it) and his hat and mask. The hat is a little big soo is designed to be used along his mask. The mask….i dunno wath to think about it, is like a doll face, is both silly and scary at the same time and the  jaw part is made with fabric.

He also comes with a violin and a bow. The Violin is pretty amazing on its own, with all detailds perfectly crafted and painted (even if its all grey) perfecty, it even have real strings!!! One pretty amazing detail in here are the hands of the Phantom, they are sculpted in such a way that they can be posed on a pasive way or in a dramatic pose and works pretty well, they also can hold the violin and the bow perfectly. Modern toys needs 1487598715 hands in theyr package to achive this and sometimes they dont even cant hold theyr accesoryes. This is a pretty high scroe for Oluf W. Hartvigson.

The sculp is pretty impresive in the head as well, with the deep and sickening eyes and the contorted smile and nose, even in black and white, theres a lot of deep and personality in here. Also, just like Nosferatu, this guy is making eye contact with the viewer and that makes him incrediblly disturbing. Its amazing how Lon Chaney designed this character soo perfectly, his face is not that “deformed” and yet he looks incrediblly evil and inhuman.

This was one of my favorite Sideshows toys and is one of the most spectacular as well. Even Dracula looks pretty boring and normal comapred to this Phantom. The only thing that could top this figure is the Death of the Red Mask Phantom version. Someday i hope i could get him, its really worth the high price.

NOSFERATU

I have high respect for the origins of horror and nightmares in the movie industry (in books as well and gamestoo of course) even if they are pretty “boring” or “old fashioned”. One seed of the genesis of horror in the cinema industry was F.W.Murnau´s movie Nosferatu - Eine Symphonie Des Grauens (Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror).

When i was a kid i remember all people around me talked about this movie as one of the most creppy and scary ever done and once i saw it i wasnt dissapointed. The movie is literally flooding with iconic and epic scenes, from the castle un ruins being seen by Hutter in the middle of twilight to the vampyre shadow walking up the stairs. While Willem Dafoe wasnt able to stand tall as the count Dracula (or Orlock) and Klaus Kinski did a descent job on the role, non of them could match Max Shreck ghostly and disturbing portrayal of the vampyre.

This is my first Sideshow figure and i was extremelly lucky to find him in  apretty low prize condiering how rare and limited he is. Sadly, his box was in pretty bad shape soo i wasnt able to keep it but the figure is not damaged at all.

This guy is pretty big, 12″. Hes taller than the Hot Toys figures and much bigger than the Play Arts Kai. He is fully articulated and have a wide range of movements (with the logic limits of his costume) soo no complaing there. One interesting thign is that he had a rubber band thing molded around his torso, soo he cant stand tall, hes hunched over thanks to this rubber and considered the look of Shreck on the film i have no complaing bout it.

His costume is pretty simple and match perfectly his look on the film. His coat is actually made of thick and furry fabric wich is pretty logic considering the weather of the Rumanian mountains i guess. The coat is red too….wich kind of puzzles me since i always expect it to be black or grey, but the movie is black and withe soo maybe it was actually this red? I need to check that out.

The sculpt is made by Philip Ramirez and is pretty damn good. The hairy eyebrows, the deformed teeth, the big nose: everything is in line perfectly with Shreck as well as the dramatic claws. The skin tone is pretty sickly as well wich match perfectly.

He comes with his hat (made of plastic, thanks good. One made of fabric would looks silly) and some keys. This keys puzzled me but i saw the movie again and the Count actually have them on his hands when Hutter arrives to his castle. One neat aspect of this version of Dracula is how he is calledLord of the Rats as well. He is followed by plagues and sicknes and this includes rats and this figure actually adds some rats to the mix as well.

My only complaing is that giving his design (big head, thing legs and small feet) he cant stand for too long soo i had to use an spare Play Arts Kai base. Aside of that this is one impresive figure. An unique and classic take on Dracula and the vampires overall and one iconic figure for both the cinematic history and the horror history as well.

BRIE BOY, PIN CUSHION QUEEN & STARING GIRL

And this is the last series of Tim Burton´s Tragic Toys for Girls and Boys i got thos christmas. I know i am missing Stick Boy and Match Girl and Voodoo Girl but those are too rare and expensive and i am really happy to have the most of this series. This characters really stand out on the shelf.

The first character here is the Pin Cushion Queen. She is the biggest of them all thanks to her chair and deffinetly, she is my favorite. She is ghostly and colorfull enough thanks to all those pins covering her and her chair have this “melty” texture that makes her looks like a candy on top of some cake. The details are nice and intrincate, with each stitch both sculpted and painted and she even comes with a base for consistency.

Then is the Brie Boy. He is a chese… and his body have a pose with good movement, thiny legs and a HUGE head. I am afraid to broke him but his head have the most detail in here with an odd and melty texture and paint.

His base is a wooden floor, like Pin Cushion and Penguin Boy, and yet, the wooden looks totally different to those characters. I love how all this kids have a unique base.

Next is the Staring Girl. While her body and hair have a really good sculpt and paint, i am not sure i like too much the bagds under her eyes. They are sculpted but i wish they looked more like Toxic Boy eyes instead of having this odd purple strips. I think she is my least favorite of the team just because she is the most “normal” looking.

I have to point something, all this figures have a really sloppy and messy paint. Thats pretty evident on Brie Boy shirt, all the strips looks like painted by a kid. But i really dont mind…the paint on all this characters is messy just like Tim Burton´s water colors and it helps to give them an extra texture of a 3D painting coming to life.

I am going to store them in theys boxes since i am afraid to broke the tiny legs of all this kids but i am loving each one of them. They reminds me while i fall in love of Tim Burton when i was a kid.