QUEEN FACE HUGGER

In 2017 i was extremelly hyped with NECA´s new version of the original Kenner toys from Alien. This serires redesigned the old characters with modern quality (and prize) and even reproduce the blister Alien toys had in 1992 to match the nostalgic magic. One of the figures i was extremelly doubtfull with was the Queen Face Hugger but i finally ended getting it.

Why my doubts about this figure? This creature was one of my favorite Alien toys from my childhood, it was such a unique "Alien" but this version of NECA is just.....tiny, small and is full priced as a whole figure. The blister is actually quiet light as well.

The figure itself is actually pretty good looking tough, colored in a vibrant scarlet with black tones, this is like the heavy metal version of the normal Face Hugger, a creature that is already really disturbing and scary by itself (since its basically a vagina with fingers), the idea to meet one of this things that is five times bigger is terrifiying.

Two extra legs/pincer in front and a transparent membrane between the legs/fingers give it a really spectacular look tough this figure is not very articulated at all, really ironic for a creature with this many legs. The legs have a ball joint as well as the front claws and his tail is bendable and thats it, the legs can rotate and move a round a little but and move the front claws is really useles.

By moving the legs here and there you can create the illusion that the thing is walking around like a spider, but thats all the poseability you will get from it. Also, his tail is too heavy and his legs are too thin, soo the creature obviouslly constantly fall´s back. It kind of looks like its about to leap but is really imposible to give it a standing pose.

The way to fix this is by using the heavy tail again, use it like an extra leg in the back and all the other legs fall in place and the creature stand abouve the ground in a very ghastly way but sadly, the tail end´s being hidden.

Now the original Kenner version actually had a mouth in front with an extendible jaw just like any Xenomorph but NECA removed this feature completelly and i dont know wath to think about it. This creature surelly looks more realistic and discrete without the mouth, but i was expecting NECA to go more extreme with this designs, like theye did with Mantis and Snake.

Compared with all the other Xenomorph, this thing is nothing but a tiny spider that can be squased by them by accident. Compared to human figures, this Queen Face Hugger is really as big as a human torso, soo in fact is in the same scale the Kenner version had soo no complaing in there, just the price....asking full price as a bigger hulkier Xenomorph really hurts the view over this creature, as good looking as it is, this thing should be an accesory included with the Scorpion or Snake Alien.

As an accesory, he have a "Beta Queen Face Hugger", a much more smaller version of the monster with exactly the same quality but without articulations, only the bendable tail. This can raise a lot of biological question like "does this things grow bigger after they come out of theyr egg?" or "they reproduce somehow and create smaller breeds?".

But the truth is, NECA wanted this little guy to act as a Royal Face Hugger, a deleted creature from Alien 3. The popular deleted scene consist on a guy holding a dead Rotal Face Hugger (the one infected Ripley) with one of his hands. This Beta version matches the scale for that and my guess is this is the reason why NECA deleted the mouth of the creature, they wanted to match the onscreen version more than the Kenner version.

Theyr effort was destroyed when they later release an Alien 3 accesorys set that included a Royal Face Hugger (this same figure but in brown colors), soo is a shame they only ruined the design of the Queen Face Hugger for this.

The other accesory is the mini comid from Dark Horse, a reproduction in high quality paper of the comic included in thw Kenner release, a pretty awesome touch.

I really dont know wath to think about this figure...is really good looking but is not very fun to play with and even if it have the rgth scale and comes with a baby version of itself, the Queen Face Hugger feels like a waste of money and space, more like an overpriced accesory thatn an actual action figure.

CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON

Almost a decade ago Diamond Select had the licence of the Universal Monster and i think that was the very last time any company give any attention to this characters since they release an action figures serires full with ups and downs, Mego style retro dolls and mini-mates, but they also release a small collection of banks that act as bust as well.

The very first ones i got were the Bride of Frankenstein and the Wolfman but i knew the one i wanted the most: the Creature From the Black Lagoon. It wasnt easy or cheap to get him and i only saw him once but it was worth all the hard work. He is as tall as the action figures and can stand perfectly, with the slit on his back and the tiny door under him very well hidden, he seems to be in scale with the Wolfman since he is portrayed from the waist up.

Unlike the Wolfman, he is not articulated tough his pose is very similar, with claws in front triying to catch a prey in front, tough he is standing tall and not hunched and stalking. The sculpt is really really good, with a lots of details on the scales and his claws, specially his claws, with his finds in between his fingers and the kind of suction cup structures on the palm of his hands, this figure helps a lot to find out structure details of the character.

His face have the same amount of details, with open mouth and natural looking greens, his head have the rigth proportions too and looks great from a side point of view, pretty good compared with the poor first version of the Creature they did.

He is coming out from the water to give him a much more spectacular look, the water move around his lower body in a mix of soft blues and white. I wish tough this section was made with tranparent plastic to make it looks more realistic but maybe that would had been troublesome for the structure of the bank

I really dont know wich one i like the most, this one or the Wolfman, both looks really amazing and complement each other perfectly, looking more like art sculpture than bank. I was soo impresed with this pair that when i saw the Frankenstein Monster, i wasnt impresed with him, wich now i regret not getting him but anyway, this small colection would be forever incomplete anyway, since Diamond didnt release the Mummy or Dracula for some unknown reasons.

WOLFMAN

A few years ago (almost 10 by now!!) Diamond Select had the Universal Monsters licence and not only they release action figures based on the characters, but they also released retro looking dolls, mini-mates and banks. From all theyr assortment of products, the ones that picked my attention aside of the action figures were the banks. This banks had a pretty well hiden slit on the back and an even more hidden trap door under the figure but looked more like bust sculptures of the Monsters. I buy ine on a beautifull and classy library on my city a few years ago, the very first ones i got was the Bride of Frankenstein and the Wolfman. The Bride was good looking but had some very rough sculpt and paint details, the Wolfman is pretty much the opposite.

This Wolfman is STUNNING!!! From a sculp to pain, he is trully fantastic looking and looks more like a fine art sculoture than a cheap plastic bank. He is more light than the Bride and for some reason, he was sculpted from the waist up, making him in different scale to the Bride (kind of smaller looking).

Despite the inconsistency on scale, he is still as big as an action figure and for some reason he is even articulated on the arms. He is the only articulated bank and moving his arms dosnt help too much aside of helping him stand, since if you pose his claws in front, he tends to lose balance, something that can be fixed by placing a small object under his front side because he looks great with his claws in front!!

The sculpt on his claws is really good, with the thick fingernails and hands posed like he is stalking his prey in front of him, looks pretty classic for a Monster. His shirt is made on a dark green with some dark washes to highlight the wrinkles and looks very natural and his face is pretty awesome for a Lon Chaney Jr representation.

I think both the sculpt and paint works together in a fantastic way, since the paint is very clean and have the rigth amount of dark brown to give him a natural look of shadows on fur. Each one of his fangs on his jaw are painted perfectly as well as his cute dog nose and the eyes. The eyes....those eyes...are really animal eyes, menacing and full of rage, they even painted the pink on his eyelid edge.

Unlike the Bride, he is full of expression and attitud and dosnt looks like a doll at all, this is a big surprise considering the awfull looking action figures Diamond Sleect did on this character, this little bank is in my opinion one of the best representations of the character to date.

BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN

While the action figures serires from Diamond Select was a mixed bag to the point they even had to remake some of theyr own figures, the one best one thing was how they produce not only action figures of the Monsters, but they also did retro clothed figures, mini-mates and banks. While i didnt liked too much the mini-mates line (too much details they are not even cute) and i dont have interest on the retro cloth dolls in Mego style (i dont have a Mego collection to mix them) i was surelly interested on the banks that acted as bust at the same time.

The very first one i got was the Bride of Frankenstein and she is really big and heavy, as tall as the action figures themselves, but since she is portrayed from her chest up, this make her looks masive and pops out. She can stand perfectly, tough one of her hands is pointing down soo is better to place her near a ledge on the shelve or else this hand will prevent her to rest completelly flat. Also her other arm is pointing in front, wich makes find her a rest spot a little troublesome.

This is the Bride in front of Dr. Frankenstein, heading towards him with a lost expresion. The sculpt is really good, specially on the bandages on her arms, pretty deep cut lines and the wrinkles on her dress flows perfectly. The hair is also really good looking and her face is pretty tough she is not exactly Elsa Lanchester, from the side angles she looks perfect, tough in the front is pretty obvious she is not Elsa.

Then again, she is much better looking than theyr action figure version, soo its pretty obvious they didnt get the Elsa Lanchester rigth to use her looks but this is good enough, Tough some details are very rough, like her eyes lashes that are not sculpted and just painted. One can say this kind of details dosnt matter in an action figure, but considering her face is soo huge, the lacks of details stands out a lot.

Same for the paint, its pretty clean and have different grey washes on her dress and bandafes and the white strikes on her hair looks pretty natural, but the details on her face are a little to clean i say, she looks a little....like a doll, specially on the scar on her neck, pretty unnatural. The lack of detais may bee seen as something bad, but in fact she is really good looking at a normal distance and looks fantastic on the shelve. If one ignore the slit on her back and plastic material she could be considered an scullpture.

CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON

It took me a year but i finally found the Creature from the Black Lagoon figure from Mezco. He was on the most unexpected place and at a very nice price as well considering this guy is not being produced anymore.

A year ago i got the Mummy from this same series and i was surprised how much i liked him, with his basic painting and limited articulations, he was still a pretty cool and macabre toy to display soo i was pretty hyped by the Gillman.

The Creature is really big and pretty heavy as well, he is Play Arts Kai sizeand have a pretty sharp and detailed sculpt, with the different plattes covering his skin and the scally texture both skulpted and painted. The gills on his head are specially impresive looking.

The paint is good, really basic but vibrant and effective (like the Mummy) with an intense green covering his body and yellows on his claws and softer greens on his fins. His eyes are perfectly painted even with theyr small size.

His articulations are more limited than the Mummy tough, wich is a big surprise. He can move his  chest, anklees, wrists, elbows and shoulders but the head is not articulated. Somehow he cant pull off as many poses as the Mummy can, wich is pretty odd given hes supposed to be a more action oriented character.

Thanks to his lack of articulations on his legs and the huge feet, he can stand perfectly.

This is not film accurate figure, is totally re-designed to make him looks more stylish and cartoony and the new touch of Mezco is really good. His body is lean and aerodynamic and his upper torso is big and muscly, his face features are nicelly similar to the design of the movie and my favorite details are his claws and feet. They are HUGE and totally intimidating.

This guy looks like a real predator with those razor sharp claws.

I hope at some point i can put my hands on Mezco´s version of the Frankenstein Monster since he looks pretty damn impresive as well but i hope Mezco also contine produce this line. Its been years since they started it and theres still no Dracula, Wolfman or Bride prototypes and thats pretty odd.

MUMMY

When i saw this guy i could not resist.

This was my very first Mezco figure (not that i have many) but i have to admit, the figure that made me notice them was Creature from the Black Lagoon. It looked amazing but it was incrediblly expensive! Soo when i saw this guy at half the price i had to got him.

This is Imhotep, Boris Karloff as The Mummy and unlike the other figures of him, this one is far from realistic. Hes not cartoony either, hes more “stylish” than anything, with those long and contorted limbs, big hands and feet. The head sculpt is still pretty recognizable as Karloff tough, you really need to be a specially talented scilptor to be able to handle both style in one, make an unrealistic portrait and yet make it recognizable.

He got great articulations on his neck and arms and thats it. It works good for a couple of poses but thats all. After all hes not supposed to be on ninja poses of giving a fliying kick and this very little but usefull articulation is enough to achive some very interesting poses.

I fisrt tough he was the black and withe version of the figure but hes not, hes actually colored (the golden ring on his finger).

Hes pretty big as well, as big as the MGS Play Arts Kai and taller than the rest of the PAKs and fits pretty nicelly on the shelf. They also released Frankenstein Monster and the Creature; and while i REALLY want the Creature, i am happy with this egyptian zombie and the eerie and disturbing look of his dead eyes.

CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON

I got this guy weeks ago but i forgot to upload the photos!!! This is my very first Diamond Select toy. I got the DS banks and i always drooled over the Alice Madness Returns figures but this is the first time i got one figure of this brand.

Years ago, Diamons Select released a Creature from the Black Lagoon that was lacking in many departments, the articulations and overall sculpt was weak and the paint was awfully green and yellow. The only good thing was his accesory; Julie Adams complete figure. I really wish i got that figure just for her tough…

But last year Diamond Select re-release the Gillman with an updated design. First of all, he can stand on his own perfectly and his articulations are really superior to the first version. He is fully articulated even in the biceps and thigs, wich makes him pretty flexible and dynamic. The articulations are solid and strong, tough some of them are limited thanks to the character design (like the fin on his back, it dosnt let his head move upwards) but is not too much to worry.

He is bigger than FIGMAs or MaFarlane toys but he is smallet than the PAKs soo he have the rigth size to be descent looking and have a strong presence.

The sculpt is perfect. When the creature was on land a different actor was under his skin, Ben Chapman was the actor who played the creature and he was bigger than the underwater actor, soo his suit had 3 chest plates instead of two. This figure is that detailed that its obvious this is Ben Chapman just by looking at his chest.

The claws and fet are really impresive looking and the head have the rigth shape and size. The tiny scales are perfectly sculpted too and the paint helps bring them to life.

Unlike the first version of this guy - that it was all emerald green with a brigth yellow stomach- this guy have many tones of green but all of them perfectly bleended with each other to make him looks natural. The mouth and eyes are perfectly defined by the paint too and he even looks weet thanks to a soft shinny layer of transluscent paint over his entire body.

Sadlly, no Julie Adams here. But instead we got  pretty cool and big base that consist on an underwater scene. With human remains and fishes all over the placem this base is a really terrific accesory. The paint is a little crude on the ground level, but the rest looks very nice. Special attention goes for the sea weed around the fishes that is made with transluscent plastic and looks really ethereal.

The Mezco version of this creature is incrediblly cool and huge, but is pretty stylish looking, soo if you want something creazy accurate to the movie design, this is really the best action figure of the Gillman i ever seen. And his base help to transform him into one awesome horror collectible to display.

Now i am tempted to get the other Monsters…but…i must resist…..

CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON

Last weekend was the Retro Toy Fair in my city, and while i saw many 80s toys i wanted to get, i saved my money for only one piece that i tough never to get; the Creature From the Black Lagoon from Diamond Select Toys. I was able to get a pretty good deal for him considering he was inside his blister and in good condition , i saw this guy getting pretty creazy prices online.

This is my second Diamond Select figure and the first was - of course - the Creature From the Black Lagoon Ver.2 soo now i have two Gillman by the same brand tough both are incrediblly different from each other.

This was the first version of the monster from Diamond Select tough he is the same size than the second version and thats the only similarity between the two since this guy here is really inferior. The sculpt is nice and sharp and detailed with a great scally looking skin, but the anatomy is really REALLY wrong. This Gillman have a huge head and a pretty thin arms and legs to the point he almost looks like a “kid” version of the monster.

The paint is odd as well. He have a shiny and metailic green color that looks pretty cool but dosnt looks natural at all and the yellow belly dosnt help at all.  I mean, i know the movie is black and white but i am puzzled how could they fail soo big in both the painting an anatomy. And also he is not really well articulated either, he can only move his shoulders, elbows and wrists soo theres not a lot poses to choose from.

His base is really simplistic tough is well made and have a natural sandy textures. But theres nothing more too look at here, just sand and theres no pegs for the Gillman foot.

Here is where things got better, the accesoryes, since this guy have pretty much the best (if not one of the best) accesory for any toy: a complete and  independent new figure.

His accesory is the beautifull and sexy Kay Lawrence interpretated by Julie Adams. To be honest, i got this figure only for her. She is a statue with no articulations at all eccept on her head, but the pose she is on is really spot on. The anatomy on her sculpt is terrific, from her fingernails to the muscles of her arms and legs, the details are impresive and the pain is clean and vibrant.

If she looks or not like Julie Adams depend on the point of view, but she is really beautifull considering her size and prince. The definition of her face is amazing and the detail on her bath suit is impresive too. How did Diamond manage to do a beautifull figure like this and package it with a Gillman that looks soo bad is soo bizarre.

Once all elements come together - monster, girl and base - the display gets sense and a pretty haunting and retro beauty that i really do love.

For display porpuse this figure is really brillant, tough the second version of this same Gillman is superior in every sence (base included) but the Kay figure is not only way too atractive for any Universal Monsters fan, but also workfor collectos of the glamurous pin-up girls from the 40s-50s and can be displayed on any desk of shelf beautifully.

And slowlly and steadlly i am getting drown on Gillman figures…