MASK OF THE RED DEATH

When i started collecting the Sideshow figures of the Universal Monsters years ago i just wanted the main characters of the movie, i wasnt interested on secondary versions like the Frankenstein monster from "The Son of Frankenstein" or Rendfield from "Dracula". Tough the most elusive figure that i hasnt been able to get thanks to its high price is the Creature from the Black Lagoon, another figure i saw imposible to reach was the Mask of the Red Death version of The Phantom of the Opera.

Is the Phantom with a different costume, but its such a good looking figure i really wanted him on my display and just last month, just in time for Halloween, i was able to get him. He was....expensive, really expensive, morethan the Bride or the Mummy, this is really the third more expensive figure i have on my collection.

The box is on really good condition, with one of the posters used 90 years ago to advertise the movie, with "The Phantom interrupts the masked ball on the grand staircase" legend on it and beautifull and elegant art from the 20s, the box looks as fantastic on the shelves as the figure itself.

The figure have the same sculpt of Oluf W. Hartvigson the basic Pahntom figure have, with the same mad and wicked smile and ghostly eyes but since i have the basic Phantom in "Silver Screen Edition", the paint is totally new for me. I love the black and white aproach but the yellow and sick looking skin and dark eye bags really help brnging this monster to life. Both the details on the realistic eyes and teeth are trully fantastic.

He is fully articulated and his costume dosnt block any joint at all soo he have totaly freedom of movement. He is the same size as the other monsters and can stand on his own, tough the weigth of his costume make him lose balance at times. To counter that he comes with a small base with a bricks design. The base have a peg that inserts on the Phantom feet but it dosnt help stand at all.

His costume consist on very shiny mesh pants and shirt with pointy sculpted boots, fluffy shorts and a cover shirt with buttons on front and the long sleeves, everything on a fantastic brigth red. The costume can be totally removed in theory but theres no point on doing it since it dosnt get in the way of the movement.

He also have a red long cape that goes around his torso and with the help of buttons, it wraps around his shoulder and hangs magnificently around his body. The procces to put this cape is easy, tough it gives a very complex look to his entire costume and gives it a huge sence of drama.

He also have a big black plastic hat with the end of a red bandana glued on one of the sides and a big red feather hanging in the other side. The hat is heavy and it actually dosnt fit on the Phantom´s head and keeps falling over but once in balance it looks perfect.

His other accesorys are his mask, sculpted by Jared Chapman and his cane. The mask have a fantastic sculpt with an impresive texture, level of detail and yelowish paint that makes it looks like made with bones. The crazy smile and empty look on his eyes is fantastic and it fits perfectly on the Phantom´s face (unlike the hat) and the cane, black with a snake wraping around and biting a skull on the top is also really creppy and 100% faithfull to the on screen cane.

Aside of the little detail of the lose hat and the fact his base dosnt work (easy to fix with another base) this figure is really perfect and looks amazing on any kind of horror, film or gothic display, no matter wath you collect, he looks great and is probablly one of the best dressed figures i ever seen. And i really do love that his scene on the film is actually the only section filmed in color, wich makes the red tones of this figure even more relevant.

This is an expensive figure and it actually does looks expensive, like a bloody red jewell, and shine a lot in between all the other Universal Monsters.