MUMMY

I never been a big fan of Diamond Select figures. They somehow get pricy pretty fast but the quality have a lot of ups and downs. They Monster collections have some pretty horrible fgures to show, with dull articulation and a terrible sculpt that dosnt looks at all like the monsters. But some other times they get lucky and manage to produce a really outstanding figure.

One of them was The Creature from the Black Lagoon, a figure with a terrible sculpt but with an amazing looking display with an extra character as “accesory”. Another figure that in my opinion was outstaning was the Mummy; Imhotep.

For a long time i saw this figure a couple of times but finally i get it at a very cheap price for a special edition (Select Edition is called i think).

Interpretated by Boris Karloff, this is one of the very rare situations in wich Diamond manage to produce a sculpt that actually looks like the actor. The shape of his face and nose, the head tilting to one side, this is extremelly close to the best scene on the whole movie: the awakenig of the mummy into the land of the living.

The whole body shape is also pretty realistic and standar for a character like this, Boris Karloff wasnt a muscular man. The figure has not a single articulations and is forever fixed on a “sleeping” pose, but the good news is he can stand on his own perfectly!!!

The paintwork is really good and help to accentuate the face features and the deep carved wrinkles with some agging colors like gray and some yellows. Some black shadows are a little strange looking, but theres  a division of color between skin (grey) and bandages (yelowish) yet the transition is soft and natural.

As an accesory, he comes with his sarcophagus. A trally big and HEAVY piece of plastic where Imhotep can fit perfectly. The lid dosnt close neatlly, but the two pieces of the sarcophagus can stand on theyr own as well.

The sculpt and paint on the tomb is really amazing, with pretty defined atntion to details and vibrant colors that make the lid looks like gold and a stony texture and colors in the back side of the sarcophagus, with cracks and dirtynes everywhere, the item looks strangelly ancient and old and yet pretty elegant and opulent.

Together, mummy and sacrophagus, makes out an amazing display that manages to be unsetting and colorfull and with the rigth shadws, they form a very “photorealistic” image that looks like a screen of the movie in 3D.

Later on, Diamond Select released an updated version of the character with an elaborate display base and fully articulated. I really want to get that one as well but aside of that i am happy with this version and my Gillman with Kay Parker. This action figure (mini statue) looks extremelly cool even standing alone.