CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON

 While many movies manage to get succes and recognition in the box office and with public, VERY FEW manage to be relevant and influential for 60-90 years like the original horror cycle from Universal did by building a universe that flourished around gothic horror and burn itself on the memories of many generations; Dracula, the Monster of Frankenstein and his Bride, the Phantom of the Opera have been present in one way or another for close to 100 years and they been very present on toys as well.

The amount of toys based on the Universal Monsters is really astonishing, tough it wasnt untill 1999 when Sideshow created figures 100% accurate to the characters and with the higest quality in action figure form, 12" figures and premium format statues. I been in love of this serires for a long time already and almost - almost - completed with one exception: The Creature From the Black Lagoon is like the jewel of the crown, not only is super rare, but its ultra expensive too and escape from my hands 3 times already.

To be honest i was ready to give up on getting him until a few months ago, when Mondo released theyr own version of the Creature in 12" scale. Sadly, it seems this is a stand alone release and i was skeptical, i had my doubts....was this a good substitute to the Sideshow Creature? I finally give up and got him tough he is now one of the most expensive pieces in my collection, this guy wasnt cheap at all but the quality is astonishing.

First of all, is limited to 2400 pieces around the world and this is number 63 (that explains the crazy price a little bit ) and the box itself is a piece of art. Is thick, sturdy, full of green tones and with a beautifull and amazing painting on the cover of the Creature coming out from the water with the title on the back, painted by the amazing artists Jason Edmiston . Every single detail, even the title, ooze 50s horror aesthetic with a black and white shot of the swamp inside the box and the figure surrounded by an old cinema teather display. The Sideshow version had the original poster of the movie with the credits on the inside, i loved that box style, but i love this one too, is very different but extremelly classy and consistent with the character.

The Creature is huge, 12" 1/2 actually but he was extremelly tall on the movie was well and towered over Julie Adams soo the scale is perfect. He can stand on his own perfectly with those two huge feet but the articulations are also strong enough to keep with his weigth.

The sculpt, by Mathew Black,  is just perfect. I think you cant have a more perfect recreation of the character than this: the shape of his head, position of his eyes, wrinkles around his face, the gills, the mouth size and shape,  they nailed everything including every single scale on his body divided in different plates. Every scale follow a pattern soo theres a natural flow on them, like the body of a real reptile, there is a didference of size and chape depedning on the place of the plate and scale.

He is articuated on the neck, whoulders, elbows, wrists, chest, stomach, waist, legs, knes and ankles, every section have a ball joint and an amazing engineering (by Tommy Hodges)  build in exclusive for the Creature: each articulation is perfectly hidden by the plates and scales while keeping the freedom of movement. He have an extra soft plastic piece under the head to hide completelly the neck articulation and the same happends on the ankles and elbows. In the eblbows the plate surroinding them is made with soft plastic and can be rotated around the arm to hide the ball joint from every angle.

The Sideshow version had an articulated skeleton with a rubber suit on top soo the articulations are totally invisible, but the rubber suit dint let him bend his elbows and knes too much. Wath Mondo did here is totally different, noo suit at all but managed to maximize both movement and aesthetic.

The paint is amazing too, made by Anthony Mestas, Mike Pflaumer and Hector Arce. Instead of doing the radioactive green with yellow stomach and red lips way, they decided to give it a much more natural look. A soft green to camouflage with nature, or should i say, soft greens since there is a lot of different tones in here, darker green in every single crevise and around every scale, wish is not small feat since there is a lot of scales in here and no sloppynes or mistakes with the paint.

The lips have a soft pink but my favorite part are the eyes. The eyes are golden and have this...viscuos appearance only eye fish have, they even reflect light.

He have more accesoryes than the Sideshow version tough compared to other figures he is lacking, i mean, theres not a whole lot of items to add here since he dosnt use any instrument in the movie. He comes of course with the fossil hand that ignites the entire movie, seiding the scientific group to scout the Black Lagoon in search of more bones. The hand is really pretty, have a sharp sculpt and the paint make it looks like bone.

His other accesry is a screaming face, with an open mouth you can see his tongue and is perfect for an attack pose, tough not much different beyond that, the Creature is not specially expressive. He also comes with a third underwater head: Waths the diffeence? The gills on the neck are cosed as well as his eyes and this have an explanation: when underwater, the actor used googles under the Creature mask and they can be seen briefelly in some scenes. Is really outstanding how Mondo pay attention to such detail.

The other accesorys are swiming hands and swiminf feet. The hands have his fingers slightly open soo the cups his hand forms are bigger. The feet are sculpted like flippers, flowing with wather and titled back for an aerodynamic position and of course, is imposible for him to stand with this feet, tough just like the hands and heads, is pretty easy to swap them.

Lastly there is a base. The base have a pretty weird shape and is just baclk, with a post and a metteral rod that enter in between the Creature´s legs. Not only the base is unnecesary, but it clash with the Creature look and looks out of place, its simplicity betrays the rest of the package. Why not give him a diorama with plants or rocks? Also, under the base there this strange carving with a big "M", i asume this is Mondo´s signature, but why carving itunder the base where no one will see it?

Also, the swiming feet, hands and head....the base dosnt help anything for any swimig position at all, i managed to balance the creature on the metal rod but is evident this will not last. Why make a "swiming" figure without a stand for him???

Aside of some small issues, like the ugly base and the fact his legs cannot move backwards thanks to the fins on the back, this figure is really perfect. The quality is really really high even on its packaging and still, is soo different to the Sideshow version i am not sure is fair to call this a replacement of that first figure, but he deffinelty looks perfect with the rest of the Monsters and other modern figures like Hot Toys or Three Zero.

I am very happy toy companys are still working with thsi characters even after such a long time and specially, with Halloween soo close. I just wish Mondo take the lisence again.