MUMMY

 I cant belive theres been five months since NECA released theyr Ultimate Frankenstein Monster. On that period Jada Toys came and released four Monsters already. Is not like NECA didnt do anything tough, since it launched Gargoyles and American Werewolf in London among other stuff, but the WolfMan had to be out months ago and theres no sign of him. But finally, after a long wait another Universal Monster arrives, tough is not the Wolf but The Mummy.

We are at the 90 anniversary of The Mummy soo the moment is perfect. That movie put to the test Boris Karloff acting skills and he creates the most subtle monster, the high priest Imhotep, who can convey a sense of power and menace just with a look at his terrifiying eyes just before unleashing his misteryous and unknown mental powers over the living. NECA´s version of the character really live up to the silver screen version.

Imhotep is surprisinglly much smaller than Frankenstein Monster. This is logic tough weird considering both are the same man, Boris Karloff, but is really really nice NECA have a pretty clear view of scale between characters. Imhotep can stand on his own perfectly despite his feet being kinda small.

He is articulated on the head, bse od the neck, shoulders, biceps, double articulation on the elbows, wrists, chest, waist, legs, knes and ankles, all ball joint and given the simplicity of his shape, pretty much nothing get on the way of his movement, he have a full movement freedom (except on the ankles, theyr range of movement is small) and is by far the most articulated Imhotep to date since Diamond Select version is just a statue and Sideshow version is completelly bound by his bandages.

Not like there is a lot of pose options here tough, this is a character that moves slow and steady and....actually we never see Imhotep full body on the movie either or actually moving. His physic is....thin, much more than the Monster, and the bandages sculpt is really nice, messy in some sections and very well defined in others and that helps keep the articulations hidden for a nice aesthetic.

This is Karloff in all his glory. His sunken cheeks, square jaw, sad eyes, the deeple wrinkled face with the scar on his nose, the sculpt rivals to Matt Falls version for Sideshow and given this is in a smaller scale, it may be better looking. The wrinkles on his hands are also perfect tough most of the effect comes on the paint job. His skin is grey/purple wich gives him the looks of a corpse but very different to the Monster skin texture.

But my favorite parts are the tip of his fingers, painted in black, like gangrene as well as the dark around his eyes, that gives them a pretty deep look.Plus, his pupils are golden and the eyes balls are red, and thats gives him a pretty eerie and inhuman look. Again, NECA nailed the "living dead" look perfectly only with this small details.

The rest of the wrinkles are perfectly painted too as the grey wash on his bandages, they are pretty natural looking and different to his skin texture. This is mostly a  black and white character since the only color is on his eyes and the golden ring on his finger.

His accesoryes are an extra pair of head, one "sleeping" and one screaming. The sleeping head is an exact copy of the base head, except he have his eyes closed to mimic dead even much better, but the screaming head is a complete novelty since we never saw Imhotep screamin on screen. His scream is crooked and he have no teeth and the wrinkles around his mouth make it looks like an endless hole, is a really creppy looking expression.

He also have with a couple of left hands with the scarab ring. I had issues noticig the difference bwteen the hands tough sicne they are very similar, but one hand have open fingers and another one look like is triying to grab something. Is odd they didnt add any extra rigth hand but he dosnt have too many accesorys to hold anyway. The hands and heads can be exchanged pretty easy.

He also have a couple of extra wrappings, made with soft plastic but still keeping the fantastic sculpt and natural paint of Imhotep´s body. This wrapping are sculpted to be put around his neck and flow around his closed arms on his chest as well as around his legs, but they can hang on any places actually, on his arms, or feet. And given the sculpt, they also give to the character a pretty cool sense of movement since it looks like they flow with the wind.

His last accesory is the ceremonial chest that is buried along him, a replica of the one on screen toug this one is grey, unlike the Sideshow version that is yellow. The golden horus on the sides as well as the stars and symbols on the lid are perfectly painted, and inside it is the Scrool of Thoth, thet one that once read, brings back the life to Imhotep. Its just a printed piece of paper tough the printing quality is really good.

And no sarcophagus since it will be DLC. Really is a shame such a crucial piece will be DLC but thats pretty much the only issue i can find on this figure. The quality of the sculpt, paint and articulations are perfect as well as the accesoryes. Like i already say, NECA is closing the gap between prototype and final product and this Mummy si really a lot of fun. Now lets wait another half a year for the Wolfman.