For 20 years the Sideshow Universal Monsters action figure series have been regarded as the Cadillac of Horror figures, no Diamond Select or Mezco managed to win that title until now, with NECA´s new Ultimate figures, tough theyr distribution seems less than optimal, since the Wolfman and the Mummy both came out last years but they start to show up months later, is better later than ever i guess.
Tough the Mummy was deffinetly worth the wait and was a brillant figure, does the Wolfman was worth the wait as well? This furry monster is taller than Imhotep but shorter than Frankesntein, NECA keeps doing it perfect scale wise. He is articulated on the head, necks, shoulders, elbows, wrists, waist, legs, knes and ankles all ball joints with a big range of movement tough he is lacking the doubles joint the Mummy have as well as the torso articulation, soo he is - ironically - stiffer than Imhotep and have the same range of moment as the Creature.
One thing to point out, and something i was expecting from the begining, this monster is digitigrade, he stands on his toes soo there is no power in the universe that makes him stand on his own at all. Sideshow knew it soo they gives him a very cool looking base in both small and 1/6 scales. NECA tough gives him a tiny black circle base with a peg. This thing is really discrete...BUT DONT WORK AT ALL!! He is basically standing on a single feet with this useless base and lacks stability. He can stand for a couple of minutes and then he falls every time...
Despite this huge dissapointment, the Wolfman sculpt is really fantastic. The pants and the shirt have pretty natural fold that flow nicelly and adjust to his body perfectly, his feet are soo incrediblly cute and round...almost like a cat paw and his face is a perfect 3D representation of the on screen images, with the dog snout and fangs protunding from his lower lip and the sculpt on the hair is really consistent and well defined.
Paint is good too, tough i am not sure i like the shiny texture of his shirt, his pants have a light brown tone with some dark washes here and there to follow the fold and gives them volume, quiet different to the black pants of the Sideshw figure, this one have a lighter color palette. The brown tone son his fur are also much more natural looking than the Sideshow figure and the black claws are perfectly painted.
The face tough fill us with worrys since in the prototype figures (and the box) he had his face shaved, in flesh color, and for some reason he had a mustache....gladlly, NECA fixed it and remove the mustache and painted his face of a lighter brown. The gangs and blue eyes looks really nice up close.
His accesoryes consist on, aside of the ugly and useless base, an extra head with a roaring expression. This head can be changed pretty easy and the sculpt is as good as expected as well as the paint. I love the inside of his mouth and this head is much more good looking than the base one, tough his blue eyes are looking at the side.
He also have the same set of accesorys the Sideshow figure had: the silver cane with the wolf and a bear trap. The cane is pretty delicate looking tough is odd he hold it since this cane is his doom on the movie, the sculpt with the wolf head on the tip looks really good. The bear trap is really beautifull because it consist on different pieces that conect with the center piece, push this section and the clip moves and the metalic jaws close. The sculpt and paint of this accesory is really supperv and muchh better than older version of this item.
Then the comes his best accesoryes: his human part. A pair fg human feet, hands and head to exchange and transform him back to human form. No other company did this before and the way the pieces exchange is pretty easy and fast.
The head scupt is just brillant really since NECA pay royaltys to Chaney Enterprise, the portrait of Lon Chaney Jr is just perfect. The skin texture, his face shape, the wrinkles around his eyes and at the side of his mouth, the shape of his nice and even the hair, this is an exact replica of Chaney and the paint matches the scupt perfectly being extremelly natural looking, i really never expect to have a figure of Lon Chaney Jr in such a high quality (Just look at his expression, full of sadness, confusion and panic for a situation he dont understand).
While i cant blame the character to not stand on his own, i really blame NECA for not give him a working base, the figures they release 20 years ago for The Nightmare Before Christmas had much bigger and better working bases and this really hrt the figure.
But considering everything else, sculpt, paint, articulation, accesorys and transformation action feature, this figure really is the Ultimate representation of the character and again take the place of the Sideshow figures with confidence as the best Univeral Monster figures. Next is Dracula tough considering NECA hasnt show anything about him exept a single picture, i guess we will have to wait quiet some time for him.
