DRACULA

 Before the pandemic i was pretty sure the Universal Monsters were pretty much forgotten, specially for new generations since everything that had to be done with them was already done, but all of a sudden we saw a rebirth of the characters in toy format thanks to bot Jada Toys and NECA, tough NECA teased Dracula TWO YEARS AGO!!! making him one of the most hyed figure in theyr catalogue to the point many of us doubt they still had the Lugosi licence.

The wait was pretty long but it was worth since, since the Ultimate Dracula is here and under the Lugosi State seal, soo he is 100% accurate to Bela Lugosi portray of the character, the very first time since Sideshow released Dracula exactly 20 years ago!!

Dracula is half a head smaller than the Frankenstein Monster soo he is in the same size as the Wolfman, the standar scale for NECA action figures and he can stand on his own pretty nicelly despite his standar shaped feet. He is articulated on the base of his head but also on the section where his neck conects with his torso because theres a big ball joint there, the shoulders, elbows, wrists, waist, legs, knes and ankles all ball joint with plenty of movility, even his ehad tilt up and down pretty good tough his legs are a little bit limited thanks to the back side of his jacket, but thats not specially important since this is no Akira Yuki, Dracula is not a character know for his dynamic posing.

Tough his articulations are more than enough to give him a lot of life like poses and given the simplicity of his tuxedo, theres nothing that gets in the way of moving (tough his jacket is made with soft plastic).

The sculpt is good, with all the wrinkles on his outfit flowing naturally and the different textures present between his jacket and his a little bit more rugged pants and the clean and shiny shoes, but of course the star of the show is the head sculpt since Bela Lugosi managed to create a monster out of pure actin force and presence, with no special effects or make up at all, he had an impact very few actors have in 100 hundred years.

The head sculpt is pretty impresive, the texture of the skin, the shape of his lips, the wrinkles around his eyes, the nose lenght, the head shape, everything looks perfect for even for such a small scale, this is one of the best Lugosi sculpts i ever seen and even wins over the Sieshow version.

The paint have the same level of perfection as well since not only the skin color and lips colors looks incredible natural but the vibrant blue eyes and purple shadow around them make them stand perfectly and gives him a steel gaze Dracula deserves. His body is more simple tough, mostly bkack with some pretty soft greys that gives volume to his outfit here and there but everything looks really natural.

His shirt and vest are perfectly white tough the detail that stands out a lot is his neckalce with the golden star, the red around his neck accentuate his outfit nicelly but also give a hint of his intentions: blood on the neck of his victims. The handkchief on his chest as well as the ring on his finger are pretty nice details as well.

His accesorys are an extra rigth hand and an extra pair of hands. The rigth hand is for him to hold on the candle between his fingers and the other pair of hands have his charactertistic hypnotic hand gestures he uses to control anyone at will. They looks great and they are really easy to swap.

Then he have an extra pair of heads as well tough they also includes theyr neck. They are easy to change and the sculpt and paint is terrific!! One of them have an evil and mischevious grin with one of his eyebrows up in a pretty malevolent and yet seductive display. The portrait is spot on. The second extra head shows him just about biting his victim with a firece frown on his eyes and open mouth. His teeth and tongue are an independent sculpt and are painted perfectly tough he have no pointy fangs of course!!

His other accesory is, of course, his cape. The collar section is made with plastic while the rest is fabrc, a pretty fort and high quality black fabric, really good to the touch and thin. No wire inside but it dosnt need it since the cape drapes around his body perfectly and have a good weigth and flow and the correct lenght as well! Longer in the back side and shorter in the front to show Draculas feet. The hard plastic clips on Draculas neck and thats it, no horrible looking tie cord of elastic, the cape just hands around his shoulders and neck perfectly!! Is easy to remove but also it stay in place with no problem, i am surprised such a basic design works soo good!!!

His other accesory is the candle he have the very first time he is on screen, an item pretty much every figure of Dracula have. The candle holder sculp is nice and looks like some kind of dragon or serpent while the candle itself is just white with a brigth orange on the flame, is really perfect.

His other accesorys makes me unconfotable: a tray, a bottle of wine and two goblets. The tray have a really nice metal paint and looks pretty old and the goblets looks cleaner but they are an exact replica of they ones on screen and they even have purple wine inside!! The bottle is pretty clean looking and have the same weird...white...check mark the bottle in the movie have as well.

Bottle and goblets fist inside the tray perfectly and Dracula can hoold them together or hold the goblets and bottle independetly. While they are pretty nice looking the idea they give this to Dracula keeps buging me, i doubt anyone display him with them since they makes him looks too much like a waiter. Yes he offers this to Renfield on his role of good host at the begining of the movie, but this would looks better on a table than on his hands. Tough of course i am glad they didnt add a table accesory.

And lastly, he have a vamprie bat. This little guy is nicelly detailed, specially on his fur, and have a much more natural face sculpt than the grotesque bat included in the Sideshow figure. His wing span is big and the paint is really good for such an accesory: black nails, grey wings with brown fingers and fur, red eyes and white fangs. But the best part is that this guy comes with a base! A transluscent rod that conest with a black round base and since the top part that conest with his body is ball shaped, this little guy cna be adjusted in many ways.

Sadlly, Dracula´s coffin and other nigth creatures sold separatelly, they are DLC and while they really tempt me to get them, i really dont want to pay full figure price for a box to fit Dracula inside...while NECA is amazin at theyr craft, this accesory sold separatelly is really disapointing.

Aside of that this is perfect. This is trully and Ultimate Dracula since, given the rigth ligth, he looks extremelly fotorealistic and NECA really take advantage of that Lugosi lisence.