FRANKENSTEIN

 At the end of last centiry and beginign of this century, theres was a boom of popularity of the Universal Monsters, thanks to The Mummy remake for sure, soo Sideshow release a HUGE collection based on those classic Monsters in all scales but the other company working on them back then was also Jakks Pacific, a pretty misteryous (for me) brand that was in chargue of The Mummy Returns action figures as well as Van Halleings´s.

But in between those two series, they also released figures based on the original Universal Monsters, tough only 3: Dracula, the Franlnenstein Monster and the Wolf Man. In my country those figures are very very rare and only saw them twice in the last 21 years and they are not cheap. I miss Dracula but i finally got the Frankenstein Monster after all this years.

Unlike all figures from back then, this one didnt came carded on a blister or in a clamshell but in a big box full of windows and artwork and it makes it feel like some kind of premium figure but in fact this Monster is not that big, he is on the same scale as most action figures like McFarlane or NECA had 21 years ago: one head and a half smaller than modern action figures, but still taller than a Figuarts or Figma (or Jada) this this guy is actually smaller to the Sideshow premium figures.

He can stand on his own perfectly with no problem and is articulated on the neck, waist, shoulders, elbows, legs, knees and ankles. The ehad is ball jointed soo it have a big range of movement up and down as well as the sides, all other articulations are basic cut joints - the standar articulations from back then - soo he can move his shoulders up and down but not open them to the sides, and elbows only bend to a certain degree.

I can judges the articulations all i can, they are extremelly stiff and useless but the reality is that all other companys used this same kind of articulation, including Sideshow. The Monster is not well known to be extrmelly versatile on his movement (aside of the circus freak version of Van Hellsing), soo the articulations match the character as well.

The sculpt is actually good!! Jakks Pacific actually did had contract with the Karloff familly and used Boris Karloff face feature instead of doing a generic monster. The sunken checks and sleepy eyes looks spot on as well as the shape of the nose, but also the face expression with half of his mouth open showing his teeth in a menacing growl is actually pretty close to Karloff portrayal of the creature.

The skin of the texture is that of a mummy and theres even the burn scar on the side of his face. His shirt and boots have a rugged texture and his hands have the same mummy texture the face have and all the stitches and open wounds are sculpted. The pants are extremelly simple as wella s the jacket but this last one is made with soft plastic soo the Monster can sit.

The paint tough fill me with doubts. Its not like this is the most colorfull or detailec aharcter out there but i feel the color palette is kinda dull. Totally black shirts and boots, plain green pants and grey jacket, with no shades or ligths or anything, just a plain single color for each part makes him looks very "toy-ish"The skin tone have a pale color (i am glad is not green!!!) and while the scars and open wounds show some red on theme, i feel like the white of his teeth, soft pink lips and eyes mix too much with the skin color.

Different tones of green, eye bags, the burn scar, all this details would looks much better painted but the paint is just way too....simple? This also mades me doubt a little bit if i can see Karloff in here or not, is like somehow, this figures looks like an unfinished sketch, i never feelt like this with other figure before.

This figure is actually not based on the Frankenstein movie, but the box says all over the place "Bride of Frankenstein" soo this is the reason why he have a brun scar on his face and his jacket is torn apart in some sections but more impostantly, this figure is based on a certain specific scene of the movie where the Monster is captured by the wosn people and took to the precint and chained to a chair inside a dungeon, soo this figure comes with said chair and even some part of the dingeon floor.

I dont know how to call this, a playset? Or a diorama? wathever is called, this is the reason this figure came in a big box and looked spectacular inside it. The piece is actually quiet heavy, is not holow plastic at all. The whole floor and chair are all made of stone. The texture is really reslly really impresive good and all the cracisk and divisions of the rocks that build thos primitive chair have a really crisp sculpt.

The back side of the chair is an imposing peice of raw wood with other two pieces to hold the Monster shoulders and a chain conecting both sections. Again, the wood texture is really impresive and realistic and the chain is real metalic chain, that put this figure above anything McFarlane is doing now day.

Theres two rings of plastic coming out of the floor at the side of the steps, with a real metal chain conecting to shackles around the Monster wrists. This shackles can be removed but given how thing they are and how old is this....i got the feeling they will breake the very moment i try to open them.

Give this is also an old school toy, not only he have a diorama/play set thingy, but he also have an action feature!! Push a lever in the back of the chair and the Monster will move his arms upwards breaking the chains and liberating himself!!!

Gladlly, the Monster articulations make it easy to fit him in the chair. He have a weird hole on his back (like seen in the second photo) that conects to the lever on the char. The rocky pieces with the chains cna be conected to the floor like puzzle pieces and they have a small hole and a peg to keep them in place.

But, the arms movement with the lever dont have enough power for the Monster to break lose of his chains unless his arms are almost all up, soo this action feature is pretty useless. An incredivly cool idea, but it dosnt work in reality. Despite of that, i would have LOVED something like this when i was a kid in the 90s......i think this would have been my favorite toy back then.

This Jakks Pacifis toys are soo difficult to find and soo hunted by collectors, but in reality the quality here is lower than that of Sideshow (and many levels behind NECA), the figure is kinda plain to be honest, but somehow, one he is conected to the big and heavy chair, with the chains surround him, this Frankenstein Monster is really really good looking and the fact it recreats an specific scene of a movie maks it even better.

This figure looks fenomenal on any horro themed colleection as well as Universal Monster collection but is also pretty relevant to anyone who collect figures based n movies as well. Shure this is not very fun to play with but visually speaking, this figure really delivers.