DRACULA

 Its pretty odd to give closure to a collection in an unconsiou way and then, years later reopen it, feels odd but is not that rare while collecting toys, specially vintage. At the end of the 90s Sideshow Toys make they debut releasing the Universal Monsters action figures, the very first time we got articulated figures of this characters but also the very first time we had the linkness of the actors as well, figures 100% faithfull to the characters on the screen, in a big scale and with museum quality sculpt and paint. This Sideshow Universal Monsters figures where the gem in the crowd in the horror collectors from back then.

Sideshow released 5 series with 3 figures each but somehow, the last series was exclusive to theyr web, and back in 2001 it wasnt as easy online shoping as it is today, soo series 5 was extremelly rare and had a very low production and one of the figures it included was Dracula, one of the most basic character of the collection. Soo for 25 years i literally seen Dracula pop up rarely online at 200$-500$ prices but last weekend, i finally find him in retail price and brand new!!

I am not sure waths the scale of this figure since they are like half a head taller than a Storm or NECA figure soo ially for back then standars, they are twice the size a McFarlane figure from the 90s soo they have a really good presence in the shelves and the base deffinetly makes Dracula stand out even more, tough this guy cant stand on hiw own thanks to the sculpt on his legs, soo he needs the base all the time.

Articulations are very limited, like they used to be back then. He is articulated on the neck, shoulders, elbows, wrists and waist and thats it, not articulation at all under the waist and the artiulations are all cut joints soo he can rotate his head to the sides, and his shoulders, bend his elbows a little bit but thats it, this Dracula is mosty an statue that can achive just a couple of poses.

And speaking of elbows, the other figures have an extremely rudimentary and basic articulation that ends breaking way too easy after 25 years but this Dracula tough have a double sided joint that makes the articulation much more sturdy. It was pretty good to see Sideshow Toys learn from theyr mistakes but too bad they implement this upgrade only with the very last of the figures.

Sculpted by Oluf W. Hartvigson and using the linkes of Bela Lugosi, the sculpt is really amazing. I mean, it cant be seen on the hotos i took, but theres wrinkles on his forehead. The attention to detail is really stuning, the shape of the face, the awkard smile and size of the nose, the bags under the eyes, this really captures Bela Lugosi face features completelly as well as his manierism.

He is thick, just like Lugosi back in the 1930s and the suit is pretty simple bu nicelly sculpted, specially n the arms and the leg that is bending because the wrinkles flows pretty good along side his body. The bow and the vest have a pretty rugged texture and the articulations on the elbows have sculpted the wrinkles of the suit soo it dosnt matter if you have his arms bend or not, the articulations will be always hidden!!

The paint is really simple but effective. While the whole suit is black it have some darker brushes in the wrinkles to make them stand out and the shoes are shiny black as well as the line on the side of his pants and the collar of the jacket and buttons. The handkerchief on his chest is white as wlel as the best and shirt under it but that makes the chain ont he vest stand out as well as the golden necklace with the red ribbon. Theres not a single drop of paint invading the black of the suit.

The skin tonse also have a pretty pale and natura looking color, with a pinks wash on his hands as well as his fingernail painted and the lips, eye bags and his face expression lines softly painted to look natural, but the best aprt are the eyes: deep electric blue with the pupil painted on them as well as a drop of white to emulate a shining. The paint jub here is extremelly exquisite from now day standars but back in the 2001 this level of quality was trully unreal.

The cape is made with real fabric and while the outtside is black, the inside is grey soo is reallya ccurate the the Lugosi outfit used in set and it holds on his neck with a black rope in front. While the rope is a little too rough looking it dosnt stand out too much and it does the job nicelly but i am afraid it got lose over the years. Also, while the cape is not wired but its a little thick for the scale and dosnt flow perfectly, the lenght of it is perfect to cover Dracula completelly.

Unlike the other Monsters in this collection that are mostly on museum pose, this figure is preposed to reproduce a particular scene of the movie; the very first time Dracula is on screen, with a candle in hand, inviting Renfield to come over and walk the stairs up to the insides of his castle soo aside of the soft smile and motion moving up the stars and the extended hand inviting, he also comes with the candelabra with the lit candle on top.

The sculpt is really good, with the shape of a spidery dragon like creature painted in golden and the candle have wax rolling down painted n dark grey with the flame on top in red. The sculpt and paint are really good tough it feels like a delicate accesory and fits perfectly on Dracula´s hand since he left hand have two fingers extended for it.

His other accesory is a vampire bat that can be conected to the stand with a trasnluscent hollow rod. The rod lack of color make it looks like is fliying around Dracula completin the look perfectly tough extra care should be used when posing it because it can be blocked by Dracula´s extended hand and cape. The bat itself is nicelly sculpted with a hairy texture and a latherish texture on the wings, painted n black with some blue hues on his wings and white fangs, but the overall design is extremelly silly since his body looks like a croquette and his wars are gigantic. It looks very cartoony but i am guessing this kind of bats are the ones they had in set? I dont remember...

and lasly, theres the base: a set of Dracula´s castle stairs for him to follow up along side a sign in front that reads "DRACULA . BELA LUGOSI . 1931" painted in brown on top of a black surface. The sign in front of this figures base gives them a very museum look and the stairs looks soo crazy realistic here!! The stony sculpt is amazing but the grey used to color them is fascinating since theres like 3 different greys and browns and some blues, all mixed together in a completelly natural look and that pretty stuning for a figures from 2001. It even feels cold to the tact.

This figures lack of articulation could feels really dated by now days standars but this collection in particular was pretty much the very best action figure representation of this characters for 20 years, until NECA came and managed to have the same quality of details but with lots of articulations, but even soo this particular Dracula stands out for other elements, like the pose and the stairs diorama.

Now i am missing only the Frankenstein monster tough i seen him multiple times over the years, i really need to get him since now with Dracula in my hands i really can complete this collection perfectly.