THE VISITOR

 The begining of this cerntury was a big moment of experimentation and exploration in regard of many media outlets and even moreimprtantly, it was a moment of great creativity following the footseps of the 90s. In the toy and figures market we started to see characters and series we never expect to see in toy form or just original universes created from scratch. One of the studios following this thrend was Stan Winsont Studios, the people responsible of the FX of Predator, Alien, Small Soldiers and other movies but in 2000 they decided to enter the toy market.

They launch themselves with a multimedia project called Creature Features: a set of high quality Stan Winston standar figures that came with a CD-ROOM detailing all the creative proces of the figure itslef as well as share wallpapers and other stuff for the PC and, on TV, a movie based entirelly on each of the figures made by HBO. It was pretty ambitious deffinetly but sadly, the high prices of the figures and terrible distribution (and exclusivity to Toy R us) make them very difficult to come by and pretty fast they turned into expensive and rare collector items.

Last year tough i was able to get one of the last figures of the studio, from Blood Wolves, and one of theyr Exreme Gargoyles but also i was able to find two of the first Creature Features figures in mint condition, inside theyr blister package. I had my doubts about opening them but in the end i take the chance and while i wasnt very happy with the Evilution Demon, the second figure was much more interesting.

This is The Visitor, from the Day the Wolrd Ends movie. A creature from another world that is tied to a little boy with psychic powers. The boy own imagination and powers let the creature take shape in a small town to start the destrucion of minkand. Since the kid is a fan of 50s horror movies, The Visitor looks like an alien coming out from the Cold War era, with one eye, tentacles and a green palette to7gh in the movie, the creature is never fully seen.

This figure is in standar scale soo he fits with McFarlane or NECA or most modern figures but given the position he is in, he looks smaller than it looks. Also he cant stand on his own thanks to the shape of his feet, soo he needs to use the base he comes with.

He is articulated on the neck, shoulders, left bicep, legs and half calf. Yes, thats not much, specially considering this are all cut basic articulations soo he can rotate his head on his shoulders but cant look at the sides and arms only move up and down. Legs are even more limited but theres not much sense on moving the legs given the pre-posing. 

Tough, both arms are made with sift plastic ad are wired as well as the longer tentacles on his head, soo they cna be posed moving to any side and the arms can bend even if they dont have visible articulation. This is quiet a special detail since back then no figures used this kind of material mixed with normal hard plastic. 

Sculpt is really really good since the whole body have the texture of a plant and his muscular structure is not human at all, instead it seems his arms and legs are made of random tendrills or tentacles joining together. The fleshy texture on his back looks almost like a mummy with the bones protunfind and the center of his torso is covered in soft plastic insectoid like shrimp legs that gives him quiet a disgusting look.

The texture of the head tentacles is very different and the big mouth full of tiny fangs and one eye with no nose looks really fantastic. The face have a mix of purples and greens that makes a pretty hard to discenr color but the different shades around the wrinkles on the eyes and mouth makes it looks really natural. The pruple tongue, pink gums and whire brigth teeth looks really good, but the best aprt is the yellow eye. Is painted perfectly but also it contrast with the rest of the figure palette pretty nicelly.

The little legs in the torso looks purple with a black wash in the tip and the rest of the torso is red mixed with purples and it slowlly turns into green in the back. The back have a huge amounth of different greens, paley greens that mkes it looks sick, pruple that reminds a corpse and yellow in the blisters that surrounds his body randomly. Legs and arms also use a mix of much brigther greens that makes them looks like a plant and theres a wash of ligther colors mixed with browns and yellows.

This guy looks all green, like a plant, but ince you see him in details theres an amazing amounth of different colors here and all of them blends perfectly in a very natural way. I wish McFarlane´s Swamtp Thing had a color aplication like this.

The base is really spectacular. It have a very weird shape but it consist on the woods flor with a bunch of rocks and two big fallen trees. Each of this trees have a thick and big peg soo The Visitor can put a foot on each with one of his arms holding into the big "Y" shape branch of one of them in a very predatory way. The figures fits perfectly in between this trees tough assemble the trees is quiet tricky, once done they make for a very sturfy base.

The sculpt and paint job here are insane!!! The trees have an extremelly natural wood texture on them and the color helps a lot to enhance it mixing browns and greys and light brown in the areas where the tree is broken. Each one of the rocks on the flor have a different grey palette and the dirty on the flor looks just like....wet dirt!!! Aside of the darker brown and all the washes it have, its also covered in shiny transparent paint that makes it looks like a piece of damp forest.

There is also five different branches that have the same sculpt and paint job as the base. This branches fits in very specific place in between the rocks and trees but they can be placed anywhere on the base soo the display cna be customized a little bit and they help to make the forest floor more dangerous and much more natural.

Lastly, theres a CD-ROOM with videos of how the figure was made and info about the artists behind it, from the design in paper to the sculpt and paint. This was a great addition to those interested in go beyond the figure part and knows how this figure are build from scratch. Of course i am leaving the CD packed with the blister.

This Visitor is quiet the opposite to the Evilution Demon, while the Demon had a design that made it looks like a bunch of trash melting together, this guy here is very reminiscent of the 50s monster design and it also makes for a much more interesting and cleaner design. While the Evilution Demon color palette was dull, this one is vivid and vibrant and the base also matches the high quality of the figure. Actually, the base would be perfect for so many figures i cant count (like werewolf figures)!!!

I think this figure really encapsulates wath Stan Winston wanted to do with this line of toys and the high quality explain the high price too since, 25 years later i still find this guy quiet impresive. Sadly, its pretty evident not all figures on the line share this same quality  and i think that explains why they laster only for 3 years. I will try to get more of this figures but i am not sure if i will ever be able to complete this collection.