UNIVERSAL MONSTER ALLIANCE

 I usually use this space to showcase action figures and big size statues and leave small collectibles out of this; like for example those horrible and souless FunkoPop or capsule Gashapon or blind box figurerines. Recently i been building a small collection of Gashapon but i dont think they have a place in here and once i think about it i am not sure why i think like that because they are toys as well and a few years ago i made an entry about the Monster in my Pocket in this place after all soo i will showcase blind box figures this time.

The chinese brand Pop Mart was totally unknown for me until a few months ago when theyr Labubu started to be extremelly popular, almost as much as the FunkoPop, but this let me find out that a few years ago they released theyr own version of the Universal Monsters as small figures in blind boxes. When i saw pictures i tough they were made with AI because they didnt looked real, they looked extremelly perfect and colorfull and the series consist on the Monsters sitting on a teather chair, watching a movie in a "Super Deformed" or chibi design.

It took me quiet some effort to be able to find a sealed complete box with 9 blind boxes that contain the whole 9 figures, but it was deffinetly worth it!! Despite them being tiny (the size of an Amiibo) and sculptures with no articulation at all, this little guys give the ilusion to be bigger than they are and they sculpt is extremelly detailed, funny and amusing to look at. Each one of them looks very dynamic and full of life and personality.

Dracula is sitting with his legs crossed and his giant head resting on his hand and a glass of blood on the other and an expression of boredom. The design looks too much like an anime from the 70s and have enough details to make them stand out, like the pointy ears, the eye bags, the ring on his hand...and the colorwork is really good since his shoes are jet black while his suit is a little more mate black and it contrast nicelly with his vibrant red cape and pale skin tone. The paint is soo good his eyes are bloodshot for lack of sleep!! Both the blood and the glass are made with tranlsucent plastic and they can be removed from his hand but they fit soo perfectly between his fingers.

Next one is the Frankenstein Monster that have the the most cartoony design of the bunch with the gigantic head and the square face features and big ears. Even the fingers on his hands are square and his big bits and smilm legs contrast too good with the size of the head. He is also very "sleepy" looking and have a pompking full of pop corn. Both the pumpkin and the green jachet have a pretty stronf coloring works in emrald green and orange witha  wash of black that makes them looks like marbel. The scar on his forehead, the yellow eyes with dark green eye bags, the purple nose, the color aplication is really magnificent.

The pop corn cant be removed, but as a little extra the top of his head can be removed to reveal a very pink, very colorfull and wet and fresh brain!! Its really amazing to see such small figures having "actin features" and accesorys like this.

Next one is the Bride of Frankenstein, sitting in a extremelly femenine way with a flirtatious smile and stealing the pop corn of the Frankenstein Monster. The pop corn is pretty much the only piece with color since she is almost entirelly in black and white. Her dress flows around her body and curls around her legs pretty nicelly and is entirelly white with a soft black wash. Her skin is more pale than Dracula´s with black shadows around her eyes and black lipstick and her har have a very good looking mix of black and dark brown.

The Mummy have a really serious look on his face and seems very concentrated on watching the movie while eating a bag of chicken nuggets. Sculpt wise he is the most simple of the collection tough the details on his aged face are very good, specially on his mouth. The bandaged body have a light brown mixed with  ablack wash while the ehad have a much darker brown and the hair part looks more orange. Details like the golden pupils and the beetle ring make it very evident the people in Pop Mart actually did watched the movie since all this details are on it. The chicken nuggets big is the most colorful part of the figure.

One of my two favorites one is deffinetly the Wolfman. He have also an extremelly cartoony design with a big mouth with fangs protunding from hislower lip, the small dog nose and the eyes mixed with an expression os sadness and anger and the way he is sitting not like a person, but as a dog, with his feet on the chair and the fingers on his paws holding of it makes this one extremelly adorable. He is eating a bag of chips and i really love his hair sculpt and the beard, and the green shirt that looks like marble with the dark wash. I really love this guy soo much.

My other favorite one is the Creature From the Black Lagoon. He is sitting with an unexpressive face expression eating tiny fish from a can. The scult is amazing with the little tiny scales covering his body as well as the different plaques and fins around his head. The dark green of his skin si perfect as well as the yellow around his mouth and fins but the best part is the dark wash that make each scale stand out, specially on his head. I am not sure if its a mix of sculpt or is just paint, but the texture on his big head looks soo realistic. Also he is cmpletelly wet, covered on a film that makes him looks shiny and slimy and on his feet theres a small pong of transluscent blue water. This little guy is soo amazing.

Good thing they didnt forget The Phantom of the Opera. Bad thing is this isnt the original version but based on the ugly color remake from the 40s soo this isnt Lon Chaney but Claude Rains Phantom. He is sitting with one hand hilding his chest about to have a heart attack while the other holds a rose, with an expression full of anguish. This is the most simplictic looking character with a white gothic looking shirt and grey pant and a well groomed hair. The green and red of the rose really ar ethe tocuh of color this guy need since he looks like he belongs to a romance novel.

The rose can be removed and is rpetty difficult to put it on his hand given how small it is and the mask can be removed. The mask have a very nice "bone" like texture and paint and holds into his face perfectly thanks to his nice and the strand of hair. Once removed it reveals a burn on his eye. The paint work of pruples and reds on the burn looks really good but i seen much worse people on the streets of my city than this, this guys is simple way too mild to belong here.

Next one is the Invisible Man. I am not a big fan of this guy but he deffinetly looks more better and interesting than The Phantom. Rivaling in elegance with Dracula, this guy is watching a movie on his pijama, sleeping rob and slippers while sporting his cool looking dark glases and a hat. He is all bandaged but since he is drinking a soda, the bandages on his mouth are missing and since he is invisible, well....his ehad is completelly empty. His hat have a very nice mix of black and dark red while his rob and pijamas are brigth orange and blue and the soda cup is neon orange. This is one of the mst colorfull of the bunch and he also have his diary with his formula under his hand (tough the tiny book likes to be lost pretty easy).

Lastly the character i really dont like at all: Van Helsing. Yes....that Van Helsing, the Hugh Jackman one. I mean, not only he is NOT a monster, but this particular version of the character dosnt beling to the same time period as the rest and looks incrediblly out of place. I really wish they added Quasimodo or even the Metaluna Mutant instead f this guy but oh well...he is rpetty ooking as the rest, with his blue eyes, angry expression and curly hair. His coat is nucellt detailed as well ad his military boots and he is holding a beer on his hand and a crossbow on the other that both can be removed.

The chairs have a very clasic look with a brown structure and a red velvet inside painted with some dark wash to give it shadow (despite this section being completelly hidden by the figures) and looks like belonging from an opera teather and while in the front they are all the same, each one have the name of the movie each monster belongs as well as the date of release: DRACULA - february 12.1932, FRANKENSTEIN - NOVEMBER 21.1931, THE BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN - april 22.1935, THE MUMMY - december 22.1932, THE WOLFMAN - december 12.1941, THE CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON - february 12.1954, THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA - august 27.1943, THE INVISIBLE MAN - november 13.1933 and VAN HELSING - may 6.2004.

The dates on the chairs are such a wonderfull detail tough this guys can sit on the table, the laptop, the console, every place with no need of the chairs, is pretty evident this is a cinema teather scene and they looks wonderfull  all together, perfect for halloween or to pose them in front of the TV, this are soo full of details and soo alive is always fun to look at them. This is the kind of toys that awaken on me the love for toys i felt when i was a kid.

There is an extra character tough but he is rpetty rare, one on every 108 boxes and he is Dr.Jekyll and Mr.Hyde but i guess ask for him i way too much at this point i am perfectly fine with this group of monsters (except for Van Helsing, i probablly turn him back into his box) and really mpress me how in sculpt and paint they are at the same level as a Nendroid.

CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON

 Just in time for Halloween and without too much buzz, NECA finished, at last, theyr Universal Monster line with the character that is perhaps the most hyped Monster of the series: the Creature From the Black Lagoon. Distant is now the pandemic time when they release the Frankenstein Monster and an entire year later The Mummy. But just like Gargoyles, this years has een the release of the entire set of main characters closing up the collection and leaving unreleased only the black and white versions of the Monsters.

I actually have already a lot of of figures of this guy, ranging from different quality and style and, oddly enough, i like all of them, each one of them add its own twist and fun and NECA version is not ecception. This guy is actually really really big....like a little bit bigger than the Frankenstein Monster while the other characters are an entire ehad smaller and the Bride reach to his chest. I dont remember this guy to be this huge in the movie, if i remember rigth he was the same size as the rest of the human characters soo i dont know if the size is accurate or not.

I mean, this is a monster soo i am happy he is tall but he really towers a lot over the rest....aside of that he can stand perfectly with those huge feet he have and dosnt need any kind of base eccept for some swiming poses. He is articulated on the head, neck, chest, waist, elbows, biceps, elbows, wrists, legs, knees and ankles. All ball joints with a really good range of movement and the elbows and ankles have double articulation soo they bend perfectly.

The enginering here is soo fantastic!! The neck piece enter pretty deeply in the head as well as the shoulders but still keeps a very good range of movement up and down and to the sides while the double articulations on the elbows and knees are hidden behind the scales perfectly. Actually all articulation in here, including the ones of the torso, are perfectly hidden behind the scales cut just like the Mondo Creature. NECA did a great job adaptinf the joints to this character body type and each section that conect the articulation is made with soft plastic, just like the chest area as well as the hands.

This really helps a lot to give him total freedom of movement without revealing any joint or gap between the pices, a perfect fusion between movement and aesthetic, something really needed for this Creature.

The sculpt is really good, as i already sayd, with a mix of soft plastic and hard palastic pieces and a really nice scaly texture. Each section conects nicelly, even the big fin on his back and the body silhouette looks really lanky and athletic. The feet and hands have a really good bony structure on the fingers that makes them looks trully prehistoric and i really love the 3 claws behind his feet.

Perhaps the most difficult part to sculpt in this character is the head, Diamond Select deffinetly had issues but NECA managed to nail it really good. The head shape and size is perfect as well as all the wrinkles around the mouth and where his nose is supposed to be and the gills on the sides looks sharp and pretty clean. Theres a lot of texturing on the cheecks and put on evidence the amazing complexity this suit had almost 70 years ago.

Now wath makes each figure unique is the paint, somehow every company have its own vision of hos the Gillman should looks and NECA version is realy different to the rest as well. While Sideshows version have a lot of different colors and Diamond version have a pale green and Jada version is neon venomus green, NECA´s version have a pretty militar and dark green with some darker wash here and there to accentuate the wrinkles, specially on the head.

But this time they add a golden metalic finish as well at the end of each section of his bodu as well as the find and gills. This gives him a pretty....exotic look, like an asiatic fish, the golden also gives to the green a kind of metalic look. The effect is really interesting, he looks darker than other versions but at the same time he shines like a jewell, a dark shine.

The palm of his hands dont shine tough, instead of golden they are painted just in brown and i wish they give more details to his stomach. The stomach section is just plain green and looks way too simple with all that gold surrounding it. The face have the same natural green color mixed with golden on the fins and red lips. I hate the red lips look and i was worried about this but NECA used a pretty pale red that matches the whole color palette nicelly. 

Lastly he have blue eyes, a first since they always give him yellow/golden eyes. The pale blue eyes looks, well, like fish eyes, pretty blind but match good the look of the blakc and white movie. I this the closes representation of the character in figure? NECA has been going straigth to accuracy soo far t even given the Bride of Frankenstein red hair just like Elsa Lanchester had. Soo i am guessing this color scheme is the closest we can get to the original 1954 costume of the movie

While this figure is really pretty looking, the accesory section is poor, really poor. He comes with 3 extra set of hands, aside of the relaxed hands he have claw shaped hands, open up hands and hands pointing with a finger. Its actually pretty difficult to see the difference with this hands, the relaxed and totally open hands are almost 90% the same and the claw shaped hands dosnt change that much, with the pointing hands being the most different and the ones i like the most, since the fins between his fingers makes them look really dramatic.

The hands can be changed pretty easy and are made of soft plastic but the sculpt an paint quality is the same.

Then theres two extra heads: one o¿with an open mouth and another one with an articulated mouth. They cna be changed pretty easy and the sculpt and paint quality is as perfect as the basic head. The open mouth head have a very specific and nice detail: the gills are curling up. Its pretty difficult to see it but they managed to sculpt the moment when the Creature is on the outside of the lagoon, strugling to breath.

Now the most perplexing item: the head with the articulated mouth. The articulation is hidden with the multiple wrinkles around his mouth and is almost invisible and it opens up pretty nicelly, opens and close.....and this head literally makes the other two heads completelly pontless. Why spent time and resources sculpting a head with a closed mouth and a head with an open mouth when you are also going to make a head with articulated mouth??

Why soo many hands that looks almots the same? And thats it, theres nothing more in here....no fossil hand, no arpon gun, no net, this leaves this figure behind Jada´s and Sideshow´s and i know is difficult to give this character items since he dosnt touch anyhting at all in the movie, but Diamond add background pieces for a diorama, wich leaves this NECA version behind as well.

I am strugling here. This figure have an amazing sculpt and paint as well as a great ingenering of the articulations, yet it lags behind other releases because of the complete lack of accesorys. Also as pretty as this guy is, he is not as amazing looking as the Mondo version tough i know is unfair to compare them since Mondo is 1/6 and much more expensive.

I am not sure if i could call this figure "Ultimate" but is deffinetly one of the finest exaples of the character in pastic form and looks great completing the Universal Monsters line from NECA. This has been one of my all time favorite lines from the brand in the last 20 years and it even tempt me to get the black and white and glow in the dark variants.

CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON

 It is rare when high quality and low price meet, specially on toys and figures, its much more rare and even more rare is when this sacred fusion comes from a name no one ever hear before: Jada Toys. Of course, no one who collects action figures, since Jada is well known on the modeling and toys car section. They decided to start in the action figures area and they did it with Universal Monsters. The result was warm (Dracula and Franskenstein) too pretty hot nuclear stuff (the Bride and the Creature from the Black Lagoon).

Of course, the rarest of the set is the Creature of the Black Lagoon and also the most expensive, like in every other Universal Monster line but he was my main interest point on the line from the begining. He is in small 90s action figures scale (like a Figma), a little smaller than Frankenstein but much taller than the Bride and he can stand on his own perfectly with thise huge slipers.

He is articulated on the neck, shoulders, biceps, elbows, wrists, chest, abdomen, legs, middle legs, knes and ankles and every single articulation works fantastic and have a total freedom of movement, really this guy is soo easy to take an pose and since the material is sturdy, i think he resist any rough play.

The sculpt is amazing. Every single scale of his body, the different plates, even his slim build and the dorsal fin looks really good and his face looks just as good. The gills on the sides and all the wrinkles around his nice area and above his eyes, everything is perfect. His claws could be sharper tough but thats just a too small detail, specially considering how tiny he is.

The paint is just as good: brigth green, with a whole lot of darker and lighter tones around to give his face volume and expression. Yellow on the fins and gills and even some red tones on specific place to give him the rich color palette of a fish, there is many colors here but all ov them blend in a natural way. Also i am glad they didnt give him red lips and instead they make them pink, they looks lees obnoxious that way. And his expresionless eyes are really cute.

He have an extra hand to hold the spear gun and an extra open mouth head and bot can be exchanged easy. The hand....is soo weird....i dont know who in Jada tough it was a good idea to make the Creature hold the weapon that kills him but this is the very first figure that is able to hold it. The head dosnt have too much a different expression, tough the sculpt and paint of the inside of the mouth is really fantastic, the shape and side walls really make him looks like a fish.

His other accesorys are, like i said, the spear gun wish is only painted on the handle and looks really cheap. He also have the fosil hand, with a very basic sculpt and even more basic paint job but i guess is OK for the small scale. There is also a net to catch him, made with real fabric, in a yellow color.

He basically have the same acesorys the Sideshow version have but is nice the net is still made with real fabric, i mean that alone make this whole line some steps above the McFarlane Toys trashy figures since they are adding fabric and metalic chains for such a low price.

Again, i cant say this is the perfect Creature figure since Mondo already took that title, but deffinetly take the first prize as the most posable and in such a small and easy to handle price, is pretty hard miss him. Jada had proved how good they can be in this field and made me excited for they wave 2 of Monsters next year. Heck, i am even going to buy they Dracula just to have them all together.

CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON

 While many movies manage to get succes and recognition in the box office and with public, VERY FEW manage to be relevant and influential for 60-90 years like the original horror cycle from Universal did by building a universe that flourished around gothic horror and burn itself on the memories of many generations; Dracula, the Monster of Frankenstein and his Bride, the Phantom of the Opera have been present in one way or another for close to 100 years and they been very present on toys as well.

The amount of toys based on the Universal Monsters is really astonishing, tough it wasnt untill 1999 when Sideshow created figures 100% accurate to the characters and with the higest quality in action figure form, 12" figures and premium format statues. I been in love of this serires for a long time already and almost - almost - completed with one exception: The Creature From the Black Lagoon is like the jewel of the crown, not only is super rare, but its ultra expensive too and escape from my hands 3 times already.

To be honest i was ready to give up on getting him until a few months ago, when Mondo released theyr own version of the Creature in 12" scale. Sadly, it seems this is a stand alone release and i was skeptical, i had my doubts....was this a good substitute to the Sideshow Creature? I finally give up and got him tough he is now one of the most expensive pieces in my collection, this guy wasnt cheap at all but the quality is astonishing.

First of all, is limited to 2400 pieces around the world and this is number 63 (that explains the crazy price a little bit ) and the box itself is a piece of art. Is thick, sturdy, full of green tones and with a beautifull and amazing painting on the cover of the Creature coming out from the water with the title on the back, painted by the amazing artists Jason Edmiston . Every single detail, even the title, ooze 50s horror aesthetic with a black and white shot of the swamp inside the box and the figure surrounded by an old cinema teather display. The Sideshow version had the original poster of the movie with the credits on the inside, i loved that box style, but i love this one too, is very different but extremelly classy and consistent with the character.

The Creature is huge, 12" 1/2 actually but he was extremelly tall on the movie was well and towered over Julie Adams soo the scale is perfect. He can stand on his own perfectly with those two huge feet but the articulations are also strong enough to keep with his weigth.

The sculpt, by Mathew Black,  is just perfect. I think you cant have a more perfect recreation of the character than this: the shape of his head, position of his eyes, wrinkles around his face, the gills, the mouth size and shape,  they nailed everything including every single scale on his body divided in different plates. Every scale follow a pattern soo theres a natural flow on them, like the body of a real reptile, there is a didference of size and chape depedning on the place of the plate and scale.

He is articuated on the neck, whoulders, elbows, wrists, chest, stomach, waist, legs, knes and ankles, every section have a ball joint and an amazing engineering (by Tommy Hodges)  build in exclusive for the Creature: each articulation is perfectly hidden by the plates and scales while keeping the freedom of movement. He have an extra soft plastic piece under the head to hide completelly the neck articulation and the same happends on the ankles and elbows. In the eblbows the plate surroinding them is made with soft plastic and can be rotated around the arm to hide the ball joint from every angle.

The Sideshow version had an articulated skeleton with a rubber suit on top soo the articulations are totally invisible, but the rubber suit dint let him bend his elbows and knes too much. Wath Mondo did here is totally different, noo suit at all but managed to maximize both movement and aesthetic.

The paint is amazing too, made by Anthony Mestas, Mike Pflaumer and Hector Arce. Instead of doing the radioactive green with yellow stomach and red lips way, they decided to give it a much more natural look. A soft green to camouflage with nature, or should i say, soft greens since there is a lot of different tones in here, darker green in every single crevise and around every scale, wish is not small feat since there is a lot of scales in here and no sloppynes or mistakes with the paint.

The lips have a soft pink but my favorite part are the eyes. The eyes are golden and have this...viscuos appearance only eye fish have, they even reflect light.

He have more accesoryes than the Sideshow version tough compared to other figures he is lacking, i mean, theres not a whole lot of items to add here since he dosnt use any instrument in the movie. He comes of course with the fossil hand that ignites the entire movie, seiding the scientific group to scout the Black Lagoon in search of more bones. The hand is really pretty, have a sharp sculpt and the paint make it looks like bone.

His other accesry is a screaming face, with an open mouth you can see his tongue and is perfect for an attack pose, tough not much different beyond that, the Creature is not specially expressive. He also comes with a third underwater head: Waths the diffeence? The gills on the neck are cosed as well as his eyes and this have an explanation: when underwater, the actor used googles under the Creature mask and they can be seen briefelly in some scenes. Is really outstanding how Mondo pay attention to such detail.

The other accesorys are swiming hands and swiminf feet. The hands have his fingers slightly open soo the cups his hand forms are bigger. The feet are sculpted like flippers, flowing with wather and titled back for an aerodynamic position and of course, is imposible for him to stand with this feet, tough just like the hands and heads, is pretty easy to swap them.

Lastly there is a base. The base have a pretty weird shape and is just baclk, with a post and a metteral rod that enter in between the Creature´s legs. Not only the base is unnecesary, but it clash with the Creature look and looks out of place, its simplicity betrays the rest of the package. Why not give him a diorama with plants or rocks? Also, under the base there this strange carving with a big "M", i asume this is Mondo´s signature, but why carving itunder the base where no one will see it?

Also, the swiming feet, hands and head....the base dosnt help anything for any swimig position at all, i managed to balance the creature on the metal rod but is evident this will not last. Why make a "swiming" figure without a stand for him???

Aside of some small issues, like the ugly base and the fact his legs cannot move backwards thanks to the fins on the back, this figure is really perfect. The quality is really really high even on its packaging and still, is soo different to the Sideshow version i am not sure is fair to call this a replacement of that first figure, but he deffinelty looks perfect with the rest of the Monsters and other modern figures like Hot Toys or Three Zero.

I am very happy toy companys are still working with thsi characters even after such a long time and specially, with Halloween soo close. I just wish Mondo take the lisence again.