HIEROPHANT & MOFISH

 

We are still n the 2000s and having fun with The House of the Dead 2 on the Dreamcast while Plisades is releasing theyr first action figure series absed on the Sega monstruositys. Sadly, they didnt sell well and series 2 were cancelled despite being totally finished and this Thoe House of the Dead action figures remain as the only merch existant of the game for 26 years. In 2022 i was able to get half of the series and now, four years later, i was able to get the remainig half of the collection.

I already reviewed Ken and the Murren Worms in the last post and now is time to take a look at Hierophant and the Mofish. For some reason this figure is extremelly exoensive and difficult to get now day but somehow i found a boxed and brand new one in a very reasonable price soo i didnt doubt i got him, plus this is the special edition exclusive for Tower Records with battle damage.

This is also the second of the bosses figures, the first one being Strenght but this creature is bigger (tough much more lighter) than the big chainsaw wielding zombie but also this is my favorite figure of the collection. I dont know why but Hierophant became one of the creatures that remins on my mind pretty strongly and i really like his design.

This monster fits with anything NECA or McFarlane soo he pretty much first with most action figures in standar size tough despite his hunched pose, he still will towers over most characters. He can stand on his own perfectly with those big claw feet and is articulated on the head, shoulders, elbows, wrists, waist, legs, knees and the ribcage opens.

The head, wrists, and waist rotate perfectly while the legs have a very basic up artiuclation and the elbows and knees can bend reasonable well but not too much since they have only a single simple articulation while the elbows are ball jointed soo they move up and down but they cna be open as well and this are the more mobile parts of the figure. The chest can be open but most of the time the arms get in the way but the chest cavity opens enough to reveal his heart.

Made by SOTA Sculpture and Design, this is pretty much the most detailed figures of the series with the lanky musculature on his leimbs perfectly visible but also many many different types of scales!! His biceps have this long scales while his shoulders have small circular ones with big plaques like turtle on his neck and shulders and really, every single muscle part have a totally different scale design and pathern.

I specially like his bony hips since in the back he have a pretty hiddeous werid tail that dosnt looks like a fish tail but i also love those huge feet with black claws!!! Theres fins around his legs, in the back of his arms and four big lines of fins runing from his neck to galf of his back. All this fins are cast in soft plastic and they really looks spectacular, specially the back ones since they end shape i totlaly different between each other.

The face looks realy menacing with his eyes closed and the big mouth fully open and the fish fins on the top almost like wings and since this is the exclusive version of Tower records, this Hierophant is missing one  and have a bullet hole on his forehead and head fins.This wounds are covered in green radioactive blood and they stand out well against the green of his skin.

While his entire body is military green, theres a red soft airbrush on the shoulders and biceps and some other sections while the fins of the head have a blue airbrush while the feet have a much darker tone to make it looks realistic. His stomach is painted in plain white with a soft blue area surrounding it while his neck, biceps and legs are covered  on a phatern that loks like whote dots with black dots in the center, almost like eyes. All the paint aplication is perfect.

While the chest area, once open, it reveale his heart and al kind of organs around painted into a brigth red to contrast with the rest of the body, the fins have a mix of dark red, white and blue details and this includes the net around hthe fingers of his hands, painted in soft and electric blue. This make this figure the best painted of the collection deffinetly and also the most detailed (tough i like more Strenght color palette).

And since he is a boss he does comes with a weapon; a trident. This item have identations all around and bandages stained in green blood near the top. While its very simplistic and dosnt stand out, is pretty eviedent this is no generic trident but something specifically designed for Hierophant and the item have a peg that fits on a hole on his hand, this way the trident stay on his hand perfectly despite his hand not being fully closed into it.

The inclusion of a small enemy in the pack was something very common back then soo this time they included a Mofish that fighst along side Hierophant in the game. Again, there sno jaw articulation but the sculpt is really amazing with all the different mix of scales and the textures on his face, but more importantly, the paint aplication is really oustanding: green/yellow mixed with some dark airbrush, electric blue for the fins and tail, red inside the mouth and white fangs and orange eyes with a black pupil, this little guy looks soo vibrant and colorfull and amazing detailed.

And finally theres a base that consist on a oval shape stone piece with skuls and some ivy covering the The Hosue of the Dead logo. The sculpt is good and while the paint is a little too simple is not the focal point of the figure and i really like the design a lot. Also the base is purelly ornamental and dosnt help the figuere stand at all. Actually the huge feet of Hierophant covers most of the base.

From the sntire series this is deffinetly the figure i was looking for the most, not only is one of my favorites but is also the tallest and more detailed and even the Mofish looks soo damn good. Just like with the Vampire Hunter D figures, this set may looks dated deffinetly, but its shows perfectly how things used to be done back when collecting was much more simple and fun than now, when creativity was much stronger too. 

Palisades exist no more, but they really did a good job.

KEN & MURRER WORMS

 After staying in 2001 for the last reviews....lets turn back in time a little bit more, to 2000. Back then the Sega Dreamcast was on its best moment and one of its gems was The House of the Dead 2, a game that, after 26 years is still as fun and entertaining as it was back then and with all videogames having action figures all of a sudden (Resident Evil, Tekken, Samurai Shodown, Street Fighter, Metal Gear Solid...) it was the best moment to give The House of the Dead some toy love and it was Palisades the studio that release an action figures set for the Sega shooter.

Back in 2022 i was able to get half the set: Johnny and the boss Strenght and now, four year later i just found the second half of the collection in the most sudden and unexpecting way. Lets focus now on Ken and the Murrer Worms: Back then both Toy Viz and Moobydick decided to release the Resident Evil figures in a two pack mode, a human with a monster or a big monster with a smaller one together and somehow Plisades continue that tradition not only with theyr own Resident Evil figures but with The Hosue of the Dead as well.

Soo the main dish in this two pack is deffinetly Ken, the spidery and jumping zombie with an iron mask and claws. The character design of this games were something else in close inspection....soo anyway, Ken is in perfect scale with most action figures like McFarlane or NECA toigh he is pretty light weigth given his slim build.

He can stand on hiw own perfectly (just like all other figures from this line) and is articulated on his neck, waist, shoulders, wrists, legs and knees. The head, waist and wrists cna rotate while the shoulders have a ball joint soo they can move up and down and open up to the sides as well while the legs have a very basic articulation to the front and the knees dont bend too much but this was more articulation that we used to have back then and while the movement is kind of basic, is more than enough to pull a few poses that dont look that bad.

Sculpted by SOTA Sculpture and Design, this living dead is really nice looking and while the pants looks OK with all those straps and the metalic armor on the legs looks allrigth, the best part is the torso with the dry and mummyfied skin tight into the rib cage and with the intestines hanging on the waist. The back side have the spinal cord uncovered while the giant claw hands are sculpted in soft plastic and stands out a lot.

Plus this is the limited edition exclusive for the Plisades website soo this figure have a battle damage head sculpt different that then normal version. In the normal version Ken is....well...complete and his iron mask can be removed but here the lower half og his head has been blown byt the Agents shots soo not only he is missing one eye but his entire lower face is completelly gone and theres a piece of his jaw hanging from the side. 

Looks really gruesome but only at a close look since the effect kinda got lost with the messy paint job. Theres black blood covering the dark blue skin soo its a little too dark and only a few teeth stand out. The metalic paint on the mask is good while its splattehered with some green radioactive blood but my favorite part is the shiny orange eye since it contast nicelly with the entire figure.

For me tough, while thr sculpt is good the paint really dont mae justice for it and dont mae the sculpting details to stand as they should. Ken´s skin is dark blue while his mane is also dark blue in a different tone and while theres some brown brush in the bomy parts, i feel like this dont make the skin texture to stand out. Also theres a lot of green blood here but is painted in splochs and if camouflages more than it should.

The metalic claws and boots have some black and brown brush mixed with the metalic paint and also a lot of green blood splathered around and this is the section where the green blood stand out the most. The paints are plain black while the straps are green and brown but theres not much to say about them.

Then we got the Murrer Worms, some of the most iconic enemies of the game. Theres two included and while they are smaller than Ken they are really thick and both have a different sculpt since one is moving to the front and the other is turning to the side. Sadly i was almost sure they had articulated jaw but theres no articulation here while the body texture is really good looking and the teeths looks hiddeous.

They are plain brown but they have a black paint around every corner and ident and that makes the sculpt to really stands out. The gums are radioactive green while the inside of the mouth is red and the teeth plain white and that makes this little guys very colorfull and faithfull looking to the in game designs.

And laslty, theres a base for Ken. Is not that big and looks like an irregular ovar of rock and stone with some skulls in the front and the back side, ivy radomnly covering it and The House of the Dead logo in the middle. Sculpt is really good and paint is a little simple but somehw i really like this base design even if it dosnt helps stand the characters at all and is something totally ornamental.

And i almost forgot!!! Theres one missing accesory: the iron mask. In the original version the mask is removable and reveals Ken skeleton face but in this version the mask cant be removed and i dont know if i like that.

To be honest paint was always the main issue of Palisades with theyr Resident Evil line soo in this line that is a year older the problem was even more evident: while the sculpt in Ken is good i feel like the paint could be better since details really camouflage and even the damage on his face dont stand out as much as it should but still i am damn happy with anything releated to The House of the Dead and this is no exception. 

TALISAC

Does "too much" really exist?? For some it dosnt but for most people "too much" is real and it was specially back in last century, even more specially in the toy industry. Poeple was way too worryed Madballs would make kids violent each other or the srping shot weapons of action figures would make them harm each other or themselves. Even He-Man was feared to be just a comercial to sell products to kids (wich it was actually) and then, McFarlane Toys arrive with its products designed for adults: toys based on monsters with some blood splatered around. This made people worry but then, in 2001, they release Tortured Souls.

A brand new series of action figures made by McFarlane Toys and designed by Clive Barker, branded as "the most terrifiying action figures", it cosnststed on a collection of Cenobites - hell´s priests - that participated on a story written by Clive Barker. Each figure came with a chapter of this novel and not only this fused "toys" with "writing", but the characters were EXTREMELLY gory, violent, bloody, they show flesh with no skin, bones, misshaped faces and amputated limbs mixed with a leather fetish.

It was too much. Many toy store refused to sell them and parents were complaining and then, the whole world had its gaze upon McFarlane Toys soo he started releasing his other series based on dragons, miliraty men, Conan, more Monsters....it was am amazing time to be a McFarlane Toys collector, that company means almost everything while other companys were following its lead.

Seven years ago i started hunting this Tortured Souls figures i wasnt able to get as kid and while i got most of them and posted them here in 2020, there was one that i was missing, the rarest one to find in its clamshel and the most delicate of them all but also the most dramatic and terrible one as well; Talisac - The Surgeon of the Sacred Heart.

This figure is actually, pretty difficult to describe. This guy is in the same scale as the other McFarlane figures form back then, smaller than a modern NECA but bigger than a modern Figma, the size is for me totally perfect tough with his.....machine totally asembled he is much bigger. He cant stand on his own soo the only way to display him is hanging from his machine thingy.

This guys is actually a little bit articulated!!! His head rotate as well as his wrists and his left arm also can move up and down, half his thigh can rotate and his ankles too. This dosnt do much tough....the most usefull articulation is the one on his left shoulder that let him rise his arm but the rest of the articulation dont make much difference and the neck one prettu much only gets on the hooks that holds him.

Then agin, the rest of the line and the rest of the figures from back then were not very articulated and were mosre like statues soo this was the standar for back then but still, this is the more static character from the entire line. The sculot is really amazing, the skin have lots of wrinkle skin that hangs from his bones in a very sick way, he deffinetly looks more like a corpse than a living thing, but he is actually alive!! The texture is strikingly real and the expression of pain is very real...i mean, with the way his feet are tense and the way his hands are shaped like claws, its pretty evident this creature is in amazing pain.

The skin color is pale and have a very soft dark wash soo all the wrinkled skin stands out but it looks extremelly natural. Theres a few leather belts here and there: on his neck, on his rigth arm, theres a long belt on his back and something that looks like underwear that cover his ass but leave his front totally nude (this underwear is stitched to his flesh in the front) and theres more belts around his legs and while this are part of the same sculpt as the body, the black paint stands out nicelly in contrast with the pale skin tough the pain job is not perfect and is slopy in some places.

Where the pain job is beyong perfect is on the opening sections: cuts and removal of the skin on his calf, another cut and opening on his rigth knee and another on his left ankle with both his pectorals skin bein removed and hanging while his entire left biceps  have the flesh, again, cut and hanging from the arm like a sleeve. Wath this opening show are raw muscle and an amazing paint job since this sections not only are painted in crimson red, but they looks wet and fresh and the blood dripping around them looks extremelly real.

There is a HUGE scar that start on a hole on his chest and goes down all the way to his pubes where the flesh is opening to reveal an artificual womb. The way the flesh opens for this is amazingly revolting and theres hbig holes that reveals he ahd staples closing this area. Actually the staples are closing the opening on his torso to his chesta dn the way the flesh close in this area and the wrinkles and tension....is just way too much.

His face is very difficult to see because he have hooks pulling out his lips, eye lids, and checks soo theres no face expression here, theres just torn apart flesh and again, the skin is veiny, full of wrinkles and the blood surroinding his eyes and mouth is very realictis but it contrast with the wave of blood coming out from his mouth and the paint job inside the mouth and eye is trully amazing for the scale.

Finally, theres a flap of skin hanging from his head and revealing his bre sckull. This is bone but the redish paint make it looks like is driping of flesh blood. This guy looks more like a corpse in the morgue that suffered a big accident than anything, even the opening on his torso looks like an autopsy.

His artificial womb is transluscent plastic and cab be removed to reveal an huge empty hole carved on Talisac´s groin area and this is also painted realistically in pink and reds to make it looks like fresh meat. McFaralen Toys didnt leave a single corner without attention.

The womb can be opened to reveal the Mongroy, another of the Tortured Souls figures in an state of of grow. The littl creature dosnt looks human at all and shows a thing with his limbs all twisted around and a mouth full of teeth while his skin is all wrinkled around. The little figure is also painted in an uber realictic flesh tone, with some splays of blood here and there and perfectly white fangs. For a figure not meant to be displayed outside of his womb, the amount of detail is amazing.

Talisac is installed in a pretty strange machine that demanded a whole lot of asemble!! The base is dortito shaped and have small whels that actually works soo this man can be moved around by his own personal dwarf nurse that is not included here. The base have spikes, in case the good doctor wants to hop down for any reason, well, he cant do it.....tough this spikes are made of soft plastic and thats a very nice surprise.

Theres this thick main column structure that i had to use hot water to inser of the spiky base that acts as main support of the fogure. Theres another very thin almost wire column that conects on the base and reconects on the top with a little flat conection that is totally useless but it helps to give to this machine a whicked and complicated look.

Theres a third column that actually looks like a dorsal clumn since is sculpted with spikes and little section that makes it looks like bone.This structure is totally made with soft plastic soo it can bends following the main column shape and size and while it conects to the base in the bottom, the top part conects tto two big generators that, at the same times conects with two black soft plastic tubes to Talisac body. For what porpuse? I dont really know, but one tube conects to his leg while the other to his stomach.

Then the metakic structure continues and curves to the left side. In the point of turn theres this weird feather like structure that is articulated and the top of the metal structure contonues in a T shape that stands out of it and at the end if its sides, it have chains that conects back to the main structure. Real chains, no plastic grey chains...this was an era where McFarlane Toys pretty much put everything at risk and they use to have not only soft plastic mixed with hard plastic,but also real metal items.

The end side of the structure have a chain with four extrangelly shaped instruments that it sees they are Dr. Talisac surgical instruments (because, yes......this thing actually is a dosctor and he perform surgeries hanging from this machine). At the center of the structure theres six chains with hooks in the end that holds Talisac in place. While the chains are real, the hooks are plastic and inser them in Talisac small face holes is a HUGE pain in the ass.

Then theres this big metalic hook that hands form the structure with a clip. This big hook enter into Talisac back side and comes out from the hole on his chest and is the real thing that keeps him levitating while the chains only act as support but while it does the job, the tunel on the body is too curved and dosnt let the hook to penetrate entirelly since the hook is also curved soo it only penetrates half the torso.

Lastly, theres a blood bag thathands of a hook the clips on top of the metal structure. This blood bad have soft plastic tubes that also conects with Talisac on the ribs, chest and neck. This tubes are very anoying and get in the way of the arm movement and the blood bag is just painted in red and looks very cheap but with everythign thats going on around it, is imposible to pay attention to it despite the high contrast.

The entire machine is painted in a gun black metal finish, dark grey with some dark wash that gives it a very sofisticated, old and elegant looks that actually does looks like metal while the chains on it (including the h¿ones hanging from Talisac neck )looks almost like jewels in contrast.

This figure is no fun at all. Theres not much to do than just look at it since its almost no articulated and is extremely delicate (over the eyars i seen him docens of times with some broken in some way) and it demands a lot of asembly but the enginering needed for this leave me speechless....i mean, McFarlane did a Manbat that they didndt manage to make stand on his own and yet, they did this?? A figure hanging from hook on a machine conected with tubes and chains?? And the way everythign is sturdy and how the wheels works llave me in awe.

But as beautfull as this is, its also terrifiying. Unlike the other Tortured Souls, Telisac looks more like a victim, hanging with his body totally open and giving birth to a monster. This is one heck of a dramatic and distorbing figure to look at and the more you look, the worse it gets. I am not only amazed McFarlane Toys managed to build something like this, but i am amazed they also had the balls to design and release this. This was Clive Barker at his best and McFarlane didnt back off.

Also, whats going on here? In the novel Talisac is not only a surgen but he manages to build a Frankenstein like creature called Venal Anaomica while hanging from this machine and also it seems he himself put himself there....and he experiment on himself as well soo alll the openings and wounds on his body are made by him and he managed to impregnate himself too....this is too much from both McFarlane and Barker. This was too much in 1002 and is too mich in 2026.

And after soo many years.....theres never has been other figures like this and i got the feeling there will never be again.

BUBBLE HEAD NURSE

 Last chritmas Konami released a new series of figures based on the remake of Silent Hill 2 to be used as prize in japanese claw machines. A pretty cool idea tough that for a single token and a little of gaming job you can get an official Silent Hill figure. I like the idea a lot and the price of thr market of this figures is incrediblly atractive too and of course.....wath characters are included in the collection?  Red Pyramid Thing and the Bubble Head Nurse, the only mascots of the entire series.

I want to complaing about the character selection but the fact this are based on the remae and not the original game makes them a nice variant to have on display as well. I already review Red Pyramid Thing and he was pretty damn good in my opinion, specially with that price soo i will look to the Bubble Head Nurse now.

She is bigger than the Figma and in the same scale as the Silent Hill Pop Up Parade and matches most horror collections in the market (like NECA´s or McFarlane Toys) and i am pretty sure she can stand on hr own at all but the inclusion of a base pretty much fixes that. This is a statue soo theres no movable parts or assemble requiered.

This figure is odd because.....it have the same sculpt and pose as the Gecco statue. I dont know if Gecco give the rigths od the sculpt to Konami or if Konami is the rigths owner but i find it pretty odd they recycle the pose for a figure. I mean the Pop Up Parade is in a very damn similar pose but it have some difference here and there but here, even the fingers are possed in the same angle.

We have the Nurse walking to the front in a very contorted and grotesque way while holding her iron pipe. The sculpt is perfect, i mean this is Gecco´s work soo it canot be the other way soo the fin on the head and bust size as well as all the curves are accurate to the in game model.  The nurse cap is made of soft plastic and have some nice details on the back, like pincs to hold it (tough i dont know how since theres no hair to do it), the hands are also cast on soft plastic as well as her skirt.

Theres this red metalic square where her mouth is supposed to be and after 25 years i still have no idea with it is but for some reason they always add if to the figures of this creature because in the game not all of them have this weird thing, tough i must admit the metalic red contrast pretty good with the white of the creature´s head.

Unlike Red Pyramid Thing that is full of metalic, fleshy and cottton texture, lots or rust, this girl is completelly devoided of any texture, but her skin and uniform are completelly clean of texture as well as her head but i think this really helps the figure to be more accurate since the Nurses in the game had alsways looked thing of...sintetic and not real, and the clean cheap plastic of this figure really helps achive that look.

Noth her skin and entire uniform including cap as well as her head are full of yellowish/brown stains plased completelly random and thats makes her looks realistic enough. Even her gloves are stained unlike Red Pyramid Thing ones and they fits n the overall display better. Her stockings tough are too clean as well as her high heel shoes and that mesk them stand out a little bit even with the dark color on them, they have a heavt contrast with the white of the figure.

This is pretty much the only difference between the original bubble Head Nurse and the remake ones, the stockings and high heel shoes soo this make the figure a nice variant to the rest of the collection. Her only accesory is her iron pipe that fits her hand pretty easy and also have a very good scult with a lot of details and sections that makes it looks like a functional item and the metalic cooper paint makes it looks realistic enough.

The base is as awfull as Red Pyramid Thing one, made with hollow cheap red plastic and a rock texture and a pretty random and space eating shape, the base looks a little bit out of place but like i already said, it does the job and i guess is the less imporant part of the whole figure.

This is a very simple looking figure that looks good, specially for the low price and i love it but i dont know how to feel about the recyled pose, the variety of the characters is extremelly low and having the characters in the same pose is something i dont like at all but given how hard to find is the Gecco nurse by now, i dont think not many people would notice. I just wish someday they make other creatures or characters, PLEASE, KONAMI!!!!!

RED PYRAMID THING

 I still remember the shock of the Gecco Silent Hill statues and later on, the Figam action figures....it was almost surreal that we finally had Silent Hill figures and merchadise tough we didnt got nothing while the videogame series was alive and well, somehow the gears of publicity started to move long looong after the game was dormant soo in the last teen years we been having a parade of figures based on the characters.....or should i say, in only two characters of the series: Red Pyramid Thing and the Bubble Head Nurse.

And last christmas and with no warning or pre-order Konami launched two figures based on these creatures as prize figures from those machines with a claw...you catch the boxes with the claw in exchangue of a token soo this figures are really really cheap and i cant find even a brand in theyr boxes aside of Konami soo i am guessing Konami makes them directly.

The atractive price made me get them for sure soo i cant let Silent Hill merchadise slip away. This figures are in the standar scale of most figures like Storm, McFarlane or NECA soo they fit with most horror collection and they are actually taller than the Figma....let says they are in the same scale as the Pop Up Parde.

This is a statue soo no articulation or asembling needed at all tough i am not sure if this Pyramid Thing can stand on his own, he comes with a base that works perfectly fine with him with the use of pegs under his boots.

At first the fact this is no screen accurate really bugged me but eventually i found out this is not based on the original Silent Hill 2 but in the remake, soo this Pyramid Thing is the redesign Masahiro Ito did for Bloober Team and have a number of differences with the original. 

The head is perfect, perect sixe and shape and the metalic texture is nice. It have a rugged side like if the content of the head is going to brake the metal and it have a metalic nail in this part soo everything from the game is present, including the fleshy parts under the pyramid and the flesh coming out in the back with another nail coming out from it. 

The musculature on the arms is really nice and the fact his arms have no carving makes the arms much more sexy and the gloves frames the muscled arms even more. The outfit is different from the original, while the original hace a......dont know wath to call it....its a costume that covers his entires body and is tucked on his boots, this version only have a butchers apron that only cover the frront side and have the back side totally open, revealing his entire back and legs.

There is a number of straps holding the apron in place and while the pants are extremelly simple, the wrinkles following the legs anatomy are really doog looking and natural and while the boots and pants have no tecture, the apron have a pretty heavy cotton texture. The pose is really good with Pyramid Thing walking up front with a very natural motion thanks to his apron since the back side flows very good around his body and the weigth of the big blade can be felt thanks to the stretched musculature on his arm.

The paint on the head is relaly good, with a shiny metalic dark brown mixed with black and the nail on his side in shiny silver. While th meat under the head is crimson read the one coming out from the back looks purple and kinda plastic soo instead of a brain it looks like a tumor. The apron also have a very natural firty grey with a lot of random stains that looks very natural and a black gradient fromthe bottom to the top.

This black gradient can be seen on the arms too tough while his arms have a nice pink texture on the, they kinda looks way too "healty" and actually sext for such a creature. Also the sqeaky clean white cloves really looks awkard in contrast with the black ink on his arms but i cheecked in game and yes, his gloves are actually very white. Maybe in game light kind of hide them but in a figure the contrast is pretty odd...

The pants and boots are just plain dark blue and brown and lack any kind of detailing. His only accesory is his big blade that have a realistic rugged texture on it as well as a copper and dark paint with a lot of stains and rust on it. Put the weapon on his hand was pretty tricky tough since his fingers cannot be open and the handle hace a peg that fits on his palm, soo remove the blade seems imposible now.

And finally theres the base...it have an incrediblly anoying shape that makes no sence and takes  ahuge amount of space on the dhelve and it have a rocky texture on it tough is made with hollow cheap plastic cast in dark red, soo it looks incrediblly cheap and generic but i guess this is the less important part of the figure and it does its job perfectly keeping Red Pyramid Thing in perfect balance.

Its odd how some elements of this figure are soo cheap and low quality and how other elements are soo damn good, yet i guess nothing can beat the super low and atractive price of it. I wish Konami release more figures as nice as this one with such price because collecting figures like this is getting pretty impossible with prices like the ones of Good Smile Company. 

Also i am very happy to have figures based on the remake of Silent Hill 2, this finally add some variation to the display tough i still wish they make more characters or creatures from the game aside of this guy and the nurse.

MASQUE OF THE RED DEATH

Last year it was the 100th anniversary of The Phantom of the Opera, the oldest (or one of the oldest if you count Quasimodo) member of the Universal Monster characters. Not only this movie was one of the best and more impresive of the silent era but is one of the most ambitious monster movies and this particular first version is also the closest we get to the original novel, since Gaston Leroux, the writer, was directly involved in the production and made sure everything was faithfull to his book. Like that isnt enough, the Phantom of the Opera is also one of the very first movies in color....long before sound was even added to movie.

Its just a small scene of a few minutes but 100 years ago, see the moving images in color was trully magic and wasnt an easy feat to acomplish since each celuloid frame had to be hand painted to achive this. This particular scene shows the Phantom arriving to the Bal Masque dressed as Edgar Allan Poe´s characters, the Masque of the Read Death. The color and the Phantom disguise complemented each other perfectly to show one of the most glorious scenes of the whole movie.

Sideshow did justice to such scene 26 years ago releasing the Phantom dressed in red as part of the Universal Monster action figure series as well as a 1/6 scale version with real clothes. That figure is one of my favorites on my collection and they did a magnifiscent job on it but now is NECA´s time to do theyr own version.

In scale with the rest of the line, this version of the Phantom is articulated on the head, neck, waist, shoulders, elbows, wrists, legs, knees and ankles. Sadly articulations suffer a little bit here thanks to the character design: the ruffle around the neck blocks a lot of the up and down movement of the head and the puffy nature of the sleves make his arms really thick soo the elbows dont bend too much and also the end section of the sleves block the wrists movement despite being made with soft plastic.

The end section of the shirt is long and, again, despite made with soft plastic it blocks the legs movement quiet a bit but aside of thath everything else moves pretty well, shoulders, knees, ankles and this is not a character that is supposed to be extreme posed.The bad thing is that he almost cant stand on his own....i dont understand why but i think his feet are too small and the heels dosnt help, but make hi stand is quiet a feat and once found the sweet spot for him to balance i dont want to move his legs anymore (soo i am sorry if the poses are a little stiff in this photos).

Scult is really good, the skull mask looks perfect with the big jaw and tiny small eye holes and the Phantom nose poking out from the skull nose, it looks weirdlly....grotesque. I am happy they added the red bandana on his head because it seems the Sideshow version forgot this. The bandana is made with soft plastic and it actually helps to keep the cape in place. The outfit is very simple tough but the wrinkles around his torso are realostic enough and the pouch hanging from the belt in front is a good detail tough it blocks the leg articulation a little bit.

The pants are very simple and have a really good leather texture and the most complex part are the sleves with the underfabric coming out from the holes of the outher layer. Things is....we dont really have a clear view of this outfit in the movie since he is covered with a cape, soo this outfit looks very different to Sideshow one, specially in tle legs part and i am not sure wich one is supposed to be more faithfull to the movies costume.

Having a character completelly red is very difficult since the color pretty much blocks any other color and is hard to match the tones. Here the color tones are very good because the shirt and pants have a dark red on it mixed with a black wash that makes te wrinkles and texture pop up while the shoes have a much darker red on it (and makes them looks like a different material) while the inside layer of the sleves have a brigth red as wella s the puch and that makes them pop up too but not dominate the eye. Theres small black perls on the belt, the puch and in different sections of the sleves and neck part that dont stand out too much but helps leveling up the whole red palette.

The neck ruggle is completelly white and stand out too much while the skill mask have different and very soft tones of grey to highñight the details like the teeth and the eyes tough this section feels very relaxing to the eye. The hands are neck are the only skin we can seen and the paint is really good, with a very relistic pale and sickly paint job.

Then there is the cape. The cape is HUGE and made with a very soft and thin fabric that shines a lot like velvet but at the same time is cmpletelly transluscent as well. The neck part is made with soft plastic as wella s the rope on the front, tough put the cape is very tricky thanks to the collar ruffle . The cape also includes a set of small black shiny pearls all around the edge to catch the ligth and shine even more than the red. This outfit is like....a cristal ball in a disco.

The front side of the cape is wired soo it can be posed around but given how long it is, its pretty heavy and the wired have problems keeping the pose and here is the thing, in the movie the Phantom is not using a cape.....is using a kind of greek toga that wraps around his shoulder and around his arm and the other ends wraps around his waist...its pretty difficult to see it on the movie with preccision, but theres no rope in the front and deffinetly no section conects with the neck area.

I dont know why NECA chose a siple cape for this figure given is pretty clear is not...i mean, Sideshow did it rigth 26 years ago, maybe NECA was too lazy to handle too unnecesary tailoring? I dont see anyone complaining about it tough the cape is extremelly well tailored, soft and have the perfect weigth for some dramatic display and thanks to the wire it can be wraped around the Phantom and makes it looks almost exactly like in the movie soo i guess everything is good here...

To cmplement his outfit we have his hat, a big black hat made with soft plastic with a thick red and hairy feather in one side. While Sideshow used real feathers, this one is all plastic and while it dosnt looks bad it looks...we.., plastic. The hat fits perfectly on the Phantoms head and the feather also helps to keep the cape in palce and its painted in brigth red with sparkles.

The otehr basic accesory here is the cane with the snake biting the skull. The sculpt of the snake is really good as well as the skull and while is very simplistic it very elegant as well and have a wicked tone for the Phantoms outfit. The cane is completelly blakc while the snake is painted in silver and the skull is white and is quiet tricky to fit it on the Phantom hand given the shape of the snake.

This are the basic add ons needed to the Red Death outfit but aside of that theres 3 and a half pairs of hands: and open hands set, a pair to hold the cane, a pair doing gestures and another hand open that i cant see too much difference with the basic open hands. The gesture hands are the most helpfull for a dramatic display since you can pose thePhantom poitign his finger or calling someone with two fingers. Swap the hands is not as easy as it should thans to the end section of the sleves but is nothing to worry about.

And finally, aside of the head with the skull mask theres two extra heads with no mask. This heads are included in the first version of the figure soo theres nothing new here and they show the Phantom looking at his rigth side with a look on his face full of doubts and caution and the second ehad shows him in a mad scream. Both have a fantastic sculpt and paint job, an extremelly natural around his eyes and yellow teeth with black lips but the screaming head is my favorite by far, is trully scary and disturbing but sadly, the outift ruffle on the nekc prevent the heads to sit nicelly on the ball joint soo, unlike the masked head, they fall pretty easy.

Theres nothing mere here but theres no need for more, the Phantom dont use any sort of item in this scene aside of his cane and the outfit is already complex enough to justify the price. And while the cape is not fathfull to the on screen version is very high quality and perfectly tailored.

With this figure i am closing my Universal Monster NECA collection since theres no other character i want, the display is complete. I wish this figure can stand much better but i guess a base can fix that as anoying as it is and the cape, while not 100% acurate it can be shaped to macth the on screen version. And with this color palette this version of the Phantom stand out way too much along side the other grey, black and white Monsters and i guess thats wath he wanted.