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.

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.

THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA

A cuple of years ago i read for the first time The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux and it became one of my favorite books pretty quickly thanks to the grandiose and dark mistery it holds and no movie or other version has managed to come close to it, except the 1925 version by Univeral. Of course this was the only movie that had Gaston Leroux directly involved soo is the closest to the book, but is also one of the most lavish and spectacular films of the silent era, and one of the most unerving and diturbing thanks to Lon Chaney and his unmatched performance.

The very first creature from the Universal Monster universe, NECA really did take its time to bring the Phantom into theyr Ultimate line but the wait was really really worth it. The Phantom is of curse, human size and the standar scale of the NECA figures tough he is much shorter than the Frankenstein Monster and the same heigth as Dracula. He....can stand on his own but not very well sadly, thanks to his high heel shoes (he is french after all), balance him with those shoes is kinda tricky, just like the Wolfman.

He is articulated on the head, neck, shoulders, elbows, wrists, waist, legs, knes and ankles, all of them ball joint soo theres a hug range of movement here since his coat is made of soft plastic, soo his legs can move with total freedom. This articulations are really welcome since Erik - the Phantom - is one of the most expressive Monsters.

The sculpt is just amazing. Every detail of Lon Chaney performance is here: the big bags under the eyes, the bony check bones, the skull nose, the big teeth protunding from the mouth, also the texture of old skin, the little wrinkles around his mouth and on his forehead, there is a very disturbing and odd realism in this figure that make some of his expressions trully frigthing and haunting.

The realism goes to his hands as well since they have the same texture and are made with soft plastic, and his body looks fantastic as well with the tuxed wraping around it very naturally. The shirt, vest and coat are separate peices tough they cant be removed, but that add a lot of realism and depht to the sculpt. His bow tie is also made with soft plastic.

The paint is very simple but effective: pure blackness here with pure white only on his shirt under the vest and on the sleeves, but theres different in his black clothing, that mixed with the texture make the tuxed shine on a very natural way. The buttons on the sleeves, shoes and other details are also painted in a darker more shiny black.

The skin have a mix of purple and grey tones that makes him looks like a corpse half rotting. I am not sure if its the paint or the plastic used on it, but the skin have this wird and pretty soft shine on it that catches ligth on a very specific way. The bags under his eyes have a much darker pueple that makes them looks like the sockets on a skull and his lips are even more purple, almost black and....wet and all this dark tones makes his protunding and yellow teeth stand out even more.

This really makes me apreciate Lon Chaney artcraft creating the make up of this characters, every single day with his own hands and with no CG or even advanced prostetics or make up effects, just the most basic of tools and colors he was able to create a vision of the grotesque that it gets much worse the more you look at it and maybe the wrst is that theres nothing supernatural in here, just human evilnes. No wonder after 93 years his version of the Phantom is still chilling.

He comes with two pairs of extra hands in the same soft material as the base hands: two for holding items and two with a pointing finger to recreate the popular scene of the Phantom unmasking. All the hands can be swaped pretty easy and adds a lot of diversity to this odd character.

Then theres 4 extra heads. Yes, 4....this is the most heads we ever got with an Universal Monster and of coruse, this is because i am sure NECA really strugled to chose wath expressions to use since this character, like i already said, is really really expresive. 

Aside of the basic blank expression there is a "surprised" face expression with his eyes wide open  and looking to his left and his mouth in a "O" shape. Looks very different to the blank base expression and is from a famous still from a scene in wich Christine is about to decide if she stays with him or not. Another face have the Phantom looking at the rigth and smiling. This is my favorite head of course given how evil and trully frigtning his smile looks, almost beastly, like an ape.

Then there is the open mouth and shouting face expression, from one of the most intense and electrifiying scenes in the history of cinema, when Christine unmask him to reveal his fury and and terror. The inside of the mouth and the big tongue inside looks wet and soo real!! 

And lastly, theres the head with the mark on. The mask have a pretty pink color, different to the Phantom skin color and some purple shadows around the eyes and looks basically empty, cold and dead, like a manikin. The lower half is made with transluscent soft plastic soo you can see  alittle bit of the Phantom rotten teeths and purple lips, wich makes it even worse.

To complement the looks theres a black hat, made with soft plastic that fits with every head perfectly, a pretty cool looking hat and there is also his cape...or i dont know how to call it. This peice of clothing always leaves me perplexed because it have gole son the sides soo hes arms comes out soo its like some kind of long vest?? I dunno,its very different to Dracula´s cape deffinetly.

Wath leave sme perplexed is the material....velvet...black velvet...i mean, i think this piece of clothing was velvet as well in the movie, and i apreciate NECA intention to be faithfull to the movie, but given how small is the scale and how thick is velvet the cape looks just wrong...it puffs soo much and dosnt have any kind of flow or weigth, plus it looks way too hairy....the hair really reflects ligth and almost looks like a fur coat.

The neck part is made of plastic and it gits on the Phantom´s neck perfectly once the head is removed, also theres a wire around it soo it can be posed flowing at the wind...i apreciate this detail but i dont know if that helps or make things worst. Posing this coat/cape in a natural way is really tricky and still it stands out and looks cheap compared to the rest of the figure.

Lastly, theres no organ, violin or any other muscial instrument, but a snorkel made with bamboo he uses to drown those who try to cross the river to his lair. This item is soo silly tough in the movie he uses eficiently and the sculpt and small mouth piece is very delicatelly crafted in here, i also wish NECA added some kind of musical instrument or a Don Juan Triunphant partiture.

I also wish they added an extra mask to pose the Phantom removing it, but i guess thats too much to ask with this many accesory and real fabric parts. Actually, just the sculpt and paint of the head is worth to get this figure since he looks really ghostly and haunting, perfect for any horror collection or anyone who collects history of cinema, a really brillant work from NECA. 

PHANTOM OF THE OPERA

 

Years before McFarlane redesigned the classic Universal Monsters it released a series of playsets based on the creatures, with a couple of ariculated figures, accesorys and a background diorama in a tiny scale, this first step into the McFarlane Monsters was relaly memorable and a lot of fun for us kids from the 90s and put the brand name in our radar.

After some beautifull displays like the Sea Creature, Dracula and the Werewolf, and other not as spectacular, like the Mummy, they close the line with the Phantom of the Opera, a character that many forget is one of the main Monsters (McFarlane himself forget him at all on later lines) and just like the Sea Creature, they chose to go with a vertical aproach.

The main monster is similar looking to dracula tough his suit have stiches all over and have a giant Jack Skellington vampire tie on front. Like Dracula, his cape is made with real clothe in propule but his face is much more hiddeous. I dont know if he looks like a mummy or a victim of a masive burn, but he is bald and his skin is grey, and totally distorted.

He can stand perfectly and is articulated on the neck and shoulders and comes with a sword that fits on a sheat on hsi waist and a mask that cover the entire top half of his head more like a bandana. The mask have golden and pruple paint on it and while it fits perfectly on the Phantim´s head, is not as detailed as his actual face. I mean, this is a tiny figure yet i can see his eyes and teeth perfectly painted.

His play companion is the Vicomte Raoul de Chagny, havig the same scale as the creature and the same articulations, his outfit is much more elaborated (looks like a pirate for me) but have the same odd anatomy of the humans in this line: chuby limbs and a short torso and big head. Also paint is not as perfect as with the Phantom since the brown of his hair and mustache invades his skin and viceversa.

He comes with a heavyer sword that can got on his hand perfectly or in the sheat on his waist and a mask, since the action take places durong the Bal Masque de la Opera. Raoul mask is pretty odd tugh since looks like a golden goat with jade green eyes and it makes him looks very demonic, much more than the actual Phantom.

There is not a whole lot of room to play with in here tough despite this is the tallest playset from the serires, there is the Phantom layer at the bottom with his pipe organ, and a balcony in top as well as a wood beam on top to balance the gold chandelier at the center. Despite that the result is extremelly good looking and very dramatic, this is actually the most theathrical of all the playsets.

The pipe organ is really fantastic looking, full or ornaments and cravings on the bottom and dozens of silver pipes, its loosk a lot like an evil villian hideout and the balcony is as heavy intrincate as the bottom part with elegand golden design, rock columns and a golden arch on top that reads "OPERA HOUSE" as well as red velveth curtains made with actual clothe.

The beam is not too playn either since it have some golden details as well as a rope around. The chandelier have real chain tough the candles looks kinda silly since they are just white plastic pieces. Push the chandelier top a little bit and it falls as a deadly trap over any of the characters on the bottom. But you can also put the Phantom on the chandelier to escape or have a sword duel on the air with Raoul, soo there is a lot to do in this tiny space.

Overall, i think this was one of the most spectacular looking playsets on the line, with a great use of space, loads of fancy details and unique features and was a pefect end for such a fun serires. Now day McFarlane Toys are making playsets that looks like boring maquetes from Lego soo in the end i apreciated this sets much more.