The Creature
Review by NekroDave
I think I first heard of Suckadelic toys around the time of the 2008 Toy Fair when Matt from Onell was showing me a Raiders Of The Lost Ark bootleg figure that Sucklord did. If my memory serves me well, we were at some snooty "art" toy opening nonsense at some gallery whose main attraction was free beer and although the figure was certainly not the sort of thing I was into collecting, it was refreshing at the time to see something that clearly was done in good humor and not some pretentious piece of crap like whatever the hell it was we were supposed to be impressed with that night.
Anyway....flash forward a year and about a month ago Sanjeev sends me a link to the new Suckadelic figure and as strange as it is, I have a pretty good idea right away that I'm gonna end up getting it. Oh, I put up a fight briefly, but within a few hours, the order was placed. Seriously, how could I possibly resist this??
A Creature from the Black Lagoon.....army man? How insane is that? Of course, what really sold me on it was the packaging. Somehow, seeing the Gill Man in army fatigues looks weirdly natural. I really liked the font of the logo and the phrase "Wrecked Souls Of Forgotten War" had a mysteriously ominous tone to it that just seemed awesome to me.
The back of the card is just as good, if not better. There's a great image of a battalion of Creatures going through maneuvers and a classic style data file and other background information.
This carded version is limited to only 20 pieces and contains a figure cast in dark green plastic. A second version was also made that came bagged with a header card and featured a lighter shade of green plastic.
The figure is just like a classic army man, ie; fixed posed. The toy itself is really not the draw here. The character and the novelty is. I know the Creature parts come from the old Remco Mini Creature, but I think I overheard that the rest of the uniform is actually from a Star Wars figure? Major Bren Derlin, maybe?
About the only downside to these are the prices. The limited carded version was a cool $40 while the bagged one was $25. That probably sounds like a lot for an army guy, but even at those prices, these are long sold out. Hopefully we've not seen the last of it though. I know quite a few people are clamoring for a glow in the dark version. Let's hope it happens!
Comments
4 comments postedFor the lighter side of Suckadelic see also, "Suspiria," "Steve," and "Even My Garbage Is Dope"
I would consider this art, rather than a toy, something I could not say about most so-called art toys. I believe these are handmade.
Freakin' Crazy! Just too many things together that shouldn't be but somehow works so well. Bizzare!
Here's the lowdown on the uniform(s):
The card and header feature a WWII USMC uniform circa 1941-44 and what would be seen in Iwo Jima, an amphibian operation ha ha!
The figure itself looks like a WWI British or WWI US Army tunic. I can't tell if he has boots or puttees ( the leg wraps that Luke Skywalker wore in ANH but worn by all the armies in WWI and the Japanese in WWII). If he has puttees it's WWI era uniform.
The helmet looks like an US Army WWII M1 Steel pot.
This is a super cool figure and the packaging is priceless! It simply brings a smile to my face. A great pick up!
I've also noticed you have changed your usual academic writing style to just "saying it like it is" style. Regardless if it's a new direction to great to read another side of your personality. Cheers!
LF
Leonardo Flores
CollectionDX Staff Writer-West Coast Bureau
I can't help but love all the Suckadelic figures. Before I got into Lego, I was trying to build action figures by learning the art of resin casting. The best that popped out was merely popping the armor off McFarlane chicks, sculpting anatomical correctness with Fimo and making one or two busts. ...But then Lego introduced ball joints to their mix.
Sucklord gets it right though... you can't really DO playable action figures strictly in resin! Even the plastic he uses could run into joint issues. Instead, he just jacks up the humor and makes something mostly stationary and wonderfully ridiculous. The saying on the card has a nice Engrish, bootleg feel to it too.
The art on the card uses the stock face of Gillman that's already silly looking but the army fatiques just make it that much more hilarious. Somehow this just looks "right".
Gotta' hunt one of these down on the secondary market at a later time, preferably a glow in the dark one (if he does one like that) like the later release Remco one I used to have was.
: p
Yep! I have a Remco one and I love it. It took Dave pointing it out explicitly, though, for me to realize this boot is actually based on that Remco! If/When Sucklord does a glow version, I'm all over it...maybe two or three times over! ;)
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Sanjeev