A transitional toy for me.

Don't ask me why, but this is the item that made me feel like a monster collector and not just a guy with some monsters in his collection. There are certainly rarer, older and more expensive items you could aim for, but I just really liked the 9" Remco monster boxes and admired them from afar. Finally deciding to buy one somehow signified that I was now a monster collector instead of a robot collector.

Remco released two different lines of monster figures in the early 80s. One was a 3 3/4" set of 6 characters (Frankenstein, Dracula, Wolf Man, Mummy, Phantom and The Creature From The Black Lagoon) in both regular and glow in the dark versions. (And of course, it was the glow Creature figure that was kitbashed into the recent Suckadelic Creature. But far more impressive to me were the larger 9" figures.

While the 3 3/4" figures were of course more in the style of the Star Wars figures of the day, these 9" versions had more in common with Megos. Except, they were more gimmick laden than those toys were.

In addition to being fully pose-able, with joints at the neck, waist, shoulders, hips, knees and ankles, each figure included a "Monster-Crush" grabbing action. Basically, the entire length of each arm is made of segmented plastic and when you push a lever on the back, they pull in like they are giving a bear hug.

On top of that, the head, hands and feet all glow in the dark. Now, my camera doesn't take good glow pictures, but fortunately, there are already some included on the back of the box.

If that's not enough glow for you, a plastic glow in the dark ring with a skull and crossbones molded into it is also included. I'm not sure what that has to do with anything, but it's in there. I believe that all 6 figures in the set came with the same ring.

But that's not all, either. They also threw in a small iron-on patch. Iron-ons were all the rage back in the day.

Of course, the downside to the figure is it's "wrappings". Being all one piece, it looks more like Mummy themed pajamas than real burial wrappings. Still, that's to be expected from a time when accuracy was much less important than play value.

And of course, perhaps the best part for the modern collector is the box, and that's one of the things that drew me to this line in the first place. Each box for the 9" Remco monsters has some fantastic artwork on the flap. So far, I've only managed to get The Mummy and Frankenstein, but I can't wait to see all 6 lined up together. Unfortunately, I doubt that will happen anytime soon, as the Creature and Phantom figures tend to command a premium for nice boxed specimens.

The last piece of my Sideshow 12" monster collection.

It's always nice to be able to complete a collection, be it a run of comics, a vintage line of toys or some modern releases. And this past Christmas I lucky enough to be given this 12" Hunchback of Notre Dame toy, completing my collection of Sideshow monsters. I don't have all the different color variations and things like that, but I'm not interested in those. Just one of each monster released is good enough for me.

This figure is based on the character of Quasimodo as portrayed by the great Lon Chaney in the 1923 silent movie classic The Hunchback of Notre Dame.

This was the last one I got because it's just not one of my favorite characters and on top of that, it's a pretty easy one to find. Furthermore, the price on this one has been pretty consistently low (about $30-40) so there just was never any urgency for me to pick it up. As so often happens in cases like that though, now that I have it, I love it.

As with all Sideshow 12" figures, the Hunchback comes in a full color box with opening top lid and clear plastic window inside. I'm not too big a fan of the artwork on the front of this one, though, as it features Esmeralda more prominently than Quasimodo.

The toy is very well articulated, allowing a wide range of motion to strike some pretty unique poses.

The clothing is very well done, with several layers to add depth. The shirt is nicely tied off with faux rope and the belt strapped on and actually adjustable. In addition to his regular costume, accessories include the crown, robe and sceptre of the "King of the Fools". With the last entry in the line, they finally got it right by giving the toy a hand than can actually hold it's accessory!

Unfortunately, the crown itself doesn't fit on the head too snugly and you basically have to rest it on there and pose the toy so it doesn't fall off. The crown is made of a very flexible plastic, maybe even a thin rubber, but it's just to small to fit over the head. Not a huge problem though. It will stay off if you just put it on after posing it.

An adjustable stand with the title and an image of Frankenstein in the Universal Monster logo on the base is also included.

This figure was limited to 2000 pieces. A black and white "Silver Screen Edition" was also released in even smaller numbers. That version was limited to just 500 pieces.

"A Mate... For The Monster!"

So the guy I got my Mummy from also had this Bride Of Frankenstein, which I'd also put off buying, and I figured I might as well save on shipping. So, here she is, the penultimate figure in the completion of my 12" Sideshow Monsters collection. (I still need the Hunchback and then I'm done!). Naturally, the Bride of Frankenstein hails from the movie of the same name, released in 1935 as a direct sequel to Frankenstein.

It's kind of ironic that I should end up getting both of these figures at once since they are the only two in the line that both come almost entirely wrapped up in bandages and it's interesting to see how the two figures compare in this regard. One would think they would be pretty much the same, but they are really not. The Bride figure has much more maneuverability in the limbs than the Mummy does. I'm not sure if this is because the fabric used is more flexible (hey, it hasn't been in a tomb for thousands of years!) or if it's due in part to the smaller arms used for the female figure. Maybe it's a combination of both, but either way, you can pose this doll much easier than the Mummy.

The face sculpt by Mat Falls is a bit weird to me. Looking at it without comparison, I find myself thinking that it doesn't look like the the Elsa Lanchester Bride that I remember, yet when you compare it to the images on her on the box, it's actually pretty spot on. The paint details on this figure are particularly good. Notice the individually painted eyelashes.

The gown is HUGE and covers everything except the head and arms. It is tied behind the head and it looks like you could pretty easily undo it and remove the gown. Once exposed, you'll see that most, but not all, of the figure is wrapped up. The hips are not wrapped much, but there is a white undergarment instead. I'm not off-hand if that's the way it was in the movie, but I'll give them the benefit of the doubt and assume so. Either way, you're never gonna see it on display anyway, assuming you display it with the gown on.

Included accessories are some laboratory equipment, a heart and a stand. The heart goes in the jar and the other two pieces can connect via the wires, but be careful. The tab on one of them broke almost immediately on mine. Which kind of stinks because I never display that stuff anyway and I only attach it to take a picture for this review. See the sacrifices I make for CDX?!?! ;)

Naturally, as usual we get a nice box featuring the original poster art for The Bride Of Frankenstein with some still images from the movie on the back.

Box Front

Box Rear

In and of itself, Sideshow's 12" Bride of Frankenstin figure is a nice doll, but I wanted it mostly to have a complete set of the classic monsters. I mean, if you've got Frank, you gotta get him his bride!

"It comes to life!"

I'm sure I've said it more times than you care to hear, but my favorite Universal Horror picture as a lad was The Mummy. So, which 12" Sideshow monster did I never get around to buying? Why, the Mummy naturally! Too bad too, because it ended up being one of the most expensive in the line, with prices around $150-200 not being unusual. Fortunately, I was able to get a decent deal on mine from a seller who didn't really seem to be in touch with the going rates, as he had this and The Creature (another desirable, high priced Sideshow figure) both up "Buy It Now" for $90 each. Still more than I think it's worth, but I decided to take the plunge and get it.

I found the Mummy to be a pretty disappointing figure. The sculpt of the face is fine, but the rest of the figure is just too hard to pose. It's actually wrapped in gauze from head to toe (ok, more like from neck to foot, but you get the idea) and while that is pretty cool in terms of being screen accurate, it almost completely elimates all the articulation you normally enjoy in a 12" doll. You can move the head around pretty good and raise the arms to almost 90 degrees with the body, but not much more than that. The elbows will barely move now nor will the legs. Now, I know that you barely see him in the movie and that he wouldn't be terrible dynamic in his movements anyway, but I just found it somewhat disappointing.

Granted, what you lose in articulation you gain right back with how cool those wrappings look, particularly the end pieces hanging off the right arm and trailing behind the left leg.

The accessories here are few, but nice. Just like with the 8" Mummy, you get a replica of the box containing the scroll of Thoth and the scroll of Thoth itself. However, this time around there is no stone tablet. The box is nicer than on the smaller version, with heiroglyphics added to the top lid, a row of stars around the middle of all four sides and the figures along the edges have greater depth to them, in addition to being painted gold. If I had any complaint at all with the box, it might be that it looks a bit too new.

The Scroll of Thoth is very nicely done and seems to be the exact same one that comes with the 12" Ardeth Bey. It's very different from the 8" version though, with a far greater amount of detail placed into the writing.

While the figure itself is "ok", I think this time around the box is my favorite part of the ensemble. The original poster art for The Mummy is among my favorite Universal Monster posters and it is lovingly recreated for the front lid of the box of the figure, with minor modifications of course. The back of the box has a closeup of the Mummy's face and the interior of the lid features a listing of the cast and crew of the movie.

Box Front

Box Rear

The Mummy is limited to 3,000 pieces and is a good figure, but not great. It's definitely worth having in your collection, if for no other reason than to have a complete set of 12" Sideshow monsters. But I can't really recommend paying the going rate for it. If you can, wait until you find a good deal, like I did. Or better yet, hopefully you got one for it's initial $40 price tag when it came out!

"Hideous Half Man, Half Beast Who Terrorized Millions!"

Here's another Sideshow 12" monster that I put off getting for some reason. From the 1935 motion picture classic, it's Henry Hull as the Werewolf Of London.

Similar to the 8" Invisible Man, this figure here depicts the character wearing a robe. Somehow the effect doesn't seem silly, though. In fact, I like it. I'm glad that they chose to portray the character in a different outfit than what was already used for the 8" version. The robe and the rest of the costume beneath is well constructed and I really like the color. The belt on the robe can be displayed tied or untied, depending on your own preference.

As we've come to expect from these figures, there is a full range of motion in all the limbs and torso and the sculpt of the face is perfectly in tune with the character from the movie. In fact, I think the likeness here is one of the best in the line.

The concealed limbs are molded in brown plastic so in the off chance that some of the arms become exposed, it matches the brown hair on the hands pretty well. But there's little chance of that anyway as the length of the robe's arms should be sufficient to accommodate most poses. Since I've been quick to rake them over the coals in the instances where they've gotten this wrong, I wanna make sure I give Sideshow props for getting it right here.

The Werewolf of London comes with several accessories. First, there is a test tube rack that can hold 6 removable clear plastic test tubes. Additionally, there is a flask that he can even hold ok.

Although it is not mentioned on their website, the doll also comes with a replica of the mariphasa plant, just like the smaller version did. Lastly, you also get a small pair of eyeglasses. However, I would recommend that you just leave those in the box. There is really no way to actually use them with the figure and they are extremely fragile. Mine broke nearly as soon as I got it out of the box. I was able to glue it back together ok, but since they don't do anything anyway, I wouldn't even risk bothering with them. Unlike most of the other 12" monster figures, this one doesn't come with either a base or a stand. You'll have to provide one of your own.

This figure was limited to 1500 pieces and comes in the now familiar 12" doll box that replicates the original movie poster art. As it was one of the last 12" monsters released by Sideshow, there is no corresponding black and white Silver Screen Edition, just this regular release. It's a fine figure and worthy of your collection, but prices for it seem to be going up. Released at $40 just a few years ago, you'd be lucky to get one for under $100 now.

"You will not remember what I show you now, and yet I shall awaken memories of love... and crime... and death... "

I never really thought about it until now, but I suppose people who aren't classic monster movie fans might get a bit confused when hearing about the characters from the 1932 Boris Karloff vehicle "The Mummy". The main character is of course the mummy himself, who's real name is "Imhotep", but when he's resurrected, he takes the name of Ardeth Bey and moves freely among the rest of the cast, until his true identity is revealed. So, "The Mummy", "Im-ho-tep" and "Ardeth Bey" are all the same person.

The figure is really well made like all the others in the line. The box art is great as usual showing Ardeth Bey poised above the character of Helen Grosvenor (played by Zita Johann), whom he believed to be the reincarnation of his lost love, the Princess Anck-es-en-Amon. A statue of the Egyptian god Anubis stands in the background. I love these box lids that have the vintage poster art on them. They make such great backgrounds for your monster setup.

Ardeth Bey box art

My humble monster collection, with Sideshow boxes on the top row

Ok, so the box is great, but what about the figure? Well, like most toys, it's got it's good and bad points. The costume and accessories (a sacrificial dagger and the Scroll Of Thoth, with which one could raise the dead) are fantastic. The figure can even hold both of the accessories and the Scroll of Thoth can actually be untied and rolled out to admire all the ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics which were meticulously recreated. The tarboosh is molded right onto the head and is not removable.

The figure looks just like Karloff did, but something about the paint job feels wrong. I know how the character in the movie looks eerily ancient but here his face looks absolutely petrified (and I mean that in a turned to stone kind of way). I don't really have a problem with that, but you can still see tiny areas of flesh tone peeking through and I feel like the black around the eyes looks a bit too exaggerated, which sort of makes it look "fake". I know that's probably a weird way to describe a toy, but I think if I saw someone who looked like this in real life, I would think "there's someone made up to look ancient" instead of "there's someone ancient". It looked great in the movie, but doesn't seem to work as well in color. Perhaps this figure would have benefited from a black and white "Silver Screen Edition", but one was never made as this was released towards the tail end of Sideshow's run of these 12" classic monsters.

With that said, if that's a problem at all, it's only a problem when you look at it up close. From a couple feet away or while mixed within a collection, the doll is fantastic. And it certainly adds a distinctive flavor to a monster room otherwise filled with your standard Frankensteins, Draculas, etc... I welcome any of the characters who are less seen in toy form.

Ardeth Bey comes with his own adjustable 12" doll stand and was limited to 3000 pieces. It's definitely a great figure for the monster collector and if the paint feels flawed at all, it's only because of the high standard already established by Sideshow's previous releases. But I don't think you'd be too disappointed to have this one in your collection!

"Terrifying monsters from a lost age!"

My shame continues. It's been over a full year since my review of the 8" Mole Man and I still haven't seen the movie. I guess I've been too busy buying toys instead of dvds. And I have added this 12" version of the character to my collection since then.

This toy features beautifully sculpted head and hands. And the paint job is amazing. On the head, you can actually see different shades of brown underneath all the bumps, giving the head's landscape a very rich texture.

The clothing is simple, yet effective. The foot coverings are just the same brown cloth as the pants and shirt. No fancy footwear for these worker slaves, I guess. Of course, this makes it just a bit harder to stand since there are no real shoes to provide traction against a smooth surface and there is no stand included to counteract this. You'll definitely want to get yourself a 12" doll stand for this guy.

For accessories, you get a large sack and 6 mushrooms-2 large, 2 medium and 2 small.

Unfortunately, once again we're presented with a problem with how the hands attach to the arms. The hands are accurate, but the arms are not. Strangely, the arms have been changed to brown instead of flesh colored, but that doesn't really help much. They still don't come anywhere close to matching the hands!

I would have preferred to see something more like the later Frankensteins that have the hands and forearms all one piece. Sure, you lose some articulation this way, but the overall presentation is much nicer. Compounding the problem here is that the sleeves are just a tad too short to completely cover up this shortcoming.

I hate to sound like I'm complaining too much. I like the figure a lot. I'll just have to display it with the arms lowered. The Mole Man was limited to 1,5000 pieces.

"Throw the switch!" Dr. Frankenstein's assistant gets the 12" doll treatment.

Fritz is another sort of subsidiary character to be released by Sideshow Collectibles as a 12" figure. From the 1931 Frankenstein, Fritz was the hunchbacked assistant to Dr. Frankenstein and was ably portrayed by Dwight Frye. It was Fritz who was given the task of obtaining a brain for the monster and would bring back a criminal mind. This plot device was unique to the film adaption and was not in the original book or previous stage plays.

The doll is pretty good, but it lacks the distinctive hump on the back and the crouched over stance. You can probably place some crumpled up tissue under his shirt or something to help achieve this effect.

Fritz comes with a stone replica base, a walking stick, a plastic container with removable lid and a brain to store in the container. The container is labeled "Normal Brain". If it were up to me, I would have made it say "Abnormal Brain" since that is the one he actually takes in the movie. Perhaps you can display it fallen at his feet.

Besides adding a hump, maybe the only other way I could think to improve this figure would be to make the clothes look dirtier. I always think of Fritz as being filthy from digging up graves and what not. His clothes here look too new. Otherwise, this is a nice addition to the lineup and, unlike some of the other smaller characters released, he carried a nice price tag at only $20. Fritz was limited to 3,500 pieces.

Not my favorite monster character by any means, but a great 12" figure!

While I can't say that I've ever been a huge fan of the Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde story, there is no denying their importance in the history of horror movies. The same year that the Wolf Man made his first appearance, the story of Jekyll and Hyde was being released for the FOURTH time already, having been made in 1912 as a short, 1920 as a full-length silent feature with the great John Barrymore in the lead, 1931 with Frederich March and finally in 1941 with Spencer Tracy. The 1941 film is probably my favorite of the bunch, but it is the 1931 portrayal of the character that was made as a 12" doll by Sideshow Collectibles.

The figure comes all decked out in a tuxedo and looks magnificent. A separate cape can be tied around his neck for added flair. A nicely detailed cane is included and can be held, fairly well, in the right hand. He still doesn't exactly have a firm grasp on it, but it works better than most Sideshow 12" monster accessories. He also comes with a great 12" doll stand that has an image depicting the characters dual nature. The final accessory is the flask that contained the potion which affected his transformation from Dr. Jekyll into Mr. Hyde.

Of course, although the toy is labeled as "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde", you only get Mr. Hyde. There is no swappable heads or anything like that which would allow you to display either character. I guess it would be cool if there were, but hey, who really wants to display Dr. Jekyll anyway, right? It's Mr. Hyde you watch the movies for and it's Mr. Hyde you'd buy the figure for.

This is a great looking doll. The costume is well done and so is the sculpt and paint job. I love the packaging as usual. But there's always that one thing......

Wanna hear the most annoying, mind boggling thing you've probably ever read on this site? Then dig this...

Twisty ties are evil. We all know that. Twisting them around the doll underneath the clothing is excessive. I think I've
covered that. But this doll went way, way beyond the realm of rational thinking. This one actually had string sewn into the collar and run out through the back of the cardboard insert and tied. I had to actually cut the string at the collar in order to free the doll and make it look presentable. Insane, isn't it? A similar thing occurred on my 30" Superman, but at least on that toy, the string simply ran through the cape and could be slid out. Not so here. I had to actually cut the thing away, being very careful not to damage the costume in the process.

Other than that, and maybe that it's not the most interesting character to me, I must say that I love the figure. Mr. Hyde was limited to 2,000 pieces.

This figure is nicely done, but I can't really recommend it to anyone but the most dedicated of monster collectors or Bela Lugosi fans.

In "The Wolf Man", Bela Lugosi portrayed a gypsy fortune-teller also named Bela. His role is small but significant, as it is he who infects Larry Talbot with the curse of the were-wolf.

The 12" figure by Sideshow Collectibles is nicely done, but may not really be a vital part of your monster collection. You wouldn't even know it was related to the monster genre without having seen the movie. In that way, it's similar to the Larry Talbot doll . Nice in and of itself, but still remaining somewhat outside of the realm of monster collectibles.

The doll looks great overall, but he wears something of a slight smile that belies the sense of dread and menace that the character in the movie exuded.

Bela comes with a pipe accessory as well as three sets of Tarot cards. Each set does feature cards with individually printed artwork on each!

The interior of the box has some nice imagery of the dark forest, which made me think it would have been cool if all the boxes has some nice sort of cutout displays that you could place behind the figures. Of course, most adult collectors probably wouldn't cut them out even if they did. I know I wouldn't.

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