The Creature Super-Glo Edition

Review by Sanjeev

Aiight, so check it.

You need to do the research. This toy/art piece/whatever has some history to it. And I'm not just referring to 1954's The Creature from the Black Lagoon, which you should all be familiar with!

First of all, you need to learn about Remco's 1980 "Mini-Monsters" toy line. This early 3-3/4" scale line of Universal Monsters action figures is sick and is totally worth tracking down. Now, specifically, check out the gillman figure in this line.

Nekrodave hooked me up a while back with a link to an eBay auction for the glow version. It was loose but in great shape; scored it for the cost of a sammich and a song (Public Enemy's Cant Truss It, I believe).

Now, what you need to do with get with Suckadelic. Peep the hilarious videos. Check out the even-iller bootleg toys. The mastermind behind all of this, The Sucklord, is a cool muthaluva and one seriously creative cat...with a pretty sick sense of humor. We like that.

And once you've wasted your afternoon on his website, go back and check out Nekrodave's killer coverage of Sucklord's first "The Creature" boot. It sucks. No--wait! It kills. Awww...I'm all confused now...

Just read his review again, damnit.

Basically, Sucklord took one of these:

Mashed it up with one of these:

Sculpted an American WWII-style helmet and base...

And delivered us wrecked souls of forgotten war! Why? Why the hell not?? It's fantastic. Just reading the back of the card of Nekrodave's non-glow version gets me all pant-noodly. But more importantly (what's more important than my pant noodle?), peep that sculpt. It may not be totally obvious by looking at pics of the Remco, but weak paint app aside, the sculpt is actually gods damn brilliant. It's super-sharp, super-detailed, and does a killer job of capturing that gillman flavor we all love.

Sucklord done good when he picked this figure to boot.

Yo, what's up with those buck teeth??

So, obviously, Nekrodave scored a pair (one bagged, one carded) of the non-glows a month ago. Heads immediately started clamouring for a glow version. I know; I was one of 'em. But then a couple weeks ago, Nekrodave posted the news we all wanted to hear.

Not only was Sucklord making a glow version to complement the glow/non-glow Remco set, but he was dropping clear glow on us! That's right: crystal clear resin (urethane) infused with glow powder. I gotta tell ya, I was nervous at first. Mixing toy fetishes like this can lead to disaster. I think the Japanese designer vinyl kaiju company, Gargamel, was one of the first to pursue the clear-glow paradigm. The results weren't so hot. The "clear" wasn't all that clear--you could see the specks of powder in the vinyl...making it look kinda murky under normal light. And the glow wasn't very bright because there just wasn't enough of the stuff in the vinyl (adding more powder would probably have compromised the toughness of the vinyl).

Well, I'm pleased to report that Sucklord not only pulled it off...but Glo Creech is absolutely smokin'! At first, I was mad skeptical of the super-bright pics in announcement Nekrodave posted. But now that I have these suckers in hand...DAMN. They're super-clear with a very slight yellow-ish tinge around the edges...AND THEY GLOW BRIGHT AS HELL.

Sucklord clearly didn't use just *any* glow powder--he used the good stuff: strontium aluminate...not the classical zinc sulphides used in typical glow-in-the-dark toys like most glow vinyl kaiju. [Hey, as the Chief Glowologist, I gotta know this crap.] The glow is *extremely* bright and it lasts for HOURS longer than other gid stuff.

Folks, these pics aren't altered at all. In fact, I actually had to tune down my exposure times (15 seconds to 5!) just to get reasonable pics. This is the real deal.

Seriously, go check out the gallery. Click on the pics to get some hugantic close-ups. It's worth it.

And, of course, I'd be amiss if I didn't include some shots of Sucklord's Creature along with the original Remco glowie gillman...

What can I say? The Remco makes a better action figure...but I think they get along pretty well.

I've only got two beefs with this toy. First, as for the figure itself, the plugs attaching the arms into the torso are a bit too visible. I dunno. It doesn't bother me at all, but ya do notice it. Just scroll up and take a second look. I wonder if it woulda looked better to have no plugs and just super-glue the arms on... Either way, I ain't sweating it.

Second, the packaging. Oh, I've got no problems with simple bags and headers. However, I would have gladly paid extra to get that sick card some of the no-glow's came with. Thing blows my mind! I may just have to scan Nekrodave's and print that sucker out.

Oh. Uh...I guess no articulation could be a complaint..? I'm sure that grinds someone's gears out there. But this is a resin-cast bootleg made in some dude's apartment in Chinatown, NYC. Quit whining. It's pricey for what it is, but for a designer toy, it's classy, creative, and conscious...and it doesn't come with the pretense a *lot* of other such toys out there do!

Oh, and I guess you could complain that they're all sold out now... :(

By the way, that CD in the background is Suckadelic's Supervillains joint. Ill beats y'all need to check out.

Well, that's about all I have to say about this one. You can bet I'll be keeping my eye on what Sucklord drops in the future. This cat's just too sharp!