I'm back today with another horrifying figure from the 1999 anime influenced line of sexy monster ladies: Vampire Curia from Resurrection of Monstress by Yellow Submarine. Again, this is a line I had never heard of until a few years ago but I've managed to pick up a few of these here and there because they're so crazy, feature cool accessories, and really function as mini-dioramas. Vampire Curia here is a vampire hunter with both demon and vampire blood who is on a personal question to wipe out vampires everywhere. Yes, everywhere! Yellow Submarine released three versions of this figure: A standard version in black, a translucent version, and this "Pop Version" (I don't know what that means, but it's on the package) in bright red which was limited to 1500. Ready for a closer look at this vampire hunter? Then join me after the break...
The Facts:
Height: 6 1/4 inches
Articulation: Swivel shoulders, swivel right wrist, and a ball-jointed head.
Accessories: Sword, two-piece coffin, coffin statue, two syringes, blood pack, bat creature, and three regular bats.
Original Year of Release: 1999
Sculpted by: Kenji Ando
Designed by: Yasushi Nirasawa
The Positives:
* I'm not the biggest fan of Vampire Curia's face (something about her reminds me of a Muppet) but I do dig her wicked cool hairstyle, her spiky shoulders, and the holes on her neck. Yup, she legitimately has some holes in her neck; they're not just painted on! Did she get bit? It's a cool detail that I can't recall seeing on any other figure.
* Taking another look at Vampire Curia herself, she has a pretty cool outfit. You know, so far as the outfits of sexy vampires turned vampire hunters go. Their is a lot of darker shading on the outfit that actually makes this look like some form of leather or latex. The boots are also really cool with some metallic armored bits showing off skulls and crosses.
* Turn her around and you can see that Curia has some cool blood-red translucent wings. I'm digging them even though they look upside down to me. All the packaging art shows them like this, though, so it's gotta be a design choice.
* This coffin is crazy awesome! It's large enough to hold Curia and is molded in a translucent, smoke gray plastic!
* The coffin opens and you can see that the interior of the lid has some interesting details (more on that in a bit) while the main body has a textured layer that looks like padding. I wonder how comfortable this coffin is to sleep in?
* This little guy on the head of the coffin is removable. He also glows in the dark. He's a little skull with wings and kind of reminds me of one of the background Deadites from Evil Dead II: Dead by Dawn.
* The coffin lid just has some really cool relief details such as these two skeletons. Yellow Submarine went all out with these toys, which definitely is one of the things I recall about the late 90s when it came to collectible toys: Everyone was trying to outdo each others sculpting and detail efforts.
* To keep her company inside the coffin Curia comes with three bats. They're pretty cool sculpts of hanging, sleeping bats and they have a nice wash to bring out more of the details.
* The vampire hunter Curia comes armed with quite a few tools. First up is a syringe with an enormous needle on the end. Yikes! This think looks wicked and should give anyone who hates needles the willies. I love the clear needle, the translucent red vial, and the silver top. Is this filled with blood that Curia uses to keep herself fighting rather than having to fee? Possibly!
* Yikes! This one has two points! What the heck could this one be for? Again, I'm still convinced Curia uses these to obtain blood for herself rather than use her vampire powers for evil to feed. Maybe she finds a willing ally and draws some blood from them?
* What makes me lean more towards this blood being for Curia's own usage is that she comes with a blood pack with attached tubes. It almost seems like you could attach this into the holes in her neck I mentioned above (the plugs kind of stay but feel rather loose). Again, I love the translucent nature of this accessory and how it legitimately looks like a piece of medical equipment.
* The back of Vampire Curia's packing actually gives this sword a name: Bloodura. Bloodura is apparently a demonic blade that Curia uses in her quest to wipe out all vampires. Again, I find it odd that a demonic sword is cross shaped and used to kill vampires but I'll go with it because the sword looks cool. It's translucent with runes sculpted on the blade and reminds me of something you might use in one of the Elder Scrolls games. There's a peg on the handle that plugs securely into Curia's right hand so she can wield this against any blood-suckers.
* Here's a shot of Curia's weapons and bats all in place on the lid of her coffin. Pretty cool, right? I love stuff like this as it just looks awesome on display!
* He doesn't attach anywhere nor does he stand well on his own but how the heck can you not love this nasty little guy? He's so cool! He looks like he could have been a sidekick to some figure in the vintage Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles line, although he has more paint applications than most figures Playmates has released in their TMNT line in the past five years.
The Negatives:
* Obviously this line was designed to look good and show off the figures and accessories, so I'm not expecting full articulation (even by 1999 standards). Considering that Yellow submarine did add some joints, though, I do wish they'd been a bit more thoughtful in them. The swivel shoulders are nearly useless due to the wings and the giant spikes on Curia's shoulders.
* Curia's right wrist feels a bit loose. Be careful if you pick one of these up! They're definitely intended for display rather than play!
* While I love the idea of the little bats hanging around the inside of the coffin along with Curia's weapons and tools, unfortunately the bats don't stay on that well. The pegs just seem too thick for their little tails to get a good grip on.
Vampire Curia is a pretty interesting figure with some insanely cool accessories. While her build isn't that impressive (the joints can be a bit loose or just feel pointless) the sheer coolness of the stuff she comes with makes up for it. She's a Great and a 1/2 figure and a fun, semi-obscure figure to track down if you're interested in vampires or vampire hunters. Resurrection of Monstress is a rather interesting line and it's interesting to look at these figures almost 17 years later and see how they compare to what we've got today.
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