The Incredible Shrinking 31 Days of Toy Terror: Creature from the Black Lagoon from Tiny Nightmares by Just Play

 

   Last year I didn't feel like Phantom, the Creature or the Bride got enough love so they've been showing up more frequently on this year's countdown. I reviewed the Bride of Frankenstein from this series of smaller horror figures last week so this week I'm checking out the Creature from the Black Lagoon, the other classic Universal Monster in the set. A few months ago I saw these Target (and recently Walmart) sold in little blind boxes. Tiny Nightmares from Just Play offers the Bride of Frankenstein, the Creature from the Black Lagoon, Michael Myers, Pennywise, Chucky and Tiffany, M3GAN, and the Nun. They seemed a bit pricy at around $8 to $11 dollars and I was really only interested in the Universal Monsters, Michael Myers, and maybe M3GAN, so I passed. In September I was at Five Below and stumbled upon these little guys again, though now for $5 bucks. Instead of being sold in boxes, Five Below's offerings come in foil bags with fewer figures (Michael Myers, Tiffany, and Pennywise are absent) with a different set of cheat codes. To find the Creature from the Black Lagoon in the bagged set you'll look for a code "E" on the bag (it's the last letter in a series of numbers); for the boxed set you'll look for "F" for the Creature. So far as I am aware, the blind bagged and blind boxed figures are supposedly the same figures, just with an adjustment to the assortment and codes. I'm glad that Just Play added this as I probably wouldn't have purchased them without knowing who I was grabbing. Ready to swim with the creature again? Then join me after the break...

The Facts:

Height: 3 inches

Articulation: None

Accessories: None

Non-Scalper Price: $5 dollars

The Positives:

* I'm going to get to the Creature's pose in a minute (it's odd) but the detail on these figures is nice. They kind of remind me of Funko's mystery minis, though less stylized but more chibi influenced, maybe? Big head, somewhat cutesy faces (not all the way kawaii or anything, though), but solid detail work. They remind me a little of the Funko 5 Star figures from about 6 years back. He's a bit brighter than we usually see the Gill Man, but he looks pretty good.

* The Creature has such a unique look and I think Just Toys did a pretty decent job of capturing his fishy face in a small plastic collectible that's a bit on the cute side. Big red lips, detailed head fins, and a very pronounced forehead make this instantly recognizable as the Creature. It's not a realistic sculpt but one you instantly can identify. 

* The cool little gimmick for this line are the presence of the Terrif-Eyes, allowing you to see the image of a victim, ally, or love interest in the character's eyes. The Creature's lenses are transparent yellow and you can see the silhouette of Kay Lawrence preparing to dive into the Black Lagoon reflected in his eyes. Cupid's arrow has struck the might Creature, it seems!

* From the back you can see some more solid detail on the twisty fins running down the Creature's back. He's a sharp guy. Sharp because of all those fins, clawed toenails, and clawed fingernails!

The Negatives:

* The pose that the Creature is in is kind of weird. Usually smaller, stylized figures like this with chunkier proportions don't have extreme poses that require the body to be turned to best view the figure but the Creature is best posed sideways which is just a bid odd. It's just odd and makes photographing and displaying him awkward. 

   The Creature from the Black Lagoon is a neat little figure, though I like the Bride of Frankenstein more from this set. He's still a neat little minifigure, though, and has some solid sculpting and paint. I'm also really liking the Terrif-Eyes. I'm excited to see if we get more of these little guys from the Universal Monsters as characters like Dracula and the Wolf-Man would look excellent with Terrif-Eyes! He's a Good and a 1/2 little figure. I just wish I liked the pose more. It just doesn't work for me in this scale and style. Still, he can be had for $5 bucks so I reckon most fans of the creature won't pass him by.


   Looking for more of the Creature from the Black Lagoon/ Gillman or other Sea Creatures inspired by him? I've reviewed plenty of other Gill-Man-like creatures including the NECA Crypt Club 4-Pack w/ the "Scaly and Scary" Creature from the Black Lagoon, the Funko ReAction Creature from the Black Lagoon, the Creature from the Black Lagoon (Glow-in-the-Dark Costume Colors) and Creature from the Black Lagoon "Monsters of the Silver Screen" edition from Super7's ReAction series, the Diamond Select Creature from the Black Lagoon, the Vinyl SODA Creature from the Black Lagoon,  Wavecrawler from Hasbro's Kre-O line, the Imaginext Gillman, the Creature from the Black Lagoon from Monster Force, the Gill-Man from the Big Bucket of Monsters, Leonardo as the Creature from the Black Lagoon from NECA, the Sea Creature from Mezco's Tower of Fear, and the Swamp Creature from Lego Monster Fighters.

For more Tiny Nightmares check out the following:

The Bride of Frankenstein