Today for The ABCs of 31 Days of Toy Terror we've got Ygor for the letter Y! Yes, Ygor. Not Igor, Ygor. That's actually what he's called on the packaging for the figure and in the the material for 1939's Son of Frankenstein. The lab assistant for Dr. Frankenstein in the original film was named Fritz, but Bela Lugosi's character is Ygor, a blacksmith with a broken neck from an unsuccessful hanging attempt who has an axe to grind with the people who attempted to execute him. I love how deep Super7 has gon with their Universal Monsters Reaction line and I hope they keep going! For now, let's check out Bela Lugosi as Ygor after the break...
Height: 3 5/8ths
Articulation: Swivel hips, swivel shoulders, and a swivel neck.
Accessories: None
Original Retail Price: $18 dollars
Year of Release: 2021
* Despite Bela Lugosi being a pretty handsome guy, he sure is known for playing some pretty crazy looking characters, like Ygor here. And the archetypical Ygor, or Igor, is known for being short and hunchbacked, but Lugosi was 6'1", so definitely not short. As mentioned above, this take on Ygor is really different than familiar depictions like Marty Feldman's Igor (Eyegor?). He's clad in an old timey shirt with a heavy blacksmith's robe. Once again, Super7 has done a solid job of retaining a Kenner inspired feel with this guy and he definitely looks like he could be a toy from the early or mid 1980s.
* Despite the simple ReAction style, Ygor does look pretty accurate to Lugosi' vengeful character with wild hair and terrible teeth. He's a pretty creepy fellow. The eyes and teeth are particularly well done here.
* Ygor has a broken neck that has left him deformed, and Super7 captured the look quite well. It's pretty unsettling!
* Does Ygor have the standard five points of articulation you would expect from neary any vintage Kenner inspired action figure? Absolutely. He's well built, too. Super7 really makes figures like this that feel solid and sturdy, like vintage Kenner figures.
Lon Chaney as the Hunchback of Notre Dame
The Phantom of the Opera as the Masque of the Red Death
I missed this guy. Looks great. It is cool how deep Super7 has gone in this line.
ReplyDeleteI'm hoping they continue! This year has been a bit slow. Just Werewolf of London, right?
DeleteMan, where's the love for Fritz? The original hunchback (and unlike Ygor, actually a lab assistant when introduced) gets consistently ignored by, well, basically every action figure company. As far as I know, the only figure he's ever gotten was the 12" one by Sideshow. Which still looks good, true, and is also one of the cheaper Sideshow Universal Monsters figures (likely because, as mentioned, nobody seems to care about Fritz), but this many years later, Fritz is long overdue for a new figure, especially one in a smaller scale.
ReplyDeleteAnd if they did in fact do a Fritz figure in the "Re-Action" style and I just don't know about it, I'll eat my own shoes.
Fritz would be a good choice for a ReAction, though it might simply be that he's just not as visually interesting as most other characters. I'd honestly be down for a set with him and Dr. Frankenstein. And no, Super7 hasn't made Fritz. I don't see NECA releasing him either, though they could always surprise us.
DeleteAs for other stuff discussed, I too would love a second go at Griffin; as mentioned, I'm not a fan of the bathrobe and sunglasses look and never have been, and that is of course the look they did for his first and so far (?) only (??) figure in the Re-Action line. As for Island of Lost Souls, does Universal still have the rights to that...? I know all about how it was originally made by Paramount and that Universal acquired the rights to it and released it on VHS in the 90s, but considering they've chosen to do nothing with it since then (with the DVD and Blu-ray being released by Criterion, not Universal or Paramount), which makes me wonder who actually has the rights to it.
ReplyDeleteAccording to American Cinematheque, Universal does still have the rights to the film.
DeleteI was really hoping that Super7 would have done a different version of Invisible Man as the Funko Invisible Man and Super7's both us the smoking jacket look. Yeah, he could use a variant for sure. They could definitely do some legit variants of the main monsters (and not just color/ glow variants). I'd love a Carlos Villarias Dracula, suited Invisible Man, and plain old Larry Talbot.
I'm surprised we haven't seen the Man in the Beaver hat, either. Even NECA's getting to that one!