It's Thursday again, which means it's time for another trip to the Black Lagoon! Today's review is the original 2010 release of the Creature from the Black Lagoon from Diamond Select's Universal Monsters Select line. There were two versions of the Gill-Man available in the first series of releases: A Toy 'R Us exclusive version with just a display base and this standard version which includes a different base and a figure of Kay Lawrence. I got this set for Christmas of 2010 along with the Mummy and while there isn't much articulation here, the figure certainly displays well. Let's dive in for another look at the Gill-Man after the break...
The Facts:
Height: 7 7/8ths
Articulation: Swivel ankles, swivel/ hinge shoulders, hinged elbows, and swivel wrists.
Accessories: None
* Since the earlier Diamond Universal Monsters Secret figures were fairly unarticulated, build more for display than play, it's important that they look pretty solid. Diamond did a good job as, yes, this is a very solid design for the Creature from the Black Lagoon. His colors are excellent with vibrant green scales (almost a metallic green), and some excellent washes and dry brush techniques to give him a wet and swampy look. There are clearly mud stains in-between his scales and the look excellent.
* Overall I like this headsculpt. There's one issue I have (the size and shape of the dome of his head), but I'll get to that later. For now, let me say that the work on the Gill-Man's eyes, gills, and his brow are excellent, conveying quite a bit of emotion, which isn't something you can usually say about a fish person.
* The articulation improved in this line over time, eventually leading to a more fully articulated Gill-Man, but early on these were more like statues with limited articulation, kind of like the earliest Marvel Select figures. The Gill-Man's arms and wrists do move, allowing you to tweak him to get a good creeping forward pose.
The Negatives:
* That's about it, though. Not having any hip or head articulation is a bit of a bummer.
This is the first figure of Kay Lawrence I've reviewed.
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 Funko ReAction Creature from the Black Lagoon, the Creature from the Black Lagoon (Glow-in-the-Dark Costume Colors) from Super7's ReAction series, 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 figures from Universal Monsters Select by Diamond Select check out the following:
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
The Hunchback of Notre Dame
Lucy Westenra
The Mummy
Van Helsing
This is a neat set. Always loved "The Creature" - the Kay Lawrence figure is awesome as well.
ReplyDeleteDiamond Select definitely had some cool accessories and/or extra figures in their Universal Monsters figures. Kay Lawrence was pretty neat. One of the few non monsters to ever get a figure of any kind.
DeleteI've got this one on my Creature shelf. Solid figure and great display
ReplyDeleteI do love the diorama-like setup. Kind of like one of the old Aurora model kits.
DeleteAwesome pair. He is a great piece. In the first pic, the shadow on his eyes makes him looks quite eerie.
ReplyDeleteThis was a fun set to take pictures of and it looks really nice on my display shelf.
ReplyDelete