31 Days of Toy Terror Takes the Universe: The Invisible Man from Universal Monsters by Jada Toys

 

   Right now Jada Toys is a pretty popular company thanks to their various ad icons figures (Chester Cheeto, Tony the Tiger), their Mega Man line, and their excellent Street Fighter 2 line, but their 2021 Universal Monsters line went largely unnoticed. Kind of like Dr. Jack Griffin, the Invisible Man himself! Today I'm checking out the Invisible Man, one of the figures from Jada Toys' second series of Universal Monsters figures. The Invisible Man is one of my favorite classic Universal horror films (I'm even quite a fan of the sequels, too) and I really liked some of the unique accessories Jada Toys gave this guy. Sadly, this line seems to have quietly ended with only six characters in it as Jada apparently no longer has the license. I'm hoping to review most of them during 31 Days of Toy Terror Takes the Universe, so let's start by taking a look (or not) at the Invisible Man....

 

The Facts:

Height: 6 1/4ths inches

Articulation: Swivel/hinge ankles, double hinged knees, thigh swivels, balljointed hips, balljointed waist, swivel/hinge shoulders, bicep swivel, double hinged elbows, swivel/hinge wrists, balljointed neck base, and barbell jointed head.

Accessories: Hat, 2 portraits, flask, book, and five swappable hands.

Original Retail Price: $25 dollars

Year of Release: 2022

The Positives:

* Dr. Griffin has two famous looks in the 1933 film (three if you count him being invisible): His heavy clothes he wears at the beginning of the film and this lounging robe from later on when he's at Dr. Kemp's home. The lounging robe is just an extremely popular look for the character and it's usually depicted as being maroon and yellow, as scene here, even though many folks seem to believe the actual robe used was more of a dark blue (the film is in black and white, so who knows?). This is a very nice looking figure that has more color on it than most Universal Monsters products. The bottom of the robe is made from a very soft and pliable plastic which looks right on the figure and doesn't impede the articulation much at all. 

* Griffin comes with two portraits, the first being his standard wrapped head with some very fancy sunglasses that even have covers over the sides of his eyes. The layers of wrapped medical bandages look sharp with a nice wash to bring out the detail. The glasses aren't removable though they are a separate piece glued on.

* The second portrait is really unique: It captures Griffin without his glasses and in the middle of unwrapping his head. There's a strip of the bandages hanging off which Griffin can hold. The empty top of is head and eye slit definitely help sell the effect. There is a black plastic core in there to help everything keep its shape, so just work on posing it at a good angle for maximum effect. 

* The hat is more of a staple of Griffin's earlier outfit in the film but it does look pretty cool here. It fits on snugly and just looks cool with the wrapped head and glasses. 

* The articulation on the Invisible Man is quite good. They feel a bit like Marvel Legends or Star Wars: The Black Series. Lots of swivel/ hinge joints, solid construction, and they're similar in size. The bottom of Griffin's robe is made from very soft, pliable plastic so it doesn't impede his movement at all.  

* The Invisible Man comes with five swappable hands, four of which are pretty standard. There's a slimmer gripping right hand (for holding the strip of cloth on the unwrapped head), a right handed standard grip, a right handed fist, and a left hand in a loose, open palmed gesture. They swap easily and allow the figure to nicely interact with the included accessories.

* The fifth hand is perhaps the neatest, though: It's a left hand that's holding the right hand glove as it's being removed. Just remove Griffin's right hand and pose the hands like so and you have Dr. Griffin showing off his invisibility. That's a pretty neat accessory!

* Griffin is a chemist, so for working on his experiments he comes with a rather nice Erlenmeyer flask. 

* The last accessory is one of Griffin's many books, probably filled with his scrawling and notes about his experiment. It's a decent sculpt with some paint applications for the spine and the pages within.

The Negatives:

* Both the top and bottom of the Invisible Man's robe have some fairly complex paint applications but there is, unfortunately, a good bit of slop here. Well, not so much slop as there are places that just aren't painted, such as the sides of the robes belt, the plaid collar, and the pocket square. The bottom and top of the robe are made from a rubbery plastic which helps ensure nice movement and a good texture but perhaps it just isn't conducive to clean paintwork?

   The Invisible Man is the first of the Jada Universal Monsters figures I had the chance to check out and it's definitely a neat figure with some cool features. The sculpt is pretty good with some solid paintwork but some rough edges as well. The accessories are really nice, though, with some clever ways of showing off Dr. Griffin's invisibility. I think this line tanked due to the combination of these figures not being available at most retailers and NECA having the Universal Monsters license, making there figures in a more traditional 7inch scale that most horror figure fans prefer. Still, Jada did put out some nice releases and this version of the Invisible Man is a Great release.

Looking for more of the Invisible Man? I've also reviewed the Funko ReAction Invisible Man.

For more Universal Monsters from Jada Toys check out the following:
The Wolf Man