Is 1935's Bride of Frankenstein the first sequel to be better than the original in film history? I think so. The Wolf Man is my favorite Universal Monsters character and film as well as a character with a very solid storyline through multiple films (especially since he was always played by Lon Chaney Jr.) but the Frankenstein film series is a close second to me for best film series, and the Bride of Frankenstein is definitely a high point, perhaps the highest, in the series. Boris Karloff returns in the sequel and his take on the creature sees some tremendous character growth. NECA has previously released a figure of Frankenstein's Monster from the first film but the popularity of the second film definitely warrants another take on him. This was actually given to me as a birthday gift from my birthday back in September and was ordered by my parents in late August or early September, but he didn't show up until a few weeks ago. NECA's online store is really not very user friendly and their customer service is a bit rough, but, fortunately, they did deliver and I received my birthday gift in early November. Honestly, I had originally wanted this guy to be the crowning jewel of 31 Days of Toy Terror Takes the Universe but I ended up creating Happy Franksgiving! to give the guy his own special month. Ready to check out Frankenstein's Monster from Bride of Frankenstein? Then join me after the break...
The Facts:
Height: 8 inches
Articulation: Swivel/hinge ankles, swivel/hinge knees, swivel thighs, balljointed hips, balljointed waist, balljointed mid-torso, swivel/hinge shoulders, swivel/ hinge elbows, forearm swivels, swivel/hinge wrists, balljointed neck, and a barbell jointed head.
Accessories: 5 interchangeable hands, 3 portraits, chair base, chair, 2 chains, mug, bowl, and bread.
Original Retail Price: $60 dollars
The Positives:
* This is a NECA figure, so you know the sculpt and paint are going to be excellent. This figure might look similar to the Monster from the first film but a closer look reveals that he's quite a bit worse for wear after the climax of the original film. Now his skin is burned in places and his clothes are quite charred with bits of his sleeves and jacket ripped and torn apart, particularly the sleeves. The Monster is quite tall and NECA captured his proportions well. His outfit is excellent, too, and besides the damage there are multiple nice textures on this piece.
* Frankenstein's Monster comes with three portraits, the first being a rather calm and neutral portrait, but more expressive. Jack Pierce's makeup for the Monster in the film seemed to allow more of Karloff's expressions and features to show through, though also added in burned skin and shorter, singed hair.
* Each of the portrait's shows off the gruesome staples on the sides of the Monster's head and the bolts in his neck. It's a heretically beautiful sculpt.
* The second portrait shows the Monster grinning with a very joyful expression on his face. Herman Munster, is that you? This is clearly from the scene where the Monster meets the blind hermit and where he begins to learn some words. I love this portrait. It's a joyous scene that is lifted from Mary Shelley's original novel to some extent (it's quite modified, as is most of the Universal film adaptation) and it's heartbreaking when it ends. I love this portrait so much.
* I love this third portrait, too. It's clearly meant to be a sneer or growl and it makes perfect sense for the Monster, especially when he's fighting off pissed off villagers or locked into the chair, but you know what? Couple this with the cigar or the right pose and he looks like he's being a bit cheeky as well. It's a fun portrait to mess around with.
* Here's a close up of one of the Monster's burnt hands and forearms. The skin definitely looks pretty nasty!
* As usual, Frankie's sporting some massive boots as well. They're a bit dirty and covered in ash and mud, but they do make him look tall and keep his feet protected.
* How's the articulation? Just fine. Again, NECA's current 7 inch scaled horror figures aren't built like Marvel Legends or Jada's Street Fighter toys or anything, but they really do have a nice range of motion that really flows with the sculpt. Their figures have jumped up in the quality control department over the past decade and now most NECA releases feel as sturdy as about anything else out there. Frankenstein's usually a pretty stilted guy with stiff motions but he can still get a little crazy if you want him to.
* Five swappable hands come with the Monster. Four of them are pretty basic hands. You've got two right hands with different grips/ poses, and two left hands with different grips or poses. There is a hand that interacts well with each of the accessories, so that's a winner in my book.
* What's next? How about a hand with the cigar in it? I love that scene. Frankenstein's Monster being overjoyed to be hanging out with the blind hermit and smoking a cigar is just a magical think. This hand is just really cool. Slap a Stanzo brand fedora on Frankenstein and he can be the Driving Crooner, baby!
* To recreate more of the scene with the blind hermit a few other accessories are included. First is this mug that looks like it's filled with wine. There are even spots on the sides where it looks like liquid has run down.
* And you get a bowl of soup.
* And a loaf of bread. I kid you not, this is the most detailed loaf of bread I've ever seen on an action figure. It looks all crusty and good. There's even a bite mark out of it.
* Let's move on and talk about the chair that the Monster gets locked in inside of a dungeon. This is a pretty big piece that measures a little over 7 inches wide, 6 inches deep, and 8 1/2 inches tall. It comes in a few pieces and you have to place the chair and the two chains on the ground inside of the base. In the film the chair is sitting much higher atop multiple levels of a platform, but I'm not sure if recreating that would have been worth the display space as it would be incredibly tall, probably almost twice the height of a regular figure with the extra steps.
* The two chains look like they're strongly attached to the ground (though they are easily removable). The chains are made of metal and the manacles fit over the Monster's wrists when you remove his hands.
* The base and the chair seat really do look like they are made of stone. If you weren't sure, you might expect to touch this and find it made of a material like polystone or something. It's quite an impressive looking accessory.
* The back of he chair with the chain for Frankenstein's neck is also incredibly well sculpted and painted. The wood grain pattern is just amazing with a bit of an aged and distressed look to it.
* The lock is not removable but it is a separate piece that is "locked" on to the hasp. The chain is metal and also isn't removable. You just slide the Monster's head through the middle of the chain and the two wood sides.
* Here's a shot from the back to show the steel strips reinforcing the wood back of the chair. The paint work really sells the realism of the piece, and it's especially impressive as this is the back of the chair and not something most folks are going to be displaying. I appreciate NECA going the extra mile here.
* There are two leather straps (though not really leather) that go over the back of the chair and have chains attached. They are in the film though it's tough to tell where they're attached (are the chains attached to the ceiling or back against the wall as extra reinforcement?), so you can figure out a way to work them in to your display or diorama, or just leave them hanging down the back.
* The Monster fits in there quite well and looks impressive on display. Of course, you know he's just going to break out on your shelf, looking for a nice cigar and some bread.
This set turned out wonderfully and is loaded with fantastic display options. The dungeon chair really does make for a cool centerpiece for a Frankenstein display or for a Universal Monsters diorama of the NECA figures. With the multiple portraits included here you really can have some fun. Again, I'm just incredibly partial to making the Monster look like he's having a good time with food, drink, and a Macanudo cigar. The figure sells for $60 and it feels like you're getting a standard NECA Ultimate release with an accessory pack release, considering the size and complexity of the chair, so I think it's a good buy. This is an Epic set and nice tribute to the original film sequel that surpassed it's predecessor. There's a lot to love about the Bride of Frankenstein and this set captures quite a bit of it. Add NECA's Bride of Frankenstein figure and you get quite a bit more of the movie's appeal. Now, please, NECA, give us a Colin Clive as Henry Frankenstein because he's such an important character, Ernest Thesiger as Dr. Pretorius because he's such an odd and unusual character, and Elsa Lanchester as Mary Shelley just because.
If you're a fan of Frankenstein/ Frankenstein's Monster/ the Creature, I've reviewed some other Frankenstein themed items including the Figure Obscura Frankenstein's Creature, Funko's ReAction Frankenstein, the Sideshow Frankenstein, the Imaginext Frankenstein's Monster, various monsters from the Playmobil Take Along Haunted House and Vampire and Monster set, the Monster in My Pocket The Monster, Frankenstein's Monster from Mezco's Tower of Fear, Grumpy Bear as Frankenstein #1627 from Funko, the POP! Movies Frankenstein #1630, the mini Frankenstein from Mighty Max Escapes from Skull Dungeon, Frankenstein from Monster Force, Charlie Franken-Brown from Just Play's Peanuts, and the Real Ghostbusters' Frankenstein Monster. There's also Frankenghost from The Worst, who's the Ghost of Frankenstein('s monster). Check out the Keshi Surprise in Flesh Frankenghost,Teal Frankenghost and the ReAction Frankenghost!
For more Universal Monsters from NECA check out the following:
yeah, NECA store has been hugely unreliable for a lot of people, myself included. And now you got that recent issue about sets being sent to wrong customers and 'threatening' those who try to keep them. Oh and the recent stuff about one of their top designers supposedly being a groomer and receipts being shown. I not sure what's going on with NECA.
ReplyDeleteAnd oddly enough I don't normally buy NECA stuff often but I did get that video game deco of Goliath from Gargoyles for just £15 on Amazon the other day. Which is a bargain for such a chunky figure and includes BOTH sets of wings. I had him conversing with Revolution Hordak cos he likes the sound of that guy (I need to get some kind of Spawn in there too for extra Keith David).
For years the NECA store definitely seemed like an afterthought and I heard quite a few folks dismiss it, saying that NECA is not a toy store and doesn't really want to run a store, though most places still need to have some way to distribute to customers directly for various reasons. I did kind of assume that it was a pretty small part of their business and usually just ignored it.
DeleteLately, though they've done many, many exclusives, which seems weird to do if you don't want to run a store or pay any attention to it. Unfortunately, to get quite a few Universal Monsters lately I've had to go through them. There's just little information about your order and poor communication. They really ought to just find an established e-tailer and go through them. It seems like it would be easier.
The Turtles thing is off. I haven't heard much about it but they went from initially offering a shipping label and a credit to threatening. Yeah, they went from a blunder to a PR disaster.
The NECA employee thing with Blaine Rodenbaugh is quite odd. I tried to look more into it but can only find one article on a website, (https://fandompulse.substack.com/p/neca-pop-culture-collectibles-brand) but there only cites Instagram posts. It's from November 29, 2024, so not old at all. The stuff seems to be only brought up recently with no references to legal investigation or reporting or anything official from NECA. Has there been an official response from NECA to this? It does seem like a bad run for NECA, though this is on one employee and not some official NECA act. My guess is that NECA would probably have to go through their legal counsel to decide what to do, especially considering they are in New Jersey which has some of the better legal protections for employers in the United States.
Yeah, I think NECA got some reputation salvaging to do. My personal experience isn't as bad as any of that but very disappointing customer service. I ordered the Pride Elvira in May as a gift for a friend with the impression it would be arrive sometime before her birthday on 22nd June. I ordered. Got the email confirmation it was ordered and then nothing. I saw a lot of people on Insta receiving their figure so I knew it had been shipped to many people. I emailed NECA a couple times during June asking for an update on when it would be shipped and each email was this or some version of this (this one from June 10th):
Delete"Thank you for contacting us about this. Our warehouse is currently shipping this item out and your order will be shipping soon."
Soon? When is soon? On my friend's birthday (22nd) I sent NECA another email asking where the figure was. And they again said it had not yet been shipped. I had already anticipated having to buy my friend a different gift as this has been taking way too long. But that Pride Elvira was going to be perfect. I needed my money back though as I'd already spent on the replacement gift. NECA did cancel my order and refund me but really had just wasted my time and resulted in never getting the gift for my friend I know would have made her really happy. And Pride Elvira in Pride Month was gonna be perfect timing. If not for NECA's version of 'timing'.
I often see comments on their instagram from people saying things like "I ordered figures from your store months ago and no word on them arriving yet I see other people posting pics of having received them". So yeah, their own online store seems very unreliable. And as you said too definitely very poor communication and lack of information about your order.
Recently I had two pretty good experiences with NECA's store. First, I had ordered the Crypt Club Universal Monsters back in ....maybe early September? They were originally slated to ship before Halloween, I believe, then jumped to 1st Quarter 2025. Just this past Saturday they showed up in the mail, completely unexpected. Nice!
DeleteSecond, I ordered the Nightmare Before Christmas set with an autograph card. My plan was to combine the autograph card with Jack and Sally as a Christmas gift for my wife (she don't read the site, so it's all good), sell off the Mayor (still have the original NECA one and he's still in good shape, and keep Santa Jack for myself. My set arrived earlier than I expected. There was an issue with one figure and a broken piece (one of the jack in the box handles snapped off while still in the package). The customer service took a day or two to seem to understand what I was asking but then eventually offered me a refund for the set or to send me a replacement part when they can. It was settled pretty quickly and I'm hopeful the part will arrive soon.
Your experience combined with mine and the multiple others I've read, though, really do make it seem like NECA maybe just doesn't want to really be involved in direct distribution. Seriously, just go with one of your already established e-tailers and let them handle distribution, having these items as exclusives.
nice
ReplyDeleteYes, indeed! This guy turned out really well. Such an impressive figure!
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