{"id":10069,"date":"2010-11-08T18:06:31","date_gmt":"2010-11-09T00:06:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=10069"},"modified":"2010-11-22T06:09:05","modified_gmt":"2010-11-22T12:09:05","slug":"vault-review-diamond-selects-wolfman","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=10069","title":{"rendered":"Vault Review:
Diamond Select’s Wolfman"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/a>Even though Halloween is past, that doesn\u2019t mean we’re done with our spooky figure reviews! I\u2019ve got one more of Diamond Select\u2019s Universal Monsters toys to finish up my look at their 2010 assortment. I\u2019m ending on The Wolf Man, one of my favorite characters and a nice conclusion to the first wave of figures.<\/p>\n

In the original Wolfman, upon hearing of his brother\u2019s death, Larry Talbot returns to his family home in Wales to reconcile with his father. That night, while he and local love interest Gwen Conliffe are taking a stroll, he hears cries of terror coming from the woods. Running to the rescue, Larry is able to fend off a large wolf just as it is about to attack a girl. Larry beats the feral animal to death with his silver headed cane, but not before being bitten. With the curse of the werewolf running through his veins, Larry struggles to maintain his humanity or die trying.<\/p>\n

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Larry Talbot is by far my favorite character in all the Universal Monsters mythologies. He\u2019s not a mad scientist, a reanimated corpse, or even a creature from undiscovered lands. Larry Talbot\u2019s just an ordinary guy who tries to save a girl and ends up being turned into a monster. Not only is the wolf in him a violent and chaotic force, but it seems to have an instinctual need to seek out those he truly cares for and destroy them. Throughout his many appearances Larry searches for a cure to his condition, but is never successful. Not even death allows him peace, as the curse seems to resurrect him time and again. <\/p>\n

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There was no doubt in my mind I\u2019d be buying this figure. What surprised me was that he was never solicited by Diamond like the Mummy and Creature were. Instead, the regular figure of The Wolf Man is a Toys R Us exclusive that came out with their version of the Mummy and Creature. I don\u2019t mind this since it saved me a little money, but I was a bit disappointed that there was no large display base or maybe a figure of Gwen Conliffe to display him with.<\/p>\n

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What you do get is a very good looking figure though. The Wolf Man is sculpted in a hunched over stalking pose that fits the character very nicely. Larry\u2019s head is sculpted nearly perfectly with the dog like nose and poofy forehead of hair. I found it interesting that they chose to portray him with an open mouth. Usually you just see bared teeth on a figure. His hands are sculpted with claws ready to shred and his feet are posed in the shape of the famous paw-like rubber boots that Chaney wore for the role. While his shirt and pants are nicely sculpted with buttons, seams, and plenty of wrinkles. Although I was interested to see there are no rips in his clothing or fur sticking out in patches like the Minimates version of him portrays.<\/p>\n

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Like the Creature and the Mummy, the Wolf Man\u2019s paint job is simple yet nicely done. Brown fur, black nose, and\u2026 green shirt? It never really occurred to me until now that I don\u2019t actually know what color the Wolf Man\u2019s shirt is. The original movie is black and white, and I can\u2019t recall ever seeing any colorized photos. Also, if you look at Wolf Man models and figures, you\u2019ll see that some have blue shirts while others have green. Personally I prefer the green. It adds some color to all that brown and dark gray.<\/p>\n

One little detail I really liked about the paint is the shadow\/dirt effects painted on his shirt. It makes him look like he\u2019s been out in the woods at least. Continue to Page 2…<\/a><\/p>\n

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Like the other figures in this line, the Wolf Man\u2019s articulation is limited more than I\u2019d like. His neck is a ball joint with limited movement. His shoulders are swivel\/hinges with hinged elbows. While his wrists and waist are swivels. It\u2019s really amazing how much more personality a waist joint and ball jointed neck can add to well articulated arms, but I get so many more interesting poses out of the Wolf Man than the Creature. <\/p>\n

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The Wolf Man only comes with a base for an accessory. It\u2019s a nicely detailed lot of tangled grass, mud, and rocks with a tree branch sticking up to add further texture. In all, the base is nice, but I wish there was something more. Usually Wolf Man figures come with the silver headed cane as an accessory. So I was a little disappointed this one didn\u2019t, especially since the Minimates even had one. I would have also loved an extra character in the form of Gwen Conliffe or even Bela in his wolf form. They would have made for interesting additions to his base. <\/p>\n

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In all, I\u2019m really happy with this figure. He\u2019s my favorite character, and I think they\u2019ve done him justice. Even though he can\u2019t move his legs, he\u2019s still able to stand and there\u2019s enough articulation in his upper body to give a little life to the figure. I would have preferred an accessory or even a more detailed base, but I don\u2019t feel they put any less work into this figure than the other Toys R Us exclusives.<\/p>\n

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There are two versions of this figure that I know of. The regular version is a Toys R Us exclusive and will run you about $14. There\u2019s also a black and white version available exclusively at Entertainment Earth for $19.99. I\u2019m not really sure how I feel about this version though. I like the idea of black and white figures but he\u2019s the only one they\u2019ve made from the first wave that I know of. It would be a shame to not get all the characters in that style.<\/p>\n

Something else to consider before starting this line is that the second wave won\u2019t be out until next October. Like the Minimates, Diamond is only releasing them around Halloween. I know I\u2019m in it for the long haul, but waiting that long for figures is a turn off for some.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Even though Halloween is past, that doesn\u2019t mean we’re down with our spooky figure reviews! I\u2019ve got one more of Diamond Select\u2019s Universal Monsters toys to look at. I\u2019m ending on The Wolf Man, one of my favorite characters and a nice conclusion to the first wave of figures.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":10070,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_themeisle_gutenberg_block_has_review":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_options":[]},"categories":[34,10],"tags":[750,775,718],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.itsalltrue.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/11\/wmanTN.jpg?fit=50%2C50","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pObc6-2Cp","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":9572,"url":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=9572","url_meta":{"origin":10069,"position":0},"title":"Vault Review: Minimates Universal Monsters Wave 1","date":"September 28, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"I\u2019m a big fan of the classic Universal Monsters. Whether it was playing Castlevania, or watching great movies like The Monster Squad; I couldn\u2019t get enough of Dracula, Frankenstein, Wolf Man, the Mummy, or the Gill-Man. So when Art Asylum released these in Minimates form, I was definitely sold.","rel":"","context":"In "Reviews"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":9860,"url":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=9860","url_meta":{"origin":10069,"position":1},"title":"Vault Review: Diamond Select’s Creature from the Black Lagoon","date":"October 19, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"This year, along with the great Minimates sets, Diamond Select Toys is also releasing the first action figures in their Universal Monsters line. I\u2019ve been waiting for these guys ever since they were first revealed at Toy Fair all those months ago. But was the wait truly worth it?","rel":"","context":"In "Reviews"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":15460,"url":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=15460","url_meta":{"origin":10069,"position":2},"title":"Vault Review: Diamond Select’s Frankenstein","date":"November 16, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Another Halloween has come and past, which means another wave of Universal Monsters figures and Minimates from Diamond Select.\u00a0 I\u2019m starting off with Frankenstein because I have a particular annoyance with his figure and I want to get him out of the way. I\u2019m not sure who\u2019s the more popular\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Reviews"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.itsalltrue.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/11\/frank6.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":9970,"url":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=9970","url_meta":{"origin":10069,"position":3},"title":"Vault Review: Diamond Select’s Mummy","date":"November 4, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"As we covered last week, Diamond Select Toys is jumping into the Universal Monsters franchise with the Creature from the Black Lagoon and The Mummy. I was excited to pick up the Mummy at my local comic book shop, but little did I realize that DST would get me to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Reviews"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":31949,"url":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=31949","url_meta":{"origin":10069,"position":4},"title":"NYCC 2015 Armchair Coverage: First Look at DST Ghostbusters Playset","date":"October 12, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"","rel":"","context":"In "Ghostbusters"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":16020,"url":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=16020","url_meta":{"origin":10069,"position":5},"title":"Vault Review: Diamond Select Universal Monsters Dracula","date":"December 26, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Since my local toy watering holes aren\u2019t being cooperative, I\u2019m running a bit low on domestic toys to review.\u00a0 But I did uncover a couple of Diamond Select figures from my to-do pile.\u00a0 Today\u2019s review focuses on the retail version of their Universal Monsters\u2019 Dracula. I think I mentioned this\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Reviews"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.itsalltrue.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/12\/udrac6.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10069"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10069"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10069\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10289,"href":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10069\/revisions\/10289"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/10070"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10069"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10069"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10069"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}