{"id":9572,"date":"2010-09-28T15:43:17","date_gmt":"2010-09-28T20:43:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=9572"},"modified":"2010-09-28T15:43:57","modified_gmt":"2010-09-28T20:43:57","slug":"vault-review-minimates-universal-monsters-wave-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=9572","title":{"rendered":"Vault Review: Minimates
Universal Monsters Wave 1"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/a>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 announced them as Minimates, they could’ve just sent me a bill.<\/p>\n

One of the things that always bothered me about the monsters, is that there was never one definitive toy line for them. One line would have a variety of characters, but poor sculpt or awful articulation. Another line may have great articulation, but only one or two of the characters were made. The one line to come the closest also came out of nowhere. In 2006, Toy Island surprised collectors with a wave of the five main monsters. With articulation and price akin to Marvel Legends, but sculpts and paint that were only decent; these figures seemed to be the best us modest-income Monster fans could hope for.<\/p>\n

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But it\u2019s 2010 now and Diamond Select has decided to take a crack at the Universal license. Sure there are great looking figures coming, first of which will be the Gill-Man. But why stop there? Art Asylum\u2019s joining in on the fun with a line of cute mini monsters. The first wave consists of four two-packs: The Creature from the Black Lagoon and Dr. Reed, the Wolf Man and Larry Talbot, Glow in the Dark Creature and Transformation Wolf Man, and Black and White Creature and Wolf Man. The Black and White set is a Toys R Us exclusive.<\/p>\n

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What I really appreciate about these figures is how well they take to this stylized look. Not only does the Wolf Man resemble his onscreen appearance, but the little Larry Talbot is a great caricature of Lon Chaney, Jr. The printing on the Wolf Man bodies are particularly nice \u2013 his arms, legs, and chest are ripped in various places to expose the fur underneath while his dog-like face has the classic under bite and predatory eyes. There are even wisps of hair printed on his forehead going into his hairline. The Transforming Wolf Man is equally impressive. With his white undershirt on, there are patches of skin poking out from beneath his fur. Also, if you look closely, you can see that even though his face is mostly wolf his eyebrows and eyes are still Larry\u2019s. I didn\u2019t even notice this detail right away, but I love it.<\/p>\n

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Since Larry gets the classic suit and tie treatment, his most notable item is the silver tipped cane. It\u2019s a little large, but the wolf\u2019s head at the top is incredibly detailed. It looks like a tiny movie prop.<\/p>\n

The Wolfman has furry feet with tufts of hair coming off the tops while the bottoms are bare with claws. Speaking of claws, similar tufts flow from the wrists to about where the knuckles would be. The bare part is then topped off with his fingernails. The head piece is like a cap that sits over a regular Minimates head. Even though the face is smooth, the rest of it is nicely sculpted with hair flowing all the way back.\n<\/p>\n

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As much as I love Larry and the Wolf Men, the real prize in this set goes to the Creature. Molded a rich green color, his body is painted all over with highlights. His gills, fins, and even the inside of his palms are painted a murky green. Then there\u2019s the great printing on his face, where his yellow eyes and red lips stick out from all those layered wrinkles. As an added detail, they even printed dark stripes along his arms and legs for the scaly effect. Continue to Page Two…<\/A>.<\/p>\n

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The Creature is also impressive in the sculpting category. His eyebrows and gills sit over the Minimates head like a hair piece. The gills are sculpted going all the way back and have tiny hatch marks running along their edges. The Creature has an all new chest piece that sits over the regular Minimates chest. The abs are large and armored while there are little groups of textured scales in various places. The back of the chest piece has a large fin running down the center. His hands have sculpted claws with webbing running between them, while his palms are textured with tiny pads. His arm fins are part of his hands, but stick close to the forearms to appear attached. Lastly, his feet also have little sculpted webbing between the toes, and there\u2019s two tendrils running up the back of his calves.<\/p>\n

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The Creature comes with Dr. Reed, the hero of the movie. The Good Doctor isn\u2019t wearing much, but he has a few accessories. His scuba tank and belt are removable. He comes with these great flipper feet, but not normal feet. So he\u2019s going to have to duck-walk his way into battle. Also, he has an extra hair piece with swim goggles attached. The strange thing with that is they painted his eyes onto the goggles, and it looks a little odd. Dr. Reed also comes with a spear gun that he has some difficulty holding in a natural pose.<\/p>\n

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The Black and White set is a Toy\u2019s R Us exclusive, so it could be more difficult to find then the others. Their bodies are no different. The paint schemes are also the same, just done with muted grays and blacks. The Wolf Man even comes with the same cane. But where Larry\u2019s was glossy black with shiny silver, the B&W one is matte black and dull silver. These two figures aren\u2019t necessary to complete your monsters, but I really like them. There\u2019s just something about that gray color that\u2019s perfectly reminiscent of the way they were originally seen.<\/p>\n

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Even though these are great minimates, there have been reports of breakage issues, especially on the hip joints. My Dr. Reed was a victim of this, and now has no right leg. So be warned. Also, there are two four-packs coming out soon to Diamond retailers. The Black & White figures are not included, but they will have all the other figures plus two exclusives: Dr. Reed\u2019s girlfriend, Kay Lawrence, and Larry\u2019s girlfriend, Gwen Conliffe.<\/p>\n

These will run you about $8 at TRU, which is average for a Minimates two-pack. Personally, I can\u2019t wait to get Dracula, Frankenstein, and the rest of these little guys. Mini Monster Squad here we go!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":9574,"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":[719,93,718,720],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.itsalltrue.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/mmcrTN.jpg?fit=50%2C50","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pObc6-2uo","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":10069,"url":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=10069","url_meta":{"origin":9572,"position":0},"title":"Vault Review: Diamond Select’s Wolfman","date":"November 8, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"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.","rel":"","context":"In "Reviews"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":9620,"url":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=9620","url_meta":{"origin":9572,"position":1},"title":"Vault Review: Marvel Minimates: Mr. Fantastic & 1st App Dr. Doom","date":"October 1, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Along with the Universal Monsters, I also noticed a new wave of Marvel Universe Mates at our local Toys R Us. I fell out of Minimates collecting when the DC line was cancelled, but every once in a while I\u2019m still tempted back by certain characters. Looking at this Dr.\u2026","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":9572,"position":2},"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":348,"url":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=348","url_meta":{"origin":9572,"position":3},"title":"Mr. Rant asks Where are my DC Minimates???","date":"July 21, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"","rel":"","context":"In "Mister Rant"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":16020,"url":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=16020","url_meta":{"origin":9572,"position":4},"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":[]},{"id":5106,"url":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=5106","url_meta":{"origin":9572,"position":5},"title":"Vault Review: C2E2 Exclusive Battle Beast","date":"April 27, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"In 1987, Hasbro imported Battle Beasts from Takara and a cult classic was born. As a kid, the idea of armored animals wearing fighting each other in a never ending duel of rock, paper, scissors was cool. Nearly, a quarter of a century later, Diamond Select Toys has resurrected Battle\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Reviews"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9572"}],"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=9572"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9572\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9577,"href":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9572\/revisions\/9577"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/9574"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9572"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9572"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9572"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}