{"id":9860,"date":"2010-10-19T12:47:41","date_gmt":"2010-10-19T17:47:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=9860"},"modified":"2010-10-19T12:52:12","modified_gmt":"2010-10-19T17:52:12","slug":"vault-review-diamond-selects-creature-from-the-black-lagoon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=9860","title":{"rendered":"Vault Review: Diamond Select’s Creature from the Black Lagoon"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/a>In 1954, audiences were introduced to one of the most memorable monsters of all time, the Creature from the Black Lagoon<\/strong>. The Universal Monsters are all popular properties, but that hasn’t translated into action figure success despite several attempts. Diamond Select Toys is the latest company to take a stab at it.<\/p>\n

The Creature is notable among the monsters for a couple reasons. He wasn’t based on previous literary works and his original movie was one of the first 3D movies that Universal Pictures filmed. Audiences marveled at the state of the art makeup and design of the monster\u2019s appearance as they watched the doomed expedition to the Amazon struggle with the Creature, losing one crew member after another. A new horror star had been born.<\/p>\n

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The first thing that jumps out at you when you see this figure in person is how big he is. When I ordered him I didn\u2019t realize he was going to be almost eight inches tall. I don\u2019t mind his size too much, but I was a little disappointed he wouldn\u2019t be hanging out with Batman anytime soon. These Universal Monsters are their own scale, with some like the Wolf Man being a bit smaller than the rest. I can\u2019t imagine how tall Frankenstein is going to be when he\u2019s released.<\/p>\n

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The sculpt on the Creature is amazing. His body is covered in segmented scales with raised bumps texturing the entirety of his torso, arms, and legs. His abdomen is a separate armored looking piece that\u2019s been glued onto the main body. While on his back, the trail of fins run down his spine to the back of his legs. These fins sculpted uneven and are etched with lines, making it look very organic and like he just emerged from the water. His feet and hands are made up of long bony toes and fingers with sculpted webbing stretching between them and topped off by very large claws on both. <\/p>\n

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My favorite part of the sculpt is the Creature\u2019s hands. The tops are smooth and boney while the palms are pocked with little holes. While my least favorite part is the head sculpt. There\u2019s something about it that isn\u2019t quite right. When I compared him to pictures of the movie costume I noticed the eyes of the toy are less menacing while the neck and forehead are too pronounced. These slight exaggerations have sadly turned this missing from monstrous too old-manish. It\u2019s really a shame, because the sculpt is nearly perfect otherwise.<\/p>\n

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The paint job on the Creature wonderful, and does a great job highlighting those tiny sculpted details. Not only does he have a nice metallic sheen to the green of his body, but the scales are highlighted in a black wash. Similarly, the fins and webbing are painted in a light yellowish brown while a darker brown highlights the textured lines. All of this is set off by the striking yellow of his abdominal plate and eyes. Continue to Page 2…<\/a><\/p>\n

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All these sculpted and painted details look so good because this Creature figure is lacking the articulation you\u2019d expect out of a figure this size. The Creature\u2019s shoulders are ball\/hinge joints. His elbows are hinges, while his wrists and ankles are simple swivel joints. I found this pretty disappointing since it doesn\u2019t leave him with a lot of movement. Sadly, this isn\u2019t limited to just the Creature, but all the figures in this line seem to be mostly statues with movable arms. Not exactly what I was hoping for.<\/p>\n

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The Diamond Select version of this figure comes with two unique items that the Toys R Us version doesn\u2019t: a large display base and the bikini clad figure of Kay Lawrence. The display base is a sandy beach with scattered rocks and is large enough to hold both the Creature and Kay at the same time. It doesn\u2019t have any pegs to plug a figure into, but the Creature\u2019s feet are so large that it\u2019s pretty easy to balance him.<\/p>\n

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The Kay Lawrence figure is awesome. The sculpting on the curvaceous body and form fitting bathing suit are amazing. But what really makes this figure perfect is the sculpting done on her face and hair. There\u2019s really no other way to put it, she\u2019s just beautiful. The sculptor was able to capture that perfect 1950\u2019s pinup girl style, and with that innocent yet inquisitive look on her face, she is one of the most attractive female figures I\u2019ve ever seen. A really great touch was that Diamond gave her a swivel neck joint, so you can decide where she\u2019s looking. They didn\u2019t have to do that, but I\u2019m really glad they did.<\/p>\n

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The Toys R Us version of the Creature comes in a darker and less metallic green color. Also, his eyes are red instead of yellow. The TRU version doesn\u2019t come with the lovely Kay Lawrence, but he does come with a different base: a muddy looking tangle of rocks, leaves, and tree roots. The TRU version will run you around $14, where the Diamond version with the beach base and Kay will run you around $20. Even though I was very disappointed in the very limited articulation of the Creature, I was also very happy with the Kay figure he came with. So, to me, he was worth the extra cash. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":9863,"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":[749,750,718],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.itsalltrue.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/gillTN.jpg?fit=50%2C50","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pObc6-2z2","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":9970,"url":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=9970","url_meta":{"origin":9860,"position":0},"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":9572,"url":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=9572","url_meta":{"origin":9860,"position":1},"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":10069,"url":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=10069","url_meta":{"origin":9860,"position":2},"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":16020,"url":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=16020","url_meta":{"origin":9860,"position":3},"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":21828,"url":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=21828","url_meta":{"origin":9860,"position":4},"title":"Review Round-Up (October 29th-November 4th)","date":"November 9, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"It\u2019s been a hectic last couple days, but I couldn\u2019t miss Review Round-Up! This week could be called Metalhead week! It\u2019s not all TMNT this week though. There weren\u2019t many comic book toys, but Hobbit figures are getting more love and we\u2019ve always got a healthy chunk of MOTU reviews\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Reviews"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":22401,"url":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=22401","url_meta":{"origin":9860,"position":5},"title":"Review Round-Up (January 1st-14th)","date":"January 19, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"We\u2019ve seen a few bi-weekly round-ups of late, but never fear \u2013 Review Round-Up is still planned as a weekly feature and should be back on track by February. For the glass half-full crowd, the first Review Round-Up of the New Year is kicking things off with a massive two-week\u2019s\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\/9860"}],"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=9860"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9860\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9869,"href":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9860\/revisions\/9869"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/9863"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9860"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9860"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9860"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}