This is Diamond Select’s second take on a Mummy figure using the increased articulation that they’ve been injecting into their Universal Monsters figures. I can’t have a decent collection of Universal Monsters without Boris karloff’s Mummy from 1932’s The Mummy, so I was super happy when they announced a 2.0 version.
I know it almost seems ungrateful to have a few complaints about some of the articulation points when I’m so happy to have one that’s fully articulated, so I’ll get to the good first. This is a great sculpt, with a ton of wrappings and textures and detailing all over him. It’s practically exhausting looking at how much had to be sculpted here and there. You can’t take shortcuts when sculpting a mummy and none were taken here.
The head has a great weathered, worn and aged likeness. There’s a weary expression in the eyes that gives them a hint of sorrow and life.
There’s a dirty paint job across the figure that makes all the wrappings look properly ancient, like he really just crawled out of a sarcophagus. The paint also brings out the wrinkled and cracked details on the face, which gives him an extra hint of life.
The articulation lets him get into a wide variety of stalking and creeping poses that are perfect for a mummy. Combined with the grasping hands, he looks great in minimal lighting. All he needs is a Scooby and Shaggy to run away from him. Wait, that’s the wrong mummy . . .
I had a handful of stuck joints, notably the hips. A brief visit to the freezer freed up most of them, but the hips had to be heated up and then they moved fine. I’m not sure if this is a widespread issue or if I just got a futzed one, so be careful when first moving all the joints so you don’t rip anything off.
Mummy dearest here has lot of articulation, but, like I said earlier, I do have some issues with some of it. He has swivel-hinge-style elbows (elbro), but he also has bicep swivels. I think the elbow makes the bicep swivel redundant. He has a hinged wrist with a wrist swivel. I think both could have been combined into a single ball-jointed wrist. And even with all of these points of articulation, he can’t get that “arms overlaid across the chest” look of a mummy asleep in his sarcophagus.
He has a ball-jointed mid-torso that unfortunately doesn’t allow for much of a crunch, so it really only serves as a swivel. He also has a waist swivel, DCUC-styled hips that Diamond Select has been using here and there, and single-jointed knees. He has a mid-thigh cut that is decently hidden in the sculpt that allows him to have a decent amount of leg room, but you won’t be able to get any deep lunging poses out of the slightly limited range in his hip.
Overall the articulation is way way better than either minimal or none at all, but I think some of it could have been thought out a little better (arms), or at least implemented in a less limiting way (torso).
Even with those minor issues, It’s still a fun figure that looks great, and there’s no way I can turn down yet another entry into Diamond’s Universal Monsters series.
The Mummy also comes with a base that features an unarticulated statue. The statue itself has a lot of intricate sculpting as well, and is a nice bronze with a subtle patina that gives it a nice aged appearance. The half-shattered column and crumbly floor are well-sculpted, and it’s a nice showpiece to have your mummy standing on if you choose to.
He also comes with a scroll and broken pottery.
The Mummy is currently available at Big Bad Toy Store.
