Editor’s Note: Hey, Fwoosh Fan! Today is your lucky day because we have enlisted fantastic Fwoosh forum member snowman to do join our full-time staff and he already has a review of Mezco’s Creature from the Black Lagoon ready to go! Take it away, snowman and welcome! – VeeBee
As one of the classic Universal Monsters, the Creature (or Gill-Man if you want to keep things casual) has been mildly terrorizing audiences since his first appearance nearly 60 years ago. Mezco has recently released him as a follow up to last year’s Frankenstein’s Monster in their new line of highly stylized 9-inch figures.
Let’s address the minimally articulated elephant in the room by saying that this design certainly isn’t for everyone. It’s the sort of figure whose cartoonish sculpt and exaggerated proportions will either grab your attention — or won’t. As someone who loves variety in a toy collection, I knew I’d be on board for the entirety of the line when the first images were shown. With Gill-Man in hand, my goal of a Mezco Monster Squad is now one step closer to completion. Personal preferences aside, they’ve done an outstanding job in terms of paint, sculpt, and overall quality. This is a big, solid, well-made figure.
Some of tiniest details are brought to life, but they’ve also been wise enough to know when to hold back. The skin has a nice texture to it without being overdone with individually sculpted scales. The headsculpt, while definitely a bit animated looking, maintains the same menace as seen in the original Creature film. And of course, all of this is brought out with a very clean paint job.
The Creature sports a whopping 11 points of articulation, which is no surprise if you own Frankenstein. He has a ball-jointed neck (that is limited a bit by the sculpt), hinge shoulders, cut elbows, cut wrists, ab joint, cut waist, and ball-jointed ankles. The one major flaw in this figure relates to its articulation scheme. Not in the number of joints, as that’s what should be expected with this line, but how they went about it. They’ve given him ball-jointed ankles, which makes no sense given the fact his legs are completely static. What’s worse, this figure is so heavy that if the ball shifts at all to the front, he topples over. He stands just fine when you align the joint properly, but simple cuts would have been a much wiser choice. I’d much rather have had a ball joint at the wrist. But just because a figure can’t move doesn’t mean it can’t be fun!
So whether you’re a fan of Universal Monsters or just in the mood for something different, I’d highly recommend the Gill-Man as an oddball addition to your collection. Mezco’s website lists him at $29.99, but you can find him for a few dollars cheaper at other online dealers. With any luck, he’ll be showing up at some of the better Toys ‘r Us stores (i.e. not mine) in the near future. And keep your eyes peeled this October (and just in time for Halloween) for the newest addition to the line — the Mummy!
PHOTO FUN FACT!: All outdoor photos were taken at the Wakulla Springs State Park in the Florida panhandle. Wakulla Springs was one of the principle shooting locations for the original Creature film, and home to the biggest mosquitoes this side of Jurassic Park.
Thanks for reading!
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