House of Frankenstein

Oh man, Frankenstein. He's a classic. Whether you prefer the intelligent version from the books or the shambling groaning version from the Universal movies... Well most people prefer the Universal version, versions...

Frankenstein was played by something like a dozen guys over multiple movies... and a while back the Sideshow folks made 1:6 scale figures out of all of them. Seriously, from every classic Frankenstein movie. Hell, even Young Frankenstein. And each figure was molded to look like the specific actor from each movie. Pretty neat.

At some point in my 1:6 buying frenzy I decided I should get a Frankenstein to help fill out my "Monsters and Villains" quota. But which one. A quick look at all the figures revealed 2 things: some of the actors that played Frankenstein looked weird with the make-up on. They made Frankenstein look like a  little chubster. Also: a few of the Frankensteins were packaged with Brains in Jars.

That second part immediately narrowed down the choice to two sets. One the original Frankenstein set which features Frankenstein's monster looking just like everyone remembers. It's the image that gets put on postage stamps. The other was the House of Frankenstein monster, from the first of the monster mash movies that featured Frankenstein, Wolfman, Dracula, and some generic mad scientist and hunchback. (Although mad scientist was played by the original Frankenstein, Boris Karloff.) Both Monsters looked great in the pictures.

Ultimately I went with the House of Frankenstein version. It was cheaper and it came with two brains. TWO BRAINS IN JARS! Who ever heard of such riches. The figure looks great and has amazing articulation, although if the short sleeves ride up you see that his entire body isn't green and you risk exposing some regular flesh colored forearms. The figure also comes with a molded, plastic book that you can't open and is a little large to be considered the 1:6 scale version of the book from the movie. I think, it's been a while since I saw that movie. But come on, who has a book that's as high as their knee? (Besides toddlers. Although it was a monster movie, and giant mysterious tomes aren't out of the question.)

I haven't undressed the figure, but the upper torso has a weird joint and I'm wondering if it's held together by a rubber band. I admit, it makes me a little nervous, as if the figure is more delicate than I had anticipated. (Ironic?)

Also, and this is the first time I've ever experienced this, the twist ties holding the figure to the card, they were actually designed so the only way to get them off the figure is to take off the jacket and then thread the twist-tie around the figure, under the clothing.

Weird.