I'm A Grown Man And I Bought This: Mezco Universal Monsters 9" Frankenstein

Hey, it's a special Halloween episode of I'm A Grown Man And I Bought This. Timely!

Today we're checking out the Universal Monsters 9" Frankenstein figure by Mezco. And yes, I know that the monster's name isn't really Frankenstein, but I don't have the energy to keep typing "Frankenstein's Monster" over and over. See? I'm already exhausted.

Mezco's releasing a whole series of these figures, which is a good thing. Frankenstein here is the first in the line, to be followed by The Creature From The Black Lagoon and The Mummy later in the year. 

I like this figure quite a bit, although it is a bit odd, what with it's mix of sculpted and cloth clothing and its strange articulation. More on that in a bit.

I've nothing to say about this shot, other than, "Hey, here's the back of the figure."

This is obviously a more stylized, even cartoonish version of Frankenstein, which is an interesting choice on Mezco's part. I like the face sculpt; it's not all that Karloff-like, but it's definitely Frankenstein. What the heck's going on with his neck muscles though? Why are they so much more detailed than his face? 

As stated earlier, this figure features a mix of molded plastic and cloth clothing. He's wearing a cloth shirt (which is actually sleeveless if you look closely) and a cloth jacket. Again, a strange choice, but I'm OK with it.

Bob's Pointless Trivia Time: Did you know that the Frankenstein Monster isn't really supposed to have green skin? They colored him green because it gave him a pale, undead pallor on black and white film. But then people saw color behind-the-scenes photos of the Monster with green skin, and the notion just kind of stuck.

He's got some odd articulation too. He's got a ball jointed neck, which is always a plus, and then a waist joint that only turns a few degrees, plus an ab crunch joint so he can bend over. He's got ball jointed shoulders (good) and pin wrist joints (good). His elbows are quite strange though. They're not normal joints, but rather some sort of swivels. You have to rotate his elbows to get them to change position, rather than just bending them. Very odd.

His lower body isn't articulated at all. On the one hand that's too bad, but on the other it makes him much more stable than he'd normally be, meaning he can stand well under his own power. If you're a regular reader of my blog (as millions are) you know that action figures that can't stand up by themselves is one of my biggest pet peeves in life.

All in all it's a pretty cool little figure in spite of its oddities. Highly recommended! Bring on the Creature and the Mummy!-