I’ve already given my rant about how the original Mez-Itz were great and the new ones, which are boring Mighty Mugg rip-offs, are yet another sad commentary on the decline of Mezco and the overall state of the toy industry. So instead I’ll just talk about these figures.

While Mezco had a slew of great licenses for Mez-Itz in the early 2000s, I think the generic lines, especially the Monsters, are my favorites. While they cover most of the Universal Monsters (with the painful exception of the Gillman, though Abe Sapien can double in a pinch), they aren’t actually licensed by Universal, so the characters are rather generic and don’t feature caricatures or likenesses of any famous actors (though Boris is a little suspect). This set includes the Mummy and Dracula.

You can’t really trademark or copyright a mummy, so while this figure doesn’t have Boris Karloff’s face, it’s, well, a mummy. Dracula is more interesting. He’s got the classic Bela Lugosi evening wear, but the head of Max Schreck of Nosferatu. It’s a unique look and I dig it.

The figures have some great articulation, with ball joints at the neck, shoulders and hips, a swivel at the waist, and swivels at the wrists. They stand a good head taller than Minimates and twice as tall as the new mini Mez-Itz.

I’m still trying to track down the rest of the Monster Mez-Itz…I need the Boris & Claude and Wolfman & Frankenstein’s Monster sets. But I’m glad to have found these, and I’ll be holding out hope that Mezco may bring the line back in its proper sculpted, articulated glory.

*If Clawful looks pissed, it’s because he’s wondering when the hell I’m going to review him.