Tag: Creature Feature

Review > Metaluna Mutant (Universal Monsters, Diamond Select) w/ Sculptor’s Commentary

Throughout the first half of the twentieth century, Universal Studios built their reputation on horror films. The “canonical” Universal Monsters are Dracula, Frankenstein(‘s Monster), the Wolf Man, the Mummy, and the Gillman from Creature from the Black Lagoon. However, there are other Universal Monsters who aren’t quite as well known; Quasimodo from The Hunchback of Notre Dame; the Invisible Man; and the subject of today’s review, the Metaluna Mutant from the 1955 science fiction extravaganza This Island Earth.

I have watched This Island Earth many times – far more times than any other Universal Monsters movie, even Creature. However, I’ve never seen the “official” film – the version I’ve watched is the one found in Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Movie. Partly due to the film’s mocking at the hands of the MST3K crew, I have a hard time thinking about it as a good movie, but it’s a fun, colorful film featuring a monster straight out of the pulp comic covers of the era. [Fun fact: the Outer Space Man figure Orbitron was based on the Metaluna Mutant.]

There have been a few Metaluna Mutant toys and model kits over the years – in the Universal Monsters TMNT line, there was even a “Mutant Raphael” figure. But for some time now, the gold standard for the under-12″ scale has been Sideshow Toys’ 8″ figure. Now that Diamond Select Toys (DST) has taken over the Universal Monsters license, there’s a new contender in town.

You can get your Metaluna Mutant in two flavors. There’s the specialty store version (the subject of this review), which includes the “Interocitor” device from the film. It will run you about $19-$20. Then there’s a basic version with no Interocitor that’s available as a Toys R Us exclusive for $16 and comes with a small display stand. Given the meager price difference and the fact that the TRU version doesn’t appear to differ in any other way other than lacking the accessory, you’re certainly better off with the specialty store version.

I’d like to thank sculptor Jean St. Jean for sending along this figure to me, and for agreeing to add his “sculptor’s commentary” to the proceedings. His comments can be found in the blockquotes.

Doc Thomas Reviews > Left 4 Dead Boomer by NECA (w/ Sculptor’s Commentary!)

Poe Ghostal here. We’re trying something new for this review – what I’m calling “Sculptor’s Commentary” (though I reserve the right to change it to, say, “Designer’s Commentary” depending on who’s doing the commenting). The Boomer was sculpted by Jason Frailey, who also sculpted the Evil Dead II Henrietta as well as the super-popular new Glyos-compatible Armorvor. Jason was kind enough to do an interview in which he discussed some aspects of sculpting the Boomer. You can find this commentary in quotes throughout the review. I’m working on more of these for the future, so if you’re a sculptor who’s sculpted toys I’ve reviewed, or a reader who’s in contact with such a sculptor and think they might be interested, please shoot me an email at poe@poeghostal.com. –PG

NECA have done me proud. Way back in 2010, when I wrote my two articles about how the Left 4 Dead action figures should be made, fate was listening in and ensured that the Valve licence would end up with those who could best bring my plastic fantasies to life. Soon we’ll be seeing a plethora of excellent action figures based on Valve’s sensational award-winning video games done by those amazing people over at NECA. The first release was the original Left 4 Dead Boomer, probably the most well-known of the L4D zombies and the perfect test case for NECA to show off their chops at converting these characters into action figures. How did they do, particularly in regard to my planned version in my article? Read on to find out!

Sponsored Review > Engineer (Chair Suit) (Prometheus, NECA)

Let’s get one thing out of the way first: Prometheus is not a good movie. It’s a bloated, pretentious, incoherent mess of a film. However, I thought the aesthetic aspects of the movie were great, and that’s where this figure comes in.

I had high hopes for Prometheus. I’ve been a fan of the Alien franchise since I was eight or nine years old, and one of my favorite mysteries of that universe was the story behind the so-called “Space Jockey” (Prometheus calls them “Engineers”) in the chair on the derelict spaceship.

This unexplained and yet crucially important part of the Alien universe was so compelling to me. What was that thing? Was that long nose the trunk of an elephantine alien, or simply a breathing mask of some sort? Why was its bio-mechanical body, particularly its ribs, so similar to those of the xenomorph? What was that giant cannon-like structure it was sitting in, and why did he seem to be organically fused to it? Prometheus promised to answer some of these questions. And it did, I guess, but in an at best incomplete and at worst completely unsatisfactory way. And it was really poorly written, too.

But no matter – I’m not here to review the film. The fact is, regardless of how it got here, I now have an action figure of the Space Jockey – something I’ve always wanted but never imagined I’d have. Now that I’ve got him, I can imagine he’s whatever I want him to be.

Poe’s Review > is at ItsAllTrue? Wha-huh?

That’s right! Rather than rewarding my loyal readers who have been patiently waiting for new reviews here at PGPoA, I have posted my latest review over at IAT! This is mainly just a way to help NoisyDvL5 out. But I think it’s definitely worth a read, particularly because it’s a review of a line I don’t often collect:

PoeGhostal.com Review: G.I. Joe Zombie Viper

The review is important for a couple reasons:

1.) I reveal one of my new contributing photographers – none other than the great Ed Speir IV! Ed will also be doing the photos for my MOTUC reviews moving forward.

2.) I also reveal my big plan for October – and it’s reviews, reviews, reviews in what I’m calling, in honor of my childhood love of WLVI 56’s Creature Double Feature, Creature Feature Month!

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