Review of Creature from the Black Lagoon mini-bust

Introduction

Anyone that knows me knows I love the Creature from the Black Lagoon. Don't get me wrong - the movie is a classic, but it's not a great movie. But the creature design is one of the all time greatest 'guy in a monster suit' designs, well ahead of its time in terms of quality and realism.

I also love, nostalgically and more generally, the Universal Monsters. Back in the day, SIdeshow did a series of busts for the release of some of the films on DVD, including a terrific Frankenstein, Dracula, and Wolfman...but no Creature. So when Trick or Treat Studios announced he'd be part of their new line of mini-busts, I was intrigued.

This guy is now shipping, and will cost you around $25. Yea, you read that right - $25! They are doing a number of other characters in the same scale and style, including a number of 80's horror icons.

Packaging - ***
It's a box with a window - what can you say. I do like including the window, allowing you to see what you're actually getting, and the bust is held safe and sound. It's all collector friendly too, as you'd expect a bust box to be.

This is not any sort of numbered edition, and while the name and company are printed on the bottom of the bust, there's no associated edition information.

Sculpting - ***1/2
This bust is small, hence 'mini-bust', coming in at about 4 3/4" total. I've included a shot at the end of the review with the older Sideshow Lugosi bust for comparison.

The detail work is quite good, particularly on the scaly skin texture and softly etched gills. The open mouth expression was standard, and the overall shape and contours look good. Here's a still that works as a good comparison. BTW, you'll notice that this creature - the one from the part of the film where he's on land - looks different than the Ricou Browning costume, seen here. The big difference is in the chest, where the land costume (the one being replicated in this bust) had a center panel below the mask line. Browning, an underwater stuntman among other things, was a smaller man than Ben Chapman, who played the Creature on land. They added the center chest panel so the suit would fit the larger Chapman.

You might expect this to be a plastic or at least a PVC bust at this price, but it is a resin piece. The base is a tad dull, however, something I'd like to see improved with other releases.

Paint - ***
Considering the extremely low price point, I have to say the paint operations are much better than I expected. The colors are good, and the use of drybrushing and wash to bring out the sculpt details works well.  The eyes are a bit glassy, but they do have a nice sheen. There's a smidge of slop here or there, but again, at this price point I was very pleased.

Value - ****
$25? Are you kidding me? We never got mini-busts for $25, even 20 years ago. This isn't a huge piece, but even so, the price point is extremely competitive, and makes it much easier for you to pick up the entire line.

Things to Watch Out For -
Not a thing.

Overall - ***1/2
I bought this guy to go with the other Sideshow Universal Monsters busts I have, and sadly, he's just a tad small. If you prop him up a bit like I did below, the scale of the bust itself (excluding the base) isn't *too* far off, but I think the price point on these makes it possible to simply add in the other Universal Monster releases from Trick or Treat and have a more consistent look.

Score Recap (out of ****):
Packaging - ***
Sculpting - ***1/2
Paint - ***
Value - ****
Overall - ***1/2

Where to Buy 
Online options include these site sponsors:

- or you can seearch ebay for a deal.

Related Links -
Other great Creature goodies include the old sixth scale figure from Sideshoow, the great 7" figure from DST, and the premium format statue from Sideshow.

You should also hit the Search Reviews page, in case any other applicable reviews were done after this one was published.

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