Sculpting - ****
The head sculpt is fantastic, but you won't be surprised if you've bought
either the regular Phantom of the Opera
figure, or the 9" version of this
figure.
Unlike the 9" version, there is only one head this
time, with a removable mask. The Chaney likeness is dead on, and
Sideshow has proven again that in the sixth scale market, their sculpts are
the ones to beat.
Paint - ****
The paint ops follow the Sideshow tradition of excellence, particularly on
the face and eyes. There's tons of detail work here, which means tons
of opportunity for error, but all the lines are clean and neat, the face
tone is excellent, and the detail work around the eyes and mouth is perfect.
I feel like a Sideshow tool at times, but they are producing
excellent figures right now, hitting on almost every cylinder.
Articulation - ***1/2
No major complaints here either. The usual Sideshow body is in use,
with neck, ball jointed shoulders, cut biceps, double jointed elbows and
knees, chest, waist, ball jointed hips, cut thighs, ankles and wrists.
*whew*
I found the ankles to be a tad floppy and loose this time
around, although I suspect that will vary from figure to figure.
Outfit - ***
If there's one aspect of this particular figure which I had a few nits
to pick on, it was the outfit. Actually, it's not as bad as I make it
sound, but rather I've gotten so used to outstanding quality from Sideshow
that even the smallest things stand out.
Overall, the outfit is very nicely done. The cloak stands out, with
a design that matches the source material extremely well, and uses three
snaps to get the right look.
The hat is a solid sculpt, and fits either with the mask or
without. The feather and cloth that's attached are decent quality and
should hold up fairly well.
The puffy shirt and pantaloons (bloomers, whatever you want to call them)
underneath are well stitched and extremely well tailored. The fit tightly,
and look great. My only negative comes with the tights, or the fact
that they aren't tights actually. They fit the legs tightly, but are
cut off at the ankles rather than covering the whole foot. This means
they can pop out of the short boots, and the edge isn't hemmed. That
makes fraying a lot more likely.
The boot sculpt is new and quite well done. Overall, the quality
and design is great - if they'd just made the leggings full tights, it would
have been perfect.
Accessories - ***1/2
I'm counting two accessories here - the mask and the staff. Oh, and
let's not forget the stand, which is the same stand we have gotten with past
Universal Monsters.
Both the mask and staff are great. The sculpt on the mask looks
excellent, and fits nicely on the face without being too tight. The
wash on the mask works well, and the paint ops around the eyes, nose and
teeth are solid.
The staff has a snake twisting around the shaft, with a skull trapped in
his mouth at the top. It's well sculpted, and quite sturdy.
Value - **1/2
This always depends on where you buy. I'm assuming you end up paying
$40 - that's really too much. Even at a limited edition of 7500,
that's about ten bucks too much.
But have no fear - I have two sites below that have it for
$30, and I suspect if you spend some serious time looking around you might
find it a tad cheaper still. Drop the price to $30 and add a star.
Overall - ***1/2
Another winner in the Universal Monsters line by Sideshow. If you
already have the original version, you might find it tough to spend the
bucks on this one, but for the big fans of these great old horror films,
these figures are must haves.
Where to Buy -
You may find these at Media Play or Sam Goody stores soon, but I
haven't seen them there yet. I'm betting they'll be around $30.
On-line:
- Sideshow
has him for $40. These figures are limited to a run of 7500.
They have a limited number of the standard
Phantoms in stock as well for $30. (MROTW Affiliate)
- Big
Bad Toy Store has them for $30 each.
- Boise
River Collectibles is a new store - to me at least. They have the
Phantom for $30, which is a pretty good price on-line. (MROTW Affiliate)