Universal Monsters Series 4 - Son of Frankenstein, Werewolf of London, and the Mole People

I'm a huge fan of this entire line, and have been awaiting these figures with much anticipation.  It seems that the only store carrying them is Toys R Us, or the Sideshow Toy site itself (www.sideshowtoy.com).  They are around $10 at Toys R Us.

Packaging - **1/2
Identical to the past packaging, except this picture these specific characters of course.  Can someone make a carded figure that I don't have to destroy the package?  And I would have preferred an actual shot of the character from the film, rather than all the artwork being based on the action figures.

Sculpting - ****
Oluf Hartvigson does it again.  Sideshow uses two sculptors predominately - Oluf and Mat Falls - and both are capable of wonderful work.  Oluf did all three of these (along with the new 12" Frankenstein) and captured the look of the characters perfectly.  While some folks have commented that the sculpt on the Werewolf of London isn't up to snuff, I don't think it's the sculpts fault, but rather the heavy handed application of paint.

Articulation - ***
Sideshow claims 12 points of articulation on all three.  They aren't lying - all three have neck, shoulder, elbow, wrist, waist, thigh and knee joints.  However, not all these joints are particularly useful.  For example, I had a very difficult time doing much with the thigh and waist articulation on the Mole Man. 

More important however is the fact that the quality of these joints has improved since series one.  Now the elbow and knee joints have pins that travel all the way through, and you can tell the difference.

Value - ***
Sure, I'd love it even more if these were 8 bucks or so, but even at $10 you're getting one of the nicest sculpted figures on the market today, along with decent articulation and great accessories.

Accessories - ***1/2
Each of these characters comes with some sensible accessories.  The Mole Man comes with a burlap bag to carry his extra mushrooms.  Frank has the arm he borrowed from the gentleman in the movie, along with a book, and the Werewolf of London has an extremely nice jacket, well sculpted hat (that fits great too!), and the flower that was his only cure.

Overall - ***1/2
As I said earlier - I was really anticipating these.  After hearing some people comment on them in a less than positive manner, I was concerned.  Would I be disappointed this time?  I'm happy to say no!  These are excellent, and look terrific displayed next to the previous three series.