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Murder Legendre

Sideshow Toy continues with their Universal Monsters, following up Fritz with Bela Lugosi as Murder Legendre.  This character comes from the film White Zombie.  We should see another release from Sideshow next week, Larry Talbot in his non-Wolfman duds.

Lugosi fans should be thrilled - while they've gotten plenty of Dracula figures over the last few years, this is the first action figure of another great Lugosi character.  This figure sells for $40, and is limited to a run of 3,500.





Packaging - ***1/2
These packages are so close to four stars, I feel bad giving them three and a half.  But there is still one minor point holding them back.

The graphics are fantastic - the poster front flap, along with the interior graphics and back text makes this one of the nicest looking boxes from Sideshow so far.

They've returned to the flap boxes, and are using the tray to allow the MIB collector to remove the figure and put it back if they desire.  Great stuff...but...there's one annoying twisty tie.  This tie goes around the character's neck, through the tray, and through the insert.  This is the same as the Fritz packaging.

Take away that one annoying twisty tie, and you'd have a solid four star package.

Sculpting - ****
Dracula was good, but this figure is excellent.  Mat Falls has captured the look of this character perfectly, and it's really an excellent tribute to Lugosi.

The hand sculpts are fairly familiar now, but they work fine with this character.

I wonder if I could get my goatee and moustache to look like that?

Paint - ***1/2
While the sculpt is excellent, the paint ops are a little weaker on this figure.  The beard is missing some spots of black paint, and the face wash looks odd around the top of the nose.

This may just be mine, but be careful picking yours out if you can.  The eyes were excellent though, and the piercing stare is dead on.

Articulation - ****
Sideshow makes one of the most articulated bodies on the market.  Murder has all the joints you'd expect, including the ball jointed neck.

The joints are also very tight.  It looks like Sideshow has fixed the problem with loose hips and knees, and I have no trouble getting him to stand in many poses completely on his own.

Accessories - ***1/2
The only complaint I could have with the accessories is that there could be more.  But then, couldn't there always be more?

Murder comes with a small dagger, wooden voodoo doll, Madeline's scarf, and the usual foot stand.  Madeline was the heroine in the film.

The sculpt and details on the dagger are very nice, but it doesn't fit in either hand very well.  The statue looks great, and does fit nicely in his hands.

The weakest accessory is Madeline's scarf.  It's a simple piece of white cloth with no stitching.

The foot stand is the same foot stand we've seen many times, and is pretty much unneeded with this figure.

Outfit - ****
I've commented in the past that while the sculpting and accessories on Sideshow figures are excellent, that often the outfits left a little to be desired.

Not this time!  It looks like they've stepped up the quality of the clothing, and I'm very pleased.

Murder comes with his suit coat and pants, full shirt (no more dickies here! uh, that doesn't sound right...), socks, shoes, and tie.  There is no belt, and the tie is not the best quality I've ever seen, but the suit itself is excellent.  I'm also very happy to see the complete shirt. The tie needed better stitching, and better cloth, but the stitching on the suit and shirt are excellent.

The outfit is completed with a full size cape and unique hard plastic hat.  The hat fits his head well, without rubbing off any paint.  Its style looks extremely good on him, and matches the source material. The cape is one of the best I've seen.  Complete stitching, along with a string to tie in front, makes the cape superior to the Dracula version.

Value - ***
Just like Fritz, the forty dollar price tag is a bit steep on this one.  He is a better value than Fritz was, with new accessories rather than re-hashed ones, and a much more complex outfit.  Of course, the limited run of 3500 also drives the price up somewhat, but thirty dollars would have made me much happier.  Still, I can understand the price point.

Overall - ****
This is one of my favorite Sideshow figures, although I'm not a huge fan of this movie.  They've done an excellent job matching the source material, and the quality is excellent.  If you're a big Lugosi fan, I highly recommend picking this one up.

And wouldn't that suit be perfect for a Lincoln custom?

Where to buy
I don't know if we'll see these at any bricks and mortar stores, so you best bet is on-line.

- Sideshow of course has them, for $40 plus shipping.

- Entertainment Earth has them for $35 plus shipping, and has them currently in stock. (MROTW affiliate)

- The Toy Cellar doesn't have them listed as in stock yet, but I'd assume they are $38 again, like Fritz.

- you can also try TNC Universe, but they don't have Murder listed on the site.  They sold Fritz for $35 though, so I'd bet he'll be the same.


Figure from the collection of Michael Crawford

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