Holy cow, here is one of the biggest and most grand collections that I have been waiting to showcase. My 12"-1/6 scale
Universal Monsters So I was in the midst of seeing the signs of finding & getting all kinds of new action figures with the now revolutionary tech & sculpting done by multiple companies and as well as discovering news ones in 2001,
Sideshow Toys/Collectibles was instantly My favorite one as they were like no other, even more so than that of
McFarlane Toys who was My previous fave of all toy companies
I loved
Sideshow because they were so unique, took on many different properties that had never been done before and remaking some franchises and making them way better that previous companies did. Unfortunately I cannot say that about them now as they along with
McFarlane and many other great companies have supposedly lost their creative edge and joined each other making lines & variants that has been made dozens of times thus making their-selves pathetically generic. I struggle with this a lot because back in the day in the 2000s figures were cheap and seemed special but now with adults collecting figures more than kids and ridiculously insane prices on items via crowdfunding that has already made in the past...it just pains Me about this as people keep on submitting to this and not thinking about the classic past that they could get the same characters and whatnot that are vintage MIB that is around the same price or even cheaper and arguably even better IMO
So with My small venting rant coming to close, I am about to showcase one of My most cherished action figure series' that I have in My collection and that is the
Sideshow Toys Universal Monsters! I saw these great looking 12" guys along with the 8" figures which really green-lighted My liking to 1/6 scale figures (see the great 8 inchers in all their glory in My Modern figure topic!) on the web via web stores and catalogs as I saw the signs there
Of course I was like wait,
Hasbro (over 2 decades before they fake awoken) already made
Universal Monsters but they didn't make many of them. They were easily to get on eBay but I felt
Sideshow's was far superior and many ways. See, I didn't feel this way then because It had already been nearly 20 years since I missed out on
REMCO's versions but thankfully I got
Imperial's Universal Monsters which this was only two companies that was making them and they made them only sparsely and in selections where
Sideshow went THE EXTRA MILE MAKING NEARLY EVERY CHARACTER
That there in itself was such a huge important matter for Me as I am a completist in many ways and having all the characters even obscure ones. See, some people don't want them secondary characters while I always have.
The series was such a deluxe one to behold with
Sideshow's uncanny sculpting and their good painting. So here they are, thank goodness I took care of them. I have all the characters but I do not have every variant of
Frankenstein and I regret that severely
Why
Beacuse A great 12" figure store called Aboyd's had them for so cheap for less than $30 each and I didn't pull the trigger for many years then he sadly went out of business and I have that in the back of My head oh so often
Not all accessories are shown and these figures are not in any particular order but one that I saw fit so get ready for the classic horror show like no other
Count Dracula -
(1941 - Bela Lugosi)Frankenstein's Monster -
1931- Boris KarloffThe Bride of Frankenstein aka The Monster's Mate -
(1935 - Elsa Lanchester)"The Mummy" Imhotep - Ardath Bey -
1933 - Boris KarloffThe Phantom of the Opera -
1929 - Lon ChaneyLarry Talbot -
1941 - Lon Chaney Jr.: He was My very first
Universal Monster and started it all for Me
The Wolfman -
1941 - Lon Chaney Jr. The Creature from the Black Lagoon-Walks Among Us/Gill-Man -
1954 - Ben Chapman on land and by Ricou Browning underwater: I was able to pre-ordered the exclusive version with the fossilized hand and this was a big deal then!
Dr. Jack Griffins The Invisible Man -
1933 - Claude Rains The Werewolf of London -
1935 - Henry HullQuasimodo the Hunchback of Note Dame -
1923 - Lon ChaneyBela -
1941 (The Wolfman) - Bela LugosiRenfield - 1931 (Dracula) - Dwight Frye
Fritz - 1931 (Frankenstein) - Dwight Frye
Mr. Hyde - 1932 - Fredric March
The Mole Man -
The Mole People 1956 - VariousThe Metaluna Mutant -
This Island Earth 1955 - Eddie Parker: Oh wow, I had mentioned earlier how regretted not getting some figures, well I made sure I got him before it was too late and I also made sure I got the exclusive version of him with the UFO! I got him from MyMovieMonsters.com which they are a great classic monster store and one of the last that celebrates with tradition of vintage & classical monsters!
BONUS ENTRIES!Count Orlok/Nosferatu the Vampyre -
Nosferatu 1922 - Max SchreckThe London After Midnight Vampire -
1927 - Lon Chaney: Before I got
Talbot, he was the one that made Me love and want these monsters to begin with, I saw him and read his review over @ MWC any times way back in 2001...over 20 years ago this year!
Murder Legendre -
White Zombie 1932 - Bela Lugosi: I got him along with
Larry Talbot from Blue Box Toys which no longer exists. Gosh that was a great time!
Ash -
Army of Darkness aka Evil Dead 3 1992 - Bruce CampbellEvil Ash -
Army of Darkness aka Evil Dead 3 1992 - Bruce CampbellVan Helsing -
2004 - Hugh Jackman[/b]: I pre-ordered the exclusive version with his double blades!
Anna Valerious - [i]2004 - Kate Beckinsale: Like
Van Helsing, and pre-ordered teh exclusive version and got her cool pistol!
SPECIAL GALLERY!The Sideshow Stand: Originally this series didn't come with actual display stands, just little stone foot stands as the 1/6 hobby wasn't coming into full force til a while later. They would made actual stand with the
Sideshow logo on then they would have an actual logo/name for the figure it came with/for which was really cool plus extremely convenient!
The Box/Packaging: I always loved
Sideshow's packaging. Back in the 2000s, it didn't seem like your were actually paying for the packaging and you felt like you were getting something really good unlike today as in this twisted androgynous day & age, you get figures that are ridiculously priced and much of that pricing is due to the packaging which IMO is nonsense and uncalled for
Look at all that classic monster goodness. I loved 5th panel/open widow view of it, in fact that is one of the raddest aspects of 1/6 packaging!
So there you have it! I had saved this for Halloween for a long time, planning this in advance. I hope you have enjoyed this Halloween special
I have 1 more Sideshow toys special coming up very soon. Until then I'll see you around