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NECA Ultimate Creature From The Black Lagoon




Delivered this week, the one and only Creature From The Black Lagoon is here to consort with my monsters. NECA gave him the Ultimate treatment, with a great look and lots of accessories.












The sculpt is fantastically done, molded in dark green with lighter tan highlights throughout the body to bring out the details. He’s covered in scales, he sports a fin along his back, gills on the sides of his face, light blue fish eyes, bone-like webbed claws and feet. This is probably one of the best Gillman figures ever released, outside of model kits. NECA went all out to make sure he’s as screen accurate as possible.




For accessories, he comes with 3 heads (closed mouth, open mouth and hinged jaw that can open and shut). He also has 4 pairs of hands (relaxed, curled fingers, open palm and one that appears to be reaching and grabbing). I’m surprised they didn’t include a net, spear gun or mummified claw like they included with the Jada toys figure. However, the wide variety of heads and claws are good enough, even though most of those claws don’t seem too different from each other until you look at them closely.














The articulation is awesome. They went out of their way to incorporate the joints so that they’re mostly hidden in the sculpt. The head is on a ball joint and can turn fully around, tilt, look down and up. He sports  ball jointed upper torso and waist, hinged, ball jointed shoulders, double jointed elbows and knees with swivel, hinged wrists and ankles, and ball jointed thighs. He can twist and turn in multiple directions, allowing him to duplicate classic Creature poses, as well as goofier human poses. He also has a hole under both of his feet to peg onto a base stand for extra support. None were included, but I tested it out on the Elvira base, and it worked well.



Growing up, I have always loved the Creature. He was a personal favorite, along with Godzilla and other monsters like The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms. I used to watch these on the Bay Area channel KBHK 44. On Saturdays at about noon, they had a Creature Features style show called The Monstrous Movie, where I got to see all 3 of the Creature films, and many others such as Fiend Without A Face, Horror of Party Beach, Target Earth, Tarantula, Return of the Fly, The Beginning of the End, Curse of the Mummy, etc. When I was a kid, my parents must have bought me the Creature plastic jiggler half a dozen times (called Ocean Friend, probably due to licensing rights). They also had other Universal monsters, like Frankenstein and the Mummy. I came across clear photos of them, and they brought back a lot of nostalgia. I recall staring for hours at the Creature’s header card that showed a dead boy on a beach, and having my imaginative kid mind fascinated by it.









I’m happy that NECA decided to release him in early October, just in time for Halloween month. He now can be a part of my All Hallow’s Eve display. Since he’s about 8 inches tall, he towers over my Jada Toys Gillman, and is much more detailed. I know that NECA have also released a glow in the dark Creature, as well as a black and white variant, so Gillman fans have a variety of options to choose from.







NECA’s Ultimate Creature From The Black Lagoon is probably the best highly articulated figure of the Gillman ever released. He looks fantastic, moves well, and his many heads and hands allow a variety of display options. If you’re of fan of this classic aquatic beast, and don’t own any figures of it, this is the one to get. I preordered mine off Big Bad Toy Store, and last I checked, he’s still available. Now that he’s out, I’m sure he’ll be turning up at local Target and other collectible shops very soon. For less than $40, he’s worth every penny.










 

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