Tag Archives: Jada Toys

#3312: The Invisible Man

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , ,

THE INVISIBLE MAN

UNIVERSAL MONSTERS (JADA TOYS)

Back at the beginning of last year, I took a look at a couple of Universal Monsters figures from a rather unlikely source, Jada Toys.  The line was just generally a surprise, in terms of both existence and quality.  It was also just a really cool little set of figures.  A lot of the basics were covered in that first assortment of four, but there was still some room for a few additional offerings, based on a few more of the old Universal films.  The one that got me the most excited was the figure based on the titular character from 1933’s The Invisible Man, and I’ll be taking a look at that figure today!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

The Invisible Man is one half of the second “assortment” of Jada’s Universal Monsters line.  Assortment is a loose term here, of course, since they all ship in solid cases anyway, but he and the Wolf Man went up for order together, and a shipped to retailers at about the same time.  As I’ve noted in previous Invisible Man reviews, there are a couple of looks for the title character from the original film.  Like the 8 inch Sideshow figure I looked at before, this guy is sporting the robe/smoking jacket look, which I really feel is his most distinctive and most impressive design.  The figure stands about 6 1/2 inches tall and he has 29 points of articulation.  Invisible Man’s articulation scheme continues to follow the impressive standards set by the rest of this line, being just shy of the current Hasbro level.  That said, he’s improved even a little bit from last year’s figures.  The range remains similar, but he doesn’t break up the sculpt quite as much to get there.  The only slight issue I ran into was with my figure’s right ankle, which appears to be stuck due to the paint; nothing a little hot water won’t fix, though.  The figure’s sculpt is an all-new one.  It’s a very strong one, much like the others I’ve looked at.  In fact, I’d say it’s the strongest of the bunch thus far.  All of the detailing is nice and sharp, and there’s just a ton of great texture work on the clothing, especially the jacket and the wraps on the face.  His glasses are a separate piece, which helps to give things the right amount of depth.  The jacket for the upper torso and the waist is made from a soft rubber; it’s not bad looking, and it preserves the posability, but I do worry just a little bit about the long-term durability of it.  We’ll just have to see on that one.  The paint work on this guy is a little bit of a mixed bag; the bandages are fantastic, as is the detailing on the glasses, and even some of the smaller details of the jacket and pants.  The biggest issue is the trim for the jacket, which isn’t terrible on mine, though perhaps a little misaligned.  The trouble is that I had six of them to choose from, and had to ultimately settle for one that was “good enough.”  It’s definitely the one weak point of the figure.  What’s *not* a weak point is the accessory selection.  This guy gets an alternate head with the bandages being unwrapped, five different hands (a fist and two styles of grip for the right, a relaxed for the left, and a really cool left hand that’s designed to look like he’s taking off his right glove), a hat, a book, and a beaker.  I like the mix of parts to “reveal” his invisible nature, so those are definitely my favorites.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

The Invisible Man is one of those designs that I’ve always really loved, and it’s one I’m always on the lookout for whenever there’s Universal Monsters stuff.  When NECA unveiled their Universal stuff, I was sort of interested, but then got more pulled towards Jada’s first round.  I was waiting to see which would get to this guy first, and it was NECA, but then they did the version of the Invisible Man that I didn’t want as much, so when this one was shown off, I was in from day one.  He’s got one or two small flaws, but I really like him, and I continue to be impressed by the work that Jada’s putting in with this line.  They just announced Street Fighter and Mega Man lines as well, and I’m very interested to see how those go, because they’re really shaping up to be a serious contender in the 6 inch market.

Thanks to my sponsors over at All Time Toys for setting me up with this figure to review.  If you’re looking for cool toys both old and new, please check out their website.

#3216: The Creature From the Black Lagoon – Glow-in-the-Dark

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , ,

THE CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON — GLOW-IN-THE-DARK

UNIVERSAL MONSTERS (JADA TOYS)

Happy Halloween, readers!  In honor of the day, I’m erring slightly on the spookier side, as I like to do, settling in for another Universal Monsters review.  In something of a change for the site, my last Universal Monsters reviews were actually not last Halloween, but in fact were in February of this year, when I took a look at Frankenstein’s Monster and the Bride from Jada’s own Universal Monsters line.  Today, I’m taking a look at another figure from the line, in the form of Gill-Man from The Creature From the Black Lagoon.  Let’s see how he turned out!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

The Creature From the Black Lagoon is the first follow-up to the first four figure series of Jada’s Universal Monsters line.  He takes the standard Gill-Man from the first series and makes him Glow-in-the-Dark.  He was released as an Entertainment Earth-exclusive.  The figure stands just shy of 6 3/4 inches tall and he has 29 points of articulation.  As I touched on when I reviewed Frankenstein back in February, the articulation scheme on these figures is actually pretty impressive for a company of Jada’s standing; it’s on par with some of Hasbro’s best offerings, albeit perhaps a year removed from where they are now.  2022 was a good year for Hasbro on the articulation front.  That doesn’t undermine what Jada’s got going on here, though, and Gill-Man’s articulation is even better than the Monster’s, due to his slightly less bulked-up build.  The figure’s sculpt is another strong offering.  He does quite a nice job of capturing the film design for the character, right down to getting all of the texturing and everything down with quite sharp detail.  Additionally, all of the articulation is worked in pretty nicely to the aesthetics of the overall sculpt, and they don’t require his sculpt to be broken up too badly when he’s posed either.  For the purposes of this release, in order facilitate the glowing feature, he’s molded in glow-in-the-dark plastic, with the rest of the paint built on top of that.  The plastic takes a fair bit of time to charge up for a proper glow, but it does at least hold it for a while.  The accent paint works out pretty nicely, though, and offsets the general look of the plastic rather nicely.  Gill-Man is packed with an alternate head with the mouth closed, an extra left hand for gripping, a harpoon gun, a net, and the decayed creature hand.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Creature has never been one of my favorites of the Universal slate.  It just always felt like the red-headed step-child of the group, and it’s really just never clicked with me the same way.  That being said, it’s hard to deny that Gill-Man has a killer visual, and one that makes for some cool toys.  This one in particular, in all of its glow-y glory, was one I definitely wanted to mess with, if perhaps not one I was dead set on owning.  One got traded into All Time a few weeks back, and they were kind enough to let me borrow it for the purposes of this review.  He’s honestly a ton of fun, and I look forward to the upcoming figures from the line.

Thanks to my sponsors at All Time Toys for setting me up with this figure for review.  If you’re looking for toys both old and new, please check out their website.

#3025: Bride of Frankenstein

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , ,

BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN

UNIVERSAL MONSTERS (JADA TOYS)

Released four years after the original Frankenstein, 1935’s Bride of Frankenstein adapts and expands upon later elements from Mary Shelly’s original novel, both in its attempts to more fully humanize the initial Monster, and in his desire to have a mate, the titular Bride.  Bride is pretty widely agreed to be an improvement upon its predecessor, and is probably the best of the Universal films in general.  Though she only gets a scant few minutes of actual screen time, the Bride’s design is quite distinctive, and she’s become a fixture of the franchise as a whole, especially when it comes to merchandising.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

The Bride is another piece of the first assortment of Jada Toys’ Universal Monsters line.  With only one film appearance, it’s pretty clear which one she’s based on, so I guess that’s simpler than it was with the Monster.  The figure stands about 6 inches tall and she has 29 points of articulation.  She’s once again going by the Hasbro playbook for the articulation scheme, and it again works pretty well.  The joints don’t have quite the same range of motion this time around, but they’re still more than serviceable.  Like the Monster, the Bride is an all-new sculpt, and it’s a pretty good one at that.  The facial likeness of Elsa Lanchester is pretty decently rendered, and they’ve done a respectable job of making the distinctive hair style work in toy form.  The body sculpt has a ton of detailing on the bandages, and the texturing is pretty top notch.  It’s kind of a shame to cover it up with the sheet, especially since it’s the weakest part of the figure.  It’s just a pretty simple cloth piece with a velcro strip in the back to help secure it.  It’s not particularly tailored or fancy, and the edge is a little uneven.  It gets the job done, but I do wonder how it will hold up long term.  The Bride’s paint work is pretty solid, though somewhat of a reverse from the Monster.  The head is kind of basic in how it’s laid out, and ultimately lacks the more lifelike qualities to the face.  The hair also is just a pretty basic black with white streaks, with very little accenting or subtleties to it, which is kind of a shame.  Lanchester’s hair was red, so I like when they can give it that slight tinge of color at the very least.  On the flip side, the work on the bandages on the body is pretty cool, as it really helps to showcase all of the detailing in the sculpt.  I mean, it’s again mostly covered by the sheet, but it’s cool that it’s there.  The Bride is packed with a second head with a hissing expression, as well as two sets of hands in differing gestures, and two of the pieces of equipment used in the experiment that brings her to life.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

After deciding to grab the Monster, it was hard to pass on the Bride.  They do make for a good pair and all.  Bride is certainly a favorite of mine, so I do always keep an eye out for good toy coverage.  Thus far, it’s always been iffy.  While this one’s not quite as good as the Monster, she’s still very good.  The only thing that really holds her back for me is the sheet, and even that’s really not bad, if you get it futzed just right.  Overall, she’s a nice companion piece to the Monster.  I hope Jada continues the line, as I think there’s some real potential for success here.

Thanks to my sponsors at All Time Toys for setting me up with this figure for review.  If you’re looking for toys both old and new, please check out their website.

#3024: Frankenstein’s Monster

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , ,

FRANKENSTEIN’S MONSTER

UNIVERSAL MONSTERS (JADA TOYS)

While the Universal Monsters are not absent from this site by any metric, there’s certainly a tendency for them to pretty much only be reviewed at Halloween time.  I do like my thematic reviewing, I guess.  On top of that, a lot of the Universal stuff is older releases, which don’t tend to need very timely reviews.  Last year marked the 90th anniversary of the brand, though, and in honor of that, the license actually got a fair bit of toy coverage before the year was up.  Perhaps the most surprising came from Jada Toys, a company typically associated with smaller die-cast items, who are making their way into the 6-inch figure game, starting with a batch of four of the monsters.  I’ll be taking a look at their stab at Frankenstein’s Monster today!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Frankenstein’s Monster (who is billed only as “Frankenstein” on the package; in Jada’s defense on that one, they seem to be naming the figures after movies, not after individual figures, so I don’t think it’s quite the same as the usual mis-titling of the character) is part of the first four figure assortment of Jada’s Universal Monsters line.  He’s clearly meant to be based on Karloff in the role, and appears to be more specifically patterned on his appearance in Bride of Frankenstein, which does sort of go against the based on a specific movie branding of the package, but also means he’s got what’s arguably the more memorable appearance, and goes with the Bride figure from the same assortment.  The figure stands 6 3/4 inches tall and he has 29 points of articulation.  The articulation scheme on this figure is pretty much on par with the various Hasbro 6-inch lines.  There is a good range of motion on most of the joints, and the tolerancing seems to be pretty decently handled.  I didn’t have any really issues with things being too tight or too loose, and he’s pretty stable on his feet.  They even seem to be somewhat mimicking Hasbro’s pinless joints, at least for the knees; the elbows still have visible pins.  In general, the styling here is definitely going by the Hasbro playbook, and that continues to the sculpt.  It’s an all-new affair, and it’s honestly really good.  There’s a respectable likeness on the face, so it’s pretty clear which version of the character it is.  Some of the features there are a little soft, but not terribly so.  The body sculpt is pretty solid itself.  The articulation is a little less worked in around the elbows and ankles, but otherwise the aesthetics are pretty well-preserved, and the level of texture detailing is quite impressive.  They had a lot of visual space to work with, and they’ve managed to fill it well.  The paint work isn’t bad. The face is certainly the best work, with printing for the eyes, which gives him the proper (un)lifelike quality.  The body is more basic, but the application is clean, and the palette fits with how the character should look.  The Monster is packed with an alternate head with his teeth exposed (presumably from when he’s learning to speak in the second film), two sets of hands in relaxed and open gesture poses, and two sets of manacles with chains of differing lengths.  It’s a nice selection of extras, and gives him enough options to make things interesting.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I’ll admit, I was a bit skeptical about these when they were announced, mostly due to Jada’s usual products not seeming to line up with this quality of line.  We all saw how the earlu Funko Legacy lines turned out.  That said, I was still cautiously curious.  After seeing them in hand, I was impressed enough to give them a try.  I don’t regret grabbing this guy in the slightest.  He’s surprisingly well-done for a first outing in this style, and is honestly the best you could hope for on a 6-inch scale Monster.  I wholeheartedly recommend trying out the line if you’re looking for good Universal Monsters toys.

Thanks to my sponsors over at All Time Toys for setting me up with this figure to review.  If you’re looking for cool toys both old and new, please check out their website.