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Universal Monsters Minimates


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Would you consider Phantom a Universal Monster?? I mean, i'm VERY prone to theater, and i consider anything PotO to be romance...and musical, i guess.

Monster, i see not. [/Yoda]

Ah, youth.

And by that you mean...?? :blink: I can see how Phantom can be considered Horror, but i don't feel the piece truly is, or at least was written to be.

I certainly agree with Baghead that anything Universal touches is suddenly a Universal Monster. Hell, even though i want them as minimates, i don't even consider The Invisible Man to be a horror; some of these, like Jekyll and Hyde and Invisible Man, i feel to be films that are meant to just explore the psyche of humans, with "horror" thrown in because people do like to be scared and the fim does need an audience to make a profit. Not many would see a movie just about the psyche (although i know i would because that sort of science fascinates me). Sure they'd all make great Minimates and i' happy the are Universal M.'s because of which, but i just can't see some of them as MONSTER movies.

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Would you consider Phantom a Universal Monster?? I mean, i'm VERY prone to theater, and i consider anything PotO to be romance...and musical, i guess.

Monster, i see not. [/Yoda]

Ah, youth.

And by that you mean...?? :blink: I can see how Phantom can be considered Horror, but i don't feel the piece truly is, or at least was written to be.

Universal's Phantom was based off of Gaston Leroux's novel which is VERY much horror. In fact, it's one of the best horror novels I've read. I'd highly recommend it.

It actually involves two men almost being roasted alive while going insane completely. Creepy stuff.

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Would you consider Phantom a Universal Monster?? I mean, i'm VERY prone to theater, and i consider anything PotO to be romance...and musical, i guess.

Monster, i see not. [/Yoda]

Ah, youth.

And by that you mean...?? :blink: I can see how Phantom can be considered Horror, but i don't feel the piece truly is, or at least was written to be.

Universal's Phantom was based off of Gaston Leroux's novel which is VERY much horror. In fact, it's one of the best horror novels I've read. I'd highly recommend it.

It actually involves two men almost being roasted alive while going insane completely. Creepy stuff.

:ohmy:

I had no idea. "Ah, youth." now justified. Wow!! Now i wanna pick this up. Very much horror.

Carry on. :P

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That's freaking awesome, I've always loved Gillman and the Creature From the Black Lagoon series. It's really cool that we're getting characters from the series like Kay Lawrence. :) I can't wait to see what other monsters they bring up, but Gillman has always been my favorite.

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  • 1 month later...

So I was checking out the latest issue of Previews and this set (plus the Wolman one) were solicited. Sooo... as it turns out, the second lighter colored Creature will be a glow-in-the-dark version. I find this strange as the Creature never possed any luminous abilities in the movie. I wonder what DST was thinking when they made that call. The GITD Creature slot could have been filled with another character from the movie. Alas, it was not meant to be.

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I would much rather have a GITD Creature because glowing in the dark is cool than have another movie character that would look like a civilian mate. I think it's a good call on DST's part.

I'm hoping this turns out to be a "good call" and not poor planning, because with 3 versions of Creature and Wolfman (there's a tank top and dress shirt version of Lon in his box set, and both monsters are getting TRU B&W variants) the lines starting off with a lot of variant fatigue already with what aren't really their biggest hitters to begin with.

Does the causal consumer:

-want the civilians? (I'll admit, while I've seen a lot of the Universal Monster films, I don't remember who any of the humans are) want the second variant that comes with the iconic version?

-fell like spending $13 for the colored iconic variant is a good deal?

-actually want a B&W variant? want it in addition to the colored iconic version?

While I'm sure these will sell, I'm just getting the feeling everything they should have learned from Ghostbusters and Rocky was not applied here, with Ghostbusters they got the big wants out of the way and then went back to the well for variants (could you imagine how badly the line would have done if it went "this year: Ray 4-pack and Winston 4-pack! Next Year: Egon 4-pack and Slimer 4-pack! Two years from now: Peter 4-pack!") and the TRU 2-packs made sure casual buyers had access to the iconic versions (ok, you *could* argue the B&W are the iconic versions, but colors going to appeal to more people) and when asked about crazy variants they want to 'take it slow' and not over stays the lines welcome... where as with Rocky, they're going to do EVERY movie as it's own set with it's own 2-packs! and because of this we NEVER got the most iconic sets (whenever I see a Rocky homage/parody he's always fighting Clubber Lang, because America LOVES Mr.T or Draco, or at the very least his opponent says "I will break you!" because America HATES commies!)...

Now I will throw in the admission here that Mattel's Ghostbuster line uses the exact opposite strategy of the minimates (non-slimed Peter and Egon 'coming at a too be determined time', Walter Peck coming before Peter, HUGE gaps in product, generally doing what MattyCollector does best) and BttF used the EXACT SAME strategy as Rocky and sold like gangbusters (which sold like ghostbusters! at least the first 2 TRU waves anyway) so it clearly depends on the license...

maybe Universal Monsters will be like BttF and yearly box sets WILL become an anticipated yearly tradition, but there's an equally likely chance (because if Universal Monsters was THAT hot a property, wouldn't Hasbro or Mattel or maybe even NECA be grabbing at it? not Jazzware, random seasonal nicknack producers, and 'random start up company' who seem to be the only ones in the Universal Monster game at the TRU level) Dracula will be the Rocky 3 of this series.

TL,DR:

Potential variant overload out the gates with the big guns a year or two away from being released doesn't sound like a great plan and could very well kill teh lien before it starts.

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Does the causal consumer:

-want the civilians? (I'll admit, while I've seen a lot of the Universal Monster films, I don't remember who any of the humans are) want the second variant that comes with the iconic version?

-fell like spending $13 for the colored iconic variant is a good deal?

-actually want a B&W variant? want it in addition to the colored iconic version?

I don't know about you guys but I'll take the B/W version OVER the colored version. Simply because, for me, it'll be easier to find. And it's a black and white minimate. That's just awesome.

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I'm spooked for the yearly wait for all of these to get released being a sales reducer, that's for sure.

I don't know how the casual customer will feel about all the civilains, though. I know them, but I've watched the movies over and over for years. Others? Beats me, honestly. It's the annual releases that make me wonder how well they'll do... and if we'll see them all.

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the fact there seems to be numerous civilian-esque mates really doesn't bother me, they're always nice for displays... plus these sets are worth the price for the monsters alone.

however, the prospect of getting just Wolfman and CftBL, then waiting a year is pretty cruddy. i've not yet decided whether i'm going to bother or not.

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while i was on lukestoystore i noticed that the Dr.Reed minimate from CFTBL has the same head from toy faire's bela lugosi dracula,AND that the wolfman in the pre order pic has scratches on his clothes,but never got them in the movie.any thoughts?

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while i was on lukestoystore i noticed that the Dr.Reed minimate from CFTBL has the same head from toy faire's bela lugosi dracula,AND that the wolfman in the pre order pic has scratches on his clothes,but never got them in the movie.any thoughts?

One thought I'm having is the hope that this means they may replace the head on Bela Lugosi's Dracula. That thing looked awful. To me at least. If they don't improve it before the release I will skip that one set in a line that I intend to get all that's released.

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while i was on lukestoystore i noticed that the Dr.Reed minimate from CFTBL has the same head from toy faire's bela lugosi dracula,AND that the wolfman in the pre order pic has scratches on his clothes,but never got them in the movie.any thoughts?

One thought I'm having is the hope that this means they may replace the head on Bela Lugosi's Dracula. That thing looked awful. To me at least. If they don't improve it before the release I will skip that one set in a line that I intend to get all that's released.

i'd always thought the head Drac had at toy fair was clearly a mistake/replacement as they'd not designed his proper one yet. No way was that his proper intentional head, the CftBL set as good as confirms that

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I've been wondering about not only the Drac head but also a replaced, more toned down hairpiece for the Gillman... or a fully sculpted face, ala the poster that was shown as a promo.

As for waiting the whole year for more sets... yeah, it's cruddy. I'll buy 'em, but I still wish they'd up that production schedule.

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