Debuting in 1954’s Creature
from the Black Lagoon and subsequently showing up in a number of sequels, The Munsters and The Monster Squad, Gillman has inspired an absolute treasure trove
of merchandise in the decades that have followed his debut. I've looked at a
couple of items on this blog, but that’s not even scratching the surface of what’s
available.
Naturally when Funko announced that Universal Monsters POPs
were on the way, I had high expectations – but I made sure I tempered them. As
I've noted numerous times, paint has consistently been one of Funko’s weak
points, and I naturally had concerns about whether the same issues would plague
them for this series too.
Fortunately, I didn't
need to have these fears – Gillman is easily the best painted POP I own. And
while that may sound like damning it with faint praise, I should clarify and
say that it actually has very good paint on its own merits. This is even more
important when you consider that he is fairly uniform in his colour scheme –
his stomach is slightly lighter-coloured, and his tongue is red, but they’re
the sole distinguishing features in what is otherwise a sea of khaki-esque
green. Unlike Groot, who suffered from just being too plain, Gillman has had
key areas picked out with clever use of black overspray, adding some nice
subtle shading which really accentuates the nicely sculpted details on the
figure. Funko has obviously given this guy the deluxe treatment, though I
haven’t looked closely enough at the others in the range to confirm whether all
his monster buddies have been treated with the same level of quality.
Though I’m biased because of my pre-existing love for the
character, Gillman has quickly become one of my favourite POPs. He comes highly
recommended to Universal fans – now to start tracking down the rest of the
team!
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