POP! Television – Elvira (Mummy)

Elvira has long been a merchandising powerhouse, and I can only assume that her recent partnership with Funko has been as a successful one. Within the space of a year or so we’ve had two POPs, a Rock Candy figure and a Pint-Size Hero. Today, we look at the second of those POPs – Elvira in her Mummy costume.

While Elvira’s best-known look is the split black dress, she’s actually dabbled with a number of looks over the years. You can find them on Google Image search, though I would not suggest doing so on your work computer.

This particular POP, however, is drawn from this image, which is also replicated on the back of the box. I’m not sure if the pic was originally taken for that Fangoria issue, or it’s an older one that was recycled. There are probably more notable secondary costumes Funko could have gone with, but it works well enough.  

Paint is nicely executed for her makeup – but make sure you check her lips. The control art clearly shows that she’s got white “shine” on her lips, but if the tampo isn’t aligned properly then it just makes her look like she has wonky teeth.  

The paint on the body is a little sketchier. The lines on mine are mostly clean and well executed, but the hands and feet are a little sloppy. Additionally, I think the bandages themselves could probably do with a bit of a wash to bring out some more detail.

As well as the regular release, there’s a chase version of this figure, packed at a 1:6 ratio. It’s the same sculpt, but her bandages glow in the dark. Ideally I would’ve got that one – but it’s really the luck of the draw with chases, isn’t it?

Mummy Elvira is a solid POP, but non-essential for the more casual fan. It’s a good look, but not quite as classic as the black dress. Still, it’s good to see a bit more Elvira stuff out and about on the shelves. As a relatively recent fan, I missed the “golden age” of her fame, so it’s nice to see her enjoying a bit of a renaissance.  

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POP! Television: Elvira, Mistress of the Dark

Back in October last year, I reviewed the Mystery Mini version of Elvira; astute readers will notice that there is a lot of overlap between this review and that one. But please feel free to read on nonetheless, and appreciate all the subtle differences.

Horror hosts aren’t really a thing over here in Australia, but it seems there was a time where every local TV station in the USA had one of their own. Typically serving as campy gateway figures to introduce audiences to crappy old horror and sci-fi films, in many cases they’re more entertaining than the actual films they were hosting. A handful went on to become international celebrities, like Vampira – though to be fair, a lot of that really had to do with her work with Ed Wood.

But probably the best-known to horror fans the world over is the subject of today’s review – Elvira, Mistress of the Dark. Portrayed by Cassandra Peterson, I’m not actually sure that she’s ever been broadcast on Australian TV, but a couple of YouTube videos confirmed pretty much what I expected – silly comments about the films being shown, bad puns and double entendres. But she does it with more style and panache than many of her contemporaries, and Cassandra Peterson has turned herself into a global brand as a result.

Typically, I can appreciate Mystery Minis and POPs as separate entities; they’re both striving for different aesthetics and they should be treated as such. But sometimes one really outshines the other, and in this case I think the Mystery Mini is substantially better. Though the POP is not bad, it suffers by comparison; the large head coupled with the large hair is a little too much, and the paint on small details like her dagger and nails are a bit sloppy. In her favour is that they’ve done a nice paint job on her face; it captures the pale skintone very nicely.

Nonetheless, if you’re a horror POP collector, she’s still a great addition to the shelf. There’s no doubt that Elvira is a horror icon, and considering how many horror-related POPS I own, I figure they need a good host to accompany them.    

Funko Mystery Minis Horror Classics Series 3: Elvira

Horror hosts aren’t really a thing over here in Australia, but it seems there was a time where every local TV station in the USA had one of their own. Typically serving as campy gateway figures to introduce audiences to crappy old horror and sci-fi films, in many cases they’re more entertaining than the actual films they were hosting. A handful went on to become international celebrities, like Vampira – though to be fair, a lot of that really had to do with her work with Ed Wood. 

But probably the best-known to horror fans the world over is the subject of today’s review – Elvira, Mistress of the Dark. Until I sat down to write this review I’d never watched any of her stuff, but I was familiar with her by reputation. But a couple of YouTube videos confirmed pretty much what I expected – silly comments about the films being shown, bad puns and double entendres. But she does it with more style and panache than many of her host contemporaries; I do plan to check her film, Elvira: Mistress of the Dark, out at some point.

Elvira has made the transition to Mystery Mini in a much better form than Slimer. With her signature beehive, high-cut dress and risqué top, there’s no doubt about who this is. They’ve even managed to tatter her sleeves in the sculpt! Additionally, little touches like the detailed eye makeup and fingernails clearly demonstrate that Funko is quite capable of doing good paintwork – it’s just a shame that more of it doesn’t find its way to their POPs.  

Speaking of which, Elvira does have a POP on the way soon too; I’m torn as to whether it will make 

its way into my collection as yet, but it does look well-executed.

Overall, I have no real complaints about Elvira as a figure. My only issue with her lies in her rarity, or lack thereof. She’s a 1/6 figure, which means there’s two of her in each case. I think this is a little excessive, and it’s a bummer that as a result some other figures that might otherwise have been 1/12 – Imhotep, for instance – have been pushed to 1/24. But Funko’s rarity works in mysterious ways; hopefully there will be a better breakdown for series 4.  

Lego Minifigures Series 14: Monsters (Part 4)

Lego Minifigures Series 14: Monsters (Part 4)

Here we are with the final instalment of this series – I actually completed my set a number of weeks ago, but time constraints enforced by starting a new job and a couple of weekends away from home have meant I’ve been, well,much slacker in putting this review online than I would have liked to have been. Never mind though – here we are now!

Spider Lady

A nice riff on Elvira and to some degree the Bride of Frankenstein, the Spider Lady also serves as a great partner for the Vampire, who appeared all the way back in Series 2!

At initial glance, she looks fairly simplistic in her design – beehive hairdo, spider-web dress and a red spider accessory. But there are a couple of little details that elevate her above your average Halloween costume. One is a little spiderweb printed on her hairpiece, which (intentionally or not) is a nice little reference to an old urban legend about beehive hairdos. She’s not my favourite figure from the series, but she’s a fun addition to the overall horror theme.

Square Foot

It’s been two years since we saw this mould – it was originally introduced as the Yeti’s head back in Series 11. Not a huge surprise that we saw it reused in this form, but it’s certainly welcome. It’s a really nice touch that he comes with a camera, given the prevalence of alleged Bigfoot/Sasquatch photos out there – his official bio over at Lego.com even makes reference to his keen amateur photographic endeavours.      

Given the iconic status that Bigfoot has in the cryptid world and wider popular culture, it was only a matter of time till we got a Lego take on him. My only real disappointment was that the paint on his teeth is a little bit sloppy. The Yeti had similar issues, so I suppose it’s not that surprising.

Banshee

What do you think of when you think of Ireland? I’d be willing to bet that leprechauns rank fairly highly. But there’s another Irish creature of folklore that’s arguably as famous – the banshee. Rendered in Lego form, she’s pretty endearing, but the banshee actually has a pretty grim history. In traditional Irish folklore, the wailing, screeching or singing of a banshee was typically seen as an omen of death. Of course, Lego didn’t go that route – she’s described as being more of an omen of inconvenience or minor accidents in her official bio.

   

Like the Specter, she uses the smoke waft/spirit piece for her legs. Her top half is dressed in a ragged peasant blouse. Her hair is also cast in translucent plastic, which adds nicely to the overall ghostly effect – however, I think they should have gone all out and simply cast her in entirely translucent plastic. It would have looked really cool, and elevated her from being fun and entertaining to being great.   

Monster Scientist

Mad scientists are a staple of the horror genre, with my personal favourite probably being the guy from Dr Butcher, M.D. aka Zombie Holocaust – a movie which lacks a lot in plot (famously lifting most of it, including actors and footage, from Zombie Flesh Eaters) but makes up for it in enthusiasm and genuinely frightening/disgusting scenes.

For some strange reason Lego have decided to be a little more restrained in their depiction of mad scientists, so they’ve given us the creator of the Fly Monster. The only real indication of this is the fly printed on the Erlenmeyer flask he’s holding, but that’s good enough for me. He’s also spilt a bunch of the purple fluid on himself, so he’s obviously not very careful. I hope that’s thick protective gear he’s wearing.

With his headpiece on, this was initially my least favourite figure from the series. He does have a full face printed underneath there, but he doesn’t look particularly sinister or zany – more like someone’s grandpa. But it has grown on me more than I expected; I suppose Lego will probably reuse the piece for a future Ultra Agents set, where it seems that anything goes.

And thus we wrap Lego Minifigures Series 14: Monsters. As always, it has been a tremendous pleasure – Lego has really been on the up-and-up with these figures. I can’t wait to see what they do for Series 15, which will presumably be launching early 2016. Stick around on the LBC, as we will have more reviews coming up shortly.