Folks, I’m dog-tired. I just got off a bone-crushing eleven-day work week and now I have to reboot my sleep so I can pull a ten-hour overnight tomorrow. I was going to bag updates for today and tomorrow, but then I got me a big box of Cthulhu goodness from Warpo Toys. Yes, that’s right, this is the big one. Their Grand Opus. The 12-inch Cthulhu figure! And so, I decided to fight the exhaustion and push through with a compromise. Today I’m going to take a quick look at the packaging for this beast of a figure and tomorrow, when I’m more rested, I’ll open it up and check out the toy itself. And that seems only fair, because just like Warpo’s 3 3/4″ Legends of Cthulhu figures, the packaging on this one is so damn good, it deserves its own feature. But first… surely you’ve heard of Warpo Toys, right?

If not, then please do take a moment to read my gushing review of the figures from their Legends of Cthulhu Kickstarter. These folks at Warpo not only know how to make great figures, but they know how to present them to us wrapped in 100% genuine retro goodness. I know what you’re saying, “But Dave, everybody is doing retro figures these days.” Piffle! These are the real deal, lovingly designed and crafted by people who were there. People who sat amidst a pile of crumpled wrapping paper on an 80’s Christmas morning and knew what it was like to get the real toys. While their successful Kickstarter did reach some of the stretch goals, it didn’t quite make it to THE stretch goal, which was this 12-inch tall version of Cthulhu, The Great Old One himself. Soon after, however, they promised they would still somehow get that figure into the hands of us collectors and now they’ve made good on their word. I couldn’t be happier! Check it out…

This box is a work of art and that’s not just me spraying hyperbole. If you were a kid of the 80’s and you got your hands on a big toy then you will instantly recognize this box. It’s made of the same chunky cardboard stock with a full color illustration pasted to the front and line drawings on the other panels. Holding this giant box in hand brought me back to countless Christmas mornings when I would hold aloft a new Kenner Star Wars playset or the huge Kraken figure from Mattel’s old Clash of the Titans line. This box isn’t so much a box, but a replica of 80’s style toy packaging. And don’t even get me started about the gorgeous artwork on the front. The sumptuous painting matches the style of single carded figures perfectly. You even get the little picture-in-picture insert of the toy itself showing how big it is compared to the regular 3 3/4″ Cthulhu.

The left and right side panels each feature the same line drawings of the original four figure wave and invites you to Collect Them All! Wait, no. It isn’t an invitation. It’s a demand! The Elder God demands that you buy these action figures! (No, really, go buy them. They’re back in stock at a lot of e-tailers and well worth the money. I’m thinking of picking up a second set to keep carded.) I also love the wrap around border encompassing the header, “The Exciting Universe of H.P. Lovecraft.” The style here just nails it beautifully.

Lastly, the back panel continues more of the line art style that was common for these big boxed toys in the 80’s. This is amazing stuff! Look at that innocent kid with the bowl cut deciding the fate of The Professor, nay of THE ENTIRE EARTH! I’d like to think that he carries Cthulhu around all day with him like a My Buddy doll. For pete-sakes if this figure was around when I was a kid, that’s what I’d be doing. We’d be inseparable. A huge part of me, as tired as I am, wants to bust this big boy out right now, but I know I’ll enjoy it more if I do it tomorrow and that’s when I’ll be back to open him up and unleash him upon my collection. But it’s worthwhile to note just how happy I am with this thing and I haven’t even gotten past the box yet. It’s that good! And that’s why I have to extend my sincerest thanks to the team at Warpo for getting this thing out there for collectors like me to buy.