I’ve been a casual collector of NECA’s Universal Monsters series, picking them up here and there, but not really going out of my way to find them. So far, I’ve checked out Dracula, Frankenstein’s Monster, The Wolfman, and The Mummy. I also picked up The Gillman and Frankenstein’s operating table, but I haven’t gotten around to checking them out here yet. Well, a little while back NECA put up a new version of Frankenstein’s Monster from The Bride of Frankenstein in a Deluxe Set with his dungeon chair and I couldn’t resist, so I preordered it. It came in last week, and while I really should wait a couple of months for Halloween, I’m just too anxious to check it out. Besides, the Pumpkin Spice is already flowing at all the stores and coffee shops by me, and the Spirit Halloweens will be popping up before you know it. So, let’s go!

I have yet to pick up NECA’s Bride of Frankenstein figure, but I touched on my feelings for this film when I looked at Jada’s Bride. It’s a delightfully weird film, with it’s tiny home-grown jar people, Millie playing for goofs, The Monster getting all the screen time, and the titular Bride not showing up until the last five minutes. The set I’m checking out today recreates the scene where The Monster was captured, locked away in a dungeon, and chained to a chair, which held him for about two minutes before he broke out. It comes in a fully enclosed box with some nice shots on the front and back panels, and oddly enough a hang tag. The shots on the front are all in Black & White, which could be confusing, as the toys inside are colored, but the pictures on the back confirm that. Don’t forget, NECA has been doing B&W versions of these figures, but I doubt they’ll do it for something this extravagant. Inside you get the figure and the chair, as well as extra heads and accessories. The package is collector friendly, but you do have to attach the chair to the base, and based on the deafening snap I heard when they locked together, they are definitely not made to come apart again. So it ain’t likely to go back into the box for storage. Let’s start with The Monster!

The Monster was a little worse for wear for the this film and the new figure reflects that by resculpting some parts from the original figure. The body is mostly the same, but the jacket and arms have been replaced with the sleeves torn, the jacket unbuttoned, and the left lapel on the jacket hanging off. The exposed flesh on his arms also looks more emaciated and rotted. Finally, you get some added weathering to the jacket to resemble mud splatter and soiling. I don’t know if it’s correct to call this a variant, as he’s from a completely different movie, but I think the figures are different enough to warrant having both on display, and we haven’t even gotten to the heads yet!

The three heads are completely new sculpts to reflect the considerable changes to the makeup for The Bride. I love this look, because it’s generally a lot creepier. The hair is thinned out to better show the staples along the scalp line that are knitting together his flesh. The facial features are more emaciated and rotten and he has some burn scarring on the right side of his face. The heads depict a somewhat neutral expression, a happy expression, and a slight growly expression. They’re all good, but I think that final one is some of NECA’s best work. Not only did they nail the expression, but the detail in the teeth and the creases to the face are superb.

And here’s a quick comparison shot of Monsters from the original film and this one from The Bride. As you can see, there’s quite a lot of changes here, despite being on the same basic body. To me, the original will always be more iconic, but I like the make up on weathered suit look a tad more.

You get three accessories, all of which being food items, and a couple of extra hands to help him hold them. Included is a half loaf of bread, a bowl of peasant broth, and a mug with some wine dribbling down the side. One of the extra hands is designed perfectly for holding the mug by threading two fingers through the handle, while the other is good for cradling the bowl or bread.

A third hand has a cigar sculpted into it, which is a nice touch, even if the elbow joints can’t really bend enough to bring it close to his face. Now, let’s check out the chair!

The chair was an interesting choice on NECA’s part, since it’s featured so briefly in the film, and yet it makes for an iconic way to display the figure. It’s fashioned to look like a stone seat with a wooden back sitting on a stone pedestal. NECA did a bang up job with the detail, making both the stone blocks and the woodgrain texture look extremely realistic and I was really happy to see that the back of the chair is finished and highly detailed as well, rather than just left as hollow plastic. The shoulder braces have a pair of leather straps, cast in soft plastic with chains coming off of them, there’s a cross chain running between them with a large padlock, and a set of manacles on chains, which plug into the floor with large rings. All the chains are plastic, but they look good and feel pretty sturdy.

The Monster fits perfectly into the chair and the manacles can be placed on his wrists by popping the hands off and then on again. This set up looks absolutely fantastic on display and it makes me nostalgic for those old Aurora model kits that I used to beg my parents for, but never quite had the skills to make them look good when they were finished!

I’m not sure how many collectors who have the first Frankenstein Monster release will consider this set a must-have, but you are getting a lot of new stuff here. This set is a NECA store exclusive and retails at $60, so it doesn’t look like this one will be turning up on the Big Box shelves. And while it’s obviously started shipping the status on NECA’s site has gone back to Preorder, so it is still available, but if you buy it now you may be waiting for another batch. It’s great to see NECA finding new ways to keep the Universal Monster line alive and I’m very glad I dropped a preorder on this one. I suppose, I’ll also have to crack down and find me The Bride figure as well so I can display her beside this version of The Monster! Maybe that will be a good one to save for closer to Halloween, along with The Gillman and Frankenstein’s operating table.