The discussion of the Diamond Retro Cloth Frankenstein got me thinking about my favorite Frankie figures. I guess it would be the AHI Frank with the palms facing down. But what would the ultimate Frankenstein action figure look like? Of course it would have an authentic actor likeness (Karloff or Strange), arms and hands that matched the actor's portrayal, a black jacket, black or dark grey pants, a body with construction and articulation capable of replicating the actor's signature poses. Though I like campiness in my monster toys, there is one thing this "ultimate" Frankie would not have—green skin.
Even the really cool Frankie toys by AHI and Sideshow have green skin. Almost all Frank toys have green skin, or at least green faces. I like green faces on AHIs and Lincolns. But I wish the Sideshow Frankies had off-white or yellowish, pale, deathly skin.
The green face was in effect all the way back to the time of the Marx Frankenstein robot. Some Frankenstein Halloween masks had green faces, but a few were yellow. The low-end Don Post masks ranged in color from green to yellowish. The calendar masks were, I think, pale flesh color. The Topstone rubber Four-Bolt Frank mask was green. The Aurora kits could be painted any color you chose, but the James Bama box art depicted a yellow-green monster.
The green-faced Frank probably originated in tinted lobby cards from the 30s and 40s, then carried over to RealArt re-release movie posters in the 50s. I know the original Jack Pierce makeup was green, but that was so that it would photograph deathly grey.
How many mass-produced action figures have given us a non-green Frank? The AHI figures, Bend 'Ems, jigglers and water pistol were green. The Lincoln Frank was green. The 9" Remco was white, but that was because it was glow in the dark. The Tomland 8" was also a glow figure. In the last 20 years, pretty much every Frankenstein figure has been green.
There have been some exceptions. The Mego Frankenstein was not green, nor did its face glow in the dark. The Remco mini-monster glow and non-glow Frank had grey skin. The Tomland mini-monster Frank had tan skin. The Imperial Frankenstein figure, and other Imperial Frank toys from that era, had pale yellowish skin.
Just as I'm not counting toys cast in glow plastic, I'm not counting Silver Screen or translucent variations. And I'm not counting statues or porcelain dolls.
Given all that, there is only one articulated children's toy I can think of that represents a serious take on the Universal Frankenstein, is not glow or silver screen, and does not have a green face. That toy is the Remco non-glow mini-monster Frankenstein.
Is there another?
Really interesting and informed post. Of course like all classic monster fans, I am aware that Frankenstein's monster was not technically supposed to have green skin, and was only painted that way to make him photograph as pale dead gray on black-and-white film...
But here's the thing, when watching a black and white movie, my brain sort of subliminally "fills in" whatever colors it seems like things should be. And, I suppose, having grown up seeing Frankenstein's Monster almost always depicted as green-skinned in almost all popular licensed merch - from toys to model kits to Halloween masks and decorations - the Monster will always have nice, pale, rotting sea-green skin in my mind, whether it was "meant to be" that way or not. ...Just me I guess.
And so, based on that, I must say, my all-time favorite Frankenstein figure is definitely the Sideshow 12" Boris Karloff "Son of Frankenstein" figure.
As nice as the classic "original film" Sideshow 12" Frankenstein figure was - it was a bit too narrow-shouldered and scrawny in my opinion. The "Son of Frankenstein" figure solves this problem by having that big, wonderful, padded fur vest, which "bulks him up" all over and really broadens his shoulders - generally making him look, proportionally, much more accurate to the character's appearance in the film. And by the way, the Karloff head-sculpt on that figure is fantastic. So, for me - the Sideshow 12" SOF figure the finest Frankenstein figure ever.
Sorry this doesn't answer your question directly.
I agree the sickly-yellow-white skinned Remco Frankenstein 8" figure and the little gray-skinned 3.5" inch action figure look great, too.
Personally I love the look of ALL the Remco classic monster figures.
They were really great, and very simple - but certainly the closest to "movie accurate" you could get when I was a monster-collecting kid in the 1980's.
-B
Lot of good info and food for thought. I can not think of another one either.
>Frankenstein's monster was not technically supposed to have green skin, and was only painted that way to make him photograph as pale dead gray on black-and-white film...<
The makeup was actually more grey-blue, Bryan.
(http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_TFBFHx0gM8k/SxFmDvT6YLI/AAAAAAAADzM/R4At6-ECKIo/s1600/karloffpiercecolor.jpg)
Best,
-Craig
^I like that color right there. It says "dead" and still is otherworldly enough to keep it interesting. A fleshy Frankie just looks wrong to me. Now a yellowish one isn't bad, but a pale green/gray with a hint of blue is what I feel he should really look like.
Chris
I'm guessing we can thank Universal's marketing and licensing departments for the green-skinned Franks. Lobby cards, posters, etc, depicted him with green skin, all the way back to the Bela Lugosi poster!
(http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/7/7b/1931_lugosi_frankenstein.jpg)
But then, just as many early posters depicted the Monster with natural skin tones.
(http://www.staticage.net/deaddonkey/frankenstein%281931%291xs.jpg)
(http://wac.450f.edgecastcdn.net/80450F/1037theloon.com/files/2012/10/Frankenstein1931.jpg?zc=1&s=0&a=t&q=89&w=557)
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Last poster he appears to have to have just thrown a slider! O0
Quote from: jimm on October 09, 2013, 02:25:39 PM
Last poster he appears to have to have just thrown a slider! O0
Nice one. ;D ;D
Quote from: jimm on October 09, 2013, 02:25:39 PM
Last poster he appears to have to have just thrown a slider! O0
Now, that's a waste of food!
(http://www.kitchenproject.com/history/Sliders/white-castle-slyders.jpg)
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Quote from: Count_Zirock on October 09, 2013, 03:27:05 PM
Now, that's a waste of food!
(http://www.kitchenproject.com/history/Sliders/white-castle-slyders.jpg)
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Nope. I could eat all those, yummy, tasty sliders.
But Frank's throwing them at people, apparently!
Quote from: Count_Zirock on October 09, 2013, 01:09:21 PM(http://wac.450f.edgecastcdn.net/80450F/1037theloon.com/files/2012/10/Frankenstein1931.jpg?zc=1&s=0&a=t&q=89&w=557)
Maybe they upset his tummy, and that's why his skin turned green?
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Frankenstein's monster, in any color is fine by me. One of my tattoos depicts his face as being, blue. An ideas I got from
one of my Frankenstein posters.
Of all the colors I have seen Frankie depicted, the only one I think is awful is when he looks healthy flesh tone. Sickly fleshtone is palatable. But George Hamilton tan flesh just doesnt work. Yes---I have seen peopel paint kits this way. Always leaves me wondering. :angel:
Quote from: Earth 2 Chris on October 09, 2013, 12:02:33 PM
^I like that color right there. It says "dead" and still is otherworldly enough to keep it interesting. A fleshy Frankie just looks wrong to me. Now a yellowish one isn't bad, but a pale green/gray with a hint of blue is what I feel he should really look like.
Chris
I agree with this.
Quote from: Wich2 on October 09, 2013, 10:12:35 AM
(http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_TFBFHx0gM8k/SxFmDvT6YLI/AAAAAAAADzM/R4At6-ECKIo/s1600/karloffpiercecolor.jpg)
This is perfect, imo. But, I like the classic Remco gray as well.
I am just kind of sick of seeing the "Toy Island" shade of green. Anything that deviates from that is fine with me. Dark green, blue-green, traditional green... It's all good, so long as it isn't the shade of the Toy Island figure or the Gemmy life-size. I had to repaint that. It came out darker than I had wanted, but dark actually kind of works.
I thought the Monster Nik Franks had a nice look (especially the light blue and white ones).
I recall building the original Aurora Frank back in the day. The instructions stated that the skin should be painted "flat green". I baulked at that and painted his skin white, with a hint of red blood at one corner of the mouth and on his scars. Then I allowed a dusty patina to accumulate over time. Fairly artistic for a nine year-old if I do say so myself. :D
And, yea, I like the Sideshow "Son of..." figure quite a lot. The premium format figure was a missed opportunity. I still like it, but it doesn't have the Karloff slouch.
A few I've seen some slouch a little more than others. Each quarter scale varied in paint app and execution from figure to figure. It was hard to know what you were getting. I worked at a store that carried more than one at a time and got to look through all of them to make sure they weren't defective.
Quote from: jimm on October 09, 2013, 02:25:39 PM
Last poster he appears to have to have just thrown a slider! O0
A southpaw no less! He would make quite an imposing figure on the mound.
JP
Or coming home -
(http://media-cache-ec0.pinimg.com/736x/95/06/ee/9506eec3979c4b8f5c6e338e03cf4a34.jpg)
(http://www.easybranches.us/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/herman-munster-baseball-650x447.png)