NECA Universal Monsters Phantom of the Opera Glow in the Dark NYCC 2023 Exclusive
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00:00Well it is hard to hide a face when it's glowing in the dark. Here's a look at the
00:04NECA toys Remco Universal Monsters New York Comic-Con glow-in-the-dark Phantom
00:08of the Opera.
00:17The 1925 silent movie the Phantom of the Opera was famed for its shocking
00:22appearance of the Phantom in which Lon Chaney created himself and kept secret
00:25till the premiere. Almost a century later the thriller is still critically
00:29acclaimed and was added United States National Film Registry in 1988 for its
00:33historical and cultural significance. This convention exclusive ultimate 7
00:37inch scale figure glows in the dark and comes in retro style blister card
00:41packaging. I really had no idea that New York was holding the opera this year.
00:45Just before we get a closer look though at the NECA Universal Monsters
00:48specifically the Remco Universal Monsters line this is the New York
00:51Comic-Con glow-in-the-dark Phantom of the Opera. I don't know how how I'm gonna
00:55get that all in the title. Let's first grab the tape measure and Lynn let's go
00:58ahead and see how tall the figure actually stands. Now of course this is
01:01gonna be using the regular Universal Monsters Phantom of the Opera figure but
01:04it's decked out all in the 80s inspired Remco Universal Monsters line. We'll
01:08talk more about that more in a moment. The first the figure though of the
01:11Phantom is gonna stand at 7 inches exactly or that's gonna translate to a
01:15figure that's 17 and a half centimeters tall. Oh yeah if you're not already in the know
01:20a company called Remco back in the 1980s created a line of Universal Monster
01:25figures creating six of them. NECA then took the ideas with what they already
01:29had done already so successfully with their Universal Monster figures and then
01:32released glow-in-the-dark variations of them based on that original 1980s Remco
01:37figure line. So of course the Phantom of the Opera is no real different than the
01:40original Universal Monsters Phantom of the Opera that we got from NECA other
01:44than just changing out the deco now giving the glow-in-the-dark detailing.
01:47The figure line as a whole so far they've released I believe five of the
01:51figures the only one I don't have yet. There's Frankenstein's monster, there's
01:54the mummy and also the Wolfman. The Wolfman is my favorite so far. They had
01:57released also as well a glow-in-the-dark Dracula. It didn't have the likeness of
02:01Bela Lugosi. They haven't I think as far as I know released a creature from the
02:04Black Lagoon. If they do manage to release the creature then we have all
02:07the six figures based on the original Remco line. I will say though that the
02:11figures are pretty bare-bones when it comes to accessories. Up to this point in
02:15fact none of them have come in clue with things with the figures. You could say
02:18though that if you're looking at the Phantom of the Opera he does technically
02:20include one accessory and it's one accessory that wasn't released with the
02:24original Phantom. He comes included with this cloak and it's more so a cape or
02:28slash cloak. It's basically a plastic piece that goes over top of his arms.
02:31What they've essentially done is they've made holes in the sides here and then
02:35they probably have put the cape over top of his body and then just sandwiched on
02:38his arms after the fact. It is pretty cheap. I mean when you're looking at it
02:42the best way I could probably describe this is if you've ever had yourself a
02:45binder like a notebook a trapper keeper you know basically they would be wrapped
02:49around cardboard and would use this kind of vinyl material. That's probably the
02:52best way I could describe it. It's cheap but really to be fair though the original
02:56Remco version of the Phantom of the Opera also would have something very
02:59similar to this as well. Now if you were to obviously compare this with the more
03:02realistic and I say that term very loosely the realistic version of the
03:06Phantom that we've already gotten before they went though all out giving him sort
03:09of this really cool I don't know what like crushed velvet kind of a cape that
03:14he has on the back of his body. Of course that that would just clip around his
03:17neck. This Phantom obviously has to be based on the original 80s
03:21toy line so it was a much more simplified design. Head sculpts though
03:25appear to be exactly the same and if we were to peel away the curtains
03:31you would see underneath though it's essentially using the exact same body.
03:35The only thing they have done differently though instead of the
03:38original vest having in black and of course the bowtie in black and now
03:42decked this out in red to match the original toy. The original toy I think
03:45actually had more so a tie than what we're getting here with a bowtie but
03:49it's the closest thing. I can't expect for them to do this as a spin-off from
03:53the original Universal Monsters and considering again like the Remco line is
03:56such a niche market for die-hard collectors that are gonna be only
03:59really interested to get that line. I can't imagine why they would have gone
04:02back and retooled this to give him more of a realistic tie based on the original
04:05toy. Head sculpt though as good as it is it looks just as horrific when you get
04:10this with the glow-in-the-dark. The face though still manages to pull off this
04:13off-settling green even without shining any light in front of it. I happen to
04:18have myself though a black light just off to the side here. Black light is
04:21really the honest best the easiest way to make something show like it glows in
04:24the dark without having to cut the lights right away. I will cut the lights
04:27in a second but in the meantime there was a stand-in service to be a stand-in.
04:31I'm just gonna shine my black light in front of this. That looks just
04:35creepy. It kind of looks a little like Pazuzu. The glow-in-the-dark also does
04:39feature on his hands there as well so they're using glow-in-the-dark
04:43plastic this time around. I don't think they're probably painting this. They
04:45possibly may have even painted this over a white plastic but the results
04:49though are very horrifying. I love the way that his eyes actually show. The way
04:53that they're socketed like this and so much darker it just looks like he's got
04:56these beady looking eyes when they're looking back at you. Just such a cool
05:00looking design. There is though a little bit of glow-in-the-dark if I actually
05:04just move the cape out of the way again. You can see like if I'm shining this in
05:07front of the red and I'm only sure it's only just because again like I'm using
05:10the black light here that it looks like the red is glowing. I think it's only
05:13more so just the head and just the hands that are actually the things that are
05:15glowing. All the rest of the figure is gonna stay behind and just the coloring
05:18of the paint that they start with. Now the cape itself I suppose again you
05:22probably could remove it. It would just be a case of obviously just removing and
05:25yanking the arm off on either side of his body. You probably would be able to
05:29take the cape off then but again like I think the charming aspect of this figure
05:33is that it's supposed to look like an original 80s toy. Why oh why would you
05:37want to end up end up taking the cape off? Again he's got the high collar
05:40there on the back. Flows pretty pretty good down below here as well. There are
05:44areas where actually it's been sitting inside the tray because that you can
05:47kind of see like there's an impression of his body underneath that's kind of
05:50unfortunately left a crease mark there on the back of his cape. But again like
05:54if you flip this over or open this up you can see it's using basically the
05:58exact same building blocks and body as the original phantoms. Lower half is
06:02exactly the same. The top of his torso is the same and as we're already
06:05established at least one of his heads are exactly the same. Now for the
06:09articulation on this guy it's gonna be also the same as the original one. So
06:13running through that right now before we cut over to cutting off the lights.
06:16Head's gonna be on a ball joint. Yes so rotates back and forth. You can have
06:20the head looking up and looking down and again you got that rock there as well.
06:24As for the arms now the arms come out they're not quite gonna be able to
06:28successfully pull off 90 degrees. This side does. This side seems hung up. I
06:32don't really know why. I don't want to force it because if I force it and it
06:36ends up not wanting to be forced it's gonna snap and then I'm gonna go I'm
06:41probably not gonna do that but I'm gonna be pretty upset. I'm gonna be pretty
06:44upset. The arms rotate back and forth. There's also a hinge there as well. Hands
06:48also rotate also all the way around. There's no swappable hands. There's no
06:51swappable alternate face sculpt and certainly again there's no accessories.
06:54It's one of those lines as well like if you really get the chance to pick up
06:57more than one of these get one to open up and then keep one in the packaging
07:01because the packaging again is based on the original 80s Remco designs. If we
07:05again keep wanting to open up the cape here. If we look at the cape underneath
07:09at least you can rotate the torso. It's on a ball joint and then the legs. The
07:13legs do split out. They're on what seems to be ball joints on the insides. They're
07:16the top of the thigh. You can bring of course the legs forward. You can also
07:20bring them back. It's a swivel at the top of the thigh. Single hinge on the knee
07:23that allows the lower leg to rotate and of course you got your ankle rocker back
07:27and forth this way and an ankle rocker this way as well. Not to mention as well
07:30the figure does have pegs on the undersides of his feet. That is one thing
07:33that's retained from the original release of Family Opera but what a nice
07:36release this guy is. The only time I've actually seen the Dracula and again it's
07:41not gonna have the likeness of Bela Lugosi so I think it's one of the
07:44better ones to pick up because again kind of like the Wolfman it's having a
07:48completely unique head sculpt to it and speaking of which of course we can bring
07:51in the other Remco figures that we've looked at so far. The one that is really
07:54the closest one to the most well the original release I would say is the
07:57Mummy just because again like while they all really do again glow in the dark
08:01Mummy I think does it only slightly suggesting it. Of course you got the
08:05Phantom of the Opera glowing in the dark, the Frankenstein's monster of course
08:08glows in the dark and the Wolfman my favorite does also glow in the dark
08:12there as well. You know the thing about it though is that still they have I
08:15think to release the creature from the Black Lagoon and then of course we can
08:18all now say we've got all six figures of the Remco line. I'm really glad that
08:22NECA branched off to this. Don't worry I haven't forgot we're gonna cut the
08:24lights in a second but I am really that glad though that NECA did release these.
08:28Again based on the original Remco line I had said this when we looked at these
08:32before I feel like I had picked up a couple of these when I was a little kid
08:36I had no idea what the toy line was I found them probably at a garage sale or
08:39a yard sale and I think in fact I probably remember it was probably the
08:43Wolfman and it may have even been Dracula. I picked them up I paid probably
08:46next to nothing for them and I had in my collection for a while and then
08:49probably as a kid I just thought they were a little scary so I end up giving
08:51them away. If it wasn't for the fact that they were going so for such crazy
08:55stupid money I probably would be more interested to go back and try to collect
08:58those again because I kind of thought for what they were as charming and as
09:01simplified as they may have been. Remco kind of did do some pretty cool looking
09:05Universal Monster figures back then of course bringing in the Universal
09:08Monsters. I know again it kind of seems like we're wrapping up shop right now.
09:11We are gonna be cutting out the lights but I'm gonna be cutting out the lights
09:14to send you guys out and go get your jackets and be on your merry little way.
09:17We're gonna cut the lights so you guys can see what this guy goes in the dark
09:20but in the meantime though I like the look of this guy. It's a shame though
09:23that he had to be a New York Comic Con release because if not for that this guy
09:26would be probably a little bit more readily available. Because of the
09:29scarcity of this guy being an exclusive especially a convention exclusive means
09:34the prices for this guy have skyrocketed ever since. No I didn't. I didn't forget.
09:39So we've cut the lights in the studio just before I know everyone's kind of
09:42grabbing their jackets and making their way out. Don't go just yet. You may not be
09:45able to see anything just yet though not until I of course I take myself my
09:48black light. Oh boy isn't that just terrifying. Taking a little bit of time
09:53of course the longer you have this absorbing the lamp light or in this case
09:57the black light the better the glow effect will be. I'll just move this out
10:00of the way and again I'll just move it back in there as well and that works as
10:06well for I would have said again like the tie and perhaps the vest but it only
10:10seems to glow only simply just because I got the black light shining on it. It
10:13certainly works though a lot better on the hands. It certainly looks as scary as
10:18it may be. It works certainly a lot better on the face as well. So while New
10:21York Comic-Con got gifted with the glow-in-the-dark version of the Phantom
10:24the Opera, San Diego Comic-Con though for 2024 is getting a neck of glow-in-the-dark
10:28Nosferatu. Funny though enough I don't think Nosferatu was part of the
10:32original lineup that we got from Renko in the 80s but of course always a
10:35welcomed addition Universal Monsters line. Unfortunately though the prices of
10:39these have really skyrocketed. The Phantoms are probably sitting at around
10:43130 to 140 depending on where you're finding them over on eBay. I just
10:47happened though to luck out and find this guy over on the Facebook group and
10:50somebody was selling for a decent price. I still want to get my hands though on
10:54the Dracula and hopefully he's not gonna be going through the roof when it comes
10:57to the price that he's being asked for right now and holding out hope and at
11:01least we can finish off the Renko lineup with getting a glow-in-the-dark
11:04creature from the Black Lagoon. Have you guys been collecting any of these
11:07Renko inspired 1980s glow-in-the-dark releases from NECA and if you have let
11:12me know down below in the comment section which ones you guys got and were
11:15you lucky enough as well to get the 2024 San Diego Comic-Con exclusive
11:19Nosferatu. Like again I'd like to get my hands on that one I just don't want to
11:23get my hands on it and pay through the roof to grab one. If you guys did enjoy
11:26this video though why not hit it like. If you guys want to stick around for more
11:29though just an FYI though we are gonna be looking at some more Universal
11:32Monsters stuff courtesy of the folks over at NECA Toys. If that's the kind of
11:35bread and butter that you like to come back to this channel for there's gonna
11:38be plenty of bread and butter coming your way all this week so hit the
11:41subscribe, turn on the bell, come back yeah yeah come back please. As always
11:45guys thanks for watching see you guys next time.