Kickstarter-Funded Toys Come To Life...
There are some pretty cool monsters lurking in the shadows of the modern world, kept alive through stories and folklore. These are creatures like the Slenderman, Sasquatch, Chupacabra, and others. And while these are interesting legends with fanciful and horrific appearances, not a lot of them have made their way into toy lines. That’s changing lately, and one of the leaders in the field of cryptozoological toys is Richard Broadwater, the mastermind behind Nevermore Toys (nevermoretoys.com) and Legendary Monsters (and designer of many toy lines and video games).
Launched on Kickstarter last year (kickstarter.com/projects/1336904045/legendary-monsters-0), the Legendary Monsters campaign sought to bring four of these creatures to plastic in fully painted and articulated figures, and thanks to over 220 backers pledging over $16,000 they are becoming a reality. The lineup of this first series included the Jersey Devil, Mothman, Chupacabra, and Missouri Monster, which I recently received.
The Missouri Monster comes in a wooden crate-style package that looks pretty darn good. On the front panel is artwork of the creature, with a lineup of all four from this series on one side. The back panel has the real life history of the Missouri Monster legend and a link sending you to the work in progress website for Nevermore Toys. Inside, the figure is attached by twist ties to a simple cardboard insert. As part of a way to expand interest in the line beyond just toy collectors, Broadwater also made the Legendary Monsters into a game; each figure comes with a high quality card so you can fight other creatures.
I will admit that I was hesitant about the quality of a toy created through Kickstarter, but I’m very happy with the Missouri Monster. It stands at a respectable 5 ½ inches tall and has a really cool look to it, kinda Bigfoot-esque but with a lean build, long limbs, and a very distinctive neck-less head.
The sculpt is solid, basically consisting of an allover fur texture with plenty of variations in length and thickness on different body parts. I especially like the long, feathered areas around the hands and feet, and the face, despite being mostly a mass of hair, has lots of character. The Missouri Monster is almost entirely a dark grayish color (that ain’t so easy to photograph) with some subtle shading, and nice hand painted details include its red eyes and blood splatter on its chest.
The figure has surprisingly good articulation as well, featuring ball-jointed shoulders plus joints at the elbows, hips, knees, and ankles. Thanks to big, heavy feet the Monster is very stable and can hold poses quite well. The only real issue I had is that on mine the shoulder joints are a bit loose, but as you can see from the photos it’s still poseable and can most likely be fixed with home remedies.
If you’re a fan of cryptids or monster figures and you missed out on the Legendary Monsters Kickstarter, you should probably give these guys a look. As very limited run, hand painted figures they’re not cheap at $25, but I’m really digging my “Momo.” It has a great look and nice articulation, and it nicely towers over figures in 3 ¾ scale or blends in with 5 inchers. I can’t wait for my Jersey Devil, and I’ll be watching future Nevermore Toys releases with great interest.
Review and Photos by Scott Rubin
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