Monday, January 29, 2007

[Rumble Monsters] Attack of the Deranged Mutant Killer Monster Snow Goons

It took me three tries to get this title right. Bill Watterson and my dog-eared copy of AOTDMKMSG are ashamed of me.

So let's dispense with the chit chat. This is a review of Rumble Monster's Snow Damnedron and Pharaos.


Rumble Monsters is another one of a myriad of small Japanese companies that produce high-end vinyl figures. Many of their works are collaborations with other artists/groups, such as Erostika, Rockin' Jelly Bean, and the smorkin' Frank Kozik. Most recently, they decided to do a seasonal series. Like the good addict that I am, I snapped up the Christmas releases immediately.

Beats the hell out of me where RM picked up these designs. For the most part, RM has two basic sculpts (well, three, if you count the headcrab baby Pharaos; four, if you count the Pharaos and Pharaon separately), and they couldn't be more different. The Damnedron (actually pronounced Damn-dron) is a gloppy Hedorah-esque creature; Pharaos/Pharaon is a bulky Stygian kaiju-thing.


Some people have commented on the similarity of the vinyl color to another sticky white substance. Yep, coconut syrup for sho'.


One of the weird QC issues showed up with the Pharaos. Notice all the little bubbly things embedded in the vinyl? Apparently, those are not supposed to be there. When I first opened this guy up, I was all, "Oh damn! That's genius- they used the bubbles to make it look like SNOW!" And then I found out that some people had received the Pharaos with no bubbles or lots of bubbles in random places on the figure's body. Intentional or not, it makes it look less... fluid-like, which is probably a good thing.


These have proven to be some of the most widely available RMs to date. I didn't have any problem getting my mitts on either. The most I would pay at this point is about $80 a piece.

Weird fact: Rockin' Jelly Bean did the artwork for Velvet Revolver's new video, Dirty Little Thing. Watch closely and play "Spot the Pharaos."

1 comment:

glennpogue said...

These are the best Rumble Monster photo's I have ever seen. Lovely.