The Shape of Water - AMPHIBIAN MAN!

Guillermo del Toro Collection - The Shape of Water - Amphibian Man - NECA 2019

Your eyes aren't deceiving you. I'm breaking a big rule by posting a review of an ostensibly male character here on this blog. But to my credit, amphibians can have very ambiguous genders, and I honestly don't have any other outlet to post these pictures (I've pretty much withdrawn from the forum and message board scene). The Shape of Water was easily my favorite film of 2017. It combined all my favorite genres: forbidden romance, historical noir, science fiction, cryptozoology, archaeology, and of course a gill-monster. Apparently Guillermo del Toro watched Creature From the Black Lagoon as a child and had the same reaction I did: why doesn't the monster ever get the girl? I saw the Creature as a misunderstood romantic, and this new film tells the story I always wanted. The Guillermo del Toro collection from NECA is a line with a lot of potential. As far as I'm aware, there aren't any more figures on the horizon, but my fingers are crossed for Mimic and Crimson Peak. Let's check out the Amphibian Man below!

Pan's Labyrinth - OFELIA!

Guillermo del Toro Signature Collection - Pan's Labyrinth Ofelia - NECA 2019

I love the fact the NECA toys is making a line of action figures based on the films of Guillermo del Toro. I'm a big fan of his movies. Similar to Harryhausen and (early) Tim Burton movies, there is a wonderful sense of imagination and creativity in all his work... with an overarching aesthetic of creepiness. The only unfortunate thing for this blog is that there are very few female characters to expect. All of the super iconic characters, like Pan, Pale Man, and Amphibian Man (from Shape of Water) are decidedly male. So I was was surprised to see this figure of Ofelia as one of the first characters released. It's been more than 10 years since I've watched Pan's Labyrinth so the details of the movie are a bit fuzzy to me, but once I saw all the cool pack-in accessories in this set it all came flooding back. I had seen both this movie and Devil's Backbone within a few months of each other so my memories are a bit blended, but this toy is definitely making me excited to watch them both again. Let's check out Ofelia below!