Super7 O-Ring - BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN!

Universal Monsters Reaction+ Wave 2 - Bride of Frankenstein - Super7 2026

I've been a big supporter of the O-Ring renaissance in recent years. I didn't realize how much I loved this 80's staple until it started trickling back into the action figure world a few years ago. And companies like Super7 are riding this renewed wave of popularity hard and producing all sorts of interesting properties. Micronauts, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and Ghostbusters are not licenses I would have expected to work so well in this format, but they certainly do. My favorite line, aside from G.I.Joe, so far is the classic Universal Monsters. As much as I was always fond of the old Universal Monsters Remco and Placo toys, the production style was a bit unpolished for my tastes and they never included the Bride of Frankenstein.. so I never bothered to collect any of the vintage figures. But now finally getting a Bride in a vintage format scratches an itch I didn't even know was there. I think she's glorious. And I'm already anticipating an eventual GITD or a mummy-head variant. Let's check her out below!

NECA GITD Retro - BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN!

Universal Monsters  -  SDCC Retro GITD Bride of Frankenstein - NECA 2025

The 70s and early 80s were a dark time for female action figures. Despite some iconic ladies in pop culture like Wonder Woman and Princess Leia, they had almost no merchandise. You could fit all the female action figures in existence into a shoebox (I'm excluding soft Mego figures). With Universal Monsters, it seems there was always toys around (notably from AHI and Remco), but the Bride was always excluded. In fact, I believe (with the exception of an old Aurora model kit) she was never represented in plastic until 1998 when both Hasbro and Sideshow released figures. The TMNT April O'Neil as the Bride (1994) has such notoriety, because it was the first time her image (even in homage) was in action figure form. Since 2023, NECA has been gifting us with Remco-styled redeco's of the Ultimates figures on vintage cards. I had assumed this line would be limited to the original 6 Remco characters. But then we were surprised by the inclusion of The Invisible Man, Nosferatu, and of course, the Bride.

NECA Ultimates - BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN!

Universal Monsters Ultimates -  The Bride of Frankenstein - NECA 2023

I don't know why I waited two years to open this figure. I was very excited to get her back in 2023 and faked an appointment to leave work midday when my local toy shop posted that they got her in. But then time got away from me and I never circled back to her until I picked up the SDCC GITD version of her this Summer. She is really a great action figure. I especially love a Bride figure when there is an alternate mummy look to display, I think the last mummy head included was way back with the 1998 Sideshow figure. When I first saw this NECA Ultimates Bride, I was confused by her brown hair. I always assumed her hair was black in the (black and white) movie and every piece of Bride of Frankenstein merchandise I own sports raven hair with a shock of white hair. But I've come to terms with the fact that the true color is auburn (Elsa Lanchester's natural hair). Plus I really like how it pairs with the off-white color of her robes and her brown-hued makeup. She looks great. Let's check out the Bride below!

Toony Terrors - BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN!

Toony Terrors - Universal Monsters Series 2 - Bride of Frankenstein - Neca 2025

I'm pretty obsessed with the Toony Terrors line from NECA. I can admit that most of the male figures are not to my liking. True to the line's name, they looks a bit too cartoonish and silly for me. But there is something about the way that NECA treats the female characters that really appeals to me. The first figures I picked up, the Grady Twins, don't even look "toony." I thought that was a fluke, but then the next figures I bought, Elvira and Vampira, were also pretty great. I tend to focus on retro characters so I skipped M3GAN, Ghouliana, Wednesday & Enid (Netflix), Hocus Pocus, Nadja (WWDITS), and Lydia, Astrid, & Dolores (Beetlejuice). That is a lot of female representation in a relatively short time. I feared I wouldn't ever get another classic lady to add to my collection. But eventually they announced this amazing Bride of Frankenstein. Now I just need Morticia Addams and Lily Munster to complete my classic spooky Femme Fatales. Fingers crossed for both of them. Let's check out the Bride below!

World's Smallest - BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN!

World's Smallest Universal Monsters - Bride of Frankenstein - Super Impulse 2023

I have a huge backlog of Bride of Frankenstein figures to open and review and I'm finally going to try and get through a lot of them this month. I've had this World's Smallest figure for a few years and thought "Oh, this will make for a quick and easy post" (I've been really busy with work and travel lately so easy is good). I thought the size and lack of poseability would equate to speedy work. But alas, the photos were all blurry and it took several sessions to get them halfway decent (and I'm still not satisfied). But at least I finally got the ball rolling. Now I only have to find the rest. The NECA Ultimates is not exactly small so it can't be too hard to unearth in my basement, but the other Reactions and smaller figures may be quite a challenge. In that sense, it's really surprising I was able to find this microscopic figure first. I'm actually pretty much a completist with the Super Impulse action figures. But it's rare to have a female in these assortments. So I'm glad the include the Bride in the first Universal Monster set.

Halloween Kids - THE CREATURE!

ReAction Halloween Kids - Creature From the Black Lagoon - Super7 2024

Happy Halloween! One of my favorite recent toy trends is the representation of the simplistic Ben Cooper costumes of the 70s and 80s in action figure form. NECA has the Ben Cooper Costume Kids which are 5" fully-articulated figures wearing soft-goods costumes. And Super7 has the ReAction Halloween Kids line, which don't appear to be officially branded for the vintage costume companies, but they definitely give that classic homage. This Creature from the Black Lagoon girl is my first purchase from the line, and I'm quite obsessed. As my favorite of the Universal Monsters movies, she was always going to grab my attention. But the fact that the figure is female (as is the NECA Creature figure), further appeals to me because I feel it pays tribute to the creator of the Creature costume, Milicent Patrick, who was only properly credited in recent years (read The Lady From the Black Lagoon book for more!). I can't help but think the gender of these toys was intentional because of that. Let's check out Creature below!

Trollify - BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN!

Trollify by Good Luck Trolls - Frankenstein & The Bride - Kidrobot 2023

I have had a long fascination with Trolls. When I very young in the early 80s, my parents had a puzzle with a collage of vintage toys pictured on it. Buried in the heap was an image of a Troll doll from the 1960s. I was obsessed and would ask every adult I knew if they had Trolls when they were kids. Believe it or not, the toy line was a scarce thing then and the license was in a sort of hibernation. In the 90s, they came back in full force. They were everywhere and unavoidable. However, I did not like these at all. They had neon hair, they wore human clothes, and they had gemstones embedded in their bellies. The folklore-ish aspects we gone. The earthtone palettes, woodland aesthetic, and overall connection to nature were replaced by whatever trending fad the manufacturers could think of. My original childhood intrigue was rekindled in 2013 with the Zelfs line and ever since then I've been really appreciative of all the modern Troll spinoffs and homages. And these Trollify figures are a great example.

April O'neil as BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN!

TMNT vs Universal Monsters - April O'neil as Bride of Frankenstein - NECA 2022

I get really overwhelmed with the amount of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles products coming out these days. Between NECA, Super7, and Loyal Subjects, I am constantly seeing new figures and it's hard to keep track of them all. Thankfully (for me) there are very few females in the mix so I'm not nearly as tempted as the average collector. In the 90s, Playmates Toys created countless thematic variations of the TMNT gang: Samurais, Cavemen, Farmers, Surfers, Troll Dolls, and even Star Trek. I would be willing to bet, however, that the most popular was the Universal Monsters line. Even as a non-collector, I was very aware of these toys. That's why when NECA announced it was producing the same mashup, I knew it would be a hit. And their decision to base the aesthetic off the movie sculpts was very smart. I have no recollection of the TMNT movies personally, but the realism of these sculpts works very well with a Universal Monsters mash-up. Let's check out April below!

Jada Toys - BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN!

Universal Monsters 6" Series - The Bride of Frankenstein - Jada Toys 2021

I never would have predicted that Jada Toys would enter the action figure market - and so strongly at that. After five years cornering the diecast market with their stylized Metals figurines, detailed vehicles, and (my favorite) Nano Metalfigs, they surprisingly branched out into articulated plastic. In Fall of 2021 they released their Universal Monsters and General Mills Monsters figures and I was immediately impressed by the quality. Of course, I got my first four figures in the midst of a house move and they promptly got buried in a closet. But I finally unboxed them last week and my original (boxed) assessment still holds true. They're really well made and it's exciting to have another company with product on the shelves (Street Fighter is next!). It's been a while since I've picked up a new Bride of Frankenstein figure so this was especially fun. I know there's a NECA one coming eventually that will probably overshadow the competition, but in the meantime this one is perfect. Let's check her out below!

Super7 ReAction - BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN!

ReAction Figures - Universal Monsters - Bride of Frankenstein - Super7 2019

As much as I love Universal Monsters, there is a pretty drastic lack of female characters. The Bride of Frankenstein has to carry the load for the most part. Dracula's Daughter, the Invisible Woman, and the She-Wolf of London (yes, I've watched it and know she should be excluded) have never been merchandised at all and are mostly unknown except to diehard monster fans. Even the damsels have had more attention than these title characters. But despite her minimal screentime, at least the Bride of Frankenstein has an iconic look. Her inclusion in the ReAction line scratches a very specific itch. In the vintage Remco 3.75" line, she seemed very deliberately excluded. And every subsequent line as well, 1980 Remco, 1986 Imperial, 1992 Placo, etc. I think the first time she was merchandized in toy form (aside from 1960s model kits) was a doll in 1994. But now she's a regular feature in the toy aisles. Enough to warrant this update ReAction figure (last one was in 2014). Let's check out the Bride of Frankenstein below!

Universal Monsters - THE DAMSELS!

Universal Monsters Mini-Mates - The Damsels - Diamond Select Toys 2010-11

I'm pretty classically-minded. So whenever Halloween rolls around my fascination with the Universal Monster movies kicks into high gear. It wasn't long ago that I learned the beautiful Julia Adams had passed away back in February. The Creature From the Black Lagoon is easily my favorite monster movie and she was perfect in the role of Kay Lawrence. But this got me thinking about all the "damsels" of the Universal Monsters library, and then I had the realization that I already owned a bunch of them in Mini-mate form. Back in 2010 and 2011, Diamond Select Toys released a fantastic collection of Mini-mates based on these classic films, and in the process they included the oft-forgotten (at least in the merchandising department) ladies of Universal Monsters. All of these movies fail the Bechdel test miserably (a lot has changed in the past 60 years luckily), but these characters are still memorable in their own way and make really fascinating little collectibles. Let's check them out below!

POP Universal Monsters BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN!

POP! Movies #113 - Universal Monsters - Hot Topic Exc GITD - Funko 2014

The Bride of Frankenstein is easily the most iconic female monster of all time. She isn't exactly scary like her male counterparts, but she is definitely a very original looking character. That said, there are surprisingly few action figures made of her. In fact, if you discount dolls and bendies, there wasn't a true action figure of her released until 1998 (that's 67 years after her silver screen debut). Early Universal Monsters lines left her out in favor of characters like the Phantom of the Opera and the Hunchback of Notre Dame (both of which seem lesser on the cult-favorite scale than the Monster's Bride). I always struggle with what to call her, technically she should be "Frankenstein's Monster's Bride" but that just sounds silly. From what I remember of the film, I think they just refer to her as the Bride. I tend to get tied up in semantics. Funko released two version of this POP! figure in 2014: the standard release and this Hot Topic exclusive version which has a glow-in-the-dark face. Let's check out this beauty below!

Funko ReAction BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN!

ReAction Figures: Universal Monsters 1 - Bride of Frankenstein - Funko 2014

Funko's ReAction line is one of my favorite new lines of 2014.  When I first started becoming a serious toy collector back in the early 2000s, one of my favorite reference websites was Kevin Lentz's 3 3/4-Inch Archives.  The site hasn't been updated in about 7 years at this point, but I'm sure if it were, it would be brimming with excitement over these new figures.  There's something extremely charming and nostalgic about action figures from the late 70s and early 80s that gets lost on modern toys.  Funko's ReAction line is doing a great job of bringing that feeling back. While many of the (modern) ReAction properties don't appeal to me (Buffy, Nightmare Before Christmas, etc), most of the retro properties have me giddy.  For example, this Bride of Frankenstein figure finally fills the void left by her absence in Remco's 1979 Universal Studio's Mini Monster line.  As someone who was combing through those archives realizing the lack of women over the years, this line is a godsend.  Let's check her out below!

Women of Halloween - BRIDE of FRANKENSTEIN!

The Long-Reining Queen of Halloween from DST and Sideshow

Elsa Lanchester as the Bride of Frankenstein has to be the most celebrated Halloween sirens of all time.  She could technically be considered second next to the generic halloween witch characters you see everywhere, but the Bride of Frankenstein is the earliest female monster with any distinguishable (and consistent) personality and visage.  We've seen her emulated by everyone from Marge Simpson to Miss Piggy.  Even if you never saw the movie, you will find the image of a big black bouffant with shocks of lightning-bolt-white hair up the sides an  image that is impossible to avoid in popular culture.  She was the first female Universal Monster and she is definitely the most enduring.  Soon after the film's release in 1935, Universal Studios created Dracula's Daughter (1936) using a similar formula, but with much less acclaim.  There have been many Bride of Frankenstein action figures made over the years, but in this review, I will be reviewing the three most recent (and coincidentally my most favorite).