- 18 hours ago
Trick Or Treat Studios Chamber of Horrors Shock Monster Retro Style 8" Figure
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00:00It's very unlikely there's going to be a horror horn in this review, so there's no need to close your eyes.
00:05Here's your look at new Trick-or-Treat Studios Chamber of Horrors, The Shock Monster.
00:21Trick-or-Treat Studios is proud to present the Chamber of Horrors, Shock Monster Retro-Style 8-inch figure.
00:26Our new line of retro figures are a must-have for collectors.
00:29Carefully designed to honor the vintage cloth figures of the 1970s, these updated versions feature dramatically articulated bodies, intricate sculptures, and detailed paint applications.
00:39With 20 points of articulation, they combine nostalgic charm with modern craftsmanship, perfect for display and play.
00:45I'm sure what the Fear Flash has been telling you guys, but there's no need to turn away.
00:47In fact, we're going to move forward and look at the new line of retro-style 8-inch figures, starting things first with the Chamber of Horrors, Shock Monster.
00:54This comes to us courtesy of the folks over at Trick-or-Treat Studios.
00:56Now, unfortunately, though, Shock Monster has since sold out on their site.
01:00If you were, at the time, able to get one for yourself, you'd be expecting to pay around $39.99.
01:05However, though, you can notify me, not notify me, but you can go and select the option, notify me when available.
01:12And if this guy happens to go back in stock, they'll give you a little ring-a-ling-a-ling.
01:15I don't know, though, if you're going to have yourself an old classic-style phone, and nor would I ever really say that a phone would ever look like this.
01:21But they would at least give you a heads-up, just to, you know, promise, just to let you guys know when something like this is going to get back in stock.
01:28We're going to push forward, also, and figure out how tall the figure stands.
01:31Chamber of Horrors' Shock Master seems to be a rather popular character on their site.
01:34Not only were they selling the retro cloth figure, but they were also selling the mask, a candy pail, and also a live monster bag.
01:41In the meantime, though, as for the tape measure telling us anything,
01:43I think it's going to be telling us that the Shock Master is going to stand at 8 1⁄4 inches in height.
01:48Working, yeah, to be a figure that's a little over 20 centimeters tall.
01:51While Todd's other retro-style figure of the Beast of Blood does come included with an axe.
01:55It's sad, though, to say that the Shock Monster doesn't come included with any accessories.
01:58So we'll spend some time quickly just to look at the packaging.
02:01Unfortunately, though, I had to damage the packaging in order to free this guy from his plastic prison.
02:05One thing I do like, though, about his plastic prison is it's shaped like a casket.
02:09As you can see, though, on the side is a simplified image of the Shock Monster from the Chamber of Horrors.
02:13And if we flip around the back of the packaging, it doesn't give a read-up necessarily.
02:17But again, it does have a very large font Shock Monster, and it does have the image of the character on the side.
02:22Though, the hard thing, though, about doing reviews like this is, though, truth be told,
02:26while he looks fantastic out of the packaging, he looks equally as good inside the packaging.
02:30I'd almost be even tempted to get a second one of these to keep them sealed inside.
02:34In the meantime, though, let's move the packaging, though, out of the way and get a closer look at the Shock Monster.
02:39What a fun figure this guy is.
02:41Now, he's supposed to be based on, like, the original vintage cloth-style figures,
02:44but he certainly does that better by, first of all, a much-enhanced-looking sculpt.
02:48And the figure does also come and include some additional articulation that wouldn't be on the original retro-style figures.
02:53First things first, though, before we actually look at his many multitudes of articulation points,
02:58let's first look at his garish-looking face.
03:00The one thing that's notable, though, about the Shock Monster is that he has one large googly eye
03:04and a slightly smaller, what would have been his other eye, obviously, is now just a barren-looking socket.
03:10The paint on this guy is phenomenal.
03:12I really like the green that they've actually applied to the surface of the plastic.
03:15Again, like, it drives home more the fact that they've given such nice sculpting, though, to the eye,
03:20and the fact that they've also off-colored the eye in this kind of almost beige-ish yellow
03:24really does look garish and just looks decayed, which I think is the way the creature should really look.
03:29That same sort of color also finds its way onto the top and the bottom of his teeth.
03:33I don't think, like, hygiene is really one of the more important things, though, for the Shock Monster.
03:37I think just the fact that this thing is still living and breathing is all the more important.
03:40One thing that's also I think they've done a nice job, too, is the rooting of the hair.
03:45If you look at the back of the hair for the Shock Monster and we peel things away,
03:49there's no indications of a bald spot.
03:51In fact, they've given a full foliage there to the back of the monster's hair.
03:55Just, again, a really neat-looking head sculpt.
03:57Now, with the articulation, we'll kind of get more into that in a moment,
04:01but I'll tell you right away, though, the figure does have only just limited levels of posability when it comes to the head.
04:05I don't think in a case like this, it necessarily needs more than just a straight swivel.
04:10First of all, the one thing that goes with that, swiveling a figure, I think you can maintain still levels of sculpting.
04:16The moment you start to do a bald joint, the head would have to be, obviously, a separate piece from the rest of the neck.
04:20And I think what you would end up losing is just, like, the seamless continuation of the sculpt all the way down to his shoulders.
04:26The thing also about the monster, too, is if we just kind of peel away the jacket,
04:30my guess is, though, the Trick or Treat studios probably have plans to use the same body for the future releases.
04:35Like, when we do eventually look at the Beast of Blood, also, in fact, this week.
04:39I would imagine, though, the body's probably going to be exactly the same.
04:41So, the way that they've sort of pulled off the fabric is it's essentially a smock.
04:45If you lift this actually up, you get the chance to kind of see what exactly is sculpting,
04:49and then what's left behind for the figure's basic body.
04:53I think it covers enough, certainly, at least.
04:54But, I mean, like, you wouldn't normally have seen it anyways past this point of his neck collar.
04:59And yet, though, if you lift it up, you can see there's just as much sculpting
05:02that at least went to this part of the figure's torso.
05:05Couple that with the fact the figure does also have, again, like the black jacket that's going to go over that anyways.
05:09It's only going to mask anything that really isn't finished for the fabric.
05:13I don't think it necessarily needs to have completely a fabric piece anyways.
05:16Just for the reasons I mentioned already, the jacket's doing a good enough job anyways of covering over all of it.
05:21Now, what I do also like that they've torn and ripped the sleeves.
05:25So they look tattered.
05:26They look worn.
05:27They look aged.
05:28Also, too, if we move this up, I was actually surprised to see that they actually still pulled off a swivel.
05:33This guy actually does have a swivel in his forearm.
05:36And further, in fact, up from that, the figure does also have...
05:38I know, again, these are all kind of posability points.
05:41But the figure does also have a hinge joint in his shoulder and a swiveling up at the top, though.
05:44So just with the arm alone, you can see, though, how this guy easily tallies more than 20 points of articulation.
05:51Again, we'll kind of get that more in a moment.
05:53I like, again, like the way they've torn the lower legs and lower pant legs here.
05:57But even like the part that we actually get the chance to see, there's some nice stitching that they've added in there.
06:01This off-coloring of the green.
06:03There seems to be, again, like if you look real closely, some really nice veins.
06:07Look at the colors of those veins.
06:08Boy, they ever pop.
06:09He's also got that also in his hands as well, his hands and his forearms, with some dark coloring, off-coloring of the green there, too.
06:16It's just a really well-painted figure.
06:18Now, he does also have, on the bottoms of his feet, peg holes.
06:21Now, the figure doesn't come in clue with any display stands at all, but I don't think he really necessarily needs it.
06:26One thing I did notice, though, because his back has a little more mass on the back.
06:30In fact, actually, can we just lift this up a little bit?
06:33You can see, look, additional spinage.
06:36I know that's not really the correct word.
06:37But a spinal cord has been sculpted on the back of his body.
06:40Again, it's just these attentions of detail that it would be so easy to overlook all these things.
06:46Because, again, like the figure just only has fabric over top of it anyways.
06:49So, again, like there's a lot of finished pieces to the figure.
06:51Even finished pieces that you wouldn't be able to look at anyways unless you start lifting up the hood.
06:56Again, I really think the fabric's done well here.
06:59Again, you kind of got more like the thinner fabric, though, for the purple on the front.
07:02More kind of, I guess, like a felt material that they've used for the jacket and the pants down below.
07:07It's such a fantastic looking figure.
07:10Not only was I looking forward to getting the Shockmaster out of his plastic prison, but, again, I'm really also excited to get a chance to look at the Beast of Blood, which will be coming up this week as well.
07:19Now for the figure's articulation.
07:20We're going to get back to where we kind of started things with.
07:23The Shock Monster, while, again, only having just a straight swivel, he still manages to pull off, though, a swivel that goes all the way around.
07:30Again, like the top of the torso does have some movement.
07:34So, again, like even if we kind of lift things back up, this part right here, it doesn't actually necessarily swivel here.
07:40But what it does, though, instead, is it swivels with a ball joint at the base of his abdomen.
07:44So you can rotate it there.
07:46I keep wanting to get back in there and kind of fix up his shirt and his jacket.
07:50There we go.
07:50For his arms, the Shock Monster pulls off an easy T-pose or 90-degree angle bend.
07:56You can move it forward.
07:57And for the obvious reasons of just because he's got the jacket over top of it, I wouldn't really recommend rotating his arm just because that's going to start to bunch up the fabric real fast in the shoulders.
08:05But, again, like just to take my word for it, the figure, in theory, would be able to rotate a full 360.
08:11He does also have, surprisingly, a swivel in his bicep.
08:14That's the figure piece that didn't really necessarily need it.
08:17But, again, that chalks up and adds up all the additional posability points that the Shock Monster actually has.
08:22A swivel here to the bicep.
08:24Again, we roll up the sleeves here.
08:26He's got not only a hinge joint, but it also seems, maybe not so much for the elbow, but when you get to, like, looking at his knee, I'll show you in a second.
08:34He's got a hinge right here.
08:35And he also has a swivel in his forearm.
08:38Again, with the fact that the swivel already happens further up on the figure's forearm, or figure's arm, I don't think it necessarily needed it here.
08:44But this also would probably be the smartest point to introduce brand new sculpting.
08:49Where, again, like if you've got this zombie hand for the monster, it would be, obviously, a completely different arm when we look at, like, the Beast of Blood.
08:55Where, again, I would imagine they're probably using the same body, and they're just sculpting the parts that need to be visible.
09:00In this case, the forearm of the monster.
09:03And no articulation, though, for the hand.
09:05I don't think it necessarily really needs it.
09:06Plus two, with the way they've also arched the wrist, this would only be lost anyways if they happen to put a wrist articulation point right here.
09:14So he still gets it here, and he still gets it here.
09:17I don't think he necessarily needs to have it right there.
09:19Look at the gnarly-looking hands and fingers on the ends of those.
09:23For his legs, they split out, and split pretty far, too.
09:27There's a swivel, which, again, I know is probably kind of hard to show you guys.
09:31Let's just kind of roll up the pant leg here.
09:32They're about three-quarters up the thigh.
09:35Now, keeping, again, in mind that they're using still a matching color of green, but about halfway, maybe about a little over half than that.
09:42There's also a swivel cut, so the leg rotates right there.
09:45But if you bend the knee, it seems like they've also incorporated ratcheted joints.
09:50So you can see the little ridges, the area there on the tops of the hinge.
09:54So that adds some stability, and it causes then the leg not to develop looseness over time.
09:58I wish more companies would incorporate, like, ratcheted joints, though, especially in the knees.
10:03It almost does for a second look like the figure does have a double hinge in the knee, but I think it's only more just the illusion of the way they've sculpted the top of the kneecap.
10:10Again, really nice stitching there done to the legs.
10:13Gnarly-looking feet, though, again, like, really nice coloring that they've overall added to the figure.
10:17It really does enhance what already was a creepy-looking sculpt.
10:21Again, he doesn't have any accessories, but I think in a case like this, the shock monster doesn't necessarily need accessories.
10:26And again, because the figure does have a little more back heaviness when it comes to certainly displaying this guy on the shelf, if you have him kind of just leaning forward just a little bit, I think just a little bit, that's all he really necessarily needs.
10:38I think he stands fine.
10:39If you have him straight like this, it does kind of counterbalance or off-balance the figure.
10:44You can also, of course, also bring forward his arms, and with the amount of possibility that they also packed in the figure's elbows and forearms, boy, boy, this guy's going to look fantastic on the shelf.
10:53I did want to really look at this guy first.
10:55Now, Trick or Treat Studios did, in fact, send me both retro-style figures of, again, like Chamber of Horrors, Shock Monster, and the Beast of Blood.
11:03But I did want to really look at the shock monster first.
11:05I just really like the coloring.
11:07I like, again, like he's got that zombified body.
11:09Just a lot of cool coloring and a fantastic-looking head sculpt.
11:13I mean, again, he's only really looking at you with one eye, but I'm spending more time looking at him with both eyes, from head to toe.
11:18So, he's a gnarly, monster-like figure, and a fantastic job done by the talented team behind the scenes at Trick or Treat Studios.
11:25I may have had a little bit of fun at the beginning of this video by quoting lines from the original trailer for the 1966 Chamber of Horrors,
11:30but it actually has no connections at all to the Chamber of Horrors Shock Monster here.
11:34Whereas that movie would have came out in the mid-60s, the origins of the Shock Monster date even further back from that to 1954.
11:40It was first designed by Keith Ward and produced by Topstone.
11:43And at the time that the mask was first designed, it was actually only called Horror.
11:47It didn't have the name of Shock Monster until years later when publisher James Warren dubbed it the Shock Monster,
11:53and it first was advertised in Famous Monsters of Filmland magazine.
11:57Since then, though, it's one of those monsters that you may not recognize the name, but you probably recognize the face.
12:02In fact, to the point that even Trick or Treat Studios, I did say at the beginning of this video,
12:06have released a vintage reproduction, essentially, of the original Shock Monster mask.
12:11Being that it is such a nostalgic-looking mask, one that people recognize right away,
12:16I would almost be even tempted to pick that mask up, which I think on their site sells for $39.99,
12:21which really is the same price as what we're getting here with the retro style Shock Monster figure.
12:26Whereas the other one would have been worn, this one easily can be displayed on your shelf with a little smaller of a size,
12:31but packing tons of posability.
12:32I love the sculpting of the face.
12:35The off-coloring of the green really does enhance the sculpting of this figure,
12:38and by then also incorporating the real fabric,
12:41gives you kind of a chance to experience a figure that could have existed in the early 50s and 60s,
12:46but we get the chance to have it now with some additional articulation.
12:50Like I said, unfortunately, though, the Shock Monster has since sold out on Trick or Treat Studios' site.
12:54At the time, though, it was selling for $39.99,
12:56but you can, though, be notified if it happens to go back in stock.
13:00A big thank you again to the folks over at Trick or Treat Studios that did provide this sample
13:04of the retro style 8-inch Chamber of Horrors Shock Monster.
13:08We had the chance to have a look in this review.
13:09Do you guys remember the original Shock Monster,
13:11or maybe even at the time that it was first called Horror?
13:14Do you guys remember that mask?
13:15If you do, let me know down below in the comments section.
13:18Again, I mentioned already, we will also be looking at the retro style 8-inch Beast of Blood.
13:22Definitely looking forward to getting that guy out of his plastic prison.
13:25If, in the meantime, you guys did enjoy this video,
13:27do it, though, the solid of hitting it with a like.
13:29And if you guys want to stick around for more so, and I hope so,
13:32hit the subscribe, turn on that bell, and, of course, obviously, come back.
13:35There's going to be more content coming your way for the rest of this week.
13:38As always, thanks for watching.
13:40See you guys next time.