Review: 40422 Frankenstein's Monster

Ooh, arrived just as this was posted! Haven't seen this one before, so it was a pleasant surprise, but probably won't be picking one up myself. That being said, those eyes are really nice in my opinion.

Well, now that I'm first, might as well make the 'they made a Jacksfilm's brickheadz' joke...

I'll take any Brickheadz I can get, this one I will go out of my way to get. Its a really good Brickheadz and definitely looks worth the £10 price.

@Jacopyright said:
"I like it, and will get it. :-)
But I cannot believe LEGO released it with the name "Frankenstein" - further cementing this misunderstanding in the public! There have been too many slipups from LEGO recently - what is causing all these bad-research-errors...?"

Maybe it has something to do with age?
Young designers who love pop culture, but only know the half of it? For most people that monster is Frankenstein, but the ones that will buy it because they’re fans of the classic monster genre will know what is up and probably are going to hate that slip-up.

@Cooliocdawg said:
"I’m intrigued by the universal monsters license. I can’t remember, was Creature of Black Lagoon a universal movies it would be really cool to see a Brickheadz of that."

Yes, the Gill-man is a Universal character, so hopefully they'll do him. A Hammer Horror series would be awesome too...

@Brickodillo said:
" @Jacopyright said:
"I like it, and will get it. :-)
But I cannot believe LEGO released it with the name "Frankenstein" - further cementing this misunderstanding in the public! There have been too many slipups from LEGO recently - what is causing all these bad-research-errors...?"

Maybe it has something to do with age?
Young designers who love pop culture, but only know the half of it? For most people that monster is Frankenstein, but the ones that will buy it because they’re fans of the classic monster genre will know what is up and probably are going to hate that slip-up. "

I was also thinking of the Osprey mess - how did that go so far in production without anybody catching the problem? Maybe it is an age issue, as you say - there are too many younger people in LEGO these days and too few grownups...?

What a year for Lego's Legal / Licencing / Marketing Dept. Maybe they didn't get the rights to "Frankensteins Monster"

That is a freakishly huge head!

Love it.

hrf001 Reminds me of this old studios guy

@Cooliocdawg said:
"I’m intrigued by the universal monsters license. I can’t remember, was Creature of Black Lagoon a universal movies it would be really cool to see a Brickheadz of that."

Yes It was. It is my favorite movie of the franchise and I agree; I want a Creature of the Black Lagoon Brickheadz!

I think the Quality department is just getting rather sloppy.

Is this the first time we had a review from brickset before the set name was even in the database?

Wow, didn't realize they were making Frank! Yeah, I wouldn't be surprised if Lego continued to make more Universal Monsters. Dracula seems like it'd be the next logical choice as vampires are probably more well known than anything else and would fit the Halloween theme if they do one next year.

Wait, isn't The Mummy a Universal Monster? That seems like another good candidate.

@Cooliocdawg said:
"I’m intrigued by the universal monsters license. I can’t remember, was Creature of Black Lagoon a universal movies it would be really cool to see a Brickheadz of that."

Yes it 100% is :-)

Nice model, love the square-headed freakishness. Actually, is this the origin of the Brickheadz species?

i.e splice any popular character with Frankenstein’s monster and you get a “Brickheadz”

Monster good.
Me like.
Me no smash.... For spare parts.

@Green_Bricks said:
"Well, now that I'm first"

ha, not

"no one will really care", "non-issue", "pedantry"...
Yup, I'm now officially an old curmudgeon! :-D

Oh my. How do I love this? Let me count the ways..

Should go really well with 40203-1: Vampire and Bat from 2016. Maybe they could use the name Dracula now that they have a license with Universal? I cannot wait for Wolfman etc..

Maybe the naming was intentional, and Lego wants to start conversations about who was actually the "monster" in the story. There's a saying about that..

I thought Dracula, Frankenstein's Monster, Fishmen etc are public domain, stock horror characters, which is why clones of such characters had appeared in Studios, Monster Fighters etc with no problems.

Apart from the fact that the LEGO marketing team appears to be a bit thick for calling this Frankenstein, the set itself has an odd appeal to me.
The first time imho where the BrickHeadz treatment is really appropriate for the source material.

@Wrecknbuild said:
"Invisible Man would be easy. There may already be one out there..."

I bought their stock out of it and will be reselling them on EBay soon.

Maybe the box has the film name, not the character name?

Considering almost everyone makes that mistake, it is more commonly understood who they are talking about. If they said Monster, people would say “hey look at Frankenstein!” But I agree, if we want technically accurate names, then they should research better.

The set looks interesting. I won’t get it since I don’t care for brickheadz, but it looks well done.

I miss Monster Fighters because of those classic characters.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think this is the oldest film that Lego has ever covered.

@Brickulator93 said:
"Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think this is the oldest film that Lego has ever covered."
Very nearly! 21317 beats it by just a few years.

EDIT: ...in a similar way that @snazzy_bricks beat me by just a few seconds! :-D

At least they didn't misspell it 'Frankenstien'.

@Brickulator93 said:
"Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think this is the oldest film that Lego has ever covered."

It’s close. Steamboat Willie was three years earlier, though that is a short film and not a feature film. I can’t think of any others off the top of my head (The Wizard of Oz and Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs are both in the same decade, but this beats both).

I just love the monochromatic look!

I really like this set and the potential of Lego making more classic monsters. A Bride of Frankenstein BrickHead would be cool to go with this, but imagine a Dracula or Creature from the Black Lagoon, or even an Invisible Man with two options to construct the head in the box, either transparent pieces or the bandages and glasses.

Well, whether or not it’s “correct” most people still refer to the monster as Frankenstein. It would make sense for LEGO to use the name that people are most familiar with, and is also closely associated with the Universal icon. One could think of it as a nickname that stuck.

But I personally am pretty excited to see this! The Universal films are iconic when it comes to horror, and I was bummed out when they didn’t make it into LEGO Dimensions along with Godzilla and Kong. Hopefully this will lead to more sets themed around them in the future! That, or maybe something like Studios did where it was more about the art of filmmaking.

I saw this, and literally my first thought was The Creature boss from the Castlevania games. It just needs a little flea man sitting on its shoulder, and then it's set...Ugh.

@bananaworld said:
"
Woah woah woah, where did this come from?? What a pleasant surprise. Thanks for bringing it to the fore, Huw.

Might be the first one of the 100+ in this theme for which the cold, dead Brickheadz eyes are actually appropriate...!"

I don't get what you mean about the lifeless eyes. They look adorable on Lucky Cat, Buckbeak, and Baby Yoda (The Child)

Hope they do ALL the Universal Monsters. That'd be awesome!

On the Frakenstein name thingie, it reminded me a of a German Godzilla poster that instead of the title Godzilla, it said Frankenstein underneath the artwork. I'd love to get a hold of one of those posters.
https://www.ign.com/articles/2015/10/26/the-11-most-bizarre-godzilla-posters

You guys got it ALL wrong.

It's pronounced FROKENSTEEEN!
The doctor is FROADERICK FROKENSTEEEN.

Universal Monstersssssss.

This not the only one and more are coming.

It looks pretty fun, although at first glance I was hoping they might actually bringing back Very Light Bluish Gray, and using it on a handful of standard parts. Alas, it was not to be. I'll just have to settle for the too-pale bley parts that slip past TLG Quality Control.

@inversion said:
" @monkyby87 said:
"Let’s be honest, much of the world refers to this character as Frankenstein. It makes sense from a marketing standpoint to call it that. Same with Big Ben. Big Ben is actually the bell inside Elizabeth Tower, but everyone knows it as Big Ben. Calling this Frankenstein is a non issue.
"
It also appears to based on the movie Frankenstein, so, it’s accurate. "

@stephengroy said:
"Maybe the box has the film name, not the character name?
"
This was my thought too. We likely won’t know whether or not that’s the intent till others in the line are announced...but it’s notable that most are both title + character names without controversy. Because this line is somewhat of a gamble, it could likely be the plan to release only the title character/monster from each film (hence having no need for further specificity)...at least for this first run.

Woah! This is actually quite neat. I think I should get it!

I'm a big fan of this, I dig the monochrome style and exaggerated head, it's a classic film and an interesting subject for a lego set, definitely one of my favorite brickheadz to date

Creature, or we riot! I already figured out how to make a Twinkie for him to hold.

@xboxtravis7992 :
One of the worst of these that I've heard of is It's a Wonderful Life. It tanked when it was released, leading to the studio to basically abandon it. Once they did so, and anyone could air it for free, _everybody_ did, and it became a tradition for many families to watch every year. Only after it was popular did the studio try to regain control of it, but they had effectively given up ownership of the film. They _were_, however, able to retain ownership of the script, which is the only thing that allows them to prevent anyone from cranking out royalty-free DVDs.

@Cooliocdawg said:
"In response to the invisible man joke, it would be easy to make one. Just make the trench coat, goggles and head wrap that he wears to show himself. It would look pretty sick as a Brickheadz."

or you could use clear bricks for the head and hands. it's better than selling an empty blister pack which is what Hotwheels did with Wonder Woman's Invisible Jet.

This dude looks adorable, nice model.

I think this will be the 1st Brickhead I buy!

If this is a seasonal Halloween Brickheadz, that means we have to wait a year to collect the next one.

@blokey9:
If you've got one of those that you need someone to take off your hands, I wouldn't charge much to dispose of it for you.

@Snazzy101:
Because: The Internet. Also, people are on a hair trigger these days due to the pandemic, politics, the economy, and whatever else all piling on simultaneously.

If they were to do a Universal Monsters mosaic, it would have to be B/W, because otherwise the color schemes are too varied to make any sense bundling them together.

@Cooliocdawg said:
" @darkstonegrey said:
"At least they didn't misspell it 'Frankenstien'."

It’s actually Fronkensteen."

I thought it was Frankenstain

MandelaEffect
Berenstein

@PurpleDave said:
"... If they were to do a Universal Monsters mosaic, it would have to be B/W, because otherwise the color schemes are too varied to make any sense bundling them together."

I'd have no problem with that. Part of their appeal to me comes from their movies being in Black & White.

@Snazzy101 said:
"Why must every topic devolve into pedantry and railing against LEGO as a company?

The name Frankenstein is context-sensitive. As that context does shift between the Universal movies themselves (Bride of Frankenstein and Son of Frankenstein relate to the creature and the creator respectively) it's perfectly acceptable for the monster to be named Frankenstein on merchandise. This is not the first Universal Monsters product to follow this convention.

Despite not being a big fan of Brickheadz I just might pick it up. It makes me wonder what further plans they might have for the licence. The greyscale look does make a bold statement contrasted against LEGO's usual colourful fare. Perhaps a mosaic is on horizon, with options to build Dracula, the Wolfman, Creature from the Black Lagoon, or the Mummy. Or buy four to build a large scale Frankenstein. "

Have you not been on the Internet long? :D

@twentythree:
It's actually Fronken_shteen_. Or at least that's how he pronounced it when he was Young.

@Snazzy101:
That was less a "here's how it might happen" and more a "here's why it probably won't". The last time they did B/W mosaics, they had to introduce an exclusive third shade of grey (very light grey) so they'd have five colors to work with, and a more even spread of shades. They'd really need to produce very light bley parts to fill in that gap on the bright end of the spectrum. However, one interesting change over the last time is that now they've introduced all these metallic and pearl colors that are technically still in greyscale. Steamboat Willie included silver parts because they felt it would be thematically appropriate, so maybe they'd pull something similar with a Monsters mosaic.

A shame it's a Lego store exclusive which means it would arrive a month late

So, where is the fun in starting to collect a Brickheadz line about Universal Monsters, if you know, Lego will probably not keep up with it? I have here a line up of the Guardians of the Galaxy in Brickheadz form but no Drax to complete it! So I have to say "no thanks" to Legos Frankenstein.

Let's do a monster mash!

It's ALIVE!

Never bought a BrickHeadz before, but I really like this figure.

Regarding those classic Universal horror films (and Hammer..), I found I always had a sympathy for the 'monster/creature' - except Dracula who scarred me to bits..

@mafon2 said:
"Let's do a monster mash!"
"Whatever happened to my Transylvania Twist?

You know, it's possible that Universal told them to name it "Frankenstein" specifically and it's not Lego's fault.

Remember, word usage changes over time, and Frankenstein and Frankenstein's Monster are one in the same to most people. This could be a directive from Universal themselves to simplify the name, since that is what most people use anyway.

While it's nice to see some of the classic movie monsters, I'm not sure about the end result of this one. It's particularly how the combination of the original character's already square head and the Brick'H'eadz design gives him an almost appliance-like appearance, like something in-between an arcade cabinet, a mailbox and a minitower PC.

As mentioned the lack of actual neck makes the bolts look odd, I wonder if using jumper plates to move them half a stud backwards (and possibly add a silver 1x1 round tile on top) would look better without turning him into Earring Magic Frankenstein.

I'd also be interested to see Bride of Frankenstein, that would be a nice compliment to Frankie here!

@goalieboy82:
It's now the Mash.

Another lump of grey plastic!! We need some colour somewhere, surely. Sorry, I’m not a fan of brickheadz.

If I ever get this, I intend to put a small cup within his grasp, in reference to the image of Boris Karloff drinking tea while wearing his makeup between takes.

please be a new theme please be a new theme please be a new theme

But is this the official Halloween set? The holiday themed sets thus far have always been mounted on a 6x6 pate with two1/4 round 4x4 plates on the sides to add additional details. I hope this isn't a cost-cutting break with tradition.

@Emhajo:
It has a Universal logo on the side, which implies a broader theme.

@PurpleDave said:
" @Emhajo:
It has a Universal logo on the side, which implies a broader theme."

I hope you're correct, sir. I see the logo but I haven't seen any word of an official Halloween set yet.

@saturncoupe1999:
I just looked at what was offered this year, and the only two "themed" holiday sets I could find were a Valentine's Day bear Brickheadz, and an Easter sheep Brickheadz. They do both still have the winged bases, but the Advent Calendars are all up for sale right now, and we haven't heard of a single Halloween/Thanksgiving/Christmas Brickheadz. It's _possible_ that Frank will end up filling the Halloween spot (and that they'll just plan to keep making Universal Monster Brickheadz for the next several Halloween entries), or that they just scuttled their plans to fill out the rest of the group this year, or that we'll still see new announcements. It's three more weeks until October, so they still have a little time to roll things out.