ToTS Lee Dracula....surprisingly good

[Dr. Anton Phibes]

So, I was doing some trading at my local shop, and wound up with a Lee Dracula by ToTS. While I am sure everyone is more enamored with the KP one, this one is about half the price, and easily accessible.

The good: The head sculpts are well done. The paint on them is just about a match with my Grand Moff Tarkin Hot Toys head I used to bash a Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed figure some years ago. The jacket is well designed, if a bit thin, but hangs on the figure nicely. The shirt is ruffled, just as depicted in Dracula Prince of Darkness, so kudos to the production team there.

The bad: the body is too short, and the velvety material of the inner cape is not a good aesthetic. Looks too velveteen.

I put mine on a Coo Models 13 inch body, added some hot toys black ankle boots, and slapped an Executive Replicas cape on him. it's a nice bash.

 

[abake]

Would love to see pics.

 

[Dr. Anton Phibes]

OK, I am not too hot with pics, but here goes. I will say, my picture taking skills are better than the shots they took for their catalogs though. Those pics don't look good at all. Couple of shots of face (since I assume that is the primary interest), and one with the Cushing bash I did from Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed, using the Moff Tarkin head and hands from Hot Toys.

 

[Dr. Anton Phibes]

It's a nice alternative for people who either don't wish to spend the higher end srp of the KP ones, or (like me) simply refuse to jump through hoops and play games to purchase the top tier version. If I like something, money isn't an issue if I like it enough. However, if there is chasing and variants involved, it's a turn off. Same principle as dating,lol. Back in the day anyway. Been successfully married for 31 years.

 

[Dr. Anton Phibes]

Some more shots of the heads. Better lighting, and some actual photo taking skills might capture the likeness and paint apps better. These heads aren't altered. Straight from factory. For the price point, I am suitably impressed. Much like Loomis, the likeness and paints are great. The clothing design is great (Tinela). The bodies, and the thin weave of the tailoring are the weak spots. Yet for $199, which is about the cost of a decent night out with your significant other, it's a pretty decent shake.

 

[Commander Courage]

I like these scuplts better the KP ones. Two of the KP ones are almost as good (neutral and the "grimacing" head) but the one similar to the Vampiric TOT head above is kind of terrible and almost doesn't even look like Sir Christopher Lee. The suit is thinner but it looks good and the paints fit a more correctly scaled body very well (better than the KP that rides high; he also had a short body). I hope that TOT do a Peter Cushing too.

 

[Dr. Anton Phibes]

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. I love both KP and ToTS versions. However, KP's feral portrait is very nice. Saying it doesn't resemble Lee or is terrible is a bit harsh. At first blush, I thought perhaps the feral head might be off a smidge too. Then I re-watched the film the other day. Lee contorts his face, mouth open wide, one eyebrow raised. It's very accurate. Even lee didn't look like Lee in that scene. He looked like....Dracula. They're both worth having. They both have minor issues. This is a good time to be collecting this stuff.

 

[Commander Courage]

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. I love both KP and ToTS versions. However, KP's feral portrait is very nice. Saying it doesn't resemble Lee or is terrible is a bit harsh. At first blush, I thought perhaps the feral head might be off a smidge too. Then I re-watched the film the other day. Lee contorts his face, mouth open wide, one eyebrow raised. It's very accurate. Even lee didn't look like Lee in that scene. He looked like....Dracula. They're both worth having. They both have minor issues. This is a good time to be collecting this stuff.

Don't get me wrong, the KP figure is great and I think the other two heads are near perfect, I just think the likeness is off on that one and I think it is only partly due to the expression (technically the TOT and Distinctive Dummies Dracs have the same head) which is admittedly hard to pull off; the Star Ace had the same problem with the same expression. I watch the 1958 movie quite a lot and I do honestly think it is more than just the fact that it is based on how Lee contorts his face. But it is only a minor problem as I think the grimacing head is the most pleasing (reminds me of the Product Enterprise version from the '00s) and the other minor problems can be fixed such as the tie and height.

Both are great figures and I think every Hammer Dracula fan should have both, especially as they represent the character from different movies.