NECA Studios Monsterizer with Light-Up Effects
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00:00Because the power you're supplying, it's electrifying.
00:04Here's a look at the brand new, the NECA Studios Monsterizer.
00:20Lights flash, electrodes illuminate, and gears creak as you monsterize the famous monsters
00:25of film land, with a tribute to the original monsterizers from the 80s, designed to work
00:29with NECA's line of retro glow-in-the-dark monster figures.
00:32This fantastic diorama piece will also work with other 7-inch scale figures.
00:36While I'm not in the habit of making monsters, but if I was, you'd need the proper tools
00:41to do it.
00:42Just before we get a closer look though at the NECA Monsterizer, first I'd like to thank
00:45the folks over at NECA that provided the sample we could have a look at.
00:48This is currently over on their site for $79.99.
00:52It does though say it's an exclusive to the NECA store, at least in the US, with a wide
00:56release internationally.
00:58I don't know if that means that they're actually releasing or plan to release these in retail,
01:01but at least for right now, if you want to get your hands on the Monsterizer, it's on
01:04NECA's site as we speak.
01:06I'm going to grab the tape measure, of course, and we're going to measure off the Monsterizer,
01:09both in its length and also in its height.
01:11This is also very much based on the original Remco Mini Monster Monsterizer, which of course,
01:16this one, like with the mini monsters with the monster glow-in-the-dark figures that
01:20NECA has been doing and churning out so successfully, the Monsterizer again is based on the original
01:24Remco release.
01:26So again, as promised, we're going to take the tape measure, we're going to start from
01:28one end of the Monsterizer to the other, and from a length standpoint, it's actually going
01:32to be about 10 inches of that, or the Monsterizer is going to be about 24 centimeters long.
01:38As for its height, if we go from the bottom and work our way to the top of the lamp, then
01:41you're looking at the Monsterizer being about seven and a quarter inches in height, or about
01:4518 centimeters tall.
01:48And what would you likely want to display with your Remco Monsterizer?
01:51Well, of course, Remco inspired figures.
01:53Here's what we've already gotten so far from the folks over at NECA when it comes to the
01:56glow-in-the-dark Remco Universal Monster Retro figures.
02:00We did get ourselves a glow-in-the-dark Frankenstein, we did get as well a mummy.
02:03My favorite by far is the Wolfman, and we also did get ourselves a New York Comic-Con
02:08exclusive glow-in-the-dark Phantom of the Opera.
02:10What's omitted right now is the glow-in-the-dark Dracula, which likely would be one of the
02:14two characters I'm going to be planning to display with the Monsterizer, both Dracula
02:18and Frankie.
02:19Now, if you were to compare NECA's Monsterizer with the original one from Remco, there's
02:23definitely a lot more paint applications with NECA's.
02:26Remco's would have actually more had a simplified design, but the core idea was roughly the
02:30same.
02:31It was a containment unit that basically had a tabletop, and you would store your monsters
02:34inside if you wanted to monsterize them.
02:37Remco's would have all been cast in gray plastic and would have had a red cage on the top.
02:41NECA's actually matched the colors to the bottom of the base, so the cage for theirs
02:45is all painted in the same matching silvers.
02:47Some batteries had to be installed first when you get the unit out of the box.
02:51The batteries, unfortunately, though, are not included, but they are simply just AA
02:55batteries.
02:56I've already taken the liberty, in fact, of removing the battery cover just because
02:58it was a whole lot easier just to remove it and then show you guys exactly where the batteries
03:01are.
03:02I'll have to put the battery cover back on and just screw it back in place.
03:05But the batteries, though, are located on the bottom of this, overlooking, obviously,
03:08the fact I've already taken the liberty of removing the battery cover.
03:11There is a screw.
03:12That is one of the things, of course, that newer figures and toys, anything that has
03:15batteries really, they have to have now screws.
03:17I guess it's one of those mandates.
03:19But I did already take the liberty of unscrewing this.
03:21I took the battery cover off.
03:22I'm just going to leave it off for right now just to show you guys.
03:23It does require three AA batteries.
03:25Luckily, they're AA's.
03:27Even AAA's would have been fine if they had used, say, button cell batteries.
03:30Those are a little harder to come by.
03:32Not usually one of those things you can probably easily go to Walmart or whatever and pick
03:35them up.
03:36A lot of times, I just pick up the button cell batteries on places like Amazon.
03:38But AA batteries, everybody's got AA batteries, and you only need three of them.
03:42Once they're housed in place, you actually have yourself, again, the Switch.
03:46Now, looking for the Switch, you may think to yourself, well, would the Switch be on
03:49the bottom?
03:50Would it be on the side?
03:51Whereabouts would the Switch be?
03:52The most creative of places they chose to put the Switch happens to be the Switch on
03:57what full-size Monster Eyes would be.
03:59It's actually this lever right here.
04:00So clever.
04:01You'd actually flip this up to activate the lights.
04:05Just before doing that, though, one thing I did also want to show you as well is while
04:08the back here doesn't open up, likely because it's so close in quarters to the battery compartment,
04:13the other side, on the other hand, though, does open up.
04:15There's a little wheel that can rotate.
04:18If you take it from the top of the handle here, you can pull this whole side compartment
04:22out, and you've got yourself a little bit of drawer space.
04:24I guess if you want to store yourself some extra figure accessories, anything really
04:28could be stored in there as well.
04:29Body parts.
04:30Hey, if you're in the variety of making, if you're in the business of making monsters,
04:33then, of course, you can store some extra body parts in there as well.
04:36And that just, like I said, slides back in place.
04:39Other things that we also have here as well is, of course, the main cage does open up
04:42too, and that's going to be storing inside your monster.
04:45Now, there are these straps here.
04:47The original Remco release would have also had these straps.
04:49I think they would have been either in green or black.
04:52These straps are made of fairly soft plastic.
04:55Looking at it, you would think that you'd have to unfasten these in order to get the
04:58monster underneath.
04:59Again, like, it doesn't look like you can detach these.
05:02It doesn't seem, from what I can see, a way to actually open these up.
05:06But what you could easily, so easily do, is just take yourself your monster.
05:09So we're going to use Frankenstein's monster for obvious reasons.
05:11Just take the monster, slide it in feet first.
05:14And when you have it far enough down, just kind of put it body back down and just slide
05:18it back in place.
05:19That's all you really have to do.
05:20It's a little loose in quarters at the top here.
05:23Again, it doesn't look to be the case that you can tighten these off unless I'm missing
05:26something here.
05:27It does look like there's an excess of plastic on the bottom of it, but from what I've tried,
05:31I can't seem to tighten these at all.
05:33So you're going to have a little bit of looseness on the bottom.
05:35And of course, from there, you can take yourself the cage and just drop the cage over top of
05:38Frankenstein that way.
05:40Now, there is a wheel on the side.
05:42The original Remco would have had a wheel as well.
05:44This would have been done in green plastic.
05:47I think there's also a second version that was released as well that had this in black.
05:50But the wheel works that this basically will telescopically move out the tabletop here.
05:58I will say though, it's pretty loud.
06:00So as you're rotating this, they market this on the box as it creaks.
06:05I mean, it literally is just a ratchet joint.
06:07And as I move it to this side, you guys can get a better idea.
06:10You basically move the tabletop out.
06:14You would put your monster in, of course, if you wanted to.
06:16You can also leave the cage up really to two if you want to.
06:19And then you would just crank this back in.
06:23It's not the most quietest of things.
06:24This would not be something you'd want to be playing with late at night while everybody's
06:27trying to sleep in bed.
06:29So with your monster in place, like I said, we can take ourselves the cage.
06:32There is actually a little light source there on the top for the lamp.
06:35Also, these will light up as well.
06:37The little electrodes will also light up on the sides there as well.
06:41So going back to what I had mentioned earlier, there's a switch here on the side.
06:44So there's a wire that runs to the lamp.
06:46So that's going to light it up as well.
06:47You could, for all intents and purposes, take the lever and move it all the way to the top.
06:51And that's going to illuminate everything.
06:53If you want to have fun though, it actually has different stages of light up.
06:57So we start from the bottom, which is obviously the off position.
06:59And you can see there's some reading meters and stuff like that.
07:02And that's a really cool little readout display down below here as well, which it looks to
07:05be almost like a heart rate or mental brain rate.
07:09You can take the lever here, and if you bring it up once, you can feel basically as you're
07:14moving it that it hits like a ratcheted joint.
07:17There we go.
07:18So when you turn that on the first time, it will light these all up.
07:21So you've got yellow, you've got red, you've got green, and then these all illuminate as well.
07:25You hit it again, and I want to just make sure I hit this again.
07:29Now you've got yourself a lamp light, and you can see it's illuminating down on Frankie's face.
07:35Very bright also as well.
07:37When you go all out though, and you bring the lever all the way to the top, well actually
07:41there is one more step.
07:43Bring a little higher up from there, and you've got yourself now the electrodes.
07:48They're all illuminated here in green.
07:50Again, very bright.
07:52The last step, as I've already given it away completely, if you bring it all the way up,
07:56it keeps everything illuminated, keeps these illuminated, but now these will flash.
08:03I think first of all, that's neat, the fact that there's several stages of illumination,
08:07that you don't always have to go right to the very end, that if you only want to just
08:11have a few of the things lit up at once, say for example, like you don't want to have this
08:14flashing all the time.
08:16If you want to just drop it down a notch, you would just have that as a solid green
08:20light.
08:21You bring it down one more, and now you turn these off with only just the lamp light, and
08:26only with just the readout console display down here all lit up.
08:29And again, if you want to save the power on the lamp, just turn that off.
08:33And then this would be the only thing that would illuminate.
08:35I think that is really cool, the fact that NEC would actually have several stages of
08:39this, so you don't always have to rely on everything being illuminated all at the exact
08:43same time.
08:44Again, like this does open up as well.
08:47You could, for all intents and purposes, always keep this up too.
08:50It doesn't feel like it's going to be dropping down necessarily on the monster that's on
08:53top of the table.
08:54Speaking of the table though, I know we didn't spend a whole lot of time actually showing
08:57you guys this, but some really nice wood grain finish, and it's been well painted too.
09:02It's definitely a step up, an elevated step from what we got from the original Remco release
09:05in the 80s.
09:06Of course, whether you decide to display this with Frankenstein, or again, the whole idea
09:10with the mini monsters, is that you can incorporate any of the monsters that Remco were doing
09:14at the time.
09:15Again, you got yourself the Wolfman.
09:17I really, really want to get my hands on the Glow-in-the-Dark Dracula solely just because,
09:20well, obviously, not only because it doesn't bear a resemblance to Bela Lugosi, it's just
09:24a straight out Dracula, but also as well, I think it's going to go really well with
09:27the Monsterizer.
09:28At least what I have, we are also as well getting ourselves a San Diego Comic-Con release,
09:33Glow-in-the-Dark, kind of Remco-inspired Nosferatu, which I want to get my hands also on as well.
09:38I mean, this is a great throwback to the original, so I never had the original Monsterizer that
09:43Remco released.
09:44As I did say though, in a couple of the reviews of these Glow-in-the-Dark figures, I may have
09:48picked up the occasional Remco, but it wasn't at retail level.
09:51I feel like I probably picked up a couple at a garage sale or a yard sale, and probably
09:56picked it up not even knowing what the line was.
09:59Going back now and remembering those figures that I had in my collection, again, the one
10:02or two of them that I had, I really wish that I held on to them, because again, now they're
10:06going for crazy money online.
10:08Love the idea that NECA not only took the idea and ran with getting retro Remco figures,
10:14but finally that we also got ourselves a Diorama playset that goes along with it as well.
10:18The fact that we get ourselves the Monsterizer, updated in paint scheme, updated as well,
10:22the fact that it does have lights, it doesn't have sounds, which I guess could have been
10:26funny if they could have had pulsating sounds, but at the very least, the fact that it does
10:30have light up illumination here in the front, and that the diodes, the electrodes could
10:34also light up as well, I think it's just a fantastic set.
10:37Not all that expensive either, really.
10:39If you were to pick this up over on NECA's website, which as far as I know, is the only
10:44place where the Monsterizer is available right now, it's going for like $79.99, or about
10:48$80 even.
10:49So again, for that, if you are a big fan of Universal Monsters, whether you were familiar
10:53with the stuff we were getting from Remco before, or you just like the stuff that we
10:56get now, not to say that the Monsterizer has to necessarily be displayed with the stuff
11:01from Remco, if ideally though, you just like to display it with the Universal Monsters
11:05Frankenstein monster, both variations that we've gotten of him, and the one from Bride
11:08of Frankenstein, it's a great little Diorama playset to go along with those as well.
11:13When NECA was first starting to do their Remco Universal Monsters retro-inspired figures,
11:18I was wondering though how far down the rabbit hole the company would go.
11:21Anyone that was in the know and collecting the Remco stuff we were getting from the 80s
11:25knows that the company was very dedicated to doing a line of mini monsters and things
11:29that went with the monsters as well.
11:31The company produced things like vinyl carrying cases, which was always a thing that figures
11:36back in the 80s would have.
11:37If you had a figure line, you'd have a carrying case that went along with it.
11:40But Remco thought outside the case, so to speak, because their cases also served to
11:44be opened up as activity centers with open and closing casket lids, for example, that
11:49would go perfect with your mini monsters.
11:51And one of the other things that they produced was the Monsterizer.
11:54Now the Monsterizer, I've seen a couple of times at local toy shows, I picked it up and
11:59a few of them actually were sealed.
12:01The seller at the time were selling them for around $120 to $130, which I thought was a
12:05little on the higher side until I started to look on places like Ebay and realized that
12:09a sealed Remco Monsterizer from the 80s can go for a pretty hefty price.
12:14Unless you're getting one loose, unless you're getting one that's loose and missing parts,
12:17then you probably expect to pay anywhere from $30 to $50 for it.
12:21Of course, what we get now from NECA is a much more elevated version of the Monsterizer,
12:25lacking unfortunately, though, sound, which is one thing I kind of wish that it could
12:28have had.
12:29Just think though, if those electrodes could actually make a pulsating sound, I think that
12:34would be pretty cool.
12:35But that it actually has different stages of lights, I think is one of the coolest touches
12:39to this, that if you want to just have the front console lit up, you can do that.
12:42If you want to go all the way though, and have the electrodes pulsating, you can switch
12:46the lever all the way up to the top.
12:48The only thing about the Monsterizer though, is it's a very loud lever.
12:51To turn the wheel on the side to have the tabletop slide out, it's a very loud experience.
12:57You probably could see that and experience that in this review.
12:59I wish it was a little on the more quieter side, so that if I wanted to monsterize in
13:03private and obviously I didn't want to be waking up anybody in the house, I could do it.
13:08I'm probably not going to be doing this at night.
13:10I think I'm going to be monsterizing my monsters during the day.
13:14This one is available right now over on NECA's retail sites.
13:17It is going right now for $79.99.
13:20If that seems a little high, you can also go the route of four interest-free installments
13:23of $19.99.
13:26Big thank you once again to the folks over at NECA that did provide the sample of the
13:29Remco Retro Inspired Monsterizer, that we had the chance to have a look in this review.
13:34Do you guys remember collecting the original Remco Universal Monsters?
13:37Let me know down below in the comments section.
13:39Do you even have right now the original Monsterizer?
13:42Is it still part of your original childhood toys or have you recently picked it up?
13:46Let me know down below.
13:47If you guys in the meantime did enjoy this video, do it a solid, throw it a like.
13:50You guys want to stick around for more though, I hope so.
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13:56thing is come back.
13:58As always guys, thanks for watching.
13:59See you guys next time.