The Creature Strokes Again

    Moebius Models has made it their mission to fill in the gaps in the Aurora monster kit collections of everyone who a) didn’t buy these kits when they were easily affordable, b) love the kits, but not seriously enough to fork over $100 for a 7  plastic toy, and c) who just want to build one of these rarities guiltlessly. (When building a pure, unassembled Aurora rarity, it’s easy to feel like you are defacing it.) I know I'm beating a dead horse here, but Moebius deserves a lot of credit. 
    One of Aurora’s– and, now, Moebius’– masterworks is their “Monsters of the Movies” “Creature from the Black Lagoon”. Originally released in 1975, the Creature was one of Aurora’s very last monsters and one of their most exciting. The Gill Man’s pose was a major experiment for the company, a break from their static tableaux, with the various monsters’ arms raised in standard groping, menacing positions.
    Unlike any of Aurora’s other monsters, the Creature’s design gives the impression that he is swimming underwater. Captured in mid-stroke, his arms broadly thrust out and his legs paddling, the sculpture’s pose is kinetic, dramatic, and dynamic in ways that Aurora had never before attempted. (and seldom attempted again.)
    To give the illusion that the Creature is floating, his body is only connected to the base by a hole in its foot, which a peg on the base plugs into. (Aurora used a similar technique to make their Rodan model seem as if it’s hovering with its wings on the upstroke.) The effect is so striking that it’s easy to imagine shafts of sunlight rippling over the Creature from above as he strokes upward to bedevil the crew of the Rita. (The base is decorated with swaying seaweed, a rusty old anchor, and a cleverly-mounted fish sailing through.)
    The one complaint that generally arises about the sculpting on the kit is that the Creature is slightly disproportionately stocky, but this is a minor quibble with an otherwise excellent kit.
    This repro. is molded in green plastic and snaps-together ridiculously easy. Like most of the Aurora monsters, most of the fun lies in painting the kit. I can’t recommend this long-awaited model highly enough.