Diamond Select Toys will be selling black & white variants of their monster banks at NYCC. These banks (which also have a standard color version expected to hit retail around Halloween) will be sold in limited quantities (300 Gill-men, 300 Frankies, 500 zombies) at NYCC but will also be sold at retail outfits at an undetermined later date.

The Creature from the Black Lagoon (Gill-man), Frankenstein/the Monster, and one The Walking Dead zombies are sure to liven deaden up any shelf. These vinyl banks stand at around 8-inches tall and, personally, I wonder why they're banks at all since the craftmanship, design, etc, would otherwise qualify them as busts. Plus how many individuals young enough to use a piggy monsty bank would want a decomposing zombie or be able to recognize poor Gill-man (especially since a remake has been in development hell for over five years or so)?

Overlooking the odd design choice, you still have three excellent display pieces. Gill-man looked fantastic before but the black & white deco really makes the detail on this figure pop. While the coloring seems a little more flattering on Frankenstein despite the detail suffering for it. Given that both characters originally had black & white films, the variant is certainly very fitting and a must for fans. The decision to cast a zombie from The Walking Dead might seem counter-intuitive until you remember that the zombie is based on something from the black & white comic book rather than the (color) t.v. series.

The three figure banks will be on sale at Diamond Select Toys' booth (#2156) for US$20 each. Just remember that if you aren't able to get them at NYCC you'll be able to find them at retail presumably later this year.

[ Art Asylum ]