It's been hard to make up my mind about this one. It's got a lot going for it, but I just feel it could have been more...

Frankenstein's Laboratory was the last diorama I picked up this year and I am torn on whether or not I like it. The stone walled background again offers a nice gothic visual and the laboratory equipment is really appealing, too. But the sculpts of both the monster and his bride leave me disappointed. The facial features are sort of bland and they look too romantic for my tastes. Is this a decoration for Halloween or Valentine's Day, huh?

I like the "wooden" floor inlaid into the "stone", creating a nice layered effect. And the chained mechanism behind the bride looks interesting, although I'm not sure what it is supposed to do. I know one thing it does not do though and that is actually turn, which was pretty disappointing. I know this is only for display, but when you wrap a chain around a set of wheels..... well, it begs to be turned.

Of course, like each of the previous dioramas, this one features a light up gimmick. And here is where it really shines (no pun intended). All of the scientific apparatus behind the characters light up in some way. The effect is really great.

Still, no matter how much I like that, I just feel like something is missing from this piece overall. Something like....an operating table? Eh, probably not enough room for that.

Anyway, I wasn't about to buy two of these dioramas and not get the third. Despite it's shortcomings, I'm glad I have this. It did however cost slightly more than the Creature's Lair and Dracula's Domain, with a price tag of $14.99 instead of $12.99. I guess the extra cost is either for the extra monster or for the more intricate laboratory equipment. Still way better than $55, though!

"Welcome to my house...come freely, go safely and leave something of the happiness you bring..."

Dracula's Domain was actually the first of this series that I was able to locate and by all accounts seems to be the most prevalent. I think this is probably my second favorite of the three available, behind The Creature's Lair, but ahead of Frankenstein's Laboratory. It now carries the same $12.99 price tag as the Creature's Lair, marked down at TJ Maxx and Home Goods stores.

The faux stone masonry looks fantastic and really pulls off the old world gothic look quite well. It's the sort of scenery that just invites the addition of a gargoyle or two along the sides, but I'm glad that they didn't go that route. It would've been too obvious and cliche. Instead, there are some cobwebs molded into the bottom sides of the entrance and in the background. Nice idea, but I look forward to letting this thing sit for a long time and letting some real spiders spin some real webs on it!

Where this piece fails for me is in the sculpt of both Dracula and his victim. The sculpt of both characters does not quite live up to the quality of the rest of the piece. The generic look of each character doesn't bother me so much as the fact that it looks more like Dracula is rescuing a damsel in distress or carrying a Bride over the threshold of their new home more than he looks like an evil creature of the night looking to drain the blood from the living. Furthermore, notice anything odd? For some reason, Dracula is wearing a cross! A CROSS!!!

Where this one has the Creature's Lair beat is with the lights. The bulbs are still visible on the floor, but when lit up, it is easier here to imagine that they are just fallen torches or some other form of fire. Plus the red gives it a more hellish appearance overall and looks quite nice shining against the stone background.

So, this one definitely has it's pluses and minuses. If you're a monster fanatic, by all means you'll want to grab it, if for no other reason than it's so cheap right now. But all others will likely pass.

Y'know, maybe I could appreciate the girly figure reviews more if they were constantly being menaced by classic monsters! I mean, it's tradition.

Perhaps the single coolest thing about being a monster collector is that, for all intents and purposes, we have our own holiday! As a result, every year new things are released in all manner of genre that collectors can sink their teeth into, sometimes even literally in the case of Halloween candy and things like that. Halloween decorations of all kinds offer the monster enthusiast many different options to help enhance their displays. Can you imagine if every year there was some sort of super robot holiday?!

In 2006, Department 56 released a series of Halloween decorations featuring some classic Universal Monsters. These small dioramas were beautifully crafted and included a light up feature, but carried a price tag of approximately $55 each, which put off many potential buyers. Fortunately, these recently turned up at a greatly discounted price at TJ Maxx and Home Goods department stores. This diorama, entitled "The Creature's Lair", now carried a price tag of only $12.99!

Over the course of about 5 days the week before last, I went to roughly a half dozen of these stores and was only able to locate one "Creature's Lair", which would suggest that it was more popular than the others in the series (those being "Frankenstein's Laboratory" and "Dracula's Domain"). It is plain to see why, too. Not only is the Creature generally a more popular character, but the craftsmanship that went into this piece is clearly superior to the others, at least in terms of the presentation of the main character, which is of course the most important thing.

At approximately 6" high, 9" long and 6.5" deep, this miniature scene is beautifully sculpted and painted. The cave walls appear as true rock and there is a clear plastic covering on the sand that magnificently gives the illusion of a pool of water at the feet of the Creature.

Any complaint about the sculpt of the piece would be that the damsel in distress doesn't look exactly like Julie Adams, but it's not bad. It might also have been a licensing issue. And that's not to say she doesn't look good, anyway..

Hubba, hubba...

Protruding from the back is a cord into which you can plug in a power source, containing two separately sold C batteries. Each piece in the series uses the same part so you can swap them out if you like.

With the power cord attached and the "ON" switch activated, the lights add an eerie luminescence to the scene, particularly as it reflects off of the "water". I think it would have been nicer if you could have activated the lights via a concealed switch actually on the display, such a s fake "rock", much like on the Destroy All Monsters Battlezone Godzilla

My biggest gripe with this? Well, the bulbs for the lights are not well concealed at all. It looks like the Gill Man has had some wiring done in his cave! One enterprising collector had the excellent idea of adding some plastic aquarium plants to help cover them up and I think I'll be doing just that at some point.

Still, I can't complain too much. I'm getting monster memorabilia released in the middle of the summer and at a fantastic price. I couldn't recommend this at $55, but for $13 it was a no-brainer for me.