REVIEW: Crashlings Monsters Moon Howler

#MinifigureMonday

It's Monday! And that can only mean one thing: the start of another depressing week of work! OK, so it can mean that but it can also be something quite special: Minifigure Monday! And today, it's the turn of another Crashling as we take a look at the Monster line's Moon Howler!

Moon Howler

Moon Howler, as his name (and indeed, design) suggests, is a werewolf. This version is the Rare edition, being painted a rather interesting Acroyear metallic red. I really hate to sound ungrateful but part of me wishes I had more luck finding Common figures, as their multi-colored paint tends to mek them more ''readable.'' Don't get me wrong, the red chrome effect is really very nice but I think the one-color approach tends to mask a lot of the sculpt's details and makes it a little hard at times to figure out what you're looking at.

For example, it looks as if Moon Howler only has two limbs, when in reality he has two arms/forelegs, resting on his feet/hind legs. Sure, the ''normal'' paint app doesn't do anything to highlight that but the more mat coloring doesn't play weird tricks with light and shadow and thus makes it easier to read.

Still, these are all very minor points and, when you get past the shiny paint, the sculpt is pretty good. I love his snarling wolf expression and ragged shirt. They're small details, certainly, but they do look good. It's just a shame there's such a hard molding line down his arms and around the ears. I've not seen this on any other Crashling - or indeed, on any of the online images of the Common Moon Howler - so I'm beginning to suspect this figure was mis-molded or there was some kind of technical issue in his assembly. It's a little disappointing, as the figure looks really cool otherwise.

Like the other Crashlings, Moon Howler comes in a neat Meteor container (which is colored black, as that's the Monster color code), which also features a checklist for the other Monsters in the Crashlings line-up.

Final Thoughts

I'd hope by now you'd all realize how much I like the Crashlings minifigures. So far I only own about half a dozen of the little beggars but I'll certainly be on the lookout for more, as they're really great toys and fans of classic toys like Monster in my Pocket or collectors of vending capsule toys (as I am) will certainly enjoy them.

As for Moon Howler, he's a fairly solid entry in the canon. His sculpt is a little disappointing due to the weird ''join'' line (an error that I haven't seen anywhere else) and although the head sculpt is impressive, there's not a huge amount going on with the body sculpt. On the plus side, though, the sculpt screams ''werewolf'' - in a good way.

Overall, a nice-looking figure, marred somewhat by the production error and hard-to-read chrome paint. Grab the Common one if you can.

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