Werewolf by Night

It's time to bring today's great rock to Flint and The Thumb with WWBN, Banana 101.5! Jack Russell is heir to a strange lycanthropic curse... whereupon beneath the light of a full moon he transforms into the Werewolf by Night! Is that a strange lycanthropic curse? I mean, isn't that how lycanthropic curses usually work? A "strange" curse would be one where the victim transforms at noon when the wind is southerly. Or when the moon is a crescent. Or only when vampires are nearby. Or a magic amulet. There are lots of strange ways to be a werewolf, but "doing it because of the full moon" isn't one of them. The furry parts of this figure's body come from a logical source: the similarly furry Jackal. Jackal didn't wear old jeans, so it's not everything below the neck, but it's most, even the hands and feet. The pants have an appropriately detailed sculpt, with an all-over texture, pockets on the butt, tattered legs, and a hole in the right knee that lets his fur show through. They even sculpted him a belt, so we don't have to believe that this man with the powers of a werewolf somehow manages to keep his pants up all by themselves. The head is based on the art of Greg Land - or at least, the head is based on whatever image Greg Land traced to make his "art." Hard as it is to believe now, when the dude's been a joke for years, but in the late '90s/early '00s Greg Land really was a great artist who was held in fairly high esteem. He drew his own stuff, from his own brain, and it looked terrific. Having him on a book was a selling point! Now, of course, his name is poison. This head, with its open mouth, distinct sideburns, and blank white eyes, is representative of Legion of Monsters: Werewolf by Night #1, though they haven't sculpted spittle flying out of his mouth. To make the interior of the mouth the pinkest it can be, that's a separate piece that's glued into the head from behind. That's a common (if clever) way of doing things, but in Jack's case, the mouth is open so wide and the sideburns flare out so much that you can sometimes see flashes of the pink plastic in the back when you turn his head to the side. It really stands out, since his fur is such a dark brown. His pants are green, which was typical in the books, and the buckle on his belt is carefully painted silver. Silver the color, not silver the metal. Unless that's why he can't take his pants off when he transforms? Since the majority of the figure is reused, the majority of the articulation is good. He's got a balljointed head, hinged neck, swivel/hinge shoulders, swivel biceps, double-hinged elbows, swivel/hinge wrists, a hinged chest, swivel waist, balljoint hips, swivel thighs, double-hinged knees, and swivel/hinge ankles. No shins, of course, despite the fact that 1) the lower legs are new, and 2) the way the pantlegs are done would have 100% concealed the joint. We're surprised Werewolf by Night has both butt cheeks, the way Hasbro loves to halfass their work. The figure doesn't even include any alternate hands, because that would have required making some (Jackal didn't have any back then, either). You know what they coud have done though? Give us an alternate head. No, not a different Werewolf by Night portrait: with the torn-up pants and the body covered in hair, this is a simple head swap away from being Vermin, the rat-guy who fights Spider-Man. Yes, Vermin's fur is lighter than this, sometimes, but what are the odds they'll ever make him any other way? An alternate Vermin head designed to match this body could have made this one worth double-dipping on. Of course, anyone who did that theoretical thing would then up with two left arms for the Executioner Build-A-Figure, which they probably wouldn't have been too thrilled about. ToyBiz made a Marvel Legends Werewolf by Night ages ago, but it was hard to find even when it was new. This is an unlikelycharacter to get a modern update, even considering he had that well-received MCU Halloween special a few years ago, but it's nice to see him back. And honestly, in addition to repainting this as Vermin, these shredded pants would also be another excellent piece to reuse for a "skinny Caliban" figure. -- 06/22/26 What's your favorite radio station? Tell us on our message board, the Loafing Lounge.