Dude was cartoonish even for his time; it's kind of hilarious. He wouldn't walk on the same side of the street as black people, so he'd cross the road. Except he lived in Brooklyn. So sometimes he'd spend 10 minutes just crossing the road over and over without going anywhere. Anyway, this one is kind of a sad blob. Groman brought a feeling of enormity with his massive sculpt, but that one is overly detailed for my liking. One thing I always wonder about depicting cosmic horror is how to convey the sense of the unseen and unknowable that makes these uniquely horrifying. Seems especially to hard to do in sculpture, which has to be self-contained. Neither sculpt seems to be addressing that, so they just end up "Cthulhu: the office cubicle mascot" and "Cthulhu: the action figure".
So, Cthulhu is racist because its creator was? Poor Cthulhu. Its seems a bit of an awkward looking sculpt to me, and the sitting one resembles a pre-chromed hood ornament.
The thing about the Cthulhu that struck me is how much the head looks like the Ohmu from Nausicaa. When it stands up it looks like a chubby guy in a leotard, which isn't very threatening. I know they were trying to hew closely to that famous Lovecraft sketch but it sort of worked against them: Also, Cthulhu isn't racist, it's sexist. It's a big walking vagina, the personification of Lovecraft's gynophobia.
He was racist, but it’s difficult sometimes to know how far you separate a creation from its creator. There was a meme going around at one time that showed a painting, upper text was something like “is this nice art?” lower text “You just liked one of Hitler’s paintings.” Not even sure how I feel about that one, another issue of “bad peoples making nice things are bad because the person is bad?” (Still, never felt the need to explore more of Hitler’s paintings, just left a really bad taste in my mouth) Don’t get me wrong, I love Lovecraft’s writing. Do I like the man? Absolutely not. He was a complete wanker, and maybe that’s a reason why he died broke and alone. I can still see value in his work though. I read Lovecraft for the first time when I was deep in depression, and it sparked my imagination when I really needed it. Anyway I’m getting completely off-topic. These Cthulhu are awk AF.
It's almost an impossible debate, and one which we won't settle here and ultimately everyone needs to make their own judgement on. In the same way that we need to examine the contemporary history and context of art, it is not to make excuses for it, but highlight the lessons which can be learned from it. But regardless how you might feel, ^ This is absolutely the right take. * and pricey to boot!
Kind of looks like a Medicom to me. Not a bad looking toy, but not a great looking toy, either. I got distracted & started clicking other things on that page, immediately, so I guess it's a "pass" for me.
The sitting pose is alright. Standing he looks like my beer-bellied Uncle at the family barbecue. Overall The head-sculpt is the worst part to me. I hate how the tendrils are one big lump with that awkward curve to them.
I like this toy, and I enjoy Lovecraft despite his unfortunate worldview. That said, I don’t know if I’ll be shelling out $77 for it, but I do wonder is this figure articulated? It must be, but then I wonder about all the joints that would be required to get Cthulhu from a sitting position to standing... or does it come with two sets of legs to swap out?
@hellopike - It has extra parts for swapping in & out. So that's extra plastic for your money, at least.
