- 5/5/2025
NECA The Mummy Ultimate Ardeth Bey Figure
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00:00Not really the first time this company has unearthed the curse.
00:03Here's a look at the NECA toys, the Universal Monsters, Boris Karloff in the Mummies, Ultimate
00:08Ardath Bay.
00:09Unwrapped the latest Ultimate Universal Monster figure from NECA, portrayed by Boris Karloff
00:34in a classic 1932 film, The Mummy.
00:36Ardath Bay is an Egyptian high priest mummified for trying to revive his lover in this tale
00:41of love transcending death.
00:43Standing at 7-inch scale, this action figure includes multiple interchangeable heads and
00:46hands, oil lamp cane, scroll of thoth, and sacrificial dagger.
00:50Comes in collector-friendly box window packaging with open front flap.
00:54I'm guessing Ardath must have missed the memo of the marriage vow when they say, as long
00:57as you both shall live.
00:58Before though, we get a closer look at The Mummy's Ultimate Ardath Bay.
01:01Yeah, let's take the tape measure and see how tall the figure stands.
01:04If I'm looking at the tape measure correctly, and I do believe I am, Ardath is going to
01:09stand at seven three-quarters of an inch in height, working out though to be a figure
01:12that's about 19 centimeters tall.
01:15One rather interesting detail about Ardath is if you compare him along with the Ultimate
01:19version of The Mummy, Ardath is though notably taller.
01:22Now in the original 30s film though, Imhotep actually escapes the archaeologist and then
01:2710 years later, he assumes the identity of Ardath Bay.
01:30In that time, you could maybe say he's straightened out his spine, and therefore then he's a little
01:34bit taller than The Mummy.
01:35But it is rather kind of interesting the fact that they aren't the same size.
01:39He certainly though isn't as same of size when you certainly compare him with a sarcophagus.
01:43Not that it included The Mummy though, but it was part of The Mummy accessory pack.
01:47Exploring the Egyptian catacombs yielded the results in finding all the figure's accessories,
01:52except for one.
01:53The figure was missing his sacrificial dagger.
01:55Sure enough though, yeah, I went back to look at the footage of me unearthing everything,
01:59and I looked back at the tray that would have had the sacrificial dagger.
02:03Right here would have had the cane, which was there.
02:06But to the lone seat where Tiny Tim once sat, the dagger wasn't there.
02:10Now, even though I didn't have that dagger, I ordered this from NECA's online site.
02:14I suppose I could reach out to their customer service, just explain my case, say that Ardath Bay
02:18was incomplete and was missing his dagger.
02:20I don't know though, if they're going to ask me to pack back everything into the box,
02:24send it back their way.
02:26I'm going to have to wait a couple of weeks for them to receive it,
02:28and they'll have to wait for my replacement to arrive.
02:31I say all this though, we're going to kind of push forward with looking at everything else.
02:35I'm not sure whether I'm going to go through all that effort just to say,
02:37hey listen, I'm missing a dagger.
02:39But at least I've got myself this video to show them that the dagger was never there in the first place.
02:43Anyways though, let's push forward everybody.
02:46The remaining accessories though, that come include with Bay.
02:48The figure does first of all come include with the scroll of Thoth.
02:50Excuse me.
02:51The scroll of Thoth was created by the god Thoth himself.
02:54He was the god of writing magic and wisdom.
02:57This was tucked away in the temple and tomb of Horus and Edfu.
03:00And for those that were wise enough to read its scripture,
03:03would then find out, find and discover the abilities of immortality.
03:08I think the scroll of Thoth was actually broken down into 42 parts.
03:11Even just saying scroll of Thoth is a hard thing to Thu.
03:14Anyways though, even though we don't really have a storage place to store the scroll,
03:18I do actually have myself the little case, the little treasure chest that became part of the mummy accessory set.
03:24So what I might just end up doing though, even though I really don't want to fold up the scroll,
03:28I wonder if I can actually just kind of tuck that in there.
03:30Now that's looking messy.
03:31That's looking messy, guy.
03:33But at least I could put the top of that and store away of it.
03:36Because even though I'd like to think I'm wise,
03:39I don't think I'm wise enough to discover the abilities of immortality.
03:42Could you imagine just outliving all your friends, your family?
03:44You would just live on this earth indefinitely.
03:47I think that would be rather depressing after time.
03:50Of the other things that come included though with Bae,
03:51the figure does also come included with his cane.
03:53Yeah, that was the thing that was right next to the dagger.
03:56The cane looks good.
03:58Does have some gold there on the top, some matching gold down on the bottom.
04:01He does also have a hand to support the cane, which is this hand right here.
04:06With holding the cane though, with the fingers so close to the palm like this,
04:09it's actually all one molded together piece.
04:11You have to unfortunately take the cane and slide it from the top.
04:15I don't really like doing this myself because one thing that was worrying me was,
04:19first of all, was I going to snap the cane?
04:20It hasn't snapped yet.
04:22Oh great, now I've just cursed myself saying that.
04:26The other thing that kind of concerns me too,
04:28is if this is going to start to scrape the paint.
04:30It hasn't happened yet.
04:32However though, the number of times of sliding this in and out of his hands,
04:35who am I kidding?
04:35I'm only probably going to be doing this once during this review,
04:37and then settle on either displaying the figure with the cane,
04:40or just deciding to put it back in the packaging.
04:42But sliding this constantly, continuously,
04:45may result in having actually the paint chipping off the cane.
04:48So just sort of yield my warnings.
04:50You're all doomed.
04:52The figure does also come in clue with his oil lantern.
04:54I do like the way they've got the little flickering flame on the top here.
04:58This is basically just done in softer plastic.
05:01He does also have a hand for holding this.
05:03Where's the hand?
05:04Oh, I actually had the hand already attached onto the end of his forearm.
05:06Should have had a V8.
05:08If you look at the way that the hand is designed,
05:10let's just bend the elbow just a little bit.
05:12The hand kind of looks like he's holding a concealed card,
05:15like he's a magician.
05:16I guess he's to some extent, some magician.
05:18What the ultimate magic trick he did.
05:21He convinced everybody, of course, he was dead.
05:23But if you look at it, you can actually take yourself the oil lantern,
05:27and the candle actually sits very nicely into his hand.
05:30It's not going to be going anywhere either.
05:31Will it survive the blizzard test?
05:32It does survive the blizzard test.
05:35I guess while we're also looking at hands,
05:37the figure comes with technically two choices of hands.
05:40You like to have your hands a little bit more breathing
05:42and have blood running through them.
05:44Then the figure does have a couple of options coming your way.
05:47He already has, as mentioned, the cane holding hand,
05:50which is this one right here.
05:51This one does also have a ring on the end of the finger.
05:54He does also have two relaxed hands.
05:57This one and this one here.
05:59Nicely detailed for what they are.
06:02And then he has a hand, a more gripping hand right here,
06:05which doesn't really hold anything.
06:06I suppose if, I guess if anything, uh-oh,
06:08we're just unearthing the curse.
06:10If you take this, I suppose you could roll this up
06:12and then fit it into his hand.
06:14I suppose once, though, you do this,
06:15it's never going to look flat and pristine,
06:17although it's not as flat on the one side anymore.
06:19But I suppose you probably could roll up the scroll,
06:22roll up the scroll, and then just fit it into his hand over here.
06:25And then, while those are those hands,
06:28the figure does also have more of the mummified hands
06:30when he changes out the head looks,
06:32which are these ones right here.
06:33To show you where we start and where we end,
06:36is that a like-to-like?
06:37Let's get a like-to-like.
06:38Ring-to-ring, hand-to-hand, finger-to-finger.
06:41There you go.
06:42You can see that definitely one is a little bit more discolored,
06:44a little bit more purple in color,
06:45whereas this one is a little bit more,
06:47a little more life, just a little bit more life.
06:51Changing out of the hands, by the way,
06:52might be a little bit more harder to do
06:54just because he's got himself some sleeves.
06:55I didn't have too hard of a time, though.
06:57You basically just wiggle the hands and pop them off the pegs,
07:00pop then the new hand that you want to use,
07:02and simple, easy to do.
07:03It's just more so because you kind of have to get around the sleeves
07:05in order to get access to them.
07:08As for his head sculpts, though,
07:10get him to stand here for a second.
07:11He does seem to have a little bit of a standing issue.
07:14Ardeth does come with three alternate head portraits
07:16in various stages of mummification or decay.
07:20If we look to the default first,
07:22probably one of the closest examples we've gotten ourselves
07:25of late actor Boris Karloff.
07:27When you really think of all the roles that he's played
07:29and then the subsequent universal monster figures
07:32we've gotten from NECA,
07:33we've gotten, of course, the mummy,
07:34which I will bring back in in a second,
07:37and then also we've got ourselves Frankenstein's monster.
07:40I think this one probably bears the most closest resemblance
07:42to the actor without having any excessive makeups
07:46or prosthetics added to his face.
07:48Of course, he does have the hat on top of his head.
07:50All three heads, for that matter, have the same.
07:52I do really like this head sculpt, though.
07:55So there's this look,
07:56or again, if you want to go to the various stages
07:58of how he's decaying,
08:00then he has this head sculpt,
08:02which starts then to resembling a little bit more of the mummy.
08:04Just to try and put this down for a second here.
08:08Bringing in the mummy,
08:09just to show you guys how close that is.
08:11I mean, it's not there yet.
08:13It's not here yet,
08:14but you can kind of see it starts to make that transition.
08:18Obviously, you can't swap the hats around,
08:20so if you're getting the idea,
08:20hey, I could put a hat on top of the mummy's head.
08:22No, first of all, that's silly.
08:23And second of all, you can't do that.
08:25So there's the differences there,
08:27but it goes even more the extreme.
08:29The figure has then this head sculpt,
08:31which has more of a skeletal face.
08:33That is super cool and creepy and creepy.
08:37I can't really honestly see myself
08:39displaying the figure with this head sculpt
08:41unless I pick up a second one.
08:42Oh, don't tempt me.
08:44I think if I had to choose
08:45when it comes to displaying Ardeth,
08:46I would likely just beeline it back
08:48to the original head sculpt
08:49just because I think it works the best
08:50with the outfit that he has.
08:52But those certainly strong contenders,
08:54if you have more than one of these,
08:55or you've just liked this particular look to bay,
08:57either going with either one of these,
09:00I don't think you're wrong.
09:02Change out the head I'll do in a second here.
09:04First of all, I certainly did want to show you guys
09:06what his outfit looks like.
09:07We've already established
09:08one of the best looking Karloff portraits
09:10we've ever gotten from this figure line so far, so far.
09:13Then of course, we've got ourselves
09:14the cloak down below here.
09:15I love the ornament, the in ornament,
09:18an animort, I can't even think of the word.
09:20The little decorative detail,
09:22we'll just say that.
09:23The little decorative detail
09:24that he has around the belt area here
09:25looks really nice.
09:26It brings some much-needed gold here
09:28to an otherwise all-mustard-looking colored suit.
09:31One unfortunate thing I have, though,
09:33with this figure is not necessarily the sleeves.
09:35I do like the way they've done the sleeves.
09:36The sleeves, though, aren't soft plastic.
09:39They're actually a little bit more harder plastic.
09:41But I think I love the way that the draping
09:43and the wrinkles developed on the figure's body.
09:45It looks like it's sitting on a figure's form.
09:48You can see there's a lot more, certainly,
09:49of it on the back of the figure's body.
09:51It's got some really great coloring
09:52going for it as well.
09:53My one, only one issue I really have, though,
09:57with Ardath comes more to his feet.
09:59His feet, I noticed getting them out of the packaging,
10:01were seeming to be loose.
10:03Not so loose when it comes to moving the feet out like this,
10:06nor turning them back and forth.
10:08But I've noticed, though,
10:09getting this guy out
10:10and only having him out for a short period of time,
10:12that his feet tend to buckle.
10:14They buckle forward.
10:16Now, that wouldn't be so bad
10:17if he didn't have, then,
10:18the weight of all this extra plastic
10:19making up his cloak.
10:20The moment you then start to add
10:22this harder plastic like this,
10:23and this is pretty hard, substantial plastic,
10:26it then adds weight to the front of the figure.
10:29Adding then weight to the front of the figure
10:31results then in his feet
10:32kind of caving more forward
10:34a lot more than what they would otherwise.
10:37So I noticed getting this guy
10:38and having him displayed,
10:39a lot of times you might even see
10:41during this review,
10:42I kind of have to lean him back a little bit
10:44because I've noticed a couple of times
10:46putting this guy just standing straight like this,
10:48he seems to kind of start to lean a little forward
10:50and sometimes I've even had the figure falling forward.
10:53Now, to change the head sculpt out,
10:55what you're actually going to be doing, though,
10:57is you're not just changing the head alone.
10:58Oh, no.
10:58You actually have to change the head
11:00and the neck as one piece.
11:02Popping out the two together,
11:03take the head that we want to then use.
11:05You can, again, either go with this head sculpt
11:07or you want to go all the extreme.
11:09Okay, all right.
11:09We'll go with the skeletal look.
11:11So we'll go ahead and just pop the head.
11:13Before I actually do that, though,
11:14the few couple of times I've done this,
11:16I've noticed that some of the paint from inside the collar
11:18has found its way actually on the inside scarf
11:21or the little part inside,
11:23of course, the outfit that he's wearing.
11:24So basically, we're just going to pop that back
11:26onto the ball joint.
11:27There we go.
11:27A little bit of pressure is required.
11:29It's gruesome, though.
11:30I mean, that's a scary looking face
11:32considering the date of when this movie first came out.
11:35Didn't rely on CG.
11:36We didn't have CG back in the 30s.
11:39It's all, again, makeup and practical effects.
11:41Well, more so makeup, less practical effects.
11:42I guess practical still would be
11:44practically putting it on.
11:45So I guess I'm not wrong by saying practical effects.
11:48For the figures of articulation, though,
11:50going back to the RDAS head sculpt,
11:51the head's going to be on two-point ball joints.
11:53So essentially, he's going to have one ball joint already
11:55that's going to allow the head to rotate all the way around.
11:58It's going to have the head to look down,
11:59look up, and do all the things in between.
12:01But then he does seem to have a ball joint
12:03also working for the neck.
12:05Not that the neck ball joint does all that much.
12:07It does basically just do the same
12:08as really what the head was doing already.
12:10But it gives a little bit of more additional motion,
12:12a little bit of additional movement there.
12:15The upper torso is going to be on a very good ball joint.
12:18Enough that you could do this.
12:19Enough that you could do this.
12:20Enough that you could do this.
12:23The arms do rotate all the way around.
12:25You can also hinge those arms out.
12:27I would be comfortable to say at 90 degrees.
12:29I don't think anybody would really argue the otherwise.
12:32You can also as well take the elbows.
12:34Now, the elbow joints, I did notice,
12:35were a little on the tighter side.
12:37But they do at least allow the arms to bend
12:38at the forearm area.
12:40You can, of course, rotate these also back and forth.
12:42The hands, whatever you want to use
12:44for your display of the figure,
12:45which I know right now
12:46isn't going to really match the color.
12:47I'll have to fix that
12:48for the final looks of the figure.
12:49But yeah, the hands do rotate all the way around
12:51and they hinge back and forth.
12:53Splitting of the legs is about the only thing
12:55that you really can't do with this figure
12:57just because he's self-contained in plastic.
13:00Sure enough, though, yeah,
13:01you can move his feet back and forth.
13:02Technically, you could really rotate his legs.
13:04It looks like there's some leg swiveling,
13:06but the legs only go that far.
13:08You see how far down deep that they actually go?
13:10It only goes to about, like, what, the mid-calf or so.
13:12But they do technically swivel there.
13:14Then his ankles allow the feet to move up and down.
13:16You can also rock them back and forth.
13:18The figure does also have pebbles, by the way,
13:19on the bottoms of his feet.
13:21It's a great-looking figure.
13:22I mean, yeah, I'm disappointed
13:23that the figure was missing his,
13:24you know, sacrificial dagger.
13:27It should have really been in there.
13:28And yet, unfortunately, it wasn't.
13:30And, of course, let's go ahead
13:31and bring back in the Universal Monsters,
13:33original Universal Monsters mummy,
13:35which I think we've now gotten three times.
13:36The glow-in-the-dark,
13:37the colorized, which I was using for this example,
13:39and then the black and white,
13:41which, really, the black and white
13:42isn't that much different
13:42than the one that we're getting here.
13:44Bring back in, though, also a sarcophagus,
13:46which I will be displaying
13:47very predominantly on the shelf
13:49with all the following figures.
13:50And, hey, why not?
13:51Let's also bring back in
13:52the little treasure chest,
13:54which does not have, by the way,
13:55the scroll of Thoth,
13:56Thoth, Thoth,
13:58which I probably could even put that in there.
14:00You could, I suppose, also roll that up.
14:01I don't know if I really want to do that.
14:03That's going to be causing the damage
14:04of the parchment paper,
14:05even though it technically,
14:06I suppose it's not really parchment paper.
14:08But, yeah, all in all, though,
14:09it's a really neat-looking figure.
14:11If you're a fan of the original
14:1230s mummy film,
14:13I mean, those I would imagine
14:15that were already collecting
14:16the mummy ultimate figures
14:17probably were hoping,
14:18waiting with bated breath,
14:20that eventually we would be getting ourselves
14:21an ultimate Ardath Bey.
14:23We had to wait a little while,
14:24not 10 years as long
14:26as it took him to take, then,
14:27the role of Ardath in the film.
14:29But at least, though,
14:30we finally got ourselves a figure.
14:31And he's a pretty cool-looking figure, too.
14:33While I will admit it looks a tad bit messy,
14:35I did want to at least bring in
14:36the accessory set for the mummy,
14:38just to have him displayed in final looks
14:39along with the ultimate Ardath Bey.
14:41You may not choose to have the look
14:43that I have right now,
14:44but one thing that was good,
14:45at least that NECA did,
14:47is that they have faithfully followed
14:48the universal monster to the nth degree,
14:51to the point where they have released
14:52accessory packs.
14:53Dracula got one,
14:55mummy got one,
14:55and Frankenstein's monster,
14:57would you believe,
14:57also got one as well.
14:58Now, right now,
15:00I've got the scroll of Thoth
15:01sitting inside the casket
15:04that sits alongside Ardath's feet.
15:06His feet, though,
15:07are one problem
15:08that's going to be facing his figure.
15:09I don't know if it's going to be
15:10facing everyone's figure,
15:11but it certainly faces mine.
15:13The feet seem to be loose,
15:14only around the ankle area.
15:16Sure enough,
15:16you can move them in ways
15:18that normal feet would do,
15:19but unfortunately, though,
15:20they tend to buckle a little bit.
15:22And seeing that, really,
15:23I've only had the figure
15:24out of the packaging
15:25for probably like an hour or so,
15:26it's kind of disheartening
15:27to think that he's that loose
15:29for a figure I think
15:30that's only using this mold
15:31the first time around.
15:32Whether we will, in fact,
15:33be getting another re-release
15:35of this mold is,
15:36it's hard to really say.
15:37It's almost as if we,
15:39if we only had a scroll of wisdom
15:40that we could recite
15:41and look at,
15:42maybe it would be able to tell us
15:43the future of Ardath's Bae's mold.
15:46I would certainly be open
15:47to the idea if they can release
15:48another version of this guy,
15:49maybe a black and white treatment.
15:50I mean, clearly,
15:51that seems to be the formula
15:52that they follow.
15:53When we get a black and white,
15:54we get a color or vice versa.
15:56If we are getting a colorized
15:57version of Ardath's Bae
15:58and seeing that this film
15:59did take place in the 30s,
16:01would it be safe to say
16:02that we're also going to be
16:03getting a 30s version of him
16:04in the black and white treatment?
16:05Or is this going to be
16:06a one and we're done release
16:07of Ardath?
16:08Either way, though,
16:09this guy is currently available.
16:10He is currently available
16:11right now,
16:12either in stores
16:12or if you're having no luck
16:13whatsoever being like
16:14a Canadian collector
16:15like I am,
16:16you can always go to the right
16:17of ordering this guy online.
16:19I ordered this one
16:19through the NECA's online site,
16:21but other online sites
16:22also will do you as well
16:23when it comes to buying
16:24and selling.
16:24I mean, obviously,
16:25they're buying,
16:25you're selling.
16:26Well, I guess it's
16:27the other way around.
16:28They're selling,
16:29you're buying,
16:30but certainly there are
16:30other online sites around
16:32if you guys are interested
16:32and grab this one for yourself.
16:34If you guys did enjoy this video,
16:36do it a solid,
16:36throw it a like.
16:38If you guys certainly
16:39didn't want to stick around
16:39for more so.
16:40And I hope so.
16:41Certainly, though,
16:42while we are wrapping up
16:43things right now
16:43with a guy that's been
16:44hiding his identity
16:45for about 10 years now,
16:47we will have actually
16:48another couple
16:49of NECA reviews
16:49coming your way.
16:50So making sure you're
16:51keeping your mummified
16:52peepers peeled
16:53to this channel.
16:54As always,
16:55thanks for watching.
16:56See you guys next time.
16:57See you guys next time.
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