These Metaluna Mutants, tall, buglike humanoids with large heads that appear to be made mostly of brain, were featured in many of the film's publicity photos and posters, and despite the fact that the film itself is less ubiquitous, have become some of the most quintessential icons of the 1950s science-fiction film canon, second perhaps to Gort, the stoic robot standing guard over his master Klaatu in The Day the Earth Stood Still. It is likely that the term "bug-eyed monster," if not coined by the appearance of the Metaluna Mutant, was at least reinforced by it and evokes that image even today.

Sideshow Toy has created a 1:6 scale action figure based on the Metaluna Mutant from This Island Earth. Standing 13 inches tall (partly because of its enormous head), it has a Sideshow Toy figure body underneath a rubber outfit. The rubber suit is modeled to look nearly exactly like the suit worn by the actors in the film, down to the wrinkles in the pants and the red-painted veins that protrude over most of the exposed portion of the alien's body.

The figure comes packaged in a colorful window box and includes a figure stand with the film's title logo on it. The box, as has become custom with Sideshow's Universal Monsters line, features a movie-poster cover in the bright colors of movie posters of the time, black-and-white photos of the Mutant on the reverse and the film's credits list on the flap.

Accurate to the wrinkles in the pants

This is not Sideshow's first Metaluna Mutant. A few years ago they created perhaps the finest 8-inch figure of this alien so far created.

This 13-inch version is colored in the faded blue and bright red of the mutants from the film, and has all the bulging red veins of the original, and includes a rotocast backpack/air tank. The ridged torso plating cascades in chevrons to a red chevron belt, which has an atomic swirl logo accurate to the film's costuming.

The built-up shoulder padding limits arm movement, but then it is true to the costume. Crablike arms lead down to double-clawed hands, the claws of which are almost the only things on the mutant not painted either blue or red.

Underneath all the rubber is a fully articulated Sideshow body with more than 30 points of articulation, and they do work underneath the rubber. However, positions of great extension don't stay in place, with the force of the rubber sheathing getting in the way.

As in the original costumes, the lower segments of the arms begin at the wrist. On this figure, they rotate around the axis of the arm, but the claws themselves are not articulated. The feet are insectlike and end in double claws as well, and the ankles are a bit weak in rotation, though the creature can stand easily without its display base.

The most recognizable creature feature is the head, which is an oversized brain, basically, covered in red veins, which, at its base has a face with vein-lined black bug eyes and a series of purple slats at what could be a mouth. The eyes, even though the photos on the box show detail, are painted in simple black, an unusual shortcut for Sideshow.

Unlike many of Sideshow's figures, the Metaluna Mutant has absolutely no accessories or extras, and at the price of $50, is a bit more pricey than a lot of Sideshow's figures that do feature nicely detailed accessories. But still, this is a good representation of one of the most iconic images of the 1950s, and as such is a success, even at this price and with nothing extra included.