Dr. Victor Frankenstein's infamous flesh golem and his diminutive deformed ally serve together as the "boss" of Level 4.3 (Stage 12 in the game's numbering system) in Konami's 1987 Castlevania Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) video game (original 1986 Japanese Famicom title: "Akumajou Dorakyura", or, in English: "Demon Castle Dracula".) Frankenstein's Monster and Hunchbacked Men (often referred to as Flea Men) make appearances in many of the installments of the Castlevania franchise, but their short-lived partnership in the original NES outing is arguably their most memorable.

Like normal Hunchbacked Men, the one that accompanies Frankenstein's Monster moves quickly and can leap incredible distances. However, unlike the typical specimen, this Hunchbacked Man also has the ability to toss an unlimited number of projectiles at the protagonist, Simon Belmont, and, even worse, cannot be destroyed. Any attacks that Simon successfully lands on this invincible midget will briefly stun the Hunchbacked Man, but that's all. Needless to say, wise players will instead focus their assault on the curiously passive Monster, who is vulnerable to injury (he just plods back-and-forth, without attacking, although physical contact with the Monster will damage the player.) The Hunchbacked Man is nothing but an annoying, albeit deadly, distraction.

It should be noted that this special Hunchbacked Man is usually referred to as "Igor" in the West. When one considers Castlevania's overall theme, and that the game's rendition of the Monster is based on Boris Karloff's iconic portrayal from Universal's 1931 Frankenstein film, that's not an unreasonable assumption to make. However, the original Famicom instruction manual does not give a unique name for the creature, simply labeling him as a generic "Semushi Otoko" (Japanese for "Hunchbacked Man").




Materials:
Newsprint, white glue, acrylic paint, super glue, plastic, dog hair, plastic, and a wire twist tie.

Dimensions
(Frankenstein's Monster) 2.8 cm / 1.1 in. x 4.7 cm / 1.9 in. (widest point x highest point)
(Hunchbacked Man) 2.0 cm / 0.8 in. x 2.1 cm / 0.8 in. (widest point x highest point)
(Mounted Together) 3.9 cm / 1.5 in. x 6.9 cm / 2.7 in. (widest point x highest point)

Time:
Three days: October 11-13, 2012.
I modeled the Frankenstein's Monster figure on the eleventh and the Hunchbacked Man figure on the twelfth. I did all of the finishing touches, including painting and mounting them on their respective stands, on the thirteenth.